Hello from France!
I just had my first day with my SUP in the mediteraneean sea 
. I am a beginner but well equipped and motivated.
So downloaded the app afterwards, as I loved it.
How do I know how many miles/ km i did, especially against the current… I can’t seem to find the equivalent of maps but on water 
.
Thanks for the help.
Isabelle
Do you have a GPS?
In Google Maps, right click and select measure distance
You didn’t say what app you are using. I use Geo Tracker, free and it will show your track and tell you how far you went among other things. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ilyabogdanovich.geotracker
Hi there,
I thought the app go paddling would be good, but I have a server pb, so it does not work. Thanks for the GPS tracker, I will use this one. Does it work everywhere, land and sea?
Thanks again
Isabelle
Hi,
I just downloaded geotracker , I guess except for Google maps, I did not have any tracker 
.
Which one do you use? I am looking for one that works when I am on the sea as well, for next time … 
Thanks,
Isabelle
Hi,
Thanks, I am discovering new fonctions on maps thanks to you 
.
I had my trip fonction deactivated. …
Will it work when I am on water? Including the coast/ the sea ?
Thank you,
Isabelle
Geo Tracker relies on your phone’s positioning. My Galaxy works with all four satellite systems: GPS, GLONASS, BDS, and GALILEO. It will work anywhere in the world.
It needs the internet to download google maps. If you are going outside of cell range it is best to download and cache detailed maps first by zooming in and panning where you are going to go prior to your trip.
You can also export your trip to KML afterward and view it on your PC in Google Earth or google maps.
I rely on a deck mounted GPS for current speed, avg speed, total time and moving time. GeoTrack, which is I believe just an android app, runs as a background app in a waterproof Pelican case. That is mostly use to analyze performance to assess how conditions affected the overall trip.
I don’t rely exclusively on powered aids. More than once, I either forgot to change batteries, installed drained batteries, or left a device home. Compounding that, I’ve unitentionally left the battery saver activated on the phone, which shuts down GeoTrack to preserve battery life. For that reason, I always have a deck mounted compass and a nautical chart of the area in a waterproof chart case secured under the deck bungees. Inside the chart case, I have trip data notes - time started, high and low tides with height of the surge, which indicates power of the current.
For unfamiliar locations, consult a nautical chart of the area to pre-plan the trip. Scan and plot a course for the location of interest. By consulting a chart, you can assess and plot the most favorable. For example, a course around an island may be equal distance, by knowing conditions and tides, you might select a yellow course to coincide an assist from a falling tide and river outflow, rather than fight the current by following the red course. By waiting to make the decision on location, the consequences aren’t so apparent. You might not realize your folly until you make the turn at the southern tip of the Island and head into a 3 mph current. That could add up to an hour to your trip. You should also note bottom depths for shallows and channels that can accentuate wave action and currents.
Use dividers to pace off distances, or better still, use a strip of paper. Pin the starting point and select a waypoint; gently pin that spot, then rotate the paper to select the next way point. Once plotted, go to the scale and mark the distances between waypoints. You should have a sense of your typical speed potential, eslecially when paddling open water. Mark each pin hole location with the waypoint name, and note the distance and anticipated time to reach at normal speed. Any variation, either faster or slower, confirms you’re on or off your projected schedule. While greater progress than anticipated can be a good sign, realize that it may signal greater resistance on the return trip.
By sampling progress at waypoint, you can assess conditions. Noteworth waypoints include landmarks, hills, inlets, peninsulas, islands, towers, smoke stacks, and channel markers. Paddling into a current slows progess one to one (ex: 3 mph into a 1 mph current is 2 mph progess). Wind’s impact on progress is more exonential than linear as wind speed increases.
Open water can be disorienting, distances may be hard to judge, and many shore features can look alike. It may be helpful to add compass bearings for landmark as viewed from the waypoint. That can confirm you are at the right spot.
Another advantage of a chart is the ability to find safe harbor in the event of unanticipated conditions. Additionally, by studying the chart, you can visually assess the distance covered and decide whether you can cover additional distance or feel you should cut short a trip.
I’ve used Strava for cycling for a while. It meets my needs for paddling too.
I use OsmAnd for all offline mapping and tracking. It has a variety of base maps including nautical and will calculate river miles/km for trip planning as opposed to just straight line or roads. There’s a free version and a pay version that lets you download as many maps as you want. The free version has a limit.
This is in addition to my charts and compass.
Waouh , thanks you for such a detailed and helpful reply, i did indeed paddle/ canoë mode against current with a wind at 40km/h most of thé afternoon. At 5pm, the current was too strong to reach my last waypoint, so I did give up when I realised that my efforts were pointless and I was not really advancing.
