“It feels like you’re walking on water,” said Trent Hickman describing this emerging summertime outdoors sport.
An instructor, competitor and member of Park City Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP) for the last year, Hickman said the sport is a perfect mixture of relaxation and exercise.
“Some of the appeal is, it’s got surf culture, which is appealing to a lot of people,” he said. “It’s almost a primal feeling to be standing up on something propelling yourself through the water.”
Having lived in Costa Rica during the summer months for five years, Hickman became tuned in to that surfing culture. He said he eventually grew out of riding shortboards on the pristine beaches of Costa Rica, and when he returned to Park City, he was introduced to paddleboarding.
“I actually started here on the Jordanelle (Reservoir),” he said. “I was immediately hooked. I knew I wanted to promote the sport through a fitness perspective.”
He was persuaded to enter a paddleboard race at the end of July 2010 after just two weeks of experience and borrowed a board. He finished second and has been involved in competitive events and giving instruction ever since.
“It’s such a neat little community,” Hickman said. “It’s sort of grassroots right now.”
But the sport is growing within the aquatic confines of Summit County.
In the winter, professional stand up paddleboarder Betsy Risner took to the ponds at Park City Golf Course to stay in shape and in tune with her board.
Todd Fischer, owner/operator of Silver Star Ski & Sport, said he has friends who stand up paddleboard on the ponds at Deer Valley.
Fischer said he is “gambling” this summer by trying to rent out paddleboards as another addition to his store’s summer repertoire. He will start out with two paddleboards available for rent and will have portable racks adjustable to any type of car.
“Paddleboards are becoming more and more popular up here,” Fischer said. “In the summer, you’re always trying to find a new niche. Bicycles are commonplace, and you almost have to have them as a sports shop, but paddleboards are just really catching on.
“What you’re seeing is a lot of people out in the reservoirs.”
Perhaps nobody has been involved locally with paddleboarding as long as Marty Shattuck of All Sports Eyewear. He mainly started on the stand up board just to stay in shape. He said his lingering back problems and lack of core energy were relieved when he started on a paddleboard. “It just seemed like a really great thing to stay in shape,” he said.
Shattuck began selling boards back in 2006.
“Back then, no one was really selling them. My wife and I thought, ‘Let’s just go ahead and start selling them to see where it goes.’ And boy, has it boomed.”
Shattuck said the evolution of the sport, and most importantly, boards, has helped lower the cost of participation significantly.
“Now, you can get into a board for $1,600-1,700,” he said. “A year or so ago, it was over $3,000.”
“It’s just another fun way to go out and stay in shape in an active town like this,” he added.
Activity is the main selling point for Hickman.
While Hickman teaches paddleboard lessons on the Jordanelle, he is also a personal trainer at the Golden Door Spa at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Park City.
He said paddleboarding will give any participant the same type of complete body workout as other outdoor activities.
“Your feet are on the board, hands on the paddle and standing up will work everything in between,” he said.
To stay balanced, he said you use muscles in your feet you don’t normally use.
Your legs are working especially hard if there is any kind of chop on the water. Hickman likes to tell people to keep a slight bend in their knees to stay in form and keep balance. Balance training, he says, is important for people.
“You’re just standing on the water, and relaxing,” he said.
Fischer said his first-year experiment is a worthy one and he is looking forward to getting out this summer and becoming more accustomed to the feeling of the board under his feet.
“I’m planning on setting at least one day a week aside where I can get some paddling in,” he said.
Hickman said paddleboarding isn’t a community that would be opposed to more company.
“I’m all about growing the sport,” he said. “The bigger our community gets, the better it gets. I really believe it’s a great thing for the human body to exercise, and I love sharing the Aloha of it, for sure.”
Added Shattuck: “It’s just another avenue for your landlocked surfer.”