Help in Tampa March 30'ish

[catdailey]

I need some guidance from the SUP peeps in and around Tampa...

I have to go to a Team USA Dragon Boat training camp that begins Tuesday morning, April 2, 2013 and ends Sunday morning, April 7, 2013. This is what I need help with:

I would like to fly in early Saturday morning, March 30, 2013, and spend Saturday, Sunday, and Monday with a really, really good SUP instructor and a high end rental 12'6" race board, which I'd like to keep renting for the rest of the week so I can paddle in between my team workouts. This is Easter weekend, so that might complicate it a bit. I'll be staying at the Hampton Inn on N. Rocky Point Drive East (near TPA) for the week. Ideally, I'd like my SUP instructor to show up with two race boards, spend the three days with me, leave me the board until he/she picks it up on Saturday night (4/6) or Sunday morning (4/7) before I fly home. I'm a good paddler (dragon boat, OC1, OC6, C1, K1, surf ski), just don't have a lot of SUP experience yet. I plan on doing a lot of SUP racing in 2013, flatwater and east coast chop.

Can anyone suggest people, shops, resources? I fully appreciate the cost regarding good coaching 

Many thanks for help!

Cat

[UDflyer]

Solstice Sports - Nick
Water Monkey - Chase

Those are the go to guys around this area, both own shops and both compete.

[catdailey]

Awesome! Thanks UDflyer! I will start with these two guys and see if I can work it out...

Zoners are the bomb 

Solstice Sports - Nick
Water Monkey - Chase

Those are the go to guys around this area, both own shops and both compete.

[Dave B]

Yep both good guys!  Nick is close to downtown Tampa. I think those dragon boat races are downtown? Super close to Nick.

[FB1]

The Florida State Paddleboard Championships are over at Cocoa Beach on March 30. Definitely worth the drive. Plenty of good paddlers will be attending this WPA event.

[catdailey]

The Florida State Paddleboard Championships are over at Cocoa Beach on March 30. Definitely worth the drive. Plenty of good paddlers will be attending this WPA event.

Oh, wow! That would be too cool, but I just have soooo little SUP experience at the moment. This year got a little bit away from me