Where did standup paddleboarding originate?

Standup paddleboarding (SUP) is a water sport born from surfing with modern roots in Hawaii. Stand up paddleboarders stand on boards that are floating on the water, and use a paddle to propel themselves through the water. The sport was documented in a 2013 report that identified it as the outdoor sporting activity with the most first-time participants in the United States that year. Variations include flat water paddling, racing, surfing, whitewater SUP, yoga, and fishing.

Standup paddleboarding (SUP), the act of propelling oneself on a floating platform with the help of a paddle or setting pole, traces back thousands of years and across many continents in the form of rafts and punts, but its current form and popularity originated in Hawaii in the 1900s. Records of earlier forms of SUP have been found as early as 3,000 B.C. and its iterations span over various regions such as Peru, Levant, Italy, and China.