Whale joins Jodie Nelson paddling 40 miles for cancer research

DANA POINT – When Jodie Nelson felt exhaustion set in as she dug her paddle into the cold ocean, she would look down at the top of her Stand Up Paddleboard for motivation.

There read the names of loved ones who have passed away or have battled breast cancer – and those people were the reasons why Nelson was attempting what no woman had done before.

CHRISTINE COTTER, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

MORE PHOTOS »

More information:

Donations go toward Keep a Breast Foundation and Boarding for Breast Cancer. Nelson's goal is to raise $100,000, and as of Sunday afternoon had raised about $8,000. To donate, go to paddlewithpurpose.com.

In an attempt to raise awareness and money for breast cancer education, Nelson, of San Clemente, paddled nearly 40 miles from Catalina to Dana Point on Saturday, a feat that only three or so men – one being famous waterman Laird Hamilton — have completed.

"I wanted to go out there and do something that was big and overwhelming ... and something I had a good chance of failing at. It's nothing compared to what they go through," she said. "They don't give up."

After watching helplessly as close friend Angela Robinson become ill from breast cancer and chemotherapy treatments, Nelson wanted to somehow show support.

At first, Robinson didn't like the dangerous idea. But she soon realized there was no talking Nelson out of it.

Nelson trained hard, spending long days paddling along the coast. About two weeks ago, her trainer and good friend Steve Adler died from an aneurysm – making the paddle that much more emotional.

She started the paddle at about 6:15 a.m., hours earlier than others doing a relay as part of the Ohana Ocean Catalina Challenge. She was the only person doing a solo paddle.

A few hours in, a 30-foot gray whale came up beside her board – at first startling Nelson and the boat crew.

The whale – dubbed Larry – was close enough that she could have pet it with her paddle. He started making bubbles beneath her, fluking, and showing his tummy to her. The whale stayed with her for about an hour and a half.

"It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life," she said.

Not once during the paddle did she ask the time, or how far she had gone.

But after 8 hours and 51 minutes of paddling, loved ones cheered as they saw her coming to the finish line at Baby Beach. Her son Taylor, 15, held a sign that read: "I'm Jodie's biggest fan."

When she got close to shore, she lifted her paddle in victory, then threw it up in the air.

"I'm pretty sure, besides the birth of my son, this was the most monumental day of my life," she said.

For Robinson, watching Nelson from the support boat as she struggled for hours from exhaustion gave her a different perspective of what Nelson experiences as she supports her during her battle with cancer.

"The struggle she went through today to encourage me was just enormous," Robinson said.

Donations go toward Keep a Breast Foundation and Boarding for Breast Cancer. Nelson's goal is to raise $100,000, and as of Sunday afternoon had raised about $8,000. To donate, go to paddlewithpurpose.com 

Standing up (and paddling) against breast cancer

By LAYLAN CONNELLY

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

• 
  
  
  

Jodie Nelson and friend Brooke Farris found a small opening in the bushes that led into the Venice Beach canals, where multimillion-dollar homes line the waterways.

The women lugged large boards and paddles for their mission – sneak onto the canal for a cheeky adventure.

Jodie Nelson of San Clemente, carries her paddle and board across Corona del Mar State Beach in Newport Beach, before a training paddle to Dana Point.

MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

MORE PHOTOS »

More from Morning Reads

• 
  
  Standing up (and paddling) against breast cancer
• 
  
  Dad's 'voluptuous dream' city is Santa Ana
• 
  
  Is this man the father of your flowers?
• 
  
  She convinces people to do the unthinkable
• 
  
  College kid gets tenacious over hoop dream

But as Nelson and Farris were about to get on the water, a third woman stopped them and looked at their boards with curiosity.

"Is that hard to do?" Sandra Mathers asked, referring to the stand-up paddleboards.

"Come give it a try!" Nelson told her.

They went back to their car to retrieve an extra board, also known as an "SUP." The three women then cruised the canals, standing on their boards and taking in the scenery as they dug paddles into the water's surface.

After about an hour, the new friends said their goodbyes. Mathers' smile was broad, even as tears welled in her eyes.

"I just finished my first round of chemo," Mathers said, revealing her bout with breast cancer. "I've been looking for a way to be active again.

"What you girls did for me today was amazing."

WAVE ADDICT

Nelson was 12 when she rode her first wave and came home begging her parents for a surfboard.

"I was hooked," says Nelson, now 33. "It was tunnel vision."