This was my first open water mini trip, I was out 7 hours, with 4 waypoints pauses. Proud of myself .
I will get all the proper GPS trackers, so that I can do it again and safely.
Thanks again
Thanks a lot, I will check this app as well
Well, I thought Google maps would do, but I imagine my answer is no.
The advantage of a GPS is the ability to monitor your performance in real time. Several things will improve your performance. Rather than focus on paddling harder, consentrate on good paddling form. It doesn’t matter what paddle you use, what boat you’re using, how strong you are, or which paddling techique you use. What matters most is the efficiency of your stroke.
There are three obvious points that even experienced paddlers overlook while following established doctrine:
The paddle provides blunt resistance to move the boat which has a pointed bow to lower resistance and allow it to accelerate. To that point, the speed of the boat is limited by the streamlined profile of the boat, the length, and the power of the paddler.
Unless you’re in the market for a more efficient boat, the properties of your present boat is the standard you need to learn. The same is true of your paddle. Learn how both interact with the waterway you paddle. Boat speed is limited by one factor, and that is boat length. Archimedes found that an object floats if it displaces an equal weight of water. I’ve read on the forum that longer boats have a greater wetted surface. That’s a fantasy. A 40 lb (18.14 kg) that’s 10 ft (3.05 meters) long by 30 inches (76.2 cm) wide displaces the same amount of water as a 40 lb boat 14 ft (4.27 meters) x 24 inch (60.96 cm) boat made of kevlar. A gallon (3.8 liters) of water weighs 8.34 lbs (3.8 kg) multiply that by the weight of the boat, and you see both displaces the same volume of water. The confusion about longer boats having more wetted surface comes from longer bost typically weighing more. My 145 Wilderness Systems Tsunsmi weighs 57 lbs (25.85 kg) and my 175 weighs 68 lbs (30.84 kg), so yes, the longer boat displaces 11 lbs (4.99 kg) more water, and has more wetted surface and more drag, but the length results in a higher hull speed.
The chart shows how one boat can reach 8.0 km/h while the other is able to reach 9.3 km/h. Then the effort goes up exponentially because it can’t overcome the bow wave. Drag from width and hull shape represent a small fraction of the speed limitation. However, the design does influence glide, acceleration and paddling effort. Therefore, efficiency of stroke is more effective than power. By paddling harder, you approach increasing resistance; by paddling more efficiently, you can sense the rythem of the acceleration and how the glide deteriorates. Since more energy is needed to accelerate, its wiser and more efficient to stay on glide. The logical way to do that is to increase cadence. While it seems logical that a big blade provides greater resistance and more rapid acceleration, it also uses considerable energy. Compared to a smaller blade area at a higher cadence, the higher cadence can easily compensate for the lack of area because it can be more aerobic, which is more energy efficient. By remaining aerobic through your trip, a vast power source stired in the muscle groups remain untapped. Consequently, in an emergency, that energy is ready to serve you. If you use that energy up front, there is no muscle strength to stabilize your skeletal structure.
Finally, the faster your boat moves the less effort you need to keep it moving, up to the point that you approach the sweet spot in the hull speed curve - that is where you need apply more power to get only an incremental increase in speed. Don’t push the paddle so much that it slips. If you anchor the paddle next to a leaf, it should remain next to it through your power stroke.
That comes when you paddle but find yourself getting out of breath. THAT is your aerobic threshold. Most paddlers use the speedometer to measure speed, but you can use it to find and maintain that sweet spot where you can paddle a sustsined pace while bracketing your desired or anticipated avg speed. If your target speed is 4 mph (6.4 km/h), bracket your actual speed as close as possible above and below 6.4 km/h (for example: between 6.1 and 6.7 km/h). Otherwise, by trying to go faster, the net gsin emwill be lower. This chart shows how I pushed above my aerobic threads hold, only to decline within a very short time. Each recovery resulted in an equivalent decline.
Thanks Jyak,
This is well detailed explained and certainly useful in the future. Will get calculating .
Thanks again
Isabelle
How has your season been. It was over for me on Thurday. Weather turnin and water temps will drop below 60°. I’m fair weather paddler and prefer a combination above 70° air/60° water.
Bread crumbs 
I have a Garmin Instinct Surf watch and use a Garmin eTrex 30x GPS unit mounted on the boat to view real-time data and positioning. It all syncs up with the Connect app and is very useful when I want to review sessions.
As I learned much to my annoyance when I was in the Adirondacks, Garmin smart watches relying on the Garmin Connect app will not sync and display data for certain functions if you do not have internet access. If they do not rely on the app, I assume they work just fine.
