BEYOND THE BOARD: AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTIAN EDIE

Florida Keys, Hawaii, WNY

I remember reading an article in StandUp Journal back in 2014 about SUP Whitewater and knew I had to try it! With no whitewater experience and a little surf background my husband Kevin and I met up with a local whitewater club who took us down a river for our first time and we were hooked! SUP Whitewater instantly became our go to activity together and we started traveling and entering SUP Whitewater contests. We travelled up to the Ottawa River that summer and competed in the first Ultimate SUP Challenge where there was a small community of hard core paddlers. The water rose 9 feet over night and my husband and I really wanted to run the river. We finally found a group of kayakers to follow. They tried to convince us not to run it, but after traveling so far we needed to see this river! It was one of the most intense experiences of our life and we both vividly remember almost every rapid on that river! The biggest of all was the Coliseum. Paddling through these monstrous wave trains that had to be 10-12 feet high I remember seeing a weirdly shaped angled wave called the Big Kahuna pulsing and as soon as I got under it I was swallowed hole and had my first taste of down time. As the light grew darker I had a slight thought will I ever come up? Luckily I was spit back out and came up smiling relieved. The next day the competition was on and after what we lived through the day before the section where the race was held seemed very approachable. I watched the men compete first and saw Todd the owner of Pau Hana Surf Supply clean the rapid, he was one of the only people to be able to do so. Finally it was the women’s time to compete and I was up against some incredible paddlers one olympic paddler and professional whitewater athletes and StandUp paddlers. I was only three months into this new sport but was determined to do a solid performance. I ended up having a great run and shockingly came in first place! They didn’t even know how to announce my name right over the announcement and I think everyone was like “who is this girl?” That night my husband and I hit it off with Todd Coranto Owner of Pau Hana and he offered us our first sponsorship! We received some boards later that month to bring to Costa Rica for an incredible trip exploring and looking for fun SUP Whitewater runs. We have been with Pau Hana Surf Supply ever since and love the brand, innovation and lifestyle.

I’ve been paddleboarding now for 7 years. My husband and I have a business on the shores of Lake Erie in Western New York in the summer teaching SUP and renting boards and kayaks. We also love to Kiteboard and are instructors and own a kite school. We’re also really into foiling now. We love to rock and ice climb, we are now living aboard a sailboat in the Florida Keys with our 2 year old son and another on the way and are learning to spearfish and freedive.

I love bringing our son named Ocean on board with me to explore! He will go on full day expeditions with us and is right at home!

Garrett McNamara, Maya Gaberia, Kai Lenny and Conrad Anchor

The lower Gauley River consequential Class IV. It was the hardest day of paddling in my life with biggest rapids and I’ll never do it again lol but I had the time of my life!

Grow our children to have wild adventurous spirits and love the water as much as we do! Sail and SUP and Kite all over the World! Do more SUP Expeditions it’s where I feel the most connected to nature. And teach as many people these incredible activities which provide life changing experiences.

FAVORITE FOOD: Jamaican

FAVORITE DRINK: Clase Azul Tequila

FAVOURITE MUSIC: Reggae

FAVOURITE PADDLEBOARD: Pau Hana Carve for surfing and the Endurance for expeditions

Written by Jennifer Chrimes