Achievement unlocked, guys: Last weekend, Moby and I survived our fist attempt at stand-up paddleboarding (SUP, or SUPing)!! It was pretty amazing!
Even before I got Moby (circa 2014), it’s been a dream of mine to stand-up paddleboard (SUP) with my dog. I saw glorious romantic artistic stunning images all across Instagram: modelesque SUP pictures, cool youtube videos, awesome hiking logs of overnight backpacking river trips. Beautiful mountain lakes, serene aquatic byways, paddling off into the sunset. A girl and her dog. Paddling away, soaking in nature and companionship.
I’m gonna do that one day.
And then cue raucous laughter.
For, you see, I am not the most gravitationally stable human. I frequently run into walls, fall off my own two feet on solid ground, run into doors, fall off of chairs, and generally wobble about the world as if an earthquake is constantly underfoot. I’m quite, quite clumsy.
My dog, too, is quite, quite rowdy. Just yesterday, he ran into a door for no reason other than he wasn’t paying attention to his trajectory.
So when I told people that Moby and I will paddleboard one day, well. Well, let’s just say that I first took the time to learn how to swim and my dog, too. Certain we would end up in the water, but never for a moment letting go of my Instagram fantasty to commune with nature as I stand-up paddleboard with my beautiful dalmatian across a mountain lake.
Long-story short: We definitely paddleboarded last weekend. It. was. amazing!
We went up to Frog Lake, on Mt. Hood. I’d only ever been there in the winter to go snowshoeing, so it was a cute little find!
I thought our day was just taking the dog up to the lake to swim, and for T to try his hand at kayaking. He snuck a surprise-inflatable-SUP into the trunk of the Jeep, and I was completely thrilled, surprised, and overwhelmed to find that at our stop. I had no idea SUPing was on our to-do list for the day, but I was so glad it was!
I don’t know a thing about paddleboards. But T does, and he provided the perfect one: Pathfinder inflatable 9’9″ board. It’s an inflatable padddleboard that comes with a de-constructable paddle, a pump, fin, patch kit, and convenient backpack for rolling it up and containing it.
Backing up a little bit: Moby is a keen swimmer. He’s been swimming since he was 10 weeks old. He swims weekly at an indoor canine pool, and if we’re not in the snow, we’re somewhere by water so he can dunk his spotted little paws in any lake, river, stream, ocean, or suitable body of water to get his paddle on. This dog loves swimming. He goes insane for water.
When we’re outdoors adventuring, I always keep his Ruffwear PFD on. He swims so voraciously that I like to make sure he’s safe, in the event of fatigue, currents, cold water, or some other emergency.
So he’s always loved water. A few years ago, he tried his first hand at watercrafts with a trip on a paddle boat  on Detroit Lake. He was… not impressed. Not bad, but not really impressed.
He also tried his hand at hopping in a canoe. Also not his favorite.
So I wasn’t quite sure how he’d react to a paddleboard. It’s much more unstable. You’re right there on the water. So many other factors. With a boat, you’re sort of secured in there. It’s slippery, but contained. A paddleboard is just you and a flimsy board and then the open seas. He’s such a fiend for swimming, would he even bother staying on?
Turns out: YES!
He got a lot of swimming out of his system first– which helped. I spent the first few minutes on the paddleboard by myself, since I’d never done it, either. This was a new experience for me, too. And I expected I’d go overboard in a heartbeat.
I spent the first few minutes crouched, on my knees, getting a feel for my “footing,” steering, and balance. Moby swam out to me a few times, circled the board like a tiny shark, and usually swam back to shore or played with his toy.
After a few minutes, I felt brave enough to get the dog on board. That was the goal, right? I crouched low on the board, taking care not to fall over, then hoisted the dog up using the handle on his PFD.
It really wasn’t so bad! Moby was a little wobbly, and I was too, but we did it! We fell overboard 0 times, I’ll have you know.
I’m infinitely clumsy. I tell you, I can fall over on solid ground and trip over my own intentions. I’m quite clumsy. So I was REALLY surprised when even I could stay afload on the board! It was a lot easier than I expected. Standing up was definitely a challenge (and I made sure to paddle out to deep water before trying that, lest I fall on a log or rock), and all my motions were slow and purposeful–but it wasn’t too hard!
I was so excited. Moby stayed on the whole time and he also stayed pretty calm. He settled when I told him to, and only jumped in the water once I released him.
A few years ago, on the paddleboats, he just got so overwhelmed that no talking could bring him down, and he’d just randomly jump in the water. Same with the canoe– the canoe was an exercise in distraction more than anything to keep him in.
So the paddleboard came at a good time in his training & maturity. I wonder if even a year ago, he would have been too “green” to try it. On the SUP, he grasped the concept of listening to me– like there was a reason to settle and to stay, not “just ’cause.” That mental maturity really helped. I think if I’d done this a year earlier, it wouldn’t have been quite as successful. He’s had good practice on self-control and also sort of just “getting it,” lately.
Not to say he couldn’t have SUPed earlier. But I think we both would have ended up overboard a few more times. 😉 I’m sure there are more of those days to come, but for our first trip, we both successfully stayed on and end overboard 0 times. Huzzuh!
I also wonder if just the feel of the SUP is different from a boat, which lended himself to be calm up there. He’s normally a pretty rowdy fellow, but I think he realized that wiggling = wobbling, and that was not a fun feeling. So he learned to sit or stand pretty still. When he got tired, I let him jump off and swim to shore.
It was such a fun day! I got the hang of SUP pretty quickly, and I’m really eager to do more. By the time I was ready for more standing and more challenges, the sun was setting and it was getting cool out on the water, so we called it a day.
Before that, I sat out on the lake with Moby, and we watched bald eagles fly overhead, and some sort of eagle-like bird actually DOVE in the water after fish. It was incredible. We saw another SUPer with a poodle on the bow of the board, and a spaniel-like guy on a kayak. A day for dogs in the water, for sure.
The weather was wonderful– toasty and warm, but perfect on the water. Frog Lake is small enough that the water was super warm, especially for a mountain lake. We also saw some juvenile birds-of-indeterminate-species, a million tadpoles and froglets, eagles, and fish. And a sign saying that bears had been sighted in the area. I’m relieved to say we didn’t find a bear, but merely share it to illustrate the vast naturescape that was Saturday afternoon.
Anyway. Achievement unlocked: On Saturday, July 14, 2018, I finally SUPed with my dog. It. was. awesome.
Thoughts & Spots 
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