SUP Board Lesson in Sayulita with Stand Up Paddle Mexico Stacey Elkins - Sayulita Life
go to original October 6, 2015

It was a beautiful, clear, sunny Sunday morning and the conditions for a paddle board lesson with Stand Up Paddle Mexico could not have been more ideal. The ocean was flat, the water glassy and shimmery from the reflection of the sun, and at 10:00 a.m., it was still early enough that the beach was pretty secluded. As my friend, Camilla Fuchs, and I stood on the beach, the warm sand between our toes, I was excited to get in the water for our paddle board lesson with Shelby Taylor, who also happens to be a Pro Paddler.

Shelby gave us a brief but thorough lesson on shore, teaching us where to stand on our boards for optimum balance, how to paddle correctly, how to turn around, how to safely get in the ocean and onto our boards, and how to fall to avoid hurting ourselves. After patiently answering our questions, we waded into the water and without a problem, made it to a standing position on our large, foam paddle boards.

What wasn’t so easy for me was keeping my paddle facing the right direction, which should have been a no brainer since Shelby previously had pointed out that the words on the paddle should face out. After being kindly reminded more times that I would like to admit, I finally got the whole paddle direction thing down, which made paddling much easier and more efficient.

We paddled toward Villa Amor and Playa de los Muertos, at one point paddling over a large rock close to the surface of the water. When I looked down I could see fish swimming, including a tiny, vibrant blue fish. We continued on to Punta Sayulita and then made our way to the open sea, about a mile from the Sayulita shore....

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