how frequently does the letter i appear in:
sup stands for stand up paddleboarding. and that is the new sport that we are getting involved in. last weekend, i picked up a board, and then on monday, i headed to the lake with the dogs in tow and board strapped to the top of the car.
i had never been on a sup before, and my only previous experiences with surfing ended badly, with lots of falling and getting gashed open by the fins. but really, other than the look of the board, paddleboarding is totally different. for one, you can do it on flatwater.
ideally i will be comfortable enough with the sup that i can take it on the river. for my first time, though, i thought the flatwater of a lake would be better. we went up to foster lake by sweet home and headed down to the boat dock. the sup i have is 106 long and probably 30+ lbs if i took a guess. large and sort of awkward to move around with, but doable for one person. it may have been insane, but i brought the dogs down with me right away and we all hopped onto the board. i started out kneeling at first, to get the hang of it, and to let the dogs get the idea of what we were doing.
honestly, they settled in quickly and seemed to take it in stride. koira did jump off the board a few times to swim, but it seemed more like she just couldnt stand sitting still and had to do something more so than her not liking being on the board. she figured out that to get back on she just had to swim over to near me and i would help her up with the handle on her life jacket. there was a bit of barking and whining, but again, i think it was from excitement and wanting to do something rather than being scared or not wanting to be there.
pallo tried out sitting at the front of the board and at the back of the board. at the front, he got dripped on by the paddle when i switched sides, and at the back, i think he was a little less steady. i know he knocked koira into the water once by deciding to change positions and actually walking underneath her instead of trying to go around- koira didnt seem to mind much though. neither me or pallo ended up in the water at all!
after a bit of a jaunt out with me paddling on my knees, i took the dogs back to the dock and set them up in the car in the shade while i took the board out by myself to see if i could stand up. at first, it seemed totally insane that i would feel stable doing this, but it was only a few minutes before i started feeling more confident while standing. i then went back and got the dogs for another ride out. with me standing, they actually had some more space on the board. the longer we were out, the more stable i felt. i know i was using a ton of muscles though because i was sore the next day!
overall, we had a ton of fun. i know i got a workout, and i am sure the dogs got some great core conditioning going on with constantly maintaining balance. i am sure that the more we go, the better we will get too. i do plan on picking up some non-slip pads of some kind for the board, though. the dogs seemed like they were slipping a little bit, and when koira tried to get back on after taking a swimming break, she had a hard time getting traction with her feet, even with me helping her via the lifejacket. plus, her claws made some marks on the board while doing that, which i would like to prevent in the future as much as possible.
i keep hearing about sup. i want to check it out at some point. probably not brave enough to try it with soph from the get go (she would definitely knock me in lol)
that looks like a lot of fun, too bad mom isnt brave enough! bol!
that looks like such a blast! i cant imagine it going well with my spastic pup, but i definitely like the thought of doing it on flat water!
looks like a ton of fun. they seem pretty comfortable on the board and who could resist jumping in the water for a little swim! great core exercise for all of you! thanks for joining the hop.
wow i admire so much that you and your dogs do this!
those eyes! i would melt every time.
we are so very jealous! mom would love to try paddleboarding with my sister bailie and i, but we dont know where we could go to do it and we want to rent one first to try it out. what a fun way to work out! thanks for joining fitdog friday!
i am glad your first trip was positive....with no gashes :) what river will you go on? the columbia?
that looks like so much fun. id love to try it. our first kayak experience last week seems kind of similar, but i also find it hard to imagine how to paddle standing up!
that looks like so much fun! your dogs are so cute!
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In that passage, there are two hundred and sixty-two occurrences of the letter "i."
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