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Courtesy North Shore SUP
What's SUP?
On a sunny spring day, standup paddleboarders explore the sea caves of Apostle Islands National Lakeshore near Cornucopia, Wisconsin. Ice-encrusted in the winter, the park’s soaring sandstone cliffs and water-carved caves are a favorite of adventurous paddlers.
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Courtesy Naturally Superior Adventures
What's SUP?
Standup paddleboarding is one of the fastest-growing activities in our region.
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Courtesy Lost Creek Adventures
What's SUP?
New standup paddlers have come to the sport by the thousands in recent years.
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Courtesy North Shore SUP
What's SUP?
A North Shore SUP instructor demonstrates the basics at Duluth's Park Point Beach.
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Courtesy North Shore SUP
What's SUP?
A rental costs $10-15 per hour and often less than $50 for a whole day. Paddlers use the wide, versatile boards for leisurely harbor tours, day trips on lakes and rivers, fishing and even on-the-water yoga.
Surfers aren’t the only ones perched on boards on Lake Superior these days.
For longtime kayakers and canoeists, standup paddleboarding offers a fresh perspective on familiar waters and a new challenge, but the booming sport is also drawing in folks who’ve never held a paddle.
“More people are hopping on board now, for sure,” says Greg Weiss of Lost Creek Adventures, with tongue only half in cheek.Standup paddleboarding – also known by “standup” or SUP – is one of the fastest-growing activities in the region, according to a 2013 survey by the Outdoor Industry Association. The organization found that SUP had the most new participants of any outdoor activity in the United States, and 56 percent of standup paddlers were trying the sport for the first time.
Lost Creek Adventures, founded in summer 2011 in Cornucopia, Wisconsin, on the doorstep of the Apostle Islands’ sea caves, was one of the early outfits on Lake Superior to pick up on the trend. “We had paddleboards from the very beginning,” says Greg, who previously ran the recreation program at Northland College in Ashland. “Not a lot of places in the area did, because it was such a new thing.”
A general-purpose paddleboard is usually 12 feet long, 5 to 6 inches thick and about 30 inches wide. Many retailers sell specialized boards for specific uses, from racing to touring.
While balancing on the board, standup paddlers use a long paddle to propel themselves across the water.“If you have to paddle a long distance, most people would still be in a kayak,” says Arni Ronis, co-owner of Down Wind Sports in Houghton, Michigan. “But if I have an hour or two to play around on the Lake, I’ll take the SUP.”
Like surfing, a sport that’s also growing in the region, modern standup paddleboarding has Hawaiian roots. Only about 10 years ago did it reach North America; soon after, as boards went into mass production, outdoor adventurers on the Great Lakes took up the sport as a new way to explore the shorelines.
“It hit the West Coast first,” says Greg. “So they try it and realize it is good on flat, calm bays … in places where there’s not huge waves” – like many spots on Lake Superior.
It’s no surprise that the sport has taken off in our region with its inland lakes beyond count, meandering rivers and quiet coves and bays all around the Big Lake.
Versus a kayak, a standup paddleboard offers a better view of the surroundings, more freedom of motion and a good angle to see down into the water to features below. It’s also an alternative for people who, because of injury, can’t sit in a kayak for long stretches.
It might be therapeutic. During Lost Creek Adventures’ first summer, one local plagued by back problems rented a board.
“He was probably 72 years old,” Greg says. “He was having trouble walking, was really stiff and his balance was bad. He took up paddleboarding. And he says it’s changed his whole life around because he’s got a stronger core, his back has gotten better, his balance has gotten way better because the paddleboard kind of makes you do that.”
SUP uses different skills than other paddling sports, says Greg. “I think the whole balance thing is different, and it’s what’s fun, too, for people who have been paddling a long time. It’s kind of harder to balance, especially once you start getting waves, than with a kayak. So it’s a new challenge to kind of try to do the same things.”
Like trail running and cross-country skiing, standup paddleboarding offers a great workout amidst the great outdoors. Yoga enthusiasts picked up paddleboarding early on.
“We do it in the bay area,” says Heather Holmes, who runs North Shore SUP on Duluth’s Park Point with her partner, Garrett Russell. The duo offers rentals and classes in the summer.
“If people fall in because they’re trying a headstand for the first time on the board, it’s no big deal. … You’re running through poses that are much more challenging on a board than on land.”
Around Duluth, Park Point has become a favorite of area paddlers.“We have a huge local following, and it just really caught on last summer,” says Heather. “We do on-site and off-site, so people can take a board and take it wherever they’d like.” They paddle on Lake Superior, the warmer waters of Superior Bay or anywhere else in the area.
“You can paddle for miles down the point, and it’s just easy paddling and you’re near shore always.”Jeff Stasser, a co-owner of Down Wind Sports who works from the company’s Marquette store, says the popularity spiked locally two years ago, as boards became more available and designs matured. “A bunch of paddlers go out – people who want exercise, to see the sights, to fish off of them, surf. People from all walks of life are wanting to get into it.”
“Interest is great, which is why we’ve gone from three to 12 boards,” says David Wells, director and owner of Naturally Superior Adventures, based in Wawa, Ontario.
On the eastern side of Lake Superior, prevailing winds from the west build waves that are troublesome for beginners, so David says standup paddleboarding there is best suited to the calmer inland lakes and rivers. Naturally Superior Adventures offers classes at the mouth of the Michipicoten River and a fitness course on Wawa Lake. Paddling on Lake Superior, he adds, “is really special.”
In both the United States and Canada, paddlers must wear a personal flotation device when using a board for navigation. Though PFDs aren’t required in surf or swim zones, they’re always recommended when paddling. On the cold waters of Lake Superior, the proper attire is essential, too.
“If you’re paddling in May, you’ve got to wear a drysuit or a really nice, thick wetsuit,” Greg says. “If you’re paddling in June, at least a wetsuit. July, you can maybe start to take that off.”
If you’d like to give standup paddleboarding a try, stick with rentals until you find a style of board you’re willing to invest in.Classes cost about $50, including equipment rental. For just a board rental, rates are $10 to $15 per hour and $45 to $50 for a whole day. A full-day guided tour runs about $100. Many local companies, universities and YMCAs around the Lake offer classes and demos.
“For any kind of quality board, you’re looking at at least $1,000,” says Greg. When you buy, start with a used board and move up to a new, high-performance model as your skills develop.
Some people are reluctant to try paddleboarding because they think it looks goofy or boring, or they don’t want to get wet.
“And then they get on it,” Greg says, “and pretty much everybody unanimously says, ‘That was way more fun than I thought it was going to be.’”
Great Places to SUP
We polled regional paddling guides for their favorite SUP spots. Says Arni Ronis, co-owner of Down Wind Sports in Houghton, “Wherever you can put your kayak in, you can put your SUP in, too.”
MINNESOTA
- Duluth’s Park Point
- St. Louis River and Bay
WISCONSIN
- Chequamegon Bay
- Roman’s Point
- Apostle Islands National Lakeshore sea caves
- Brule River
- Iron River
ONTARIO
- Michipicoten River mouth
- Wawa Lake
MICHIGAN
- McLain State Park
- Traverse Bay
- Bete Grise
- Presque Isle Park
- Shoreline from Marquette to Big Bay