Let's see, how does this go again?

First, climb on top of the paddleboard and lay the paddle perpendicular to the board. Rise to the knees and pick up the paddle. Position the nose of the board into the wind coming off the lake. Uh-oh, the surface is rippling. That's no good.

Take a few more strokes and get the board moving. Now rise slowly to the feet, pushing up with the hands and arms, bringing along the paddle. Position the feet on the board's center point.

The learning curve is supposed to be five minutes and the thrill immediate, I'd been told. But wait – the board was getting tippy. … Whoa! Ker-splash!

Lake Tahoe is cold in the morning, as I was reminded several times recently during a quick how-to session on flatwater stand-up paddleboarding, or SUP.

Phil Segal, a major player on the Lake Tahoe SUP scene, was talking me through it. He runs Tahoe Paddle & Oar at Kings Beach, one of many shops along the lake that rent flatwater boards and paddles.

You've likely spotted stand-up paddleboarders on Tahoe or Lake Natoma, or near the shoreline in Monterey Bay, or out on the swells in Santa Cruz. They're the ones standing up on what look to be surfboards, paddling along their merry way.

Later, after I finally got the hang of standing up and paddling around – sort of – we returned to Segal's shop and talked about SUP, clearly the fastest-growing water sport in the world. Over the rest of the day, I was in and out of SUP rental stores around the lake.

What's the attraction?

"The boards are very stable and user-friendly, and no experience is necessary," Segal said. "We have SUPers from ages 7 to 70. The recreational paddler is looking for the optics. You're up high looking around you and down into the clear water. The fitness people do it for the core workout. It's popular with athletes crossing over from other sports. It's faster than kayaking because there's more propulsion in the (longer) paddles, and the boards glide easier than kayaks."

The flatwater paddling craze has spread planetwide in just the past few years. It's gone wherever there's calm water – on lakes and twisting canals, rivers and inland waterways – or sometimes on not-so-calm water. In May, whitewater stand-up paddling down the north fork of the American River was one of the racing events at the Auburn River Festival in the Auburn State Recreation Area.

A recent issue of Standup Paddle magazine ran two stories indicative of the sport's presence. One was a first-person account of a six-day SUP trip on a series of waterways from Oregon to Canada. The other was a report on the growth of the sport in Vietnam.

Flatwater stand-up paddling transitioned from stand-up surf paddling, an ocean sport involving wave-riding. The roots of stand-up paddling go back to Peruvian fishermen in dugouts and Hawaiian watermen on boards. But it was in the late 1920s that surfboard builder Tom Blake crafted what has been called the first modern surfing paddleboard.

In stand-up paddle surfing, the rider uses the paddle as a stabilizing rudder. For some incredible video, go to www.naishsurfing.com/en/videos/index.html.

"Flatwater boards are having the same effect on the surfing industry as snowboards had on the ski industry – they're saving it," Segal said. "The board-making industry had flattened out, but SUP is causing a boom for everyone."

SUP boards look like surfboards, but they're wider and lighter (25 to 35 pounds), more buoyant, generally longer (9 feet to 18 1/2 feet), have concave undersides and offer more water displacement for stability. There can be up to three detachable fins of varying lengths and shapes, depending on the kind of paddleboarding you're doing. The boards have machine- or hand-shaped foam cores covered with epoxy resin.

Dozens of board manufacturers have caught the SUP wave, making hundreds of board styles and pricing them from $900 to $2,000. Custom models can go for as much as $4,500. Paddles cost from $90 (wood) to $400 (carbon fiber).

How fast do they go? That's up to the paddler, of course, but racing paddlers average 7 to 8 mph in competition. The winning time for a recent six-mile race at Lake Tahoe was 56 minutes, 34 seconds.

As with any outdoor recreation, the attending gear grows to become an industry in itself. That is not to say it's unnecessary, but perhaps unnecessarily plentiful. A sampler list of accessories marketed specifically to paddlers includes sunscreen, sunglasses, hats, shoes, long-sleeved "rash guard" shirts, wet suits, leashes, dry bags for storage, deck pads for more traction, covers for boards and paddles. The list goes on.

