This is what I think.
– Last Updated: Jul-15-13 3:57 PM EST –
SUPs are to the 2010s what windsurfers were to the 1980s. They've become a fad, so a lot of people have taken to them, but in a few years the novelty will wear off for the vast majority and eventually they will get tired of their long-unused boards taking up space in their garages and will sell them in garage sales or on craigslist. The SUPing world will contract to a niche group of serious enthusiasts that will endure, just like surfboarding has endured.
SUPing seems nonsensical to you and you want to get into the heads of the masses to understand why they would spend time doing it, while to me what seems nonsensical is to spend time caring about the "nonsensical" nature of the motivations of people who are just having fun doing a healthy activity that doesn't bother anyone else.
If you really want to understand the motivations of people who try SUP, I'll try to help you out. First, you need to realize you are judging both the activity, and them, from the perspective of someone who paddles kayaks, who is very familiar with them and understands the versatility and performance kayaks offer, and knows that SUPs don't compete with that. You would never want to get into SUPing because you know what a kayak can do instead. But most people trying SUPs aren't coming from that perspective. For a lot of these people, an SUP is their first time to be "helming" a small watercraft by themselves, they might not come from boating backgrounds, and aren't familiar with kayaks and canoes, or their landlubber impression of them is that canoes are some slow oldfashioned thing their parents paddled around the lake at Camp Wannahumpya, and kayaks are some tippy thing that will roll over and if you don't possess some magical rolling skill at, you'll drown. SUPs, however, have a trendiness about them, and at the same time they seem very accessible - just a stable platform you stand on and require very little learning curve to get out on the water on.
You might be surprised to know that among the sailing community, there is an attitude that doesn't "get" why anyone would want to paddle. Why sit down in a cramped little boat having to exert yourself so much to get anywhere when you can harness the wind and go much faster, much farther? I'm a sailor, I also water ski, fish and cruise in motorboats, own a canoe and a kayak. I see the fun in all these different ways of getting on the water, and ultimately, that is what they all are, ways of getting on the water and having fun. When people forget that, and stop thinking of themselves as watermen, instead thinking of themselves as kayakers, or sailors, or whatever, falling along partisan lines based on what kind of boat they use, they have lost their way.
The Rat sculled smartly across and made fast. Then he held up his forepaw as the Mole stepped gingerly down. `Lean on that!' he said. `Now then, step lively!' and the Mole to his surprise and rapture found himself actually seated in the stern of a real boat.
`This has been a wonderful day!' said he, as the Rat shoved off and took to the sculls again. `Do you know, I`ve never been in a boat before in all my life.'
`What?' cried the Rat, open-mouthed: `Never been in a - you never - well I - what have you been doing, then?'
`Is it so nice as all that?' asked the Mole shyly, though he was quite prepared to believe it as he leant back in his seat and surveyed the cushions, the oars, the rowlocks, and all the fascinating fittings, and felt the boat sway lightly under him.
`Nice? It's the ONLY thing,' said the Water Rat solemnly, as he leant forward for his stroke. `Believe me, my young friend, there is NOTHING...absolute nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing,' he went on dreamily: `messing...about...in...boats.'
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame