Derek’s First SUP Day!

California Kiteboarding employee, Derek, had his first SUP session Wednesday at Avila Beach with California Kiteboarding’s Jason Lee. The summer weather made it a perfect day to get out on the water! It was Derek’s first experience stand up paddle boarding and it was a bit more work than he bargained for despite previous experience swimming, body boarding, and some surfing.

“My expectations were that I would be able to jump right on and coast like a sea otter, but it was a lot harder than I thought,” Derek said. “A lot of balance and coordination involved.”

While hoping not to fall in, Derek had an envious encounter with a seal in Avila’s harbor.

“When I first got onto the board from the harbor dock and paddled out to wait for Jason, a little seal’s head popped up out of the water and just stared at me,” Derek described.

The seal, about 5 feet away from Derek, didn’t end the interaction there.

“We had a little stare down then all of a sudden he started swimming towards me, but before he reached my board he went right under,” Derek said. “That was pretty cool.”

Derek rode the Starboard Pocket Touring 10’6″, a great board for touring around the harbor at Avila Beach. Derek and Jason also had the chance to stop in at Avila Beach Paddlesports shop and found it to be looking great after its new renovation.

Derek is looking forward to hitting the water again.

“It was a pretty awesome experience being out there on the ocean encountering sea life and looking around at mother nature’s beauty and I can’t wait to do it again,” he said.

Hopefully he’ll run into more seals in the future.