Paddle boards debut at Tempe Town Lake
Leslie Philp
Paddle boarding or Stand up Paddle Surfing (SUP) originated in the Hawaiian Islands in the 1960’s. This is a sport slowly being integrated into different states in the U.S. This past Sunday, Feb. 26, Paddle boarding lessons were given for free on the northern side of Tempe Town Lake along with rowing teams and kayakers.
“We’re kayakers so we’re on the distribution list for all of the events going on in Tempe Town Lake,” said Jan Killebrew a participant in the paddle board lesson.
Killebrew stated that she and her husband receive notifications for lake news and were excited about learning how to paddle board.
“Today is just an Expo,” said Isaac Schmidt, a paddleboard instructor at Tempe Town Lake. “We’ve got about another hour and a half of basically people hopping on and messing around.”
Schmidt is a lead kayaking instructor and recently became a certified paddleboard instructor.
“It’s a huge growing sport and it’s a huge sport in California and over in Hood River Oregon . (paddle boarding) is a huge revenue source for the city and it’s a fun and interesting sport.
“It’s really easy; you can pick it up in about twenty minutes and have a good time on the water.”
“. We have a 2 hour introductory,” Schmidt said on how the lessons begin. “…we’ll explain to you all of the safety, how to get on, how to use it and then we’ll get people on board as fast we can and out onto the lake.”
Schmidt attends classes at ASU and is no stranger to the waters of Tempe Town Lake. Schmidt also feels that looks are deceiving when it comes to the quality and color of the water.
“I’ve actually been an instructor on this lake for a year and a half and I haven’t gotten sick from the water. It’s got a lot of . brown algae in it, it’s completely safe water.
“I know it has a bad rap but it’s really not as bad as people think. It’s really actually a pretty high quality water system. The color is affected but the actual quality of the water isn’t.
