Over the past three summers in Moab, I have had the opportunity to meet quite a few inspirational people. One of them being Natali Zollinger, a badass lady who runs the river with true skill. When she offered the opportunity to partake in her Stand Up Paddle board (SUP) Clinic, I could not resist. Especially since the company I work with was a part of it. Fate, meet destiny!

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The night before the clinic started, we all met at 98 Center, an awesome restaurant in town, for the meet and greet shindig. She gifted all the guests with swag bags, full of neat gear and goodies. Hats, caffeine gum, foam rollers, swag shirts, etc! We got acquainted with each other over lovely mocktails, vegan nachos, and swag. Not a bad way to kick off the weekend.

DAY 1

The crew met up at Love Muffin cafe at 8 a.m., where we had breakfast and went over the plans for the day, and ordered our lunches for that afternoon.

From Love Muffin, we met at Lions Park at the base of 128 and got all our gear together, loaded up the trailer and headed up river road to let the adventures begin!

Starting at Rocky Rapid, we began by going over river and SUP knowledge, covering all the basics:

• River safety
• SUP board
• SUP leash
• Lifejackets
• Paddles
• River communication
  • Whistles
  • Hand signals
  • River terms (eddying out, etc.)
• Paddling techniques
  • C Stroke
  • Forward stroke
  • Brake
• Stance
  • Regular

 

Once on the river, we began working and building on the basics and kicked it up a notch. Covering all ends of the spectrum…

• Peel outs
• Peel ins
• Fairy angles
• Bracing (high & low)
• Stances
  • Staggered
  • Surf
• Strokes
  • Draw stroke
  • J stroke
• Reading the river

 

We ended the river portion of the day at Sandy Beach and made our way to wrap up the evening at Sabaku for sushi.

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DAY 2

Of course, another perfect morning started with Love Muffin Cafe! <3

Then off to Canyon Voyages to check out their retail and gear.

&& to the river we go! Back on the Colorado to work and build our skills. Today we took on the white water!

Starting at Onion Sneak, we traveled approximately 10 miles to Sandy Beach as our take out, going through 5 named rapids and a few smaller ones as well.

Throughout the trip, many good topics were covered. Fin types & numbers, and what you would use them for. The difference between inflatables and hard boards and when each board applies…

Now that we were actually on the white water, we could work on applying a lot of the skills we had practiced the day before. Including;

• Reading and scouting rapids
• Different types of stances
• Surfing waves
  • Reading which waves are good to surf and how to break them down
  • How to apply the surf stance
  • Where to put your weight
  • How to enter and exit surf wave

 

It was awesome to not only be able to experience my own improvement but to witness others growth as well. Goes to show that no matter what your experience level may be, you can always learn and improve your skill sets- and have fun doing it.

Big thanks to Natali, Tiffany and Paddle Moab for a wonderful adventure weekend!

 

 

 

See ya on the river.

 

*Love & Light*