Now this may seem strange, praising the falling in stage, the 'failures'. But I see those failures as steps on the way to success. I see it as the water teaching me a lesson, a 'close but not close enough' moment, a watery shit sandwich if you will.

Falling in gives me humility, it teaches me to accept failure, learn from it, get back on the board and try again. Skateboarding was my first passion (and remains one to this day) and believe me, Skateboarding is hard. It hurts, the concrete, the board smacking your shins, it hurts. But the more times you fall the closer you are to succeeding in landing a trick. You can either fall, walk away and give up or you can take the falls lessons and put it into your next try. I always tried to take this approach back into my Skating and believe me the buzz of succeeding after adversity is intoxicating!. The reason Skateboarding and in time, SUP resonated was exactly because it was hard that kept me coming back to it. The reward at the end of the rainbow. Bungee Jumping, Scooter riding, Jet Skiing, things easier to pick up and do (or pay someone else to do it for you), they were never going to stick, never going to keep me coming back for more.

From the start of my Paddleboarding life, about Eight or Nine years ago it was the same feelings of failure and rewards. SUP is a strange old activity, it looks super easy as you watch people glide through the harbour or carve along a wave, but (as I am sure you know!), appearances can be deceptive. Its a balance on a knife edge, seconds away from a splash kind of sport which rewards endeavour and commitment over time.

After 9 years of SUP all around the world (and over Thirty years of boardsports) I still spend a significant amount of any surf or river trip in the water trying to work out the lessons I need to learn from my last fall from grace. Long may it continue.

As a coach, I love to see folks not seeing falling in as a failure but as a learning tool on the way to becoming better Paddleboarders because Falling in is an essential part of why this sport will keep you coming back for more and more.

So there you have it, fall in, commit, learn and progress. I love it!