This week we spoke the Alby & Laxmi, they are a couple from the UK who was been travelling the world in their van. They are yoga professionals, outdoor lovers and more recently Paddleboard advocates! In this weeks blog post we speak to them about how paddleboard is oh so much more than “just a sport.”
Paddleboarding: Way more than a sport
We are Alby and Laxmi. We live in Costa Brava, Catalonia and teach yoga around Europe. Ever since we got our paddleboard we fell in love with this sport. But as is the theme of this blog post, this is way more than a sport. Sunbathing out at sea and teasing that friend who doesn’t want to fall in has never been so fun. Our favourite discipline of SUPing would have to be going on random adventures in search of new lands, aka escaping from the crowded umbrella beaches and suncream-tinted waters. We have discovered so many deserted beaches a short paddle away from the crowds.
When we first pumped up our SUP (Bluefin Cruise Carbon 12′) we realised what a game-changer it is to have a paddleboard. As you may have sensed, we don’t like crowded beaches. In the height of summer, when all you can see on most beaches is a colourful array of beach umbrellas and varying tones of burnt skin, we pump up the paddle, stuff our dry bag full of a picnic and snorkels and paddle away to a pristine cove which is otherwise inaccessible on foot.
Paddleboards are versatile
What I think made this sport bounce back in popularity after so many years of being forgotten, is its versatility. You can surf on it, you can do your morning sun salutations on it, you can go on snorkelling adventures to the islands out at sea, or, my all-time favourite, just mess around with that friend who really doesn’t want to get wet, shaking the board side to side, slowly sending them closer and closer to falling in.
SUPS are also versatile in the sense that you can take them anywhere. Now we have inflatable boards you can put it on the plane for the price of a check-in bag, shove it in the back of the car, walk it around with its handy backpack. But most importantly for us, take it wherever we go in our camper, our home on wheels, which we have built and lived in for 1 and a half years. Paddling on a wavy Mediterranean sea and a calm lake in the Swiss Alps are two totally different ball games, but both are wonderful. You can check out our paddling, van life and yoga shenanigans on Instagram @tadayoga
Paddleboarding is for everyone!
Some people think they are no good at balancing, therefore would never get to grips with SUPing. It’s simply not true! First of all, one thing that Bluefin offers is a paddle that can be both a double-sided paddle for sitting or a one-sided paddle for standing. This is great as a lot of the time we choose to sit, especially if we are 2 or 3 people on the board along with a day bag of stuff. Also, you go faster when you sit as you can paddle quicker, and Bluefin throw in a free seat you can strap onto the board. So if you don’t have much balance, sitting is always an option. BUT what we have found really cool is how quickly people get the hang of standing. It seems like an area where muscle memory works miracles. One day they fall in every 30 seconds, the next day they have sussed the standing, and the third day they are doing a headstand in the middle of the sea. Our only tip would be to start out on a lake or early morning glass-like sea, it’s 10 times easier.
Beyond the freedom and versatility a SUP provides, we couldn’t be more happy with the board itself. The moment we saw it we knew it was robust. It’s a thick strong material, it’s scratched up against many sharp corals with no problem, it’s straps and handles are made to last, the paddle is super light and adjustable, and thanks to the pointed nose, we notice it’s much faster than other boards out there. Also, thanks to a lot of volumes, you feel stable, even in tree pose!
Alby & Laxmi
A big Bluefin thanks to Alby & Laxmi for writing this great guest blog. If you want to see more from them, you can follow their van-life adventures here: https://www.instagram.com/tadayoga/