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" Admittedly, the first time I saw somebody do it, I was skeptical. Dude was pretty far out to sea, prowling the Hanalei Bay lineup like a Venice gondolier. Standing up on his board, holding a long oar, he was a crane among us sitting ducks. But sure enough, when the wave of the day rolled in, Mr. Homo Erectus, from his higher vantage point, was the first to spot it and stroked purposefully in pursuit, paddle power trumping piddling hands. Down the line he came, bombing along on his megaboard, carving sweeping turns with his paddle like a skier with one pole. I had to have a rethink.  Surfing&amp;#039;s latest twist is actually an old one. It was the original Waikiki beach boys who accidentally invented stand-up paddle surfing. Between &amp;quot;talking story&amp;quot; and twanging slack-string guitars, da bruddas plied the early aloha tourist trade on oversize koa-wood boards, using outrigger-canoe paddles to stroke out to the breakers, standing tall the whole way, impressing tourists with their impeccable balance while keeping their cigarettes dry. Fast-forward half a century and you find a whole new crew of Hawaiian watermen declining to recline for entirely different reasons. Led by Laird Hamilton of Riding Giants fame, the tow-in-surfing set has found this the perfect no-tech bookend for their high-octane exploits, as well as an excellent workout on flat days.  Seemed to me this might just be the ticket for the fickle, mostly feckless surf back home in Florida. Standing up the whole time--that would be challenge enough. So a few months later, in the predawn darkness, I&amp;#039;m roping a whopping eleven-and-a-half-foot board into the back of my pickup, a bit of red flagging affixed to the tail block to warn traffic. With the stand-up craft--thicker and wider for extra stability--what you&amp;#039;ve got is the most board and the least boat money can buy. I&amp;#039;m meeting up with two-time East Coast longboard champ--and now stand-up enthusiast--Tory Strange at his St. Augustine Beach home, hoping to pick up a few tips, like how to crank the thing around in a hurry to catch waves. &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t know about that,&amp;quot; he laughs as we tandem carry the big sticks down to the water. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m just getting started at this. We all are.&amp;quot; Out at sea, as I plunge through a knee-slapper, I look down and see an armada of about forty stingrays flying wing to wing--don&amp;#039;t fall now!--something you&amp;#039;d never see from any other perspective. I&amp;#039;m getting a lot of glide per stroke, and standing with feet parallel in the center of the board, sighting on the horizon, I can&amp;#039;t help feeling . . . well, a bit chiefly. Kahuna-esque. Tory demonstrates a kick turn, moving back to sink the tail while sweeping with his paddle. He nearly pulls it off: &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m gonna need to watch that video again!&amp;quot; he says. It&amp;#039;s tricky as hell not to pratfall backward when you miss and the wave escapes under you, but I love the surge, the chatter of cavitation when the big board takes off. We stay out till the sun turns fearsome, then haul the gear in and head off for blueberry pancakes at a beach-shack cafe&amp;#039;, appetites salt-water whetted, just like the old days, when surfing was brand-new. GEAR The Board  Laird Hamilton Stand-up Paddleboard: If you&amp;#039;re going stand-up paddle surfing and plan to actually stay standing, it&amp;#039;s best to go big, like this new twelve-foot monster from surf pioneer Hamilton, designed with just this pursuit in mind. Wider, thicker, and longer than even a longboard, it offers the extra stability you&amp;#039;ll need not just in waves but when balancing in still water. The mammoth size does make it tougher to do quick turns, but that&amp;#039;s where the paddle comes in. Just be careful when you fall. A board this big can make a knot of equal proportion on your head. $1,300; surftech.com.  The Paddle  Pohaku Beachboy two-piece: There aren&amp;#039;t many companies that make paddles the size of an NBA center, but then there aren&amp;#039;t many sports that require you to paddle standing up. This one from Pohaku, made specifically for surfing, has a tapered carbon shaft and a thick palm grip for the kind of leverage you&amp;#039;ll need carving turns. And no worries about stuffing this baby into your Civic: It comes in two parts that snap together like a vacuum attachment. $349; standuppaddles.com.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/sports/a368/esq1006restlessman-126r/>