Stand Up Paddling and Cafe Brasil

I first saw stand up paddling in 2008 Santa Cruz Kayak Surf festival. It was a strange sight. Out in the ocean, far away from shore, were these people standing and paddling. They look really stable and were even able to ride waves!

Well, as some of you know, I am a self-proclaimed paddle junkie. So, when I saw stand up padding lessons offered by UCSC recreation, I jumped at the opportunity.

The meeting time for the lesson was 9am at UCSC East Field House, which was a welcoming change from the earlier starting time for kayaking trips. There I met who I taught was the instructor, Conner. When I first saw Conner, I laughed. He had the the stereotypical surfer dude look. Long blond hair, shoe less, shirt less and laid back attitude. Turned out he was the surfing instructor for UCSC, but stand up paddling lessons were being outsource to Surftech.

This was the first time UCSC offered stand up paddling lessons and Conner himself had not done stand up paddling, so everyone was new to the sports and nobody knew what to expect. The Recreation department suggested everyone wore a wet suit while padding, so all of us loaned suits from the UCSC recreation department. Then, Conner drove us in a department van to Santa Cruz harbor. There was where our lessons were to be conducted.

10mins after we arrived, Rob from Surftech showed up in a van filled with surf board and paddle. He then proceed to pull out about 20 surf board and handing out paddles to everyone.

It was a really hot day, and based on conversation Rob, we were not expected to fall into the water too much, I decided not to wear my wet suit. Apparently, everyone else in the class reached the same decision.

We carried the surf board down the boat launch ramp, then dropped the board in the water. With someone holding on to the board, I slided stomach down onto the board. Once I felt stable, I came up to kneeling position and started paddling away from the ramp to make room for other surfers.

After launching everyone, Rob told us to stand up gently. The board was surprisingly stable in the protected water of the harbor, and I did not have too much difficult standing up. Then, Rob suggested we swaying our hip from side to side to loosen it up. According to him, to will help us get "sea legs", so that we can react to waves and better keep our balance. Obviously, I did not understand the last part. As I started swaying, I fell into water.

It was actually a bit of effort to swim back to my board, since when I fell, I kicked the board away from myself. Once I reach the board, getting back on was quite easy. I was able to reach reach across the board and pull myself stomach first onto the board. Like I said, surprisingly stable, much more stable than a kayak.

We went round the harbor once, then Rob asked if anyone had questions. When nobody said anything, he decided we were ready to paddle in open sea!

The class started paddling out the mouth of the harbor into the bay. We were quite a sight, since there were several college co-ed among us, wearing bikini. A boat passed us on its way into the ocean, and I could hear the couple on the boat talking.

"Henry, this must be your lucky day!" the lady said. "There are girls in bikinis inside the harbor!"

At this time we were near the mouth of the harbor. Another boat sped by, and the wake of the boat caused me to fall a second time:( Luckily outside harbor, water was not as dirty.

Our class paddled to the beach to the right of the harbor (when facing land). We quite a distance away from the beach, so there was not much swell. The weather was getting really hot. Everyone began to lie down on their board and rest, tanning and enjoying the sun.

Conner, the surf instructor, began riding some waves. Obviously, he was able to get the hang of riding wave on stand up paddling board quickly. I saw him ride a few waves and that looked really fun!

Fascinated, I decided to join in. Having not surf before, I was unable to judge the wave. I had paddle in front of a wave, waiting for the wave to catch up. At first, I felt nothing, then a sudden surge which I was unprepared for. My stance on the board was totally wrong for riding wave. My body was perpendicular to the board, with feet on the sides! The board quickly sped up, and like someone had pull a carpet from under my feet, I fell backwards into the sea. The board was washed ashore, with me swimming behind to catch up.

I retrieved the board on the beach, collected my breath and tried paddling out. But the waves in the surf zone was quite strong. I was not having much success leaving the beach :( I would paddle a few feet and be washed back ashore by the waves. Sensing I am in a difficult spot, Conner came to the rescue! He told me to walk the board by my side as far as possible into the ocean, while going directly into the wave front. Then at the point when water was chest high, we "jumped" over a wave front. At this time, he had me kneel down on the board and started paddling back into the ocean, out of the surf zone.

I was a little tired from battling the wave coming out, so decided to rest a little more. The rest of the group decided they had enough sun and started heading back to the harbor. Most people were paddling sitting down or kneeling. I tried paddling standing up, but my legs were tired from all the balancing. Also, my attention was occupied by keeping stable and I could not put as much energy into each paddle stroke. I resorted to paddling most of the way kneeling down too.

After I had paddled into mouth of harbor, I stood up and paddled back to ramp. As I was kneeling down and tried to slide over to land, I was feeling effects of the wave and lost my balance again. Rob reach over with paddle and help me regain stability. I guessed this was a tiring sport!

We helped Rob pulled all the board out of the water and into his van. Then we rode the van back to UCSC.

Overall stand up paddling was a rather fun experience. However, I think I need to do more flat water training before going to sea again. Hopefully, I will be able to do surfing sometime in the future:)

After we got back to campus, I checked the time. It was about 1pm. I decided to try my luck and have lunch at Cafe Brasil, a restaurant which was highly recommended on Yelp, served Brazilian food, immensely popular and had really short hours. This was my third attempt to try this restaurant.

As usual, there were long lines out the door. I decided to get food to go. I knew from reading Yelp review people raved about the Acai bowl. But having spent much of the morning on water, I had also wanted a hot lunch. Therefore, I ordered an Acai bowl junior and the Muqueca, as recommended by the super hot server.

The Acai bowl had granola topping with almonds, over a slush of ice and pureed acai. The Slush was filled with strawberries and banana slices. Sweetness from strawberries and banana matched well with the slight acidity from the acai berries. I could eat this for breakfast everyday!

The hot entree came with a side of a simple green salad with slice hearts of palm. The flavor from hearts of palm was quite unique. It had a little texture with a "fresh spring" like flavor. The salad was served with a balsamic vinegrette.

Muqueca was a seafood dish. Fish and shrimp were cooked in tomato sauce, with a touch of coconut milk. The dish came with side of rice and farofa. The fish and shrimp were nice and firm. The background taste of the tomato sauce with coconut milk was refreshing. I associate the coconut milk flavor curry, accompanied with either heat or lots of spices. Here, the coconut flavor was light and refreshing.

Farofa looked like a pile of sand! (It is actually toasted manioc flour. I checked on the web and no, I don't know what is manioc flour). It tasted like bread crumbs and I didn't care for it.

You can read more review of Cafe Brasil on Yelp.

All in all, a good paddling and food day, with college co-ed in bikini as a bonus. I need to come back to Santa Cruz more often:)