What happens when two ex-beauty queens, a love for the sea and an ambitious business idea come together? Welcome to paddleboarding.
They are two former beauty pageant contestants who share a love for the sea.
Amanda Lee, 35, bagged the crown of Miss Hard Rock Penang 2012. She is a certified Advanced Open Water Diver and dives yearly across South-East Asia. She also recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain on the African continent.Lee is also the sales and marketing manager for a property developer.Gohara Haruki, 28, is a Kedahan with Japanese, Siamese and Chinese blood. She was a finalist of Miss Hard Rock Penang 2014 and currently works as an air hostess.
Together, the two founded a small but growing community of people who love to ride while standing up on inflatable paddleboards at the sea off Penang, especially around the coast from Tanjung Tokong to Tanjung Bungah.For Haruki, it all began with an epiphany in 2021. So Haruki kept at it, eventually getting her “sea legs” and adapting her sense of balance on the board. She revelled in the joy of standing up while gliding across the water and became hooked on the sport.Paddleboarding is nothing new. In fact it is very old, having been recorded as far back as 3,000BC. Archaeologists have found ancient traces of such watercraft in Peru, Italy and China.
After Haruki became skilled at stand-up paddleboarding, her entrepreneurial skills kicked in. She talked to Lee about starting a new business.At first, hardly anyone dared to ride paddleboards in Penang, so they offered coaching sessions as well.When interstate travel was finally allowed again, people came back to the seaside looking for new adventures. And the paddleboards beckoned.
Lee said their fledgling operation grew after two other experts joined as coaches, semi-pro paddleboard racer Nicole Koh and certified swimming coach Joe Mak.
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