TortugeuroPDF-SUP-BuchananTrip

F R O N TS I D E || TA L K I N G S U P
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ASKED AT THE 2015 CAROLINA CUP //
WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NORTH CAROLINA
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1. ROBERT LOVE
HOMETOWN: JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA
OCCUPATION: DEPUTY, CLAY COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
It is awesome. It’s the best workout, it’s the best drug, the nicest
people I’ve ever met in my whole life and I’m serious. I just started, I
have less than 12 months experience, I’ve not met one person with a
bad attitude. This is my first race. This is the American dream for me.
2. WILLIAM LEE
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HOMETOWN: WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA
OCCUPATION: KINDERGARTEN STUDENT
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Because it’s fun.
3. WENDELL MARTIN
HOMETOWN: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
OCCUPATION: SELF-EMPLOYED
Standup paddling is cool because, well, look who we get to paddle
with. These guys, they don’t forget about us. We get to paddle with
Michael Jordan we get to golf with Arnold Palmer. It’s still kind of
pure, you know? It didn’t get messed up yet.
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4. FIONA WYLDE
HOMETOWN: HOOD RIVER, OREGON
OCCUPATION: STANDUP PADDLER, WINDSURFER, HIGH SCHOOLER
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Standup paddling is definitely cool. Think about it: you get to be out
on the water no matter what the conditions, paddle around, have fun,
catch waves, paddle crazy distances, you’re basically snorkeling but
out of the water. You can paddle anywhere you want in the world, it
doesn’t matter if it’s a lake, a river, an ocean, anything.
5. ROCH FREY
HOMETOWN: ENCINITAS, CALIFORNIA
OCCUPATION: EVENT PRODUCER/COACH
Of course standup paddling’s cool. You can walk on water. What’s
cooler than walking on water?
WORD ON
THE WATER
IS SU P COOL?
PHOTOS: GREG PANAS
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6. MEREDITH BRANDT
HOMETOWN: WASHINGTON D.C.
OCCUPATION: NON-PROFIT WORKER
It’s very cool and it’s cool because it’s such an accessible sport for
everybody. No matter who you are, no matter what ability you are,
everybody can do it and that’s why it’s so awesome.
F R O N TS I D E
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Inside
the Ride
WITH
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PHOTO: DAN BARHAM
Lina Augaitis
AGE: 34
HOMETOWN:
Vancouver, British Columbia
Lina Augaitis is an outdoor
1. Race Board. SIC X 12’6” Pro Lite. It was designed
paddle. I like Werner because they’re a family organiza-
by Mark Raaphorst, who is an amazing shaper, and it’s
tion, they’re well-built paddles and they make their
my go-to race board for flatwater and small chop.
products in the U.S.
2. Fin. The SUP Gladiator fin designed and built by
7. Drysuit . My Supskin drysuit saves me in the
renaissance woman. The
Larry Allison. Great in all conditions, and it’s my lucky
winter. It’s super lightweight and has little booties and
Canadian’s path includes
fin.
a hood attached for the many cold, rainy days we have
time as an adventure racer,
skier, mountain biker,
3. Bed. My husband built a bed by taking out the
back seats and welding in a custom frame. Underneath
is just the right height to fit milk crates for storage
wilderness guide and, more
and above is just enough room to sit up comfortably.
recently, one of the world’s
Perfect.
4. Skis. These are my backcountry touring skis with
here.
8. Running Gear . I used to be a big adventure
racer, and I still really enjoy trail running.
9. Mountain Bike . This is my favorite mountain
bike for North Vancouver, which is known for having
really technical trails. It’s a Titus, but my husband put it
top female SUP racers. With
Dynafit bindings, which is what I normally use. In the
together from a bunch of different parts. And I love the
a custom, built-in bed, a
winter, skiing is my main outdoor sport. Around here,
color. Orange makes me look hardcore.
locally designed bike rack
especially in the spring, you can ski tour, mountain
and all the amenities she
bike and paddleboard all in one day.
5. iSUP. Inflatable SIC X 12’6”. This is the best for
10. Bike Rack. This is called the North Shore rack,
and it was created and made by a couple from North
Vancouver. They were annoyed with how complicated
needs, Lina’s ride is almost as
traveling. It’s perfect for planes or car trips where I don’t
and cumbersome most racks are, so they made a
versatile as she is.
want to put boards on the roof. It hangs out in the car
simple, tough rack that’s easy to use. All it takes is one
a lot.
rope to secure the bikes, and you can put up to four
—Mike Fields
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6. Paddle. The Werner Grand Prix is my go-to race
bikes on it.
