Every Christmas break – for the past 9 years – my family has been traveling to the Florida Keys to spend a week in the warmth and the water. As I have been getting more involved in the SUP racing community, I came across Seychelle. She is amazing! And lucky for me – she would be at her home in the Keys the same week I would be there. So my wonderful husband hooked me up with a private SUP race lesson with her.
She was super nice and extremely knowledgeable, and if you check out her website (see above) and Instagram, you will be in awe just like I was.
We headed out from PADDLE! The Florida Keys in Tavernier, FL – just 2 miles south of our condo. The owner was so accommodating and let me rent a paddle for the week for only $15 since I couldn’t get my travel paddle apart when I was packing up my inflatable board. My mom also got me this great tank they had there with their motto “Paddle Yourself to a Better Place”. They also had one that said “Paddle All Day, Party All Night”, but I don’t think I could have pulled that one off.
The ocean was pretty flat that day so we paddled along the channel (and along side a lot of boats) and worked on racing technique. I loved the 2 SUP races I did this past summer, but I could always tell I was working really hard but didn’t seem to be going as fast as I should. Seychelle gave me some awesome tips, and I’m kind of embarrassed about how I didn’t realize how similar paddling is to swimming when it comes to things like rotation, catch, and turnover.
We worked on hip drive and paddling into the wind effectively along with so many other things that I can’t wait to try again when I get back on my race board. I am excited to share this info with my other paddle mermaids and hope to get them into the SUP race scene a little bit too!
You’re never too old to learn something new, and I am hoping that this SUP racing thing is my something new this year.
Float On, ❤ Carly
Jersey Shore Mermaids 