As I wandered the OR floor my first day there, it was fairly obvious that the newest and most popular addition to most manufacturer lines was Stand-Up Paddleboards (SUP). Like it or not, SUP is growing and its here to stay. At least for a while.
In case you've never heard of SUP, its essentially surfing with a paddle on a much longer, much heavier (four times as heavy!) and much more stable board. Unlike surfing, where you lay on your stomach and paddle with your hands, SUP has you standing upright the whole way out and getting to far away destinations faster. An added bonus is that pretty much anyone in any shape can be up, standing and surfing on a SUP in a day.
Some manufacturers of note that will be carrying SUPs included: Imagine Eco, the new eco-friendly SUP brainchild of Corran Addison; Jackson Kayak, Hobie, C4 Waterman, SurfTech, Starboard, and Naish. Legacy Paddlesports was promoting a hybrid SUP/sit-on-top with a seat that rotates three hundred sixty degrees for fishing. We even found long-board skateboards from Kahuna Creations with land paddles (otherwise known as the Big Stick) for SUP-surfing on the streets.
Most Stand-up Paddleboards will cost you about a grand, give or take a couple hundred, plus the cost of a paddle ($150 to $500). If you're planning on-river or off-season ocean SUP boarding, you'll probably need a wetsuit and, depending on your comfort level, a PFD.
In all the conversations I had with some pretty big names in the industry, its clear that SUP is the the hot new thing on the boating scene. Manufacturers are banking on its relatively low cost and fast learning curve to appeal to a huge new audience.
Here at BT, we think it looks like fun and were going to give it a try (more to come on that).
Some manufacturers of note that will be carrying SUPs included: Imagine Eco, the new eco-friendly SUP brainchild of Corran Addison; Jackson Kayak, Hobie, C4 Waterman, SurfTech, Starboard, and Naish. Legacy Paddlesports was promoting a hybrid SUP/sit-on-top with a seat that rotates three hundred sixty degrees for fishing. We even found long-board skateboards from Kahuna Creations with land paddles (otherwise known as the Big Stick) for SUP-surfing on the streets.
Most Stand-up Paddleboards will cost you about a grand, give or take a couple hundred, plus the cost of a paddle ($150 to $500). If you're planning on-river or off-season ocean SUP boarding, you'll probably need a wetsuit and, depending on your comfort level, a PFD.
In all the conversations I had with some pretty big names in the industry, its clear that SUP is the the hot new thing on the boating scene. Manufacturers are banking on its relatively low cost and fast learning curve to appeal to a huge new audience.
Here at BT, we think it looks like fun and were going to give it a try (more to come on that).
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SUPtalk? kinda has a nice yet funny ring to it Eric :-)
sure , why not ?
Maybe these people should go rafting instead. Sounds like they won't know what their doing.
These guys take every set wave in the line up. Which sucks because they sit on the outside and stroke in before you have the chance to stand up, makeing surf edicate obsolete. now there boing to be taking up huge amounts of space in the eddys of your local play wave. leave the planks at the beach and the boats on the rive.