F R O N TS I D E || C O R E C O M M E N TA R Y
Katie McAnena
age:28
Strandhill, County Sligo, Ireland
Katie McAnena
doesn’t just paddle
standup boards.
She competes
on the American
Windsurfing Tour, surfs
big waves and is a
practicing doctor.
She’s also very Irish.
—Will Taylor
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Sorry we missed each other yesterday.
I had to cover someone and it was a nightmare 24-hour shift
but it’s just part of my crazy life. I’m lucky I live right on the
water so I just got out for a surf. It takes a lot of bullshit out
of the equation. It’s a small village with one pub, one church,
one shop. And everyone surfs. I moved here from Galway,
where I grew up, a year-and-a-half ago and it’s littered with
the best waves imaginable.
What are the seasons like?
The waves are best during the Caribbean hurricane season.
Fall is the perfect time, while summer heats up and is more
inconsistent. But the days are long, it’s bright until 11 o’clock
at night so we get lots and lots of water time. We keep going
all through winter, just suit up and wear hoods and gloves.
Your accent is pretty easy to understand.
I’ve really learned how to tone it down. Wherever I go on the
AWT people can understand me. I just know my audience.
How long have you been a doctor for?
I graduated in 2011. In 2008-9 I took a sabbatical from
school. I just really, really wanted to push it on the AWT,
in Australia, Maui, etc. I started standup paddling then.
Windsurfing really embraced SUP and they have many
dual events. That was always fun. I burnt a major hole in my
school loan.
You seem to have different SUP goals than other
women.
I’ve won the Irish national title the last three years and even
won the ladies racing last year. I got into Sayulita (for ISA
Worlds) but I can’t swing it with work. Really though, I’m
addicted to massive waves. That’s my plan for next winter:
Jaws, Aileen’s, Mullaghmore. I windsurfed Jaws two years
ago and I think I’m ready (for SUP) now. It’s easy to say it’s a
guy’s world but you have to stop listening to nay and go for it.
What’s it like to be a paddler there?
My mom grew up in a small seaside village and everyone
was in awe of the ocean. A great amount of fisherman don’t
know how to swim. It’s taken people a long time for the sea
change toward water sports. SUP has given them access
like they haven’t had before. Most people can just stand on
a board on any waterway. That’s the reason it’s taken off in
Ireland. It’s a really happy scene.
PHOTO: FINN MULLEN
F R O N TS I D E
PA D D L I N G C O S TA R I C A’ S V A S T A N D W AT E R Y N AT I O N A L PA R K
T E E M I N G
T O RT U G U E R O
BY
EUGENE
BUCHANAN
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PHOTO: ANDRES QUIROS
F R O N TS I D E
PHOTOS: ANDRES QUIROS
T
he main differences between caimans and crocodiles are caimans’ smaller
size, rounder snout and upper jaw covering the bottom teeth. But that’s
hard to tell from a paddleboard when all you see are menacing, beady eyes.
It’s even harder to explain that to your kids wobbling next to you.
We’re on the Rio Mora in Costa Rica’s Tortuguero National Park and while caimans
are commonplace, SUPs aren’t. According to our guide Reinaldo Vargas, who works for
my friend Rafael Gallo’s company, Rios Tropicales, these are the first SUPs the seemingly soulless, reptilian eyes have ever seen.
“It’s okay,” he says to my daughters, Casey, 12, and Brooke, 16. “We’re bigger than
they are so they’re afraid of us.”
“Yeah, and I’m bigger than you,” Brooke chides Casey.
If nothing else, this fuels them both to
paddle harder. We continue upstream, taking a tiny fork to the right. Howler monkeys
screech overhead and a white-face monkey
leaps branches. Slaloming through dangling
vines and ducking under giant frond leaves,
we continue until our path is blocked by a
250-year-old mountain almond tree. It fell,
says Rey, just two months ago and its wood
alone is worth $30,000.
It’s these and other over-lumbered indigenous hardwoods, as well as the largest
green sea turtle nesting area in the world that led to the region being preserved as a
national park in 1978. With 25 percent of its land in its national park system, Costa Rica
is a shining star of the world’s preservation movement, for good reason. It’s home to
more than 500,000 species, four percent of the world’s total. Located in a freshwater
maze dumping nutrients in the Caribbean, Tortuguero is one of its crown jewels. And
it was the perfect place, I reasoned, to instill an environmental ethos in my kids. What
better way to see its tannin-filled waterways than from a paddleboard?
