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Mom says, “Clean your River.”

Post-cleanup trash haul We honored Mother Earth this Mother’s Day. Armed with bags donated from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, we took a group of paddlers, including some from the Cumberland River Compact, out on the water. After some quick instruction, we paddled at the Smith Springs Recreation Area on J. Percy Priest Lake and…

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May 12, 2013

Flood Anniversary

The General Jackson on the Cumberland River Three years ago this weekend I was glued to the TV. I had one eye on the Cumberland, which was rising, causing the Gaylord Opryland hotel to be evacuated. It later flooded. I watched the televised reports, wondering if I should evacuate my house. I packed a bag…

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May 4, 2013

Special FloYo Class

One of the most fun things about SUP is meeting the amazing people who are involved with it. In January, when we got PaddleFit certified, we met Baltimore’s Jessie Benson. Next Sunday, April 28, she’ll be a special guest in Music City. With our own Liz Vehyl, Benson will be teaching one of her sought-after FloYo classes, which are combinations of yoga and pilates: on the paddleboard, of course. Register today, because space is limited.

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April 21, 2013

Cumberland River Paddlefest

For the first few years when we paddled around Nashville, people looked at the boards on our cars and asked us where we were going surfing. Kayakers and canoers had their events and the few SUPers we knew had theirs. But things are different now. People shout “paddleboards!” or “YOLO!” when we drive by. We…

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March 17, 2013

Paddle with the Mayor

  Stones River 2011 Nashville Mayor Karl Dean is a big supporter of the area’s waterways and watershed, it is one of the things we like best about him. (He’s long been a supporter of the Cumberland River Compact and the Cumberland River Dragon Boat Festival.) So, we are stoked to join TSRA, Metro and…

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March 1, 2013

Get Out!

The outdoor temperatures this weekend were finally warm enough that we could hit the water for a few paddles—four miles on Saturday and another four on Sunday. It felt great to get out there, even if the water on Percy Priest Lake was just 47 degrees. One of the fishermen we passed said the fish start biting at 50 degrees. The fisherman wasn’t the only one wanting the water to warm, at those temperatures we really did not want to fall. But despite paddling with great caution and making sure not to take a swim in that water, we felt great after paddling, better than we have inside at the gym during the past few weeks. That experience, combined with this New York Times blog post by Gretchen Reynolds, underscores the importance of exercising outside. There’s a 100% chance of…

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February 25, 2013

TWRA Boating Safety Course

If you are born before January 1, 1989 or if you are sticking to your SUP when on the water, you aren’t required by law to take the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) Boating Safety Exam. The certification is designed for folks operating motorboats and PWCs (aka Jet Skis) on the state’s waterways. But some…

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February 9, 2013

Cabin Fever

DIY SUP Balance Training Today was a “snow day” in Metro Nashville, which meant while most of the white stuff melted before noon, public schools were closed, and it decidedly was not paddling weather. Earlier in the week it was 60 degrees warmer. But there were 105 mile an hour winds that day, so, again,…

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February 2, 2013

Florida Road Trip

We snuck away from Nashville for a few days in January for a trifecta of great paddling activities. The first two days of the week Margaret got PaddleFit Level 1 and Level 2 Certified, along with Liz Vehyl of Nashville Power Yoga. This is a great professional program that helped refresh some technique issues, practice…

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January 23, 2013

Safety First

We’ve had an usually warm winter in Middle Tennessee. We paddled on Thanksgiving and Christmas hiked on New Year’s! No complaints here. But when the sun comes out in winter, we get questions about availability of rentals. Are we open? Are we teaching? The answer is: It depends. No one wants to paddle more than we do! We promise. But we look at more than the outside temps. We look at the water temps, the current, the wind, the water levels, the paddling experience of the renters and other factors. When the water is too low, there are rocks and other hazards. When the water is too high, there can be current issue, debris floating in the water and other hazards. We don’t want anyone to miss out on the fun of SUP, but we put safety first. If you…

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January 23, 2013