The sport of paddleboarding is really taking off in Florida’s coastal communities. I’m seeing more and more vehicles with paddleboards strapped to them, and with good reason. For the younger crowd, it is a means of getting on the water to get a workout and have fun while doing it. But paddleboarding isn’t just for the kids.

Lately, I have noticed a more mature crowd getting in on the fun. I love it, and I’m no spring chicken by any means. Once people try it, they find they just enjoy the fun of standing on a board paddling around on water. After you gain a bit of confidence in your ability to ride one, you find yourself looking forward to the next trip — paddleboarding has a way of getting you addicted to it. A group of people in Hawaii started the latest fad of paddleboarding, but the Native Americans stood in their dugouts to pole or paddle hundreds of years ago. When I was a kid, we always carried a pushpole with us in the canoe when the river was low, so we could stand and pole back into the swamps. The standing has been around for a long time, but a few changes in the crafts we use have taken it to a new level.