Segal and others involved in stand-up paddling are trying to position Lake Tahoe as the site of the first world flatwater racing championship next year.

"We don't want it to go to someplace like the Great Salt Lake (in Utah)," he said.

Those in the SUP industry like to say there's a race going on every day somewhere in the world. That's probably right.

Three of the meets in the Quiksilver Lake Tahoe Standup Paddleboard Race Series have already happened, but two more are upcoming – the Ta-hoe Nalu Festival Aug. 21-22 (with an anticipated 10,000 spectators) and the Tahoe Fall Classic Sept. 26 (2,000 spectators).

At the recent Lake Tahoe Paddle Fest at Regan Beach on the South Shore, boards, kayaks and sailboats glided by a few hundred yards offshore. Jesse Darden paddled in and dismounted his standup board.

"This is my first time on a paddleboard and I'm hooked," said Darden, 22, of Fair Oaks. "Once you stand up out there on the water and start paddling, all your worries go away."

Stand-up paddleboarding – a fast-growing, easy-to-master water sport – that's whatTo see an online gallery of paddleboarding photos, go to sacbee.com/photosClimb on a stand-up paddleboard before summer runs out. Close to home, the Sacramento State Aquatic Center on Lake Natoma offers a three-hour clinic Friday and Sunday afternoons for $30 (you can see the online schedule at www.sacstateaquaticcenter.com; click on the "Kayaking and Canoeing" tab). After the class, board rental is $12 an hour.

The aquatic center is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Friday and 8 a.m.-7 p.m. weekends. It's at 1901 Hazel Ave., Gold River; (916) 278-2842.

At Lake Tahoe, this sampler of rental shops can be your guide. Ask about instructions, formal lessons, group tours and rental deals. Hourly rates vary from $15 to $30. Half-day and day rates are available.

For more information about SUP, visit the Web sites of two nonprofit groups dedicated to promoting the sport: Ta-Hoe Nalu (www.ta-hoenalu.com) and the Lake Tahoe Paddleboard Association (www.laketahoepaddleboardassociation).

For more information on recreation around the lake, visit www.visitinglaketahoe.com.

– Allen Pierleoni

NORTH AND WEST SHORES

• Tahoe Paddle & Oar, 8299 North Lake Blvd., Kings Beach; (530) 581-3029, www.tahoepaddle.com.

• Tahoe Eco Sports, 8612 North Lake Blvd., Kings Beach; (530) 546-2780, www.tahoeecosports.com.

• Tahoe City Kayak, 521 North Lake Blvd., Tahoe City; (530) 581-4336, www.tahoecitykayak.net.

• Lake Tahoe Waterman, 1785 West Lake Blvd., Tahoe City; (530) 581-1349; www.laketahoewaterman.com

• Tahoe Adventure Co., Tahoe Vista Recreation Area, 7010 North Lake Blvd., Tahoe Vista; (866) 830-6125, www.tahoeadventure-company.com.

• West Shore Sports, 5395 West Lake Blvd., Homewood; (530) 525-9920, www.westshoresports.com.

SOUTH SHORE

• Camp Richardson Marina, 1900 Jameson Beach, South Lake Tahoe; (530) 541-1801, (800) 544-1801, www.camprichardson.com.

• Kayak Tahoe, Timber Cove Marina, 3411 Lake Tahoe Blvd., South Lake Tahoe; (530) 544-2011, www.kayaktahoe.com.

• Zephyr Cove Marina, 760 Highway 50, Zephyr Cove, Nev.; (775) 589-4901, www.zephyrcove.com.

• H2O Sports, Round Hill Pines Marina, Highway 50 at Round Hill, Zephyr Cove, Nev.; (775) 588-4155, (775) 588-3055, www.rhpbeach.com.

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Call The Bee's Allen Pierleoni, (916) 321-1128.

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