Witney retired couple Joe & Janet first started their paddling ‘journey’ in June ’22 with a 1hr Taster lesson and then continued regularly every week – prompting Moi to introduce the dedicated weekly Thursday morning Silver SUP Social paddles, which have proven to be extremely popular. As Janet & Joe can testify, the benefits of paddling have been both physical and mental.
“I’m 67 and my husband is 69. Like many people we’d had a difficult and stressful lockdown, and we’d been advised to ‘have some fun, get more exercise and to eat well’. I was getting plenty of exercise at our local fitness studio - Bodyfit Solutions - but getting increasing problems with osteoarthritis in my hip which was reducing the length of our walks. I really enjoy being in water, swimming in the sea and belly boarding. So when I saw Moi’s video with Stu from Bodyfit Solutions on their website, I asked him about Moi and SUPing. He told me lovely and encouraging things about Moi, so I looked at her website. I could see Moi wasn’t fazed by our age, and in fact was particularly encouraging on the website by having sessions for older clients, and she actually wrote on the site, that it’s ok if you can’t stand up on the board, just enjoy paddling. I really didn’t want to be in a group with really fit teens and twenties.
So Joe bought me a lesson for my birthday and agreed to have a go too. We bought a lesson just for us to start with. I was very excited but apprehensive and anxious too - I was afraid that I wouldn’t even be able to get on the board in the water. Then, on the morning of the lesson, Moi had to cancel because the weather was too windy. I was so deflated we nearly didn’t rebook, but I am so glad we did.
That first lesson was exhausting- I did get to standup, but didn’t experience any of the ‘mindfulness’ I had heard people rave about, it was so hard and scary. A friend of mine commented about the Mindfulness, ‘but you weren’t thinking about anything else!’ And that was so true. My husband fell off four times that first lesson, but it was ok, Moi taught him how to ‘self-rescue’. The next day we had terrible aching muscles, our core and our quads. We discussed having another go, and we did. Less scary and more enjoyable for me, less falling off for my husband, and we were hooked.
We started going out regularly with the Silver SUPers. I think it really helped my hip and miraculously it didn’t hurt once I was on the board, perhaps it was the endorphins! We enjoy seeing parts of Oxfordshire from a different angle and in particular enjoying ‘close-up’ the wildlife on the river - the excitement when we saw Kingfishers! We are looking forward to the new season, and I have a new hip to try out!
We have often wondered about buying our own SUP boards, but when we go out with Moi, she inflates the boards, stores and transports them, arranges the water licences, risk assesses the day and the weather, chooses interesting routes, and we just book, pay and turn up and have fun. Thank you Moi!”
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