board. No more sitting on the sidelines for me.
in sunscreen, huddled under the umbrella
peering at my Kindle, I had parked myself in
a beach chair a safe distance from the surf
at my family's favorite Hither Hills ocean
beach. It was one of those crystal clear "it
doesn't get any better than this" Montauk
summer days when I found my eyes wander-
ing from the Kindle. Turning my attention to
the shoreline, I watched friend after friend
swim into the ocean with a stand up paddle-
board by their side. It seemed like I couldn't
get away from those SUP boards last summer.
Gentler and kinder than a surfboard with
that oh-so-secure-looking large single blade
paddle to hold onto for dear life, I admit --
I was intrigued. I saw my childhood friend
Greg, deftly navigating the waves. There were
40-something surfers Andrea and Kyra, steady
and serene as they paddled. There was fi rst
time paddler Patrick, emerging from the surf
with laughter as he wiped out over and over
again. And then there was Trish. For Trish and
me, the conditions usually had to be just so to
entice us away from our beach chairs and into
the ocean -- hot enough air, warm enough
water, no suggestion of rip tides. But wait
the paddleboard just beyond the break, Trish
appeared determined to get vertical. Riveted,
I watched her gingerly rise and then almost
immediately take a dramatic fall off the board.
It was a LOL moment, but I admired her bra-
vado. In that instant, I promised myself -- no
more excuses. I would not let another summer
go by without taking the plunge and getting up
on a paddleboard. But how to go about doing it?
and people who like to have all their ducks in
a row fi rst. I have lots of "just do it "people in
my life, but I defi nitely fall into the latter cat-
egory. So my research began at Espo's Surf
Shop on the Napeague Stretch, when the red
and white "OPEN and ½ Price" sign caught my
eye one mid-March weekend. When I asked
manager John Caramanico where he would
take someone who had never been on a paddle-
board before, he quickly reviewed my options
as he handed me a tides chart and rental price
list. "We'd take you out to South Lake or Navy
Road or even Napeague Bay we'd look at the
tides and we'd go where the wind was good."
Oh, the wind. Yes, the wind. Anyone who has
spent time in Montauk knows about the mercu-