That obsession – and her competitive nature – made Nelson a great surfer. As a teen, she surfed professionally, and built enough of a reputation that she was paid to surf in international photo shoots advertising surf clothing and surf gear. She eventually became a team rider for Hurley and, later, worked in the surfwear company's marketing department and as an on-air surf reporter for Fuel TV and ESPN.

Though she loves surfing, Nelson says it can be a selfish sport. It's all about your next wave, where you can go. In the lineup, she says, there's not much interaction with other surfers.

Four years ago, on a trip to Hawaii with the Hurley team, Nelson took her first ride on a stand-up paddleboard – a board about twice the size of the surfboards she'd been riding.

"It was a lot of board," she says with a chuckle. "You have to put every muscle into your stroke. It was so much fun because it was so different."

It was like she was 12 again.

MAKING A SPLASH

Soon after returning from Hawaii, Nelson started eyeing a big, lonely SUP propped up against the wall at her Hurley office.

Back then, it was rare to see SUPs in Southern California. Nelson didn't even know where to get a paddle – so she and a friend sawed off the end of her brother's old kayak paddle and used that for awhile.

While the practice of standing up on a board and paddling across a body of water dates back centuries, and was used traditionally by water-faring tribes around the world, it wasn't part of the current surf scene until about seven years ago. That's when Laird Hamilton – one of the world's best surfers – first hit the waves with a SUP.

Since then, the sport has evolved. Boards are getting shorter for surfing. People are performing aerial maneuvers off waves. And new SUP races and events are popping up every month.

As SUPs have become popular, they've become mildly controversial. Though many SUP riders use the board for mellow cruising, others use them in the surf, and some surfers get irked at the massive boards infiltrating the waves.

But Nelson, who lives in San Clemente, is one of many longtime surfers who have embraced SUPs. She can be found at a dozen or so SUP races held locally throughout the year, and she's started a side business called "the SUP Spot," a boot camp for people who want to improve their paddling technique.

The sport is not without its hazards.

RAW OCEAN

On a recent day – a mile and a half offshore – Nelson heard a loud noise in the distance.

About 50 yards away, a massive gray whale cracked the surface.

"My heart literally stopped," she says. "It froze me."

Being in the middle of the ocean is different from sitting near shore on a surfboard. On a SUP, you're microscopic, insignificant.

"It's scary. There's gnarly wild animals out there. The ocean is so raw."

Nelson wants to see a shark, just to get it over with. For her, it's like charging big waves – once you do it and survive, you're past the fear.

As she stood on her board, during a 17-mile practice paddle, she looked toward Catalina – out across miles of open ocean.

"I kept looking out there thinking 'oh geez'. It's going to be mind over matter."

Only three people are known to have ridden a SUP from Catalina to Dana Point. Laird Hamilton is one of them, and none have been women.

Last year, Nelson and a fellow SUP'er, Bridget Saeman, paddled a relay from Catalina to Dana Point, switching off every 20 minutes. They were the first female team to complete the distance.

Now, Nelson is looking for something more.

PADDLE WITH PURPOSE

After meeting Mathers in Venice, and after watching her mother and a close friend fight breast cancer, Nelson wanted to show her support for people with the disease.

On March 28, Nelson will attempt to be the first woman on record to do the 39.8-mile Stand-Up Paddle course from Catalina to Dana Point. Her goal is to raise $100,000 for the Keep Abreast Foundation and Boarding For Breast Cancer.

She'll be paddling with one other person in her head, too.

Nelson's friend and business partner, Steve Adler – who has been by her side for most her SUP adventures – died this month, at age 40, from an aneurysm. Nelson is even more determined, believing Adler would want her to continue with the fundraising race.

She knows it will be tough. But she wants to be out of her comfort zone – like the close friend she sees ill from the toxic, if curative chemicals being pumped into her body, and all the other women battling breast cancer.

"They could give up. They could say 'I'm tired of being sick'," Nelson says.

But they don't.

Nelson says she won't either.

"I'm putting myself in a situation that is intimidating and scary. I want to inspire (people) to not give up. I want to inspire other people."

For more info or to donate, go to paddlewithpurpose.com.

Contact the writer: lconnelly@ocregister.com

The SUP Spot and Below The Surface hit the Airwaves

Jodie Nelson - professional surfer and owner of the The SUP Spot is bringing the sport of surfing into the Atchafalaya River and awareness of the impact of river pollution and sediment blockages to the surfing community. She has generously offered her "Mean Green Machine" a 12 foot long Stand Up Paddleboard to Below The Surface for our expedition this week.

Check out the news on it at Surfline.