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?
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? 
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.
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 
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
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.
I know World Paddler’s Association
petitioned USCG to amend the reg:
““if the stand up paddleboard operator is tethered (wearing a leash) to their board or vessel, can this be deemed as an alternate or replacement for having a PFD.” Most would feel that a stock (12’6”) or larger SUP board would be a better floatation device as long as the operator were attached to the vessel.”
I am not sure I understand the logic of that. PFD stands for Personal Flotation Device, ie a device designed to float your person. You kind of have to wear it in order for it to work. If you are unconsiously tethered to a paddleboard, it isn’t keeping you afloat, you are acting as a sea anchor for it.
And yes, I know all the arguments about PFDs not keeping an unconscious person face up, so if you are conscious and attached to the paddleboard, you can get back to it and get back up onto it. That’s fine, but if that is the logic, then it makes no sense that if you choose not to be tethered to a SUP, you have to have a PFD on the SUP but don’t have to wear it. If a conscious person is swept off his board and can get to it to put his PFD on, then he shouldn’t need a PFD because he can use the board as a PFD, right? But if he can’t get back to it, having a PFD on it is going to do him no good.
for anyone
Doubting the legitimacy of SUP, I suggest you do something. Go sign up in a good race with unlimiteds and 14 footers. After the race when they have beaten your kayak or canoe to the finish and are drinking a beer waiting on you, you can tell them about how slow, unmaneuverable, and a waste of time their sport is. I did this, and was absolutely amazed by the class of athlete I saw on those boards.
Ryan L.
Eyore dude EYORE!
EE - ORE
jeesh! where’d you grow up anyway?
And if he has the right to post a thread
on the wrong forum, why do I not have the right to call him on it?
Actually, there have been far fewer inappropriate threads on the Advice forum recently, but I take no credit for it. Apparently, people have half a braincell.
large and unweildy?
I like the comments about these large, unwieldy boards - coming from kayakers. Most boards are 12’6" or under (yes, some go to 14 for a particular race class, and sometimes even longer, but I don’t see as many of those). Most of my kayaks are longer than this. And these unwieldy boards are half the weight of any of my kayaks.
I lead kayak tours and also instruct. I have seen many new kayakers who control their kayaks at the same level as the description of boardies blocking the channel. I don’t think it is the vessel, just them being new and untrained.
So - you don’t get it.
That’s because you haven’t been paying close attention.
I doubted the SUP thing at first, but I’ve seen enough of them in use now to understand the potential advantages for some people.
Around here, they’re taking them down class 3 rivers now and surfing the standing waves on the way. When they fall off, they don’t have to worry about swamping their boat. They seem to have little trouble getting back on, with practice. They don’t have to learn to roll. They don’t need any special vehicle or heavier racks to carry them.
All in all - they’re a pretty low-maintenance and low-stress toy. Pretty appealing to the masses, and some paddlers are getting really good with them. And they are wearing pfd’s here.
What was the question?
Excellent response, Spadefish.
well…
I don’t have one and have never paddled one, but I can see it to some extent. I am an avid sea kayaker, whitewater kayaker and canoeist.
Paddling a SUP is kind of like a cross between paddling a canoe, a whitwater kayak and a surf board. I watched a video on it and there is more to it if you chose to be serious about it.
One might say the same things about rec kayaks lacking sophistication, etc.
The SUP apparently responds quite a bit to trim and moving backwards and forwards on the board to turn and in the surf zone, and you can spin it by sinking the stern a bit kind of like a whitewater kayak pivot turn.
Plus they look like a blast to surf.
One of the best sea kayakers I know has gotten pretty heavily into SUPs for surfing.
Matt
Yes
There’s no doubt about it, some of these folks are very very good at what they do and I’ve no doubt its a good activity for many. I’ve no doubt its great exercise. I’ve no doubt that some folks can get them moving darned fast. I think its an especially attractive sport where there are big waves. I don’t really mean to be disparaging, only that I think there are forms of paddle sport better suited to our location, and most others as well.
I also have a feeling - and that’s all it is, a feeling - that there’s something just a little cynical about such intensive promotion, strictly for profit, of a sport that will probably turn out to be a passing fad to many that are now buying into it. All the major TV stations announced the SUP fest and seemed to give it almost as much air time as the paramilitary security team from Arizona tracking the activities of campers and hikers near the proposed site of an iron mine up north. There will, no doubt, be thousands spent on SUP outfits that will probably end up hanging unused in the garage and then be sold at a significant loss. That’s thousands that might have been spent on forms of paddlesport that might be of more lasting interest to the participants. I wonder if that’s good for paddle sports in general. But on the other hand, I can go out on our local lakes on most any warm day and see sail boards scooting about and their users having a blast. It may turn out to be a fad but there will be some who find deep and abiding satisfaction in it. Good on 'em.
And it sure doesn’t matter whether I, or anyone else, “gets it” or not. I’m sure there are those who would find some of the paddling activities I enjoy tedious, toilsome, dull, whatever. (Its pretty hard to make the portaging many of us do seem like an enjoyable activity, for that matter.) That’s OK, they don’t have to “get it”. (But I sure did enjoy seeing the Milky Way last weekend with no light pollution and not a man made sound… the early dawn mists rising off the river, the call of cranes and the squeak of sand underfoot . If someone doesn’t “get” that then I am most grateful that they weren’t out there taking up good camping sites.)There’s no good and bad here, just what we enjoy and have access to.
The whole kayak surfing thing looks like a hoot, and develops skills that aren’t required for other aspects of paddle sport. I have nothing but respect for those who do that. Same with the big water expedition kayakers and their off shore navigation in foggy tidal currents or the big water open canoe whitewater folks. My hats off to guys who make long portages across the tundra and deal with grizzlies in order to see muskoxen. I “get” that just as I “get” surfing, though I’m not in a position to do any of these things often enough to get good enough at them to claim expertise in them.
(And I’d hope that there might be enough others here who share interests in paddling fields they can’t actively participate in that the rather aggressive “who cares if you don’t get it” attitude doesn’t dominate. We all share a love of paddling and our shared interests hopefully outweigh our relatively minor differences. Good chance we all can enjoy and learn something from others here at least occasionally.)
Same with mountaineering. I “get” it and respect those who do it. I respect AT through hikers and bicycle tourers also. I would have a hard time though, “getting” large scale promotional efforts to encourage unicycle touring, off-road unicycling, AT trail unicycling, a south col unicycle race, etc. It would take skill, no doubt, and I’d have a certain admiration for those dedicated enough to do it, but I can’t say I’d exactly “get” it. Would that really be a better way to do these things, or would it look to you, as it would to me, like a cynical attempt to dupe people into buying unicycles?
See what I mean?
paddleboarding for kayer article
California Kayaker Magazine had an article on paddleboarding for kayakers. It was the musing from a person who became a convert to paddleboarding after many years of kayaking (and as a kayaking instructor). Can be read online for free at http://www.calkayakermag.com/magazine.html - issue #9.
The magazine has been renamed with the newest issue to California Paddler Magazine, and it will have SUP content in each issue. Started with then most recent issue covering the basics of SUPs (types, sizes, etc.). can be read at the same link.