This weekend is the 2015 Lake Coeur d'Alene SUP CUP. This is the second year the SUP CUP paddleboard races have been held at the North Idaho College beach on Lake Coeur d'Alene. Stand-up paddleboarding has become a rite of summer on our beautiful North Idaho lakes and rivers. I have been fortunate to be an early adopter of this recreation and sport that has its roots in Hawaii. I jumped on my first board relatively recently, in 2010.

Kym Murdock, of Coeur d'Alene Paddleboard Co., has been a driving force getting people on boards here in North Idaho for a number of years and I have her to thank for so many awesome days paddling the lake.

I have touched on the history of the beloved SUP in the past. Here is a little deeper look at the origins of stand-up paddleboarding. It seems that not only the early Polynesians came with paddles in hand, using long boards carved from Koa trees to He'e nalu as it's called in native Hawaiian, but many other cultures around the world have used variations of similar watercraft to fish and travel their local waters. From Peru and Africa to the Middle East, various forms of SUPs have been used for thousands of years.

Today's version of stand-up paddleboarding came from the 1950s and 1960s Hawaiian surfing scene when Leroy AhChoy and his brother would take outrigger paddles out on their long boards. As time went on, more and more guys in Hawaii started taking paddles on their boards, making it a common sight on the beaches in Hawaii. In the 1980s, big surfing names like Brian Keaulana and Laird Hamilton starting using a paddle with their boards as an alternative when surfing conditions where poor.

With paddleboarding gaining a lot of interest in Hawaii in 1996, Dawson Jones, a surfer and Hawaiian paddler, suggested a race between islands with a couple of training partners. One year later, in 1997, these guys had organized the first 32-mile Moloka'i 2 O'ahu race, which has been done every year since.

It is said the first SUP, so to speak, made its way to the U.S. mainland in 2000 when Rick Thomas, a Vietnam vet who grew up in Hawaii, showed up using an 11-foot Munoz long board and a paddle in the Southern California surf. At that time, Rick was using an old kayak paddle. It didn't take long after Rick's arrival in California for him to have a custom paddle made, and with his long board he got a lot of attention from the local surfers. Within a few short years, using a paddle to navigate those California waves became a huge hit with the tight-knit West Coast surfing community.

Shortly after 2004, flat-water kayakers and others took a huge interest in refining the long board idea into the stand-up paddleboards that we use today. Guys like Todd Caranto - an Asian Pacific Islander - founded Pau Hana Surf Supply in 2006, making a number of the boards you see around here. There are many SUP manufacturers now, and your choices are almost endless with race boards, yoga boards and even fishing boards.

Whether you're a seasoned SUP user or never been on one, here are some great ways to set out and experience stand up paddleboarding:

* Fitness: Every year, more and more fitness programs get tailored for stand-up paddleboards. Exercising on a SUP can be amazing and burn 500 calories in an hour of hard paddling. Once on a paddleboard, you will quickly see why it is a great workout. Paddleboarding hits a number of key areas on your body. First and foremost, boarding requires a lot of balance and stabilization. The entire time you're standing on the board, your legs and core are being actively challenged. The other great part of a paddleboard workout is its ability to build your arms, latissimus dorsi and your deltoids, which wrap around your upper shoulder joint. Since paddleboarding works legs, core, arms and back, it is truly one of the best full-body workouts without the potential for injury you get from running or doing Crossfit and other impact workouts.

* Yoga: Paddleboard yoga is not only more challenging since balancing on an unstable board can truly test your physical ability, it is a great way to connect with your surroundings at the same time. If you fall you just climb back on the board and strike your yoga position until you can control the movement and breathing. Water, sun and being surrounded by nature makes paddleboard yoga nothing short of surreal and beautiful, so if yoga is something you love, you need to try it on a paddleboard.

* Adventure: There is no shortage of adventures on a SUP. You can river SUP the Salmon River or for that matter, many of our local rivers. Take a drive to Western Washington and paddleboard Friday Harbor and around the San Juan Islands. Upper Priest Lake is another beautiful lake to walk on water, so to speak, with a board. In many instances, you can use a SUP on lakes and waterways that do not allow motorized boats. The use of a stand-up paddleboard can bring you so close to nature without disturbing the wildlife and shoreline, making it an adventure to remember every time.

* Racing: SUP racing is growing very fast across all ages. It requires skill, strength and endurance. Whether you are competing in a 32-mile island-to-island power race or just pushing hard for a 5-mile sprint, you will find it every bit as challenging as any other endurance racing. SUP racing has world rankings, with top athletes like Conner Baxter from Hawaii and Annabel Anderson from New Zealand leading those ratings. We have a number of races in the Pacific Northwest with races in Missoula, the Seattle area and one of the top races in the world, The Naish Columbia Gorge Paddle Challenge that draws many international paddlers located in Hood River, Ore.

Paddleboarding is an amazing recreation and sport. It blends low-impact fitness with adventure, beauty and mindfulness. Whether you're catching the morning sunrise on glassy water or sitting on your board watching the sunset, there is nothing quite like the connection you develop between your board, the water and an amazing feeling of contentment.

Judd Jones is a director for the Hagadone Corporation.