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Paddle Boarding’s Standing Grows

By Jenny Callison, posted Jul 31, 2015
Locally based Prone2Paddle expects to start producing its new design of stand-up paddle boards. (Photo by Chris Brehmer)
The sport of paddle boarding, which started long ago in the South Pacific islands and spread to the U.S. West Coast, washed up on Atlantic shores in recent years and has swelled in popularity since.

“Paddle boarding trended from Polynesia and Hawaii to California, and then from the West Coast to the East Coast. Then it went to the middle of the country,” said Jarrod Covington, owner and director of Wrightsville SUP, which sells and rents equipment for stand-up paddle boarding and offers lessons.

The sport is “absolutely” growing in popularity in the area, Covington said. He’s seeing demand from locals as well as tourists.

“Knowledge and awareness are certainly greater. Some people are interested, even if they haven’t tried it,” he said. “We are getting people from Texas, Ohio, Canada – all over the place.”

As the sport has taken hold locally it has spawned a number of businesses like Covington’s and two growing races in Wrightsville Beach: January’s Cold Stroke Classic and April’s Carolina Cup. Those races have drawn increasing attention from the paddle boarding media.

SUP Racer magazine, for example, wrote earlier this year, “Since 2011 [the Carolina Cup] has grown from a regional race into an international headliner, attracting dozens of the world’s fastest athletes as well as hundreds of recreational paddlers.”

That rising tide of paddle boarding led local businessmen Cliff Ray and Ian Balding to float the idea of a better paddle board design.

The two recently formed Wrightsville Beach-based Prone2Paddle, which launched a new paddle board design featuring a carved-out paddle holder space on the board deck. This design, the company states, allows for a rider’s “easy transition to and from prone-style paddling and stand-up paddle boarding.”

The young company unveiled its design at the Carolina Cup SUP race in Wrightsville Beach in April.
Balding, the shaper, has developed five models: two racing boards and three recreational boards, including one designed for paddle board yoga.

Now that they have a patent pending on their design, Ray and Balding have packed up their prototypes and are heading for two national expos: Salt Lake City’s Outdoor Retailer show in early August and Orlando’s Surf Expo in September.

“Our goal at the expos is to expand awareness of our boards,” Ray said. “It’s our reveal. We’ll be demonstrating to vendors and wholesalers.”

Before Prone2Paddle was ready for a national audience, however, the Carolina Cup SUP race provided an ideal environment for its local debut.

“Carolina Cup is the largest SUP race in the world,” said Mark Schmidt, one of the race’s  owner/operators, adding that the race attracted close to 800 participants in 2015, compared to about 120 paddlers in 2011, its inaugural year. Participants come from all over the world, he said.

“We’re getting a lot of press,” Schmidt said. “Outdoor Magazine has done a feature on us, along with other major [industry] publications.”

Besides its one-day race, Carolina Cup offers several days of educational sessions for SUP athletes at every level, and it has also expanded to include an expo that Schmidt says is the largest outdoor SUP expo on the East Coast.

In January, an article in SUP Racer noted that the homegrown race is “perhaps the best example of a ‘grassroots’ race that has grown from humble beginnings into an internationally-significant event. The role this race plays in promoting the sport and helping fuel the industry cannot possibly be understated.”

While the sport has a loyal international following that participates in events on four continents and a smattering of Pacific islands, basic paddle boarding is easy and equipment rentals abound.

Compared to some other water sports, the price of entry is fairly affordable, Covington said, adding that, for those ready to make an investment, about $1,300 will buy a “decent” board and let someone get his or her feet wet with the sport.

Wilmington-based WaterPlay USA, an online reservation hub for water-related vacations in the U.S. and the U.S. Virgin Islands, is fielding more requests for vacations that include paddle boarding.

“Paddle boarding is not held to a lake or the ocean. You can go on flat water, whether a marsh or a river, kind of like kayaking, but the good thing about paddle boards is they are easier to transport,” said WaterPlay CEO Will Smith.

Ray said that paddle boarding is popular because it’s easy to get comfortable with. When the sport washed up on local shores about six years ago, he was intrigued. After watching the pastime grow, he teamed up with Balding and decided to leave his career as a commercial real estate developer.

Ray also went back to school, enrolling in University of North Carolina Wilmington’s MBA program, which he said has already reaped rewards.

“The value of the program has already proved itself as we’re building our business plan,” he said. “I’ve been able to apply lessons I’ve learned.”

While Balding handcrafted the Prone2Paddle’s demonstration boards, the company owners expect that demand will require a greater production capacity. They have ordered a custom-built computer numerical control machine that should arrive this fall, Ray said.

As his MBA practicum, Ray said he will develop plans for Prone2Paddle’s manufacturing plant, which they hope to locate in the Wrightsville Beach area. Keeping production local is important to Ray, who grew up in Jacksonville and said he is a believer in the “Made in the USA” philosophy.

“A lot of paddle boards are made overseas,” he said. “I am determined to make these here. And we’re using resources at UNCW, another local tie.”

Ray touts the North Carolina coast’s paddle boarding advantages.

“We have the best of flat water. We have the flattest, most open water, protected by the marshes and the Outer Banks,” he said.

He is also enthusiastic about the sport’s potential for growth nationally, as people discover its uses for fitness and yoga.

Schmidt agrees, citing several recreation industry publications that say paddle boarding is the fastest-growing sport in the world.

Great Outdoor Provision Co.’s store in Wilmington is seeing more customer interest in paddle boards these days, said staffer Bryan Shaver. 

“The thing about stand-up paddle boarding is, even if you’re a klutz, you can usually, within a day be able to stand up and have a good time with them,” Shaver said, noting that people of all ages are getting into the sport.

“Paddle boarding is an incredible core workout; you see a body type from people who do it a lot. And it’s entertainment, sightseeing, exercise – all in one shot. You see people surfing on them, doing yoga, fishing, just cruising around. It’s its own subculture or can be,” he said.

“You can paddle board in just about any body of water and just about anybody can get into it. All it takes is a board and a life preserver. Pretty simple.
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