WITH 25 PERCENT OF ITS LAND IN
ITS NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM, COSTA
RICA IS A SHINING STAR OF THE
WORLD’S PRESERVATION MOVEMENT.
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F R O N TS I D E
IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG FOR THE
JUNGLE’S CHARM TO TAKE HOLD.
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rriving two days earlier in San Jose, we rose at 5 a.m. to drive
over the Continental Divide’s cloud forest before descending
6,000 vertical feet in 30 miles to the Caribbean wetlands. At
our put-in on the Rio Suerte, we unloaded a mix of SUPs and
kayaks and began our paddle to Mawamba Lodge on the outskirts of the
park.
It didn’t take long for the jungle’s charm to take hold. Spider monkeys, the
second fastest tree monkey in the world, launched from tree to tree and yellow trumpet flowers and
vibrant orange heliconias
illuminated the green river
banks.
Two hours later we
entered a canal paralleling the Caribbean from
Nicaragua, comprising the
heart of the park. Here, we
QUIROS
loaded our boards onto a
motorboat and shuttled to
lunch on the bank. While
Rey flipped a SUP upside
down as a table, we took
a boardwalk hike through
the selva. The setting
prompted Casey to whistle the bird song from the
JIMMY NIXON
Hunger Games.
Two steps in, we spotted a hand-sized, female golden orb weaver spider glistening in the strongest
web in the world, one whose protein researchers synthetically emulated to
make bulletproof vests. A tiny male the size of a watermelon seed sat off to
the side fixing the web; it was clear who wore the pants in the relationship.
A viper, toucan and poisonous red dart frog later, we emerged back at the
river where we hopped on the boards for the final push to the lodge. At the
tiny community of Tortugeuro, where the canal makes an abrupt U-turn, we
turned north and soon saw the green roofs of Mawamba, our home for the
next few days. A covered dock housed a fleet of motorboats used by guests
arriving by more conventional means.
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Built in 1985 by entrepreneur Maurizio Dada, the 40-acre, 56-room
lodge was one of the first established in the area and is as well appointed
as our jungle environs. An open-air bar, pool with bridge and waterfall, large
open-walled dining area and hammocks swinging from every porch quickly
sent the kids scrambling. But its best feature is its location, sandwiched on
a jungle spit between the freshwater estuary and the crashing waves of the
Caribbean. It was a mango pit’s throw to each.
It’s clear that Maurizio follows his government’s conservation ethos. That
afternoon, we toured the
lodge’s bio-digester, which
heats the rooms’ hot water
with human waste. Next,
we visited his “ranarium,”
or frog farm, and a butterfly pavilion filled with
the fluttering wings of blue
morphos and zebra longQUIROS
wings. The country has
10 percent of the world’s
total butterfly species, and
Maurizio is bent on keeping it that way.
Walking back through
a well-kept forest of paprika, avocado, lime, coconut, guava and other trees,
QUIROS
we saw a three-toed sloth
lounging high in a tree,
prompting Brooke to ask for one as a pet. Yeah, litter box upkeep might be a
snap–they poop only once a week—but our dog and two cats will remain our
home’s only animals.
At the bar, the kids basked in virgin piña coladas while we settled for soda
and cacique, a local, triple-distilled sugar cane liquor. With the witching hour
upon us, we loaded the boards on the motorboat and shuttled out to the river
mouth for sunset. When the sun radiated a wall of green under a flock of
white egrets, we paddled over for photos and then continued on to the river
mouth. We heard the crashing waves of the Caribbean before we saw them,
protected on our perch in the freshwater bay by the final finger of land.
W
aking to a cacophony of bird calls,
the next morning we find local
critters having breakfast before
us. No sooner than we sit down,
the kids run off to see the mouth of a green vine
snake wrapped around the head of a clay-colored
robin, Costa Rica’s national bird, and an iguana the size
of Casey’s leg placidly gnawing a leaf.
Fueled by thick Costa Rican coffee, we motor to the park
office for our 8:30 entrance time slot. Heading south toward Panama, we turn up a tributary bordered by towering walls of foliage. A caiman submerges with a flop of its tail in
the same water we set the boards in. “Dad!” my daughters yell in unison.
Floating down the Agua Fria, we witness a log standoff between a caiman and orange-eared slider turtle. It’s not Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, but here everything is competitive, whether it’s plants vying for precious sunlight or animals practicing one-upmanship.
