First accessories

So the board is selected and purchased - what next?

I have some accessories from my existing board, but even those I want to get specifically for the new board as there are differences and upgrades I want to make. I would like to be able to loan the iSUP to someone to paddle with me sometimes, so I need a full set for each.

First was the paddle. The iSUP paddle is very heavy; I wanted a much lighter paddle. At first I was going to settle for a "mid weight" fiberglass paddle to save money, but then I saw a local CL ad for carbon paddles for only $60. It turned out to be a local businessman who had imported a number of SUPs and gear a couple of years back for a venture that didn't work out long term. He had some brand new, in the factory wrap, 2 piece carbon paddles (with the bottom piece almost full length so the flex is in a single shaft) weighing about a pound each that he was liquidating. I bought one.

Having just received a brand new board with no nicks or flaws, I decided it was worth it to put on rail tape right away. That should keep the rails from getting "paddle rash", dings from putting it up on the rack and setting it down on something or dropping it while carrying it. Those kinds of accidents are far more likely to ding the rails than things you hit on the water. I got the extra long Rail Saver Pro tape.

I got another leash; a straight one. My existing leash is coiled. It's recommended you take both a coiled and straight leash. A straight leas can be useful as a tow rope if someone gets injured and can't paddle as well as an extra leash if the coiled leash were to fail.

A belt inflatable life jacket. this is part convenience, part purposeful duplication and part safety. There are situations where you may need to purposefully go under, duck diving waves or whatever. It allows you to be wearing a life jacket without affecting paddling also.

A paddle leash. I will carry a spare paddle, but I really don't want to lose my paddle if I am offshore. It can happen a lot easier touring and/or fishing as you set the paddle down a lot.

A clip on waterproof compass. If bad weather comes in quickly, you can lose sight of where you need to go, so it's a good idea to be sure you are headed toward land and hopefully close to your put in or take out.

A safety light in case I get caught out after dark. Inland, I may be out on the water in the dark on purpose sometimes.

A waterproof Bluetooth spear/mic so I can make and receive calls with my phone packed away.

Light tint UV protection bifocal sunglasses that can easily be "corded" to avoid loss. I can't read without correction, so these are a safety item. I can make out the N blob on the compass and the compass has a magnifier that I can use ti read anything besides the compass.

Some items for touring and fishing will be added in a future post.

A few things I would like to have but won't have right away...

A lock that fits in the fin box or hooks to the leash and a cable. It provides protection for stops along the road or whatever. A determined thief could cut the lock or cable with time and the right tools, but the vast majority of board theft is done by quick grab.

A flexible fin for paddling in areas where it get get shallow with a hard bottom. I ordered a cheap hard plastic 4.5" fin on eBay, but I would really like to get the 8" flexible fin.

A board cover to protect from road debris.

Decisions, decisions

I decided that SUP paddling was important enough to make a major purchase and I have/had a milestone birthday - my 60th - coming up right after Christmas 2018. A new SUP for my 60th birthday makes a statement I really like. A budget around $1000 seems reasonable for such a major milestone. So the next step was to figure out what I wanted.

I knew I was planning to go 2 or 3 miles offshore sometimes and on some routes that were near shore, shore would be an undeveloped island. Even though I haven't had any problems with my iSUP, I decided the new SUP would be a hard board. I just don't want the concern of an accidental puncture, leak or problem with a valve occurring out in the ocean.

It was pretty obvious to me that I wanted a touring SUP, but I did investigate another option - fishing SUPs. They are basically purpose built touring SUPs with plenty of deck space and options for attachments, often including the ability to add specific attachments from the vendor. Coolers/seats with rod holders, gear boxes, mounts for electronics and even trolling motors (which I don't want). One downside is that most really aren't very seaworthy.; they tend to be designed primarily for inland and inshore fishing.

The Dragonfly 13' 6" is a nice stable fishing SUP with a modified V hull that seems to be pretty seaworthy. But it was well outside my budget and had a couple of drawbacks - weight and width. The width isn't terrible at 32", but is a little more than I wanted and it carries that width for almost the full length, so while it has a V hull and pointed bow, the angle of the point still makes it relatively blunt; it was not likely