Being a BONDS ambassador is such an honour and when they contact me with a brief (no pun intended) I’m pretty sure that it will be something energetic, fun and exciting! This ticked all of those boxes and more and to be trying out their new swimwear was awesome!

BONDS new SWIM collection is inspired from the ‘sun-kissed essence of a modern Australian lifestyle’ taking into account every ‘body’. Using their trademark hipster and zippy fits, and tropical, fun prints I am really impressed by the range!

The bikinis have removable padding which I love, the bottoms come in a few different shapes and sizes, the one-pieces have such nice detailing and fabric and they have included rash vests which were perfect for my brief!

Bonds obviously wanted me to try something out in the water and to my delight it was a stand up paddle boarding (SUP) lesson at one of Australia’s most renowned SUP schools: WATSSUP at the beautiful Watsons Bay in Sydney.

I have tried SUP before in Noosa but I just hired a board so my knowledge of the sport was slim to none, I was excited to have a lesson and learn something new! Ideally located just moments from the Watsons Bay ferry Wharf WATSSUP is the brainchild of two ocean loving enthusiasts: Terry McDermott and Joanna Kyriazakos. Their motto for the school is to “Learn, Train, Play’ being a place to ‘learn’ new skills, ‘train’ hard and to ‘play’ and have fun.

They offer one on one SUP lessons, group lessons and they have “SUP FIT” training classes which are designed to strengthen your core, enhance your balance and develop appropriate muscles for SUPing (I so want to give this a try once I am more advanced!). They also offer corporate team building, SUP parties and take part in the ‘Every man and his dog’ event on Australia Day every year.

 I turned up at 1pm on the most perfect Saturday afternoon (blue skies, soft breeze) and I was met by Terry just as I was getting off the ferry. Terry has been a lifeguard for 30years, currently at Bondi, and has had WATSSUP for 10 years so I knew I was in safe hands! He automatically made me feel at ease and quite relaxed for the whole SUP experience.

I was assigned a board and a paddle on the beach where we did a bit of training before we got out onto the water. Terry taught me the basics of steering, the correct grip and alignment of the paddle and how to get from knees to standing whilst on the board.

Soon enough we had taken off and I was paddling away next to Terry. The lesson was really informative but fun at the same time. It was so therapeutic being out on the water and once I had picked up the basics I felt quite confident turning and changing direction on the board.

Overall the experience was great and I definitely want to go back and have a few more lessons! To be honest I am not THAT confident in the rough Australian ocean so this was a great option for me to enjoy the water in a much calmer manner whilst still having a great workout!

I would highly recommend this class and now that summer is around the corner I can’t wait to give it another go!

If you want to find out more about WATSSUP Stand Up Paddle Boarding you can find their details here:

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Photography: Aristo Risi

Wearing: Bonds SWIM

You can read this article on the BONDS blog, here