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NOCCO – a leading no carb, branched chain amino acids (BCAA) beverage company based in Europe – has experienced rapid growth in the United States market since the launch of its Venice, California office in March 2019. The unique no sugar, low calorie and no carb blend has satisfied the increasing demand for BCAA beverages in the fitness community.

“The rapid growth we have experienced in just six months reflects the quality of our product,” said Ben Jones, CEO, NOCCO USA. “We are thrilled about the excitement that has grown with our brand, particularly within the fitness community, and look forward to building this momentum as we continue our expansion across the country.”

Since its launch, NOCCO has secured shelf space at 400 accounts across Southern California, and most recently 20 accounts in Las Vegas. Notable accounts include The Mecca of Bodybuilding – Gold’s Gym, LA Fitness, F45 Training, and boutique studios like Dogpound. NOCCO has also been embraced by the functional fitness community as a result of their strong ambassador program, including the three-times CrossFit Games winner and NOCCO athlete Tia Toomey.

Amino acids, such as L-leucine, L-valine and L-isoleucine, have been known to protect and fuel the muscles, and promote muscle growth and tissue repair.

Three out of four NOCCO beverages contain 180mg of caffeine for ideal consumption during a workout. Every flavor is carbonated and provides 3,000 mg or 5,000 mg of BCAA, and 50 percent of the daily recommended value of vitamin B6, vitamin B12, biotin and niacin.

Available in three caffeinated flavors – Caribbean, Tropical and Peach – and one caffeine-free flavor – Apple – NOCCO’s delicious sweeteners and green tea extract creates an authentic, great tasting flavor. To learn more, visit www.nocco.com or follow them on Instagram.

About NOCCO

All NOCCO products have a blend of BCAA’s (branched-chain amino acids), green tea extract and vitamins. They are vegan and available with or without caffeine, carbonated and with different levels of BCAA’s. NOCCO is available in four great tasting flavors – Caribbean, Peach, Tropical and Apple.

#Beverages #NewProducts

Perhaps you’ve seen them on social media, perchance you caught them on ABC’s Shark Tank, or maybe you’re just hearing about them for the first time—regardless, Sand Cloud is a becoming a big company that is making an even bigger difference. Their goal is simple: to protect and preserve the ocean, one beach towel at a time. They design fun and colorful beach towels, and 10% of each sale goes to protecting marine life.

Sand Cloud supports four incredible organizations: Marine Conservation Institute, Surfrider Foundation, Pacific Marine Mammal Center, and San Diego Coastkeeper. Each is a non-profit dedicated to protecting and preserving the ocean as well as its inhabitants.

Sand Cloud is comprised of a large number of ambassadors that are beach lovers, photographers, surfers, and all-around good people who are committed to the preservation of marine life. Their ambassador program offers discounts and is open to anyone, with more details are available on their website.

Although the prices of the towels are a bit steep, you can rest easy knowing that your money is going to a good cause. If you’re looking for a thick, cozy beach towel to wrap up in after a chilly session this towel isn’t for you. But if you are looking for a cute, lightweight towel to lounge on and pack along for your travels, this towel is perfect. The towel packs down small, making it the ideal travel companion.

In addition to being something to lounge on or dry off with, the towel doubles as a beautiful sarong or room décor. They come in small and large sizes so you can drape one on the wall as a tapestry, share with a buddy, or keep it entirely to yourself. Sand Cloud also offers t-shirts, water bottles, necklaces, and phone cases, giving you more opportunities to protect marine life. At Sand Cloud, they’re all about saving the fishies (#savethefishies).

sandcloudtowels.com

#beachtowels #marinelife #philanthropic #sandcloudtowels

PaddleXaminer is a veteran owned publication based in Los Angeles, California. We provide stories, gear reviews, and news for adventurers on and off the water.

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© PaddleXaminer 2023 – All Rights Reserved

Is your SUP paddle to long?  Changing your paddle’s length does not require you to purchase a new stand up paddle.  As Quickblade Paddles founder Jim Terrell demonstrates in the accompanying video, modifying your paddle’s length can be done at home or by a trained staff member at your local SUP shop.

