Standup Paddle Boarding – An Afternoon at the Lake
One thing I wanted to do in quite some time now was standup paddle boarding. It always looked effortlessly, standing on a board and leisurely paddling along the lake. At the same time I was concerned that it only looks that way 😂 You also need the board and the paddle and simply renting at a random place seemed like not the best idea. So I was happy when the Lehigh University Grad Student Outing Club (GSOC) announced an afternoon trip to Lake Nockamixon to try some paddle boarding. Of course I had to sign up! The group is amazing and how could I pass on this opportunity, especially since we got a discount!
So on one of the last summery Saturdays in September 2021 we embarked on the short drive to Lake Nockamixon to meet up with our lovely instructors Bekha and Danielle from LL Bean to learn how to paddle board. We started with a short theoretical lesson about the boards and how to get back on should we fall (or jump) into the water, safety precautions and some general advice. After that the first half of our group grabbed the 11 boards and headed into the water to enjoy themselves for about an hour, also to entertain those of us who decided to go in the second group! We watched patiently for someone to fall in and weren’t disappointed. Even though we had to wait a little bit for that to happen. And it looked more like a jump than a fall but still we cheered for our fallen companion.
After what felt like forever but was probably only an hour it was time for me and the second group to get into the water and onto our paddle boards. Again our lovely instructors gave us tips and advice on how to get on the board and when to finally stand up and it was a lot easier than we all had feared and pretty soon all of us where standing and paddling around the lake as if we where born on a standup paddle board. After some chaperoned paddling we “practiced” falling into the water which resulted in a minor competition about who made the biggest splash when jumping into the lake and proved the earlier assumption that our “fallen” companion indeed did jump into the lake and not fall. We apparently where so convincing in our beginners technique that Bekha and Danielle deemed us good enough to learn some easy tricks, like making the board spin on its own axis, and some yoga poses.
Those “tricks” actually resulted in the first real fall but also increased our enjoyment of the afternoon. Sadly the about 50 minutes on the water were over way too quickly and it was time to get back on shore with the rest of our group and the obligatory group picture. After we cleaned up our spot we decided it’s time for ice cream and we went to the not too far away ice cream place to indulge in some tasty and sweet frozen treats at the amazing Owowcow creamery. And what a treat it was!!!
And what an amazing view we got with our ice cream! It was such a fun afternoon and I think I will repeat this experience as soon a possible in the summer of 2022!
