Roll Call: Doesn't "get" paddleboarding

me neither but to each his/her own
1. I have to stand up?



2. It’s really not for surfing?



3. Where do I put my gear?



4. Looks cold for spring and fall.



5. Takes up twice the garage space as a bike.



6. More specific rack fittings!



Ok, those were in jest. But I have two words for a similar phenomenon: roller blades. They were a fad once, also. How many people do you see using them today?



Different strokes.

best thing to happen to paddle racing
In this area, SUP’s are the greatest thing to happen to paddle racing. They hold several ocean paddle races here now - meaning SUP groups organize them. And they open them up to sea kayaks, surf skis, outrigger canoes, etc.

They are the first group willing to take on seas in large enough numbers to hold ocean races. There was an effort here years ago for kayaks, but without ideal conditions it was moved to the sound. They have far surpassed the sea kayaking community in terms of conditions they will hold an event and have participation in. Very welcoming to all paddlecraft, with a significant skilled bunch out surfing waves and paddling rough open water. A fantastic group of people over here with skill, strength, endurance, and a friendly attitude to go with it as far as I’ve noticed.

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

this guy can
again i never have .



look in the wave at the 40 seocnd mark. Doesn’t look like the same wave to me but caught my eye.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAaRMMfz4uI


So, what advice, suggestions, or
general help are you offering? Pnet has a swell discussion forum when you lose track of your purpose

Not my cuppa
I can stand in a tandem canoe and use an SUP paddle though my six foot long Maine Guide Paddle makes more sense to me.



And off I go…with no outlay of cash. Better yet when I fall down, I don’t have to call for help to get up!

Very popular here on the west coast
There are regular races here the NW practically every week. Last surfski race I did in BC had as many SUPs as all the surfskis and kayaks. The fast guys are doing 5kts on the flat and much more if they go downwind. Upwind is a different story.

I know quite a few people with a quiver of boards, some for surf, some for racing. There’s even a SUP yoga class here in Seattle.

Personally I would rather paddle a surfski or kayak.

Don’t “get” it?
I “get” it, rather like I “get” surfing. Looks like fun but its not something that one would expect to exert an overwhelming attraction on any reasonable inland Midwesterner. That’s just a prescription for frustration. I know a couple folks who paddleboard around on the local lakes here and seem to enjoy it. Good for them.



I also paddled a couple weeks ago on a river near LaCrosse Wi. One of the guys who went on that trip, a good whitewater paddler, brought along his new paddleboard. I was kinda’ curious to see how it worked out on a typical mild river trip - there were a few drops and places where one had to thread through strainers or under low overhanging trees. He didn’t take it off the car and paddled his Mohawk Probe instead.



There are some things “about” paddleboarding I don’t get though:

A) Folks are promoting the bejeebers out of them around here. There are paddleboard festivals and visiting “experts” who travel here to do the important work of teaching folks in the art of stand-up paddling. They sell like hotcakes though there’s nowhere with regular large waves to capitalize on their greatest advantages and they aren’t well suited to carrying camping gear, though there are many nearby places admirably suited to river camping or BWCA-like lake to lake trips. So why this overwhelming need for education promotion of and education in stand-up paddling in a place better suited for other types of paddling? That I don’t quite “get”. I understand the desire to sell stuff and the compulsion some folks seem to feel toward being on board for latest new thing. But I don’t understand the push to sell this here and why are folks seem so anxious to hop on a bandwagon that’s selling what is at best “thin soup” for our area.

B) Why don’t apparently ANY of these folks wear PFDs and why don’t any of us get on our high horses about that as we so often have if they were canoeists or kayakers? Does their not wearing cotton make up for their other sins? This I don’t “get.”

SUP
I would consider myself a hard core sea kayaker. I’ve demoed and rented a few SUP’s. I prefer the touring displacement hull boards vs. the more surf oriented boards. Where I live, a surf oriented board would be a waste, but I could put some miles behind me with a touring board.



I have enjoyed them enough to attempt to build one. My project is coming along nicely and it’s been fun. While I would never trade my sea kayak for a long “touring-like” trip, I’ve seen paddlers gear up fof long trips. My true passion is touring and for me a paddle board would fall into the glorified pool toy and exercise toy category.



I’d want to hop off and on for hot days in front of the cottage. I want to sit my kids on the nose and paddle (with pfd’s). I’d be attached to the board with an ankle leash. I would keep the board at the lake home vs. having to haul all my kayak gear each time we visit.



You do get a different kind of exercise burn than you do from straight paddling. Of course you can go faster and farther in a kayak, but I’m not looking for 20 mile days.



I have other various wife, time and kid reasons for wanting to add one to my stable of paddle options. In all, I do think they are fun. Get on youtube and check out some of the races and you can see experts logging some serious speed. I’ve seen some amazing long-board racers catching wave train after wave train.



At this pace, maybe my board will be done before it snows. But who knows maybe by next summer the fad will have passed :slight_smile:

aaaand…cue self-appointed forum cop

Answers
A) The reason you see these “educators” is there are a lot of distributors and manufacturers’ reps out there trying to strike while the iron is hot. They know that if this is a fad, like windsurfing was in the 80s, they need to push hard and make their money now while the fad is going strong. Even if they are hoping it will be more than a fad, they know they have to achieve some critical mass fast. They can’t just rely on the geographies that are best suited to their products, they have to push them whereever there is water to do this. I think the reason why so many folks are jumping on the bandwagon is as I said before, these things seem like an easy approach to water - not “stodgy” and “old-fashioned” like they think canoes are, not tippy like they think canoes and kayaks are either.



B) I think the reason people aren’t wearing PFD is because no one wears PFDs on surfboards. And these things haven’t been regulated yet. States haven’t passed regs requiring them to even carry PFDs, because they are still seeing them as surfboards.

Why should we care if you get it?

– Last Updated: Jul-15-13 4:48 PM EST –

A lot of people do get it. I like the fact that a lot of women now are getting out into the surf and ripping it up on SUPs, has certainly changed the dynamic in the surf zone. I surfed saturday with 8 20 somethings trying out SUPs and they were all avid board surfers and were having a blast on the SUPs, I was in a surf kayak.

And I'm no longer considered a menace on my 8' wave ski in the line up because of all the barnies out there.

It's a really good work-out on flat water and gives you a different feel for paddling; it's fun. I'm not so sure about not being fast. I was on a wide beginners board last week and a ranger in a kayak was trying to catch up to me to talk with me and could not do it. I did not realize he was behind me, I was paddling as hard as I could go and he was fat and old, but with good technique you can move along pretty fast.

How come you didn’t want to talk
to the ranger? :slight_smile:

In North Carolina,…
If not in the surf, you are required to have a PFD when on a paddleboard like any other vessel.



I wear an inflatable belt PFD to meet the legal requirement. The SUP has much more buoyancy than any PFD.

I didn’t notice him.

– Last Updated: Jul-15-13 4:52 PM EST –

I didn't have my glassses on and I almost ran over a sea otter (I thought it was a kelp bulb), he was trying to warn me that they were popping up unexpected in the channel I was paddling in.

Oh, okay, it sounded like you
were trying to outrun him :wink:

Interesting
It’s probably the way it should be, but funny that you still aren’t required to wear one in the surf, where you are most likely to fall off, and maybe hit your head.

Leashes are required…
at most beaches.



If they required them for SUP they’d have to do it for surfers who would be hampered by PFDs.

PFDs and paddleboards- answer

– Last Updated: Jul-15-13 5:09 PM EST –

seems I was wrong about there being no regs on PFDs for paddleboards. As Davbart stated, some states do have their own state-level regs requiring PFDs. Also, I did some research and found out in December 2010 the USCG declared that paddleboards are vessels, and therefore require PFDs

However, WPA at least at one point was trying to get them to revise the language so that if you are tethered to your paddleboard with a leash, the board itself counts as a PFD.

An additional note,…
I think the popularity of SUP is apparent by your use of paddleboard and everyone’s understanding that you meant SUP.



Prone paddleboards have been around a long time, and are important tools for ocean lifeguards.