With the gift-giving holidays in full swing, it's time to think about getting something awesome for the SUP'er in your life so here at Supconnect, we've put together a gift/gear guide of the newest and coolest items to have recently hit the shelves and racks on the SUP market. If you're looking for something to get for your lover, mother, brother, sister, friend, or anyone for that matter this holiday season, this guide will be perfect for the stand up paddler in your life. And who's to say you can't get a little something for yourself, 'Tis the season after all!

Adventure is one of the perks of SUP and it’s what keeps us all coming back for more. But, it’s not always as easy and fun as it looks. Things can and likely will go wrong at some point and no-one knows this better than some of SUP’s most experienced adventure paddlers Bart de Zwart and Gabriel Gray. In order to avoid these same unfortunate experiences, we caught up with these two to get some tips on what to avoid when on a SUP expedition of your own. Check it out:

The International Canoe Federation has hailed the success of the first in a series of online webinars focusing on stand up paddling, with more than 200 people from all over the world logging on to listen to two of the biggest names in the sport.

Simplicity is one of the attractive features of standup paddle boarding. When you feel that first glide and realize “Hey, I can do this,” it’s easy to believe that all you need is a board and a paddle, but when you’re standing alone on a platform floating two inches above the water, a few more things are required, because a paddling excursion on any water body can quickly turn into an in-water experience.

Once you learn and get comfortable with beginner and moderate SUP yoga poses, you should now be ready to challenge yourself and learn some of the more advanced poses. Dashama Gordon is one of the leading voices in the SUP Yoga movement and together with her sponsor Starboard SUP, Dashama has come out with a series of SUP Yoga tutorials where she shares some standup paddle board yoga poses. In this feature, Dashama walks through a few different advanced yoga poses that you can try out.

Buying a SUP board is one thing, but how does one actually become proficient at the sport? Well, the ICF and Starboard are giving you the chance to learn from some of the best paddlers in the world.

It’s true that today’s broad surfing community holds a varied and often questionable understanding of surfing etiquette. Add a few individuals with entitlement issues, a couple more with a lack of common courtesy and respect and we have a recipe for a potential bummer of a surf session. Here’s a few thoughts on how to stay stoked through the lineup.

In episode four of Sean Poynter’s How-to SUP series, Sean gives us tips on how to choose your SUP surf break. Here are Sean’s tips:

Falling off of your paddle board is going to happen at some point or another when paddle boarding. It can be troublesome to get back on your SUP after falling if done incorrectly. Luckily, we have SUP expert Sean Poynter to help us with a few tips on how to get back up after we've fallen. 

When preparing for your very first SUP race it's important to be prepared and know what to expect from your first experience. To give you some insight on what you need to do to get ready for your first paddle board race, we caught up with some of the best SUP racing pros out there to get you some tips. Here are the top five tips for first time SUP racers:

So you've gotten the hang of catching waves on your SUP and now you're ready to start riding the line of the wave. SUP Surf expert Sean Poynter gives us a tutorial on how to do so. Here are Sean's tips on how to ride the line:

Supconnect contributor Haywood Newkirk dives into teaching us all about longboard shapes on our stand up paddle boards and how to get started sup surfing on one. Check it out!