OCEAN-DWELLING creatures of renown include bottlenose dolphins, emperor penguins, hammerhead sharks, clown anemonefish, humpback whales and Tom Carroll. Every breed of these salt-encrusted marine animals is keenly attuned to the rhythm and flow of the sea, but one of them, the Tom Carroll, momentarily lost his bearings when he first joined the stand-up paddle-board revolution and turned into an unco-ordinated, good-for-nothin' kook. "It was like I was a beginner again," the two-time world surfing champion tells The Australian. It was a very, very, very humbling experience, but I loved it. It keeps you grounded to start something completely from scratch. It doesn't matter how much surfing you've done in your life, stand-up is hard in the early stages, but it's worth it.