Vessels
My good friend who served 20 years in the Navy corrected me one time when I referred to a Navy ship as a “vessel”, and he said:
“A vessel is something you use to carry liquid, or something you piss in.”
But I know for some of us on this board that could describe our kayaks or canoes 
We’re going to see more of them
I’m thinking that SUPs are here to stay. While I rarely see them on rivers, every race I’ve paddled in this year has had an SUP class that is well represented. While they have been no threat to the serious racers I’ve been passed by a few.
I expect that the designs will evolve rapidly as folks paddling them push into types of paddling outside of surf and flatwater racing. It would not surprise me to see heavily rockered whitewater SUPs and long skinny touring SUPs in the near future. On the Mystic I was passed by a longer skinnier “racing” board that may have given the serious racer some competition if he had not got a late start.
I can’t understand the antipathy towards them that some express. They are paddle boats plain and simple. Not that different from the canoes and kayaks we all love to argue about.
Sit on tops/Sail boards.
– Last Updated: Jul-20-10 5:28 PM EST –
Are "sit on tops" vessels? Are "sail boards" vessels?
If you want to avoid trouble, then assume the restricted case. That's assume they are vessels.
They almost certainly would be considered vessels in any place the Coast Guard would be concerned with.
The fact that people stand up to use them doesn't seem particularly meaningful (you can captain lots of vessels while standing up).
I agree
In fact, I would define “vessel” as being any type of conveyance on the water that can carry a person and is powered by some motive force (engine, paddle, foot pedal, etc).
If a raft is a vessel (and I’d contend it is), then one of these SUP’s should be a vessel. IMO.
Posted this one a while back
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIQ5qOtNP-g
A fun look @ the current race boards with some of the best paddlers on Maui.
Both hard chine and soft chine boards in this video.
Announcement was made a while back requiring PFD and whistle. I can only see it enforced down here if paddlers doing something stupid around other vessels.
Why?
Seadart,
Did you call me a pinhead? If so, why?
sup
my local paddleshop told me that a guy that bought a sup from them was just ticketed for not having a pfd and signaling device. The salesguy felt bad because he had previously advised the guy that he wouldn’t legally need any of that stuff!
seadart
I readily admit I know very little about SUPs, so I’m definitely not being critical. However,when I looked at the video you posted, it looked like a guy on a surfboard with a paddle to me.
What makes SUPs unique?
signaling device
Where I paddle a signaling device for a SUP is a HOOT to call a drop-in off the wave.
Things are going to get muddy if SUPs start doing distance runs on the river.
Yes
In the DC area on the Potomac they started to enforce having a PFD on SUP boards. Don’t have to wear it, just have it. Same for kayaks and canoes. I would guess if they get a SUPper at night, they’d ask for them to have a flash light too. Whistle? Probably too but the Police (not the Coast Guard in that area) are particularly picky about PFD and flashlights. Being the Police, some of these are quite arrogant (no excuse, but they are - having a uniform of some sort tends to change people and usually for the worse…).
kinda reminds me…
of the state by state motorcycle helmet laws. Like I’d ever ride with out one, full face no less!
steve
No audible signalling device?
Have you checked your PFD pocket? After owning an Extrasport PFD for about a year, I stuck my hand in one of the pockets to find something I had placed in there earlier and pulled out an orange storm whistle on a lanyard. For a year that thing had been in there and I had had no idea Extrasport had included it.
Yeah, I’ve seen these things take off
in popularity down here. I have no interest in them,but if people are having fun on them, that’s cool.
I’d imagine that requirments (registration, PFD, etc) are not really promulgated yet, but when they do, it will be state-by-state. In most states, using one at the beach or close to shore won’t be a problem, and they’ll be overlooked, unless people start trying to paddle them in the ICW or something like that.
You assume logic in regulation
The Peoples Republic of Ohio does not consider a windsurfer to be a watercraft (almost verbatim from the code) and therefore does not require registration. However, they do for canoes and kayaks.
Native Watercraft
has the Versa Board, which is supposed to be half SOT, half SUP (it’s co-branded with Liquid Logic, so they have it, too).
I’m gussing…
…those guys haven’t seen the Cold Water Boot Camp video.
As an occasional poler,…
…however you choose to make a “stand” on your on-water vessel of pleasure, as long as it’s self-propelled (be it pole, single-blade, double-blade, ping-pong paddles, etc.), and you aren’t hurting anyone (save for yourself, likely, once-in-awhile), I can see no objection to raise.
In the uni(fied)-cycle of all things, with water, stride on!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm7vHPPdkzI
hello, salty?