Many élite SUP racers have begun shortening the length of their paddles.  The advantage in doing so is to increase the amount of torque during their stroke – particularly when paddling in and out of the surf zone or at the start of a race.  Similarly, it is not uncommon for stand up paddle surfers to use a slightly shorter paddle than one would for touring.

On the other hand, your paddle may have been sized incorrectly or your desired paddle length may simply change over time.  The common mantra among stand up paddlers is to have your paddle’s length be approximately one “shaka” length above your head.  Another method of measurement is to raise your arm above your head in a relaxed manner, e.g. don’t over extend your arm’s reach.  Ideally, your paddle’s handle should sit along the inside of your wrist so that your hand rests on top of the handle when you gently bend your wrist forward.

The length of your paddle is ultimately up to personal preference and can vary among paddlers. If you are unsure of what length to get, you may wish to consider an adjustable SUP paddle. This will give you the flexibility to use your new equipment in a variety of conditions and play around with the settings to determine the best fit for you and your style. Later on, you can always make the investment in a fixed length carbon fiber paddle and keep your adjustable for use when paddling with friends or introducing new people to the sport. Most importantly, keep paddling my friends!

#JimTerrell #paddles #Quickblade #sup

PaddleXaminer is a veteran owned publication based in Los Angeles, California. We provide stories, gear reviews, and news for adventurers on and off the water.

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© PaddleXaminer 2023 – All Rights Reserved

For years, beach goers visiting Malibu’s quaint enclave at Paradise Cove were greeted by hand painted signs on surfboards stating, “No Surfboards”. The signage was never updated to include stand up paddleboards, however, the message was clear. Boards, no matter what the make or model, were excluded from accessing the beach.

That all changed today when an agreement was reached between Kissel Co., the operators of Paradise Cove, and the California Coastal Commission allowing surfers and paddlers access to the beach.

“We’ve never seen a violation of this magnitude resolved so quickly. Christmas came early for the coast this year,” said Steve Kinsey, Chairman of the Coastal Commission.

The operators of the secluded beach had been served with a notice stating they were acting in violation of the California Coastal Act and the terms of its lease for the Paradise Cove Pier. The agency had threatened to impose a daily fine of $11,250 until the dispute was resolved and all exclusionary signage had been removed.

The agreement is effective immediately and allows the operators to continue charging a $40 a day parking fee. Nevertheless, the move will undoubtedly be welcome by Southern California paddlers as another section of the California coastline becomes open to SUP.

#BeachAccess #Malibu #ParadiseCove #Destination #CaliforniaCoast

California State Parks advises Californians to plan ahead this Labor Day weekend since 46 units remain fully closed due to COVID-19 and wildfires. The department is also closing all state beaches in Monterey County and implementing full or partial vehicle access closures in Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz counties. Being prepared, abiding by the closures and following guidelines — such as wearing face coverings, practicing physical distancing and avoiding gatherings with people outside the immediate household — can help further slow the spread of COVID-19.

“With many activities limited during the COVID-19 pandemic, outdoor public spaces have been essential to many Californians,” said California State Parks Director Armando Quintero. “We want to remind everyone that we all have the responsibility to slow the spread of COVID-19, even in the outdoors. Your group should only include those within your immediate household. This means no large gatherings, picnics or parties. If there are too many people in your local outdoor destination to maintain the proper physical distance, please visit us at another time.”

State Parks continues to work with local and state officials on a phased and regionally driven approach to increase access at park units where compliance with state and local public health ordinances can be achieved.

As with the Fourth of July weekend, temporary measures such as fully closing park units or restricting vehicular access at some state beaches will be implemented over this Labor Day weekend to reduce overcrowding. The vehicular access closures mean that no parking facilities are available to the public and parking on roadways is prohibited. Although beaches are open to local residents who can walk or bike into these public outdoor spaces—provided they practice physical distancing and abide by new visitor guidelines—congregating is not allowed. Please visit the webpage of your local outdoor destination for details.

Below are the safety measures State Parks is implementing over the Labor Day holiday weekend (September 4-7):

Full Closures

Monterey County: All beaches in Monterey County will be closed.

Vehicular Access Closures

Santa Barbara County: All beach parking lots will be closed. Beaches will be open only for active recreation and aquatic activities. Beach accessories such as shade structures and lounge chairs are not permitted during the holiday weekend. State campgrounds remain open.

Santa Cruz County: State beaches will be closed except from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Most state beach parking lots will be closed. Beach access is still available for aquatic activities outside of those hours – e.g. surfing, bodyboarding, etc. Parking availability at these state beaches will be extremely limited.

Other State Park Units

State Parks will monitor visitation and physical distancing over this Labor Day weekend. Measures to modify operations, such as limited parking and closure of trails, will be taken where needed to limit overcrowding at state park units that remain open to the public. Current camping reservations at all state park units that remain open over the Labor Day weekend will be honored.

Here are 10 tips to help reduce risk of exposure to COVID-19 in the outdoors and to stay safe during this Labor Day weekend:

1. Stay Local: Stay close to home to slow the spread of COVID-19. Do not travel if you are sick or someone in your household has had coronavirus in the last two weeks.

2. Plan Ahead: Prior to leaving home, check the webpage of the local outdoor destination you plan to visit to find out if it is open, if parking is available, if camping reservations can be booked and what visitor guidelines are in effect.

3. Stay Safer at 6 feet: No matter the recreational activity, maintain a physical distance of 6 feet or more. Your guests should only include those within your immediate household. This means no gatherings, picnics or parties. Visitors are being asked to leave if there are too many people to allow for the required physical distance.

4. Boating: Do not raft up to other boaters or pull up onto a beach next to other recreators.

5. Off-highway Vehicle Recreation: Do not ride next to others or pull up next to someone else as it could put you in close proximity to others. Stage 10 feet or more from each other during unloading and loading.

6. Stay Covered: The state requires you to wear a face covering in the outdoors when you cannot stay at least 6 feet away from others who are not your immediate household members. For details, please read California Department of Public Health’s guidance for the use of face coverings. Visitors should also abide by their local county health orders.

7. Keep Clean: Be prepared. Not all restrooms are open to the public. In some cases, restrooms will be temporarily closed to keep up with cleaning schedules. Bring soap/sanitizer and pack out all trash. Camping: If you are camping in an RV, please use the restrooms in your own unit. This will help reduce the use of the shared restrooms at campgrounds. View additional camping tips.

8. Wear a Life Jacket: Make sure your life jacket is U.S. Coast Guard-approved and properly fitted. Several public and private entities make life jackets available to the public on a loan basis. View locations of where to borrow a life jacket.

9. Protect Your Loved Ones: Know your limits. Swimming in a lake, ocean or river is different than swimming in a pool. If someone is in distress, seek help from a lifeguard or call 911 if one is not available. Supervise children at all times by appointing a designated “water watcher,” taking turns with other adults. Do not assume that someone is watching them. With ocean rip currents – if you get caught in one, stay calm and do not fight the current. Swim or float parallel to the shore until you are out of the current and then swim toward the shore.

10. Minimize Campfire Impacts: Where permitted, use established fire rings, keep fires small and burn all wood and coals to ash. Make sure to put out campfires completely.

11. Avoid Alcohol: Operating your boat or an off-highway vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or more is against the law. Impaired boaters will be stopped and can be arrested even with lower BAC if the conditions are not safe. Your boat can be impounded.

12. Share the Road: Observe posted speed limits. Stay in your lane on blind curves and do not cut corners. Do not pass on double-yellow lines and pass only when you have a clear view of oncoming traffic and it is safe to do so. Be prepared for equestrians, pedestrians, joggers, cyclists, wildlife, rocks, tree limbs, etc., on the State Park System’s roadways.

You can find additional safety tips by visiting www.parks.ca.gov/SafetyTips. Information on the Labor Day weekend safety measures can be found by visiting www.parks.ca.gov/LaborDay2020.

Please visit www.parks.ca.gov/FlattenTheCurve for detailed information on how State Parks is mitigating the spread of COVID-19.

#CaliforniaStateParks #Califonria #Wildfires #COVID19 #Beaches

I am 52 years old. OK, I’ve said it. My two teenage sons tell me that I’m really old and they could be right. However, I don’t feel like an old man. I chalk that up to relatively clean leaving, staying active and especially doing a lot of standup paddling.

Paddling out in the ocean is great for clearing my mind while getting a workout but an underrated benefit is developing my sense of balance. Of course having balance is important to stay standing on a SUP, but it’s more important for one’s overall health especially as we age. The good news is that no matter your age or paddling experience you can improve your balance.

The state of SUP board design

For better or worse the cutting edge racing boards are getting narrower and the high performance surfing SUPs are getting downright tiny. I read online posts of guys bragging about paddling a 21” wide racing SUP or surfing a sub 7’ SUP. Sure, these boards can be fast but if you are struggling to just stay upright you are not able to paddle at maximum effort therefore they are actually slower than a wider board.

Surfing a 14′ SUP in Malibu, California.

The key for getting the most out of these high performance boards is to be comfortable paddling them and that means having good balance. At the recent Pacific Paddle Games we witnessed amazing acts of balance as the pros whipped their race boards around the famed “hammer buoy” while surfing a wave. What we didn’t see were those same pro racers practicing that maneuver in the days leading up to the race. They were working on their balance.

Physiology of balance

According to Wikipedia, the sense of balance is the result of a number of body systems working together: the eyes (visual system), ears (vestibular system) and the body’s sense of where it is in space (proprioception) ideally need to be intact. The cool thing is that just paddling a SUP engages all these body systems continually. As we paddle our body is making micro adjustments so we can maintain our equilibrium (balance).

With practice our bodies can develop a better sense of balance pretty quickly. I see this all the time when I teach beginners how to SUP. When they first stand up on the board they are unsteady with shaking legs but within 2 hours they are totally comfortable paddling around having a great time. I like to think this progression happens because I’m such an awesome instructor, but more likely it’s because we humans have an innate sense of balance.

Developing your sense of balance

Dry land training

You don’t need to be paddling on the water to improve your balance. There are many great ways to train for balance that you can do in the backyard. My personal favorite is the walking on a slackline. Be warned, it’s pretty challenging to even stand on the slackline and it will take some time to get proficient enough to walk. It’s best to start with the line anchors really close together and the slackline pretty tight. Once you can stand on the line consistently then try moving the anchors further away and try relaxing the tension on the line a bit.

The key is to find the a fixed point to focus your gaze on while you balance. You’ll be surprised how tiring it is making micro adjustments with your body to stay balanced on the line.

A balance board like the Indo Board or Rolo Board are another excellent way to work on your balance. Once you are comfortable standing on the board, you can incorporate squats and other tricks to crank up the challenge.

The Swiss ball is great for doing sit ups and back raises. I also like to use the Swiss ball as a chair while I’m working at the computer. This forces me to engage my core to stay balanced and occasionally I’ll fall off and land on my butt in spectacular fashion.

The Bosu ball is like the Indo Board but it’s easier to do squats and other stability exercises.

I personally don’t practice Tai Chi or Yoga but it looks really peaceful and it’s supposed to be great for working on your balance. One aspect of SUP fitness that is rarely discussed is foot strength. The feet are the roots of the body and you need strong feet to support your body as you balance. To strengthen your feet you need to use them. I like to take of my shoes after a long run and jog along the grass for a short distance. First of all, you feel like a little kid and secondly your feet get a good workout.

On the water training

I try to incorporate some balance drills on every paddle. The idea is to continually push myself so I can be comfortable on the board in all conditions. If I’m paddling on flat water I’ll practice buoy turns around two closely spaced buoys before heading out for my workout. This gets my body and sense of balance warmed up and ready for the workout to come. Once I get back I’ll do another five minutes of buoy turns to simulate turning in a race situation.

Practicing a buoy turn in Marina del Rey.

If I’m paddling in the ocean I’ll begin with a beach race start where I run into the water, jump on my board and start paddling. If the conditions are good I’ll do a few of the beach starts before heading out into the ocean. I imagine that I’m Connor Baxter blasting through the surf leading the pack out to the first buoy. Of course, the reality is much less impressive. Once I’m paddling in the ocean I’ll use the lifeguard buoys as opportunities to practice buoy turns. Doing buoy turns in the ocean is much more difficult than on flat water so it’s important to work on that skill.

The most fun balance training in the ocean is surfing my race board. The act of turning a 14 ft race board, catching a wave then paddling back out through the surf is great balance training.

Working on my beach starts.

Obviously the ocean is the best for surfing waves but paddling on flatwater with rough conditions is also great for balance training. I’ve seen crazy videos of paddlers on the Great Lakes in some pretty heavy conditions. The bottom line is to get out there in challenging conditions to work on your balance and just have some fun.

Here are some of my tips for paddling in challenging conditions:

1. Focus: Find a fixed focal point in the distance and keep looking at it.

2. Relax: Bend your knees slightly. Don’t grip the paddle too tightly. Breathe.

3. Don’t fight the board: The board might be initially tippy but just let it catch itself. Keep the board moving forward to increase stability.

4. Don’t fight the swell: Time your strokes to match the swell. Imagine riding a horse where you move in synch with the horse to smooth out the ride. Don’t worry about falling in the water. If you are pushing yourself you will fall in the water a lot. Just laugh and get back on your board. Everyone falls in the water.

Mental training

I’m certainly no expert in the study of mindfulness but for me, if I just believe that I can walk on a slackline or paddle a narrow racing SUP it somehow becomes much easier. I don’t know why this is the case but it really helps if I have positive “I can do this” attitude about staying balanced.

The last mental tip is just not care too much about looking silly or falling off your board. Imagine yourself as an 11 year old just having fun in the water. Part of what makes paddling a SUP so peaceful is being in that calm, focused mental state created by the need to balance.

Yes, my sons are right about me being really old. But because I have pretty good sense of balance I’m able to have fun with them in the ocean surfing and paddling. Finding balance in life is nice but finding balance on a SUP is fun.

Links worth exploring:

#Balance #Fitness #StandupPaddling

Sole Sandals, best known for their sandals with footbeds made of recycled cork, has introduced a range of sandals made from algae-based bloom foam. For those of us who are just hearing about bloom foam, it’s a performance based foam created from algae biomass. The algae is a renewable biomass that helps clean the environment and reduces our dependence on fossil fuels; basically it’s good for the planet! 

Paddlexaminer met up with Sole at the Winter Outdoor Retailer convention in Denver back in January. We looked at their difference cork footbed shoes but were interested in the algae bloom sandals because it was new to us. Each pair of Sole sandals comes with a tag listing out the eco-facts. The Costa Flip, reviewed by Paddlexaminer, had eco-facts of returning 54 bottles of filtered water back to the environment and five balloons of CO2 kept from entering the atmosphere. To learn more about eco-facts and other interesting facts about algae bloom, it is worth checking out this website.

The Costa Flip is the perfect sandal for the beach. Paddlexaminer tested it at beaches along lakes throughout Colorado. When you slip on the Costa, you immediately feel the footbed form to your foot. Not every foot is the same so it takes a few days of wearing the Costa before the mold settles to your unique foot design. Not surprisingly, the Costa Flip is accepted by the America Podiatric Medical Association. The Costas are definitely water friendly! When dropped in the water, they calmly hangout on top of the water. The flexible knit strap has a low-profile and does great in the water. The strap stays up so you don’t have trouble slipping your foot in the sandal even when it’s submerged in water. Don’t forget to wash your sandals footbed every few days as dirt and gunk can build up on the footbed. Don’t think a dip in the lake or ocean does the cleaning for you. Following this process will ensure your sandals last!

Key Features:

1. Moldable custom support

2. Reduced plantar fascia strain

3. Enhanced alignment

4. Improved natural heel cushioning

5. Improved balance and underfoot feel

Retail price $65

#Environment #Sandals #SoleSandals