Far From the Ocean, Fitness Craze Appeals to Those Wanting a Total Body Workout on the Water, Minus the Waves

from The Wall Street Journal

By KEVIN HELLIKER

When Chris Krause hops on a board each morning to surf Lake Michigan, the water is usually flat. But who cares? Instead of catching a wave, Mr. Krause is catching a workout, by standing on his board and paddling for 60 minutes.

"For my money it's the best total body workout you can get," says Mr. Krause, a 44-year-old triathlete who runs a match-making service for promising athletes and college coaches.

Stand-up paddle surfing is the fitness rage of the summer. In lakes, rivers and bays where the surf is never up, Americans in skyrocketing numbers are standing on boards and paddling, a balancing act that strengthens the muscles of the legs, buttocks, back, shoulders and arms.

"Stand-up paddle surfing is a valuable new form of cross-training, in part because it's so low impact," says Cindi Bannink, a triathlon coach in Madison, Wis.

For an industry long dependent on California and Hawaii, the trend is rapidly forging new sales territories. "Suddenly, our fastest-growing markets are places like Chicago, Boise and Austin, Texas," says Ty Zulim, sales manager for Surftech International, a surf-board maker and distributor based in Santa Cruz, Calif.

"Stand-up paddling is the fastest-growing segment of the surf industry," says Sean Smith, executive director of the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association, whose most recent study found that the industry had sales in 2008 of $7.2 billion.

Some manufacturers say they can't make them fast enough. "Every one we make is already sold, and that's the case with most manufacturers," says surfing legend Laird Hamilton, who has licensed his name and stand-up board designs—including a model called the Laird—to Surftech and other manufacturers.

After introducing stand-up boards at west coast stores last year, Recreational Equipment Inc. this summer stocked it in a number of land-locked stores—and met its annual sales projections by mid-June, says Nathan Grothe, product manager for REI, based just outside of Seattle.

Even general merchandiser Costco Wholesale Corp. began selling stand-up boards this summer to great success, says Jack Weisbly, the Kirkland, Wash., chain's sporting goods' merchandise manager. "We're selling a lot of them to hotels and resorts that are located near water," he says.

Known as SUP (pronounced as in "Wassup?"), the stand-up paddling trend comes on the heels of the kayak craze, but offers potentially greater health benefits, especially given recent research showing the hazards of prolonged sitting. Like yoga, standing on a board requires basic balancing abilities, which in turn strengthen and tone any and all muscles used to stay in position. (A new trend in some still-water locales involves staging yoga classes on stand-up boards.)

People of any age can get started, proponents say, recommending that newcomers should use the widest—and therefore sturdiest—boards. While conventional surf boards are about 20 inches in width, stand-up boards can be 32 inches wide. Children older than toddlers can use them alongside their grandparents, although life preservers are recommended and in some locations required.

Newcomers should kneel on the board and paddle that way before trying to rise to their feet. In still water, standing up is hardly more difficult on a stand-up board than on solid ground. Once afoot, staying that way is relatively easy. This reporter—who during yoga class takes frequent tumbles—stayed dry during an hour of debut paddle surfing last week on the choppy waters of Lake Michigan.

Like cycling, paddle surfing can be done at a recreational pace or, for an aerobic workout, at heart-thumping speed. And like yoga, stand-up paddle surfing is proving particularly popular with women.

"Nearly 50% of the buyers of our stand-up boards are women, which is a much much higher percentage than" conventional surf boards, says Mr. Hamilton.

At worst, a tumble means getting wet. But many veterans say they never do. "If falling off was a real danger, my wife and I wouldn't be out on Lake Michigan doing it in March," when chunks of ice are floating in the lake, says Mr. Krause, who says only his feet ever get wet.

High-end models of stand-up boards sold in sporting-goods stores range from about $900 to $1,500, with the paddle costing an additional $150 to $300. Costco, however, offers a board-and-paddle set for as little as $429.

Paddles have given rise to races. Dozens are scheduled this summer, up from none only a few years ago, with the fastest paddlers moving well beyond 10 miles an hour. "This is to surfing what snowboarding first was to skiing," says Mr. Hamilton. "I'm convinced it will be an Olympic sport."

Mr. Hamilton declines to call himself the inventor of the sport because Pacific Islanders—and Italy's Venetians—for centuries have stood in boats using paddles or poles.

Yet there's one place where stand-up paddling isn't popular: the waters where conventional surfers converge. To them, the oversized boards and six-feet long paddles represent a danger, especially in the hands of novices. "Don't Encourage Them," said a recent headline in a blog called Postsurf.com.