Stand-up paddling…white girl style

Kerri and I decided to change up our Aloha Fun Friday routine and stayed on the west side of the island v. driving to our usual spot — The Hale Koa.

I have wanted to try to stand up paddle before, but every time Kerri and I tried to plan a lesson, the weather was bad or our Friday’s were occupied with work related things aka lame things.

FINALLY we had a nice day, and after manicures, lunch and tracking down the Fairy Cake food truck, we were on our way to the beach.

Kerri suggested White Plains Beach because we could rent the boards and paddles for $5 — Another perk of being married to the Army — and it’s close to both of our domains… and a bar. As soon as I could see the water, I swallowed hard because the waves were big and there was a lot of them. I had pictured the ocean to be flat and still … epic fail.

My hands were so sweaty I could barely hold onto the board. Side note: Paddleboards are heavy, hard to carry and they are twice the size of surfboards. There was a lot of coaxing and arm-twisting going on and Kerri finally got me into the ocean.

I am pretty sure I lost 10 pounds that day. I was having a hard attack. Side note: I am afraid of being rolled by waves and by white water and in order to paddle, you need to swim over the white water.

I motioned to Kerri to do her thing and once I was ready I would paddle out to her. Well, there were a few kids near by, I don’t know why they were not in school, and one girl asked me if I was on vacation, because apparently I wasn’t tan enough or look competent enough to paddle.

Since I looked like I was struggling, I really wasn’t, I was very content laying still on my board, the boy asked me if I wanted him to push me, to which I replied “NO WAY JOSE!”

You may be wondering why I titled this post “Stand-up paddling…white girl style.” Here is why: I had the board on the water and I was standing next to it.

The conditions were even rough for Kerri, so we turned our boards in and made our way to the Hideaway Bar, located on the Coast Guard Base.

We must have looked like lushes because we arrived just before the joint opened at 3 p.m! Classy. All in all, it was a very productive day and I was sore the next day, success!