Morning Coffee on the Squamish River

Yup, coffee on my standup paddle board. Spectacular morning and day in Squamish. I did not have a lot of time but I managed to launch my SUP off the dyke and onto the Squamish River to begin to get comfortable in moving water standing up. If you are not familiar with Stand Up paddle boarding its an ancient Hawaiian Sport where you stand on big longboards and use a long paddle to propel yourself forward. The sport is huge in the states and Hawaii but has yet to take off up here. Guys like Laird Hamilton are dropping into 40-50 foot faces at Jaws on Maui and tackling one of the heaviest waves in the world, Teahupoo, in Tahiti on these things. Guys are paddling down class 4 and 5 rivers on them and guys including myself are looking at doing overnight expeditions up on the north coast with them.I am looking at some big epics since so much of this coast has never been seen by stand up paddle boarders. Something about this sport has really got me excited and all I want to do right now is paddle since there are tons of things that have never been done on a Stand Up Paddle Board. 

Today I was paddling with Harbour Seals who were chasing salmon up the river and with Mergansers and Blue Herons. It was really an amazing morning and I am looking forward to getting into the Sound for some Fjiord paddling. We are coming into the rainy and stormy season on the coast here but there are going to be some amazing adventures to be had over the winter. Combine that with another heavy schedule of ski touring and I'm set up for a good one.......