Stand up paddling is a new water sport on the North Shore, but the sport known as SUP has been wildly popular in California and Hawaii for 50 years. Marblehead native Leah Beth Goodman and her fiance, Christos Douroudis, opened the SUP East Coast Style on Marblehead Harbor in May and are having a blast teaching people how to do it. The initial season has been a huge success.
Saturday, the couple will paddle 34 miles in the Cape Cod Bay Challenge to help Christopher's Haven, a local charity that provides housing for families of children from all over the nation and other countries who are undergoing cancer treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital. It is located at 1 Emerson Place, next to the hospital, and has seven large furnished apartments. Dan Olsen, a Boston-based actor/singer who is a three-time cancer survivor, founded it in 2001.
"This is our first time doing it, but it's the fourth year they've had it," said Goodman, who was a three-sport athlete at Marblehead High where she played soccer and ran track. "I grew up here, and my mother still lives in Marblehead. I recently moved back from California, and we opened the business. We were looking for a way to meet people and spread the word about our sport; this charity seemed perfect.
"I have always been involved with charities; you give and you receive. Christopher's Haven is such a good cause, and the marathon stand up paddle will be a lot of fun. We've formed a team with two of our customers, Rebekah and Matt Burr, and started training."
Goodman said SUP is very popular wherever there are surfing communities, and she took it up eight years ago. She has always been involved in athletics, and all her friends loved SUP.
"I was in Hawaii, and fell in love with it immediately. It's really catching on around here, and everybody can succeed; all shapes, sizes and levels of fitness. We also have yoga and fitness classes. I've found that a lot of people who kayak get the hang of it right away, and both kayaking and canoeing are very popular on the East Coast. We started out indoors with dry land training, working with Energy Within in Marblehead. So far, we haven't had anybody fail to get the hang of it; we modify it for different levels of fitness, and everybody can do it."
Goodman said they provide the equipment and lessons at Gaslight House Beach, which is at Little Harbor in Marblehead. She said the charitable organization running Cape Cod Bay Challenge regularly sends out emails telling where people can meet up with others for training paddles. Each person on the East Coast Style team has to raise $675 to meet the goal of $2,600.
"We realize times are tough right now, and so I've made up SUP East Coast T-shirts that I'm selling with the money going to charity," Goodman said. "People can either go online to the charity (capecodbaychallenge.weebly.com) or come by the boathouse to get one."
This year's event will be more challenging than usual because it is four miles longer with the landing at Mayo Beach in Wellfleet, where a party will be held under a big tent. There will be sponsor booths, gear demonstrations, food, music, raffles and an auction. Prizes include a 14-foot Naish Glide, Kialoa paddles, Maui Jams, Tevas, a custom board and surf art.
SUP has its roots in surfing and started in Hawaii in the 1960s when beach boys paddled their big boards to the open seas to instruct their students. The name "Beach Boy Surfing" was used, and surfer Robby Naish rediscovered SUP after it had fallen by the wayside due to the lightweight shortboards. SUP riders move directly into the waves, using an oversized surfboard for stability and a paddle.
"It's really a lot of fun," Goodman said. "Christos is out on the water 10 to 12 hours a day, seven days a week. I go out three times a week for the same amount of time. We've been training every day for the past two months, starting with shorter paddles of 15 to 25 miles twice a week. We go out in all kinds of weather except when there is lightning. Safety has to come first, but a little rain doesn't stop us. I'm really excited about Cape Cod Bay Challenge and joining so many others for this wonderful charity."