Casey startles a Jesus Christ lizard, so named for its ability to run on water, using its tail
as a rudder. Humans, says Rey, would have to reach 80 mph to accomplish such a feat.
Plunging in where we dare cool off and exploring a myriad of other rivers wending
like blood vessels through the most pristine jungle in the world, we eventually turn and
make our way back to the lodge. With the sun going down over water matching the color
of the sky and as smooth as the inside of a seashell, Rey and I paddle 15 minutes to the
Tortuguero community. My wife and kids will hike over and meet us for what Casey’s had
her eye on all trip: A coconut with a straw.
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Pulling up to a throng of kids at the dock beneath two giant, colorful toucan sculptures, we stash our boards and watch a
pick-up soccer game on a palm-lined field, the yells eclipsed by
crashing waves. Since the town has no roads or cars, we stroll
down a pedestrian-friendly walkway, taking in its “Don’t worry, be
happy” Caribbean vibe. Locals play cards at a park table, kids
zing around on rusted bikes and dreadlocked rastas mill around
in Bob Marley shirts.
We find Casey her coconut, which she sips while watching
the sky turn blaze pink. We toast Tortuguero and the unique experience of seeing it from a SUP. When I ask Casey what could
possibly be better, she thinks for a second, emits a caiman smile
and replies, “Maybe if I had this coconut on a paddleboard.”
If You Go: The trip will likely require overnighting in
San Jose. Try the Hotel Oro de Grano (Hotelgranodeoro.com), a restored mansion in the heart of downtown.
For paddleboards, either BYO inflatable or hook up with
30-year outfitter Rios Tropicales (Riostropicales.com),
which can also book your stay at the Mawamba Lodge
(Mawambalodge.com), which can handle everything
from meals to motorboat shuttles.
PHOTO: RAFAEL GALLO
VESTEDT
INTERES
N
THE URBAID
E
U
G
E
L
PADD
N,
T YOUR TOW
WRITE ABOU BIG!
WIN
Photo: GREG PANAS
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In case you missed it at SUPthemag.com, we’re in the midst of
building the world’s largest online paddling resource, The Urban
Paddle Guide. Presented by SUP ATX, The Urban Paddle Guide is an
exhaustive resource to paddling cities all over the country, filled with
info on local paddle shops, SUP options like water trails, river runs
and access points, along with apres options. We need your help.
Simply go to SUPthemag.com, hover over features and click
Urban Paddle Guide. Then, enter your hometown in the correct
fields including paddling information, a picture, YouTube links and
other important information to paddling in your berg. In September,
we’ll pick the best write-up in the guide and the winner earns a
free trip to the SUP Awards in October, one of the sport’s greatest
showcases.
Need an idea of what we’re looking for? Check out this example
from San Juan, Puerto Rico:
San Juan couldn’t be a cooler place to paddle. Puerto Rico is a
US territory so it’s easy to get there; there’s water everywhere from
surf spots to placid lagoons to downwind runs; and the culture is a
vibrant blend of island life with Spanish flair.
Start your paddle in Condado Lagoon, a beautiful piece of water
set amidst San Juan’s bustling beachside landscape. On weekends
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the lagoon’s shores are filled with Puerto Ricans barbecuing, juggling soccer balls and relaxing in the shade of palm trees. Its calm
waters are perfect for flatwater training or cruising with the family.
If you want to keep paddling in protected waters but cover some
distance, head along the San Antonio Channel toward the Port of
San Juan and historical Old San Juan, with its colonial walls, colorful
architecture and brick-paved streets. Be careful for boat traffic and
increasing winds. The weather here can be fickle.
Advanced paddlers can get a serious workout by circling the
entire San Juan Island, with wind at your back at least halfway. Be
careful for reefs, rogue waves and, again, that wind. Highlights
include views of La Perla, a local neighborhood painted in a mosaic
of pastels and the Castillo San Felipe del Morro, an old Spanish fort
from which they once controlled access to the Caribbean.
Tropical setting, fascinating history, great paddling and rich culture. What else do you need?
Shop and Eat: If you’re hungry—and you will be—check out Pirilo Pizza Rustica in Old San Juan. Great wood-fire pies with Puerto
Rican flavor, excellent sangria and a killer beer selection. Check out
Velauno for board rentals or purchases. On weekends they set up a
tent on Condado’s shore, making rentals a breeze.
Enter your town @ SUPthemag.com