SULTAN, Washignton - Opening week of 2014 at Werner Paddles marked a new beginning, as 11 year veteran of the company, Danny Mongno, takes over as the marketing manager.

Puget Sound offers pristine stand up paddle opportunities and to those paddlers willing to brave inclement weather, the waterways are often free of crowds.

Firefighter Beau Whitehead and stand up paddleboard shaper Tom Swetish have teamed up to design and create the “Project 343”. The board, itself a tribute to the fallen firefighters on 9/11, will be raced by Whitehead this weekend at Round the Rock in Seattle.