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n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m M a r c h / A p r i l 2 0 1 9 | n e w h a v e n B I Z 9 D O W N T I M E What's SUP at Wyassup: Even in early spring and late fall, Kovacs loves getting higher than a kayak on her favorite lake. A water sport for all seasons A ndrea Kovacs came to pad- dleboarding only relatively recently — 2014 — but became an instant convert. Vice president for com- munications and market- ing at Albertus Magnus College, Kovacs was introduced to paddleboarding on her family's lake — Wyassup Lake in North Stonington — five summers ago and decided to give it a whirl as an alternative to the kayaking that predominates on their sylvan wa- terway. "I don't like kayaking," she admits. "I don't like being seated with my feet enclosed. I do it but I don't enjoy it." e sport properly known as Stand-Up Paddleboarding (or SUP) is distinguished from kayaking or piloting other small watercra by the fact that the participant is, well, standing up on the board and propelling the cra with a long paddle. Having one's eyes five or more feet above the water's surface offers a different perspective than, say, a kayak or canoe, from which you see only the surface of the water. Kovacs' introduction to paddle- boarding was inflatable paddle- boards, which are more forgiving than a solid, rigid board for new- bies trying to accustom themselves to balancing on something that's moving — on water, no less, which is itself moving "I said, 'Can I try it?' and they said, 'Sure.' So I got on it and I im- mediately fell off the board — the board went this way, the paddle went that way, and I went the oth- er way. It was the most spectacular — and almost the last — crash I had on a paddleboard. I got up out of the water and said, 'I need to borrow this for half an hour. I need to master this.'" And soon enough, the naturally athletic Kovacs (she also runs road races) did just that. Wyassup Lake is especially friendly to non-powered vessels such as canoes, kayaks and pad- dleboards. It's stocked with trout and restricts water-skiing hours and engine horsepower — so it's not like I-95 for speedboats. "When I go out at 5, 6 in the morning, it's just me and the fish- ermen," Kovacs says. "It's amazing. Nobody's talking to anyone, which is exactly what I like — because I talk all day long." Which is at the heart of her newfound sport's appeal to her and many professional people in day jobs pressurized by nev- er-ending meetings, interpersonal contact and (inevitably) conflict. Which makes silence and solitude truly golden. Another appeal of the sport for Kovacs — a well-rounded athlete who runs road races regulary and has even indulged in less-relaxing pastimes such as skydiving — is that it can be practiced year-round — with a wetsuit, of course. Like many mountain lakes Wyassup is spring-fed, and because the spring water is flowing it resists freezing, at least in the middle. Standup paddleboards run between about $500 (at a big-box store) and $2,000. You'll need a paddle, which is another $50 to $200. In addition to being more stable and forgiving to learn on, inflatable boards are easier to transport — a key consideration for an object nearly as long as a car. But the payoff is priceless. "To be an extrovert requires downtime," Kovacs observes. at's why paddleboarding is the yang to her weekday yin. n "When I go out at 5, 6 in the morning, it's just me and the fishermen. "It's amazing. Nobody's talking to anyone, which is exactly what I like – because I talk all day long." T R E N D I N G

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