Hand Stands on Water: Working Out iSUP Style

It's official:  the stand-up paddle board, or "SUP" for the lazy, is pretty much the best toy ever for a cruising boat.  It's easy to use, easy to deploy, and easy to store.  Simple, simple, simple.  Being that our 42 foot hull, while roomy, doesn't have a whole lot of space to store an eleven by three foot rigid board, we went the inflatable route.  Our Airis iSUP has been simply awesome to have on the boat.  We've not only used it as a vehicle for personal exploration, a place to lay back and relax, and an alternate family vessel (yes, we've had our little family of three cruising around on this bad boy) but now, we also use it to work out.

I discovered by happenstance one day that laying on your stomach and paddling the board with both arms on either side in a windmill motion - much how a surfer paddles out to a break - was not only an incredible workout, but felt distinctly cool in that "Oh hey there! Look at me! I (very temporarily) look like a surfer which makes me feel cool because surfers are AWESOME" sort of way.  So the other day when Isla went down for her morning nap, Scott decided to wake up his deltoids and put my new exercise to the test.  I jumped in the water to swim and, twenty minutes later, swam over to him where, next thing I knew, we were giggling like children doing handstands on the water.  And wiping out a lot.

I don't know what possessed him to first do it - but as soon as Scott inverted - the gauntlet had been thrown.  For the next forty-five minutes, most likely to the amusement of everyone else in the anchorage, we practiced inversions coupled with iSUP yoga and had a blast.  For the record, standing on one leg atop an inflatable paddle board is very, very hard.  In fact, it might be impossible. So we kept the yoga to the floor exercises after some comical unsuccessful attempts at standing bow pose. It was fun trying though!

Prepping for an inversion

Almost there! 

Bingo!

A little down dog

The "super cool surfer paddle".  Use both arms at once, or alternate.  Also called "the delt burner"

Sit ups are also great on the SUP

Has the planking craze ended?  Did we miss that boat?

And now, for the blooper reel:

He's not hanging ten, but about to wipe out.  Though he does sort of look "surfer cool" here...

It takes a while to get it right.

Another bonus of doing inversions on the water, this little maneuver is less painful.  

Right before I flopped over with incredible grace (not).