How to Stand Up Paddle with Verena Mei

Learn how to SUP with Verena Mei and Blue Planet Surf.  

Verena is a professional race car driver. She grew up in Hawaii and recently moved back to Oahu.  She got into Stand Up Paddleboarding and has been a great customer and supporter of Blue Planet Surf Shop. In this series she is getting tips on safety, technique, board handling and more from Blue Planet Surf founder Robert Stehlik.  We will post regularly new videos on our blueplanetsurf youtube channel and plan to release the parts of this series in the Spring of 2016. For new videos please check back here and subscribe to our youtube channel.  

Watch the first video in the series:

How to Stand Up Paddle Board with Verena Mei, Part 1: Safety

SUP is a great, fun, health and safe sport if practiced with some common sense.

Basic points covered in this video are:

1) Be aware of conditions. Light wind and protected water are the best conditions for beginner and learning quickly.  Light winds are fine but the chop created by the wind will make balancing more difficult and you should always make sure to paddle into the wind first to make sure you can get back to where you started.  Don't go out if the wind is strong, offshore winds (blowing you away from the shore) can be very dangerous as they can carry you out to sea and usually get stronger the farther out you get.

2) Always wear a leash.  In Hawaii we are not required to wear a personal floatation device when Stand Up Paddle boarding but you should always wear a good leash and make sure it is attached securely, that way your boards is always attached to you and acts as your floatation device.

3) Know how to swim.  This should be self explanatory, but before you learn how to SUP, you should learn how to swim first.  The rule of thumb is: don't go out further from shore than you could swim back on your own power.

This is the second video in this series: board handling and gear

In this video you learn how to protect your board from heat and fin damage, how to safely lift up and carry your board and some things to consider when choosing your first board.  At Blue Planet we always recommend trying several SUP's before choosing one as nothing beats trying a board to get an idea of whether it will work for you or not.  Balancing should be challenging at first, as your balance quickly improves.  We often talk to customers that bought their first board without trying it first and then finding out that it is just not a good board for their needs.  Let's face it, it does not matter how cheap a board is or how great the deal seems to be, if you don't enjoy using the board and it sits around collecting dust, it's a waste of money.  We want you to get out on the water and enjoy your board, so we want to make sure you get one that is right for you.  

Click here for more information on how to choose the right board and watch the video.

Click here for more information on our free SUP Clinics for Blue Plane customers.

Keep watching the playlist to see all 11 episodes on "How to Stand Up Paddle with Verena Mei"

Narrated downwind run- Hawaii Kai run tips by Robert Stehlik

Downwind runs are exciting and fun.   In the surf, you are often waiting for a set or your turn to catch the next wave.  On a downwinder, there are no crowds, you have long windswells that stretch across the whole ocean to play with, you are always on the move, going from one glide to the next, surfing the bumps.

It's not easy though, it takes balance, timing, patience, good paddling skills, fitness, and experience which comes from lots of time on the water.  
It can also be dangerous to head out into the open ocean unprepared, so make sure you know what you are getting yourself into.
I enjoy sharing what I have learned and have been offering coaching to paddlers that want to experience the joy of downwind paddling.   Click here for more information on downwind coaching with offered by Blue Planet.

I was inspired by a video from Jermey Riggs (click to watch it) on Maui doing a Maliko run to do a narrated downwind run while talking about some of the things I try to teach on a coaching run.  Watching these videos will not replace a good coach but it will be helpful before doing your first downwinder, especially a Hawaii Kai run on Oahu.  I'm narrating while doing a downwinder on a SIC 17 Bullet.  Turn up the volume to the max to hear.  I split it up into 3 videos to keep them shorter, enjoy!  
This is a playlist with downwinder videos, so just keep watching to see all our downwind videos.

This is the Hawaii Kai run GPS track from the Blinker Buoy (last channel marker in Hawaii Kai) to the Windsock outside Kaimana Beach.

Here is the data of this run from my GPS:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/281329873

Aloha, Robert Stehlik

www.blueplanetsurf.com