Aloha, McKenna here, talking story today about three Olympic-hopeful paddle boarders at the Oceanside Harbor yesterday. So what if paddle boarding isn’t a sanctioned sport yet? They added shooting those little air-rifles. Maybe boarding is next in line.
The day began with our three newbies, Brenna, her dad Bill, and Terry on the docks with their guide, Jimmy. Jimmy’s been in the business for about three years and said that he’d never had anyone actually go in the water. That gave all three of our intrepid paddle board wannabes comfort and a goal…don’t be the first.
Jimmy explained the secret to paddle boarding. Stand up slowly and keep your center of gravity low while maintaining your forward motion. Sounded easy enough. Next, he had our little band of boarders
on the water and paddling around the harbor. That looked pretty simple, too. The water in the harbor was flat and, according to Brenna, who tested it with her hand when she got on her board, not that cold. That’s comforting.
So here’s how the action went down…so to speak. Brenna, being a kid, popped up on her board in no time. Bill, being an ex-surfer wasn’t far behind. In fact, I’m not sure which one was first because the real entertainment here was, you guessed it, Terry, who described the action as follows.
“I did as Jimmy instructed and built up some forward momentum. My speed was good and the board felt stable while I was on my knees. As I started to stand, I realized how shaky I was. Still, I figured, once I was up, everything would be okay.
Part way up on the first attempt, things got even shakier. Back down to my knees I went. Another try…more momentum…keep the balance…I can do this…halfway up…now, paddle a little…uh, oh, paddle’s dragging in the…”
The rest of the story is in that last photo. The moral of the story is to watch where you put your focus. Focus on the water and guess where you wind up? The good news is, Brenna was right, the water wasn’t that cold. The bad news is, Jimmy can no longer say, “nobody’s ever gone in.” The other good news? Terry saved his hat.
Mahalo for listening, enjoy the pictures of those hardy adventurers and rest assured that if paddle boarding ever becomes an Olympic sport, the line’s going to be shorter by at least one.
