I feel no sense of achievement paddling while sitting down so I decideto throw caution to the wind and attempt the ultimate feat – standing up.

The hawaiians have spiced up plain old surfing by adding a paddle To The equaTion. sarah Johnson heads To vung Tau for whaT Turns ouT To be an exacTing buT rewarding experience. phoTos by sarah Johnson.

The sea glistens under the bright mid-afternoon sun. The sky is clear, the surf is steady and the water is warm.

I look out to sea and on the horizon a wave is starting to form. The crest gathers momentum and turns into a full-blown wall of liquid. I stand atop my board and paddle frantically to catch it. Adrenaline is coursing through my veins as I crouch down and am carried along by the white foam. Water sprays in my face and the wind blows through my hair. I feel completely alive.

And then I wake up.While my idealised version of how my

first attempt at SUP (that’s stand up paddle boarding to you and I) might have starred me as an all-conquering queen of the surf, the reality, I was sure, was about to prove much less impressive.

For a start I don’t really know what the sport involves other than, duh, a paddle and a surfboard. Nevertheless, working on the premise that anything that combines exer-cise and a beach can only be a good thing, I head to Vung Tau Beach Club full of both trepidation and excitement.

“Nobody really knows what stand up paddle boarding is or what it involves,” says Arten Shatalov, a water sports instruc-tor at the club. “It’s really fun though and

the main advantage is that anyone can do it all year round. All you need is a swimsuit and enthusiasm.”

Sitting DuckThe lesson gets off to a bad start. I can’t even carry the board down to the beach. The cum-bersome thing keeps slipping and I can’t get a grip on it. The pain the scorching sand is inflicting upon my bare feet isn’t helping matters. Taking pity on me, my instructor Hoang carries the board to the sea while I grab my flip-flops.

Hoang demonstrates how to get on the board. I follow suit and cannot seem to bal-ance, so instead he tells me to start by sitting down. This I can do. I head out towards the horizon plunging my paddle into the water. At first, my strokes are weak and pathetic but they improve quickly and after a while, I feel the strain on my arm and shoulder mus-cles. I’ve gone a long way out. I look around for Hoang, but he’s disappeared. Some in-structor he is. I’m not even standing yet and he’s deserted me.

I think about going and dragging him back to help me, but decide against it. I am a confident, able young woman and can take on any challenge.

No one else is left in the sea. Am I that bad? I get lonely out on my own with only the odd plastic bag for company. The current pulls me away from my start point. I paddle back. My strokes are better and this is do-able. After a while, my puny arm muscles start to ache - this is a real upper body work-

out – and, with no encouragement forth-coming to perk me up, I am fading quickly. I feel no sense of achievement paddling while sitting down so I decide to throw caution to the wind and attempt the ultimate feat – standing up.

Stand-up GalI grab the sides of the board and manoeu-vre my legs so that I am crouched on top. My muscles are tensed, ready for action, but I feel far from steady. I try, tentatively, to stand. It’s a disaster. I let go of the sides and fall spectacularly into the brine. Water goes up my nose and I cough and splutter for a bit, but no harm is done. I try a few times, but each attempt ends in abject fail-ure.

I’m seriously considering calling it a day and heading to shore for some refreshments when a miracle happens. I rise tentatively and instead of lurching headlong into the water I wobble heroically to my feet. I may not be threatening to challenge the greats just yet but the feeling of being able to sur-vey the sea from a standing position on my board makes all the suffering worth it. I mean, who cares that I lose my balance sec-onds after?

I’ll be honest - standing on plastic in the East Sea is not my forte. Launching myself onto the board at regular intervals takes its toll on my energy levels and, with no mo-tivator present to urge me on to feats of water-based wizardry, I decide to head back to shore.

My legs are tired from attempting to sup-port my weight on the board and my arms are weak from all the paddling. My stom-ach muscles, tensed for the past hour as I tried to balance, finally relax. I don’t feel like a complete failure, though. My five sec-onds or so standing on water remain plant-ed in my mind and I know that next time I can build on this and become the SUP siren I was born to be.

Chairman of the BoardOne thought that does linger though, is what exactly does this sport offer? Is it re-ally just about waving some stick about and balancing on a board?

Hoang magically appears out of nowhere so I am spared from lugging the board back up the beach.

“Tired?” he asks.I grunt in agreement. He is not my favou-

rite person at the moment. He does, how-ever, earn a modicum of grudging respect when he demonstrates what can be done with a little practice. He hops on the board and manoevres himself into position with ease. He catches a wave, crouches down and is instantly transformed from a slightly negligent instructor into a picture of ath-letic grace.

Arten tells me they get three-metre waves occasionally in Vung Tau. That’s definitely something to look forward to.

If you want to try stand up paddle boarding in Vung Tau, head to 8 Thuy Van or email vung-tausurf@mail.com.

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