History of SUP

Watch this video for a brief summary of Stand Up Paddleboarding:

History of Stand Up Paddleboarding 

 

There are many examples of paddling in a standing position and it seems to come naturally.

I’m going to go over some of the earliest recorded records of humans standing up while paddling, a short history of SUP surfing in Hawaii, and how modern stand up paddleboarding and surfing has become so popular worldwide.

 

Fishermen in Peru and Ecuador used reed rafts for fishing  and for going in and out through the surf around 3000 years ago.

Hasake were used in Israel with records dating back to the roman empire and are basically big SUP’s with a two  sided paddle. Still used by lifeguards today.

There are also many native tribes that paddled standing up in dugout canoes 

 

 

SUP Surfing

Was known as Beach Boy surfing- culture emerged in Waikiki when first hotels opened.  

Most famous beach boy was Duke Kahanmoku-  he introduced surfing to California in 1912 and to Australia in 1914, known as fastest swimmer alive with 2 gold medals in Antwerp, Belgium in 1920 and many world records in swimming.  

Duke was known to surf standing up on a long board, using a long paddle.

 

In the 1940, John Zapotoki started used a big longboard and custom made wood paddles to surf in Waikiki until he was 91 and saw his sport boom 

 

Pops Ah Choy was a Waikiki beach boy well known to standing up surfing with a hard had

 

 

Ron “Canoe” Drummond surfed a canoe standing up with a paddle in Dana Point, California.

 

More recently, Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama picked up paddles and stood up on big longboards during an Oxbow photoshoot which started the moden area of Stand Up Paddleboarding and its global popularity today.

 

Brian Keaulana added “Beach Boy Surfing” division to the Buffalo Big Board contest at Makaha and the sport started growing rapidly. 

I was lucky enough to be involved in distributing the C4 Waterman boards, some of the first SUP’s available to buy which was around 2007, before that SUP boards were custom made.  I was coached in SUP surfing and downwinding by early pioneers and C4 Waterman founders Dave Parmenter, Todd Bradley, and Brian Keaulana.

 

The early explosive growth of the sport had leveled off before the pandemic but then blew up again during the pandemic as a safe way to get exercise while being socially distanced.

 

 

SUP History trivia:

 

The Molokai 2 Oahu Paddleboard Word Championship Race added a Stand Up Paddleboard division in 2006.  Kevin Horgan won the race in 7:23:14

Travis Grant set the current M2O SUP solo record time of 3:59:52 in 2017

 

 

Gerry Lopez and Rainbow Sandals organized the first “Battle of the Paddle” race in 2008 with a $25,000 prize purse.  The maximum board length was 12’6, which created a new category of boards.

 

these were the top 3 finishers of the first BOP:

Men:

1)    Chuck Patterson

2)    Thiebert Lucia

3)    Aaron Napoleon

 

Women: 

1)    Jenny Kalmbach

2)    Candice Appleby

3)    Morgan Hoesterey

 

As of 2021, the global market for Stand Up Paddleboard gear is estimated at $1.4 Billion, growing at 10% annually, with the top 5 brands controlling a market share of about 15% 

 

As of April 2022 the top 3 most liked Stand Up Paddleboard videos on YouTube (all proudly brought to you by blueplanetsurf):

 

1)    “How to SUP in 5 minutes”- thumbs up: 19k, 1.5 million views

2)    “Top 10 SUP Beginner Mistakes”- thumbs up: 11k

3)    “SUP Tips: How to paddle straight on a Stand Up Paddleboard”- thumbs up: 9.3k 

 

Thank you for watching! 

Aloha, Robert Stehlik