Why would a person prefer a SUP to a Sea Kayak?

Why would a person prefer a kayak to a canoe?

@rickeliot said:
Why would a person prefer a SUP to a Sea Kayak?

They don’t like rough water and want to sit on shore most of the time. They want to show off there body. They want to flirt with others. They don’t want to go far. They don’t want to carry much…

@rickeliot said:
Why would a person prefer a SUP to a Sea Kayak?

It only matters if you are trying to sell SUPs or Sea Kayaks.

@PaddleDog52 said:

@rickeliot said:
Why would a person prefer a SUP to a Sea Kayak?

They don’t like rough water and want to sit on shore most of the time. They want to show off there body. They want to flirt with others. They don’t want to go far. They don’t want to carry much…

Right… no “rough” stuff here. Just some dude showing off a buff body… LOL!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcuw4xGLaNk

sing

Isn’t Hamilton one of best surfers in the world?

He sure has good bracing skills.

I wish I could move
within my canoe
like Laird on board
crossing ocean blue

but those walkin’ the plank
three-sixty nose stand tricks
prelude as misstep adventures
Into my wet exits

and as I SUP SINK to SOT
or openly paddle crave
my understanding strives to be righteous
like Hamilton on Broadwave

• It’s perceived by many to be safer since you can’t get stuck in one if it capsizes, you don’t have to pump the water out, and it’s easier to get back on top of.
• People feel it’s a better workout and SUPs are very popular with crossfit people. Kayaks are an efficient mode of transport. SUPs aren’t and that gives a better overall workout in a shorter distance/time.
• The culture, even among advanced riders, is much more open and accepting and easier to enter without people haranguing you about learning high/low braces, wet exits, deep water rescues, and making you feel like you don’t belong if you don’t have a bombproof roll in both directions in 20 foot seas and gale force winds (see comments #3 and #7 in this thread as examples). Anyone can become competent at SUPing in an afternoon. I’ve been paddling a kayak 20 years and still feel like a rookie sometimes.
• It’s a better beach activity (or beach-adjacent anyway) since you can be seen by others and wear basic shorts or a bathing suit while doing it. My daughter will admit that covering oneself with a PFD and, gasp, sometimes a drysuit makes her wonder why I would ever paddle a kayak.
• The equipment is easier to store. Yes SUPs are big, but they’re flat and stand well in a corner. They’re also lighter. Kayaks require more room and are harder for smaller people to rack on cars.
• You need less stuff. A board, paddle, and maybe a PFD (yes I know you always need one but try convincing SUPers of that). You don’t need a bilge pump, spray skirt, paddling shoes, deck compass, chart case, drybags, and a repair kit just to spend a few hours on the local lake.
• Girls like SUPs. Boys like girls and therefore also like SUPs.
• Even a beginner can do yoga on an SUP. This highlights its utility as a versatile platform. Kayaks are for covering distance. SUPs are for doing other things. Try to find an SUP pool practice session. It’s hard. Because people don’t need practice.
• People feel safer standing up. They can see what’s happening around them and look down into the water better.

My wife and daughter have put up with my paddling for 20 and 12 years respectively. They have accompanied me on moonlight paddles, guided nature excursions, and day trips to remote beaches. But they’ll tell you they have WAY more fun on an SUP for a few hours.

@sing said:

@PaddleDog52 said:

@rickeliot said:
Why would a person prefer a SUP to a Sea Kayak?

They don’t like rough water and want to sit on shore most of the time. They want to show off there body. They want to flirt with others. They don’t want to go far. They don’t want to carry much…

Right… no “rough” stuff here. Just some dude showing off a buff body… LOL!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcuw4xGLaNk

sing

he’s surfing to me and how many people with SUP do that? How far do SUP people go? You can pick extremes on anything.

@PaddleDog52 said:
he’s surfing to me and how many people with SUP do that? How far do SUP people go? You can pick extremes on anything.

I don’t know any statistics on that. But I can tell you that the place where I have seen most SUP boards gathered on the water was a surf spot. When I see SUP boards in typical flat water locations, there are usually only 1-3 of them. At this surf spot, I saw dozens of them. I even saw 4 persons surfing together on a very large SUP board.

Until I saw that, SUP did not make any sense to me. But there I finally got it. A few days ago, I entered a beginner’s course in SUP, and one of the long term goals which drive me is surfing.

“Girls like SUPs. Boys like girls and therefore also like SUPs.”.

This is classic for many things…

SUP paddling is more efficient than kayaking?

That seems unlikely to me, at least as a general statement, since I think which specific board or Kayak model would be a large factor in efficiency.

@Yanoer said:
SUP paddling is more efficient than kayaking?

Who said that? I searched the whole thread for “effi*” and only found this, which says the opposite:
“Kayaks are an efficient mode of transport. SUPs aren’t and that gives a better overall workout in a shorter distance/time.”

My first personal experience with an SUP was in the surf. Not waves of the size in the video though. They are faster than canoes, and about the same speed as sea kayaks. I was at a race and saw this for myself while competing in the solo canoe class. What I say is paddle what ever blows your skirt up, and don’t worry about other folk’s choices based on your personal assumptions. There is plenty of room on the water, but be safe.

@GrumpySquatch said:

• The equipment is easier to store. Yes SUPs are big, but they’re flat and stand well in a corner. They’re also lighter. Kayaks require more room and are harder for smaller people to rack on cars.
• You need less stuff. A board, paddle, and maybe a PFD (yes I know you always need one but try convincing SUPers of that). You don’t need a bilge pump, spray skirt, paddling shoes, deck compass, chart case, drybags, and a repair kit just to spend a few hours on the local lake.
• People feel safer standing up. They can see what’s happening around them and look down into the water better.

Good list from GrumpySquatch. I only had the 3 listed above, but his list is much more complete.

I think being able to look down in the water needs to be given a bit more weight. You can see a lot more animals and stuff under the water easier than you can from a kayak.

@Allan Olesen said:

@Yanoer said:
SUP paddling is more efficient than kayaking?

Who said that? I searched the whole thread for “effi*” and only found this, which says the opposite:
“Kayaks are an efficient mode of transport. SUPs aren’t and that gives a better overall workout in a shorter distance/time.”

@Allan Olesen said:

@Yanoer said:
SUP paddling is more efficient than kayaking?

You’re right, I misread that line and got it reversed.

Ha Ha Sing.
Yeah how many people surf SUPs or paddle long distances.
Oh well off for my afternoon surf.

@castoff said:
My first personal experience with an SUP was in the surf. Not waves of the size in the video though. They are faster than canoes, and about the same speed as sea kayaks. I was at a race and saw this for myself while competing in the solo canoe class. What I say is paddle what ever blows your skirt up, and don’t worry about other folk’s choices based on your personal assumptions. There is plenty of room on the water, but be safe.

I started with 18 other boats. My camp ground neighbors were among them on SUPs. The faster passed me at 5.5 mph plus about mid way point and was one of two SUPs that finished ahead of me. I passed the other one early in the race. As with kayaks design is important but the paddler is most of the equation.

I don’t care what they paddle. But if we’re leading a paddle of significant mileage I’m not going to be happy if the SUPs show up. Around here if the wind picks up anything with windage seems to fall out early.

@SeaDart said:
Ha Ha Sing.
Yeah how many people surf SUPs or paddle long distances.
Oh well off for my afternoon surf.

You know… been around that “sea kayaking” thing too for awhile. I see fancy boats around my neck of the NE coast, on big urban SUVs. But, I doubt many of the these sea kayaking “dudes” and “dudettes” go far or in the “rough” with their crafts either.

Most weekends, I am out and about the Boston Harbor Islands, fishing on my Scupper Pro. I hardly ever see paddlers these days. I think the older kayakers are giving up and/or dying off. Few replacements in the pipeline.

As someone already said above - who cares what others are paddlingg, as long as you enjoy what you are doing.

sing