It might be fair to say that paddling has saved Rob Casey’s life.
Shortly after 9/11 happened, Casey suffered one of the first -- but not yet the worst -- recessions in his business as a photographer. It was around that time he took up sea kayaking and paddled around the Puget Sound.

Then, around 2009, after the last economic recession hit, his photography business was all but gone. Where before, Casey and other photographers were able to make a decent living -- even at times “make a crazy amount of money” -- now business isn’t so good.

“It was like the carpet was pulled from beneath us. Now you’re lucky to get a few hundred a month.”

But instead of despairing, he got on a board, stood up, and paddled.
When he first tried, back in 2007, it wasn’t so easy. While in Kona, Hawaii, he rented a stand up paddleboard (SUP) that was too small and unstable. He fell, of course. And he fell again. And again.

But, for whatever reason, he wouldn’t quit trying. He felt there was something to SUP.

Back in the Puget Sound area, Casey tried again. This time, a friend of his guided him and informed him that he needed to try a bigger board. This time, he stood up and he didn’t fall.

By 2009, when the recession hit and his business collapsed, Casey had two years of SUP under his belt. “I had some free time and tried to figure out what to do. … realized there was no book on stand up paddleboarding, pitched it to Mountaineers, they bid and it became the first book ever on stand up paddleboarding.”

That book became “Stand Up Paddling: Flatwater to Surf and Rivers.” (In 2012, he published a second book about sea kayaking, “Kayaking Puget Sound & the San Juan Islands.) Casey didn’t realize what the influence of having a definitive book on SUP would be.

“Nationally, the book has had more impact than I ever thought it would,” Casey said. “... I’ve talked to people just out of the blue in Charlotte, Buffalo, Florida who say ‘Thank you so much, there’s nothing going on here,’” he said.

In addition, he has started his own business, “Salmon Bay Paddle,” where he offers SUP lessons and tours.

When Casey first did SUP in Shilshole Bay and other areas in the Puget Sound in the late 2000s, there were at best one or two people on the water, if any. Now, the niche sport had exploded. More and more people take it on as a recreational sport, SUP races are held almost every day of the week by various organizations, SUP expeditions spanning the Puget Sound and beyond are becoming more popular and, at least during the sunny months, teaching lessons becomes a viable business.

That’s not to say though that all is well and good. When the winter months come, business all but disappears. Casey said it’s because people grew up in Seattle and the rest of Washington with the myth that watersports are strictly for the summer and can’t be enjoyed during the winter.

“As soon as the sun goes away -- boom! -- it’s like they associate it with Hawaii, wearing shorts,” Casey said. He said business didn’t pick back up this year until May, like “people flicked a switch” in their heads that it was suddenly time to do watersports again.
Casey said it’s not a big deal to SUP or do other watersports in the fall, winter or spring. He just puts on a wetsuit and lets the exercise warm him up. But, he lamented, others have not been so easy to convince. “It’s a losing battle,” he said.

More problematic, however, are businesses who don’t offer any kind of safety guidance for people before they try SUP. While the sport looks easy -- and while he says it is easy with the right training -- often he sees people go out woefully unprepared. Women will brave the shivering waters of Shilshole Bay clad in nothing more than a bikini, or men in shorts.

It’s why Casey and his wife are rolling out a certification program, to brain businesses or individuals how to train customers in standup paddleboarding, water safety, leadership and rescue techniques.
“It’s going to be pretty expensive and rigorous, making sure people don’t die out there, which they do.”

Despite successfully making a transition into SUP, Casey doesn’t forget his roots as a photographer, or the friends he made in that field. He recounted tales of colleagues slumping into depression and, in one case, a person taking his own life. Having been there, he knows how it is, he said.

“Whenever I see guys in the hole, I always offer them lessons. Paddling is what got me out of the hole, at least psychologically.”

Want to try standup paddleboarding? Rob Casey offers lessons and tours in the Puget Sound region and beyond through his business Salmon Bay Paddle. He also hosts Monday night races in Shilshole Bay out of the beach by the Ballard Elks lodge. Learn more at http://www.salmonbaypaddle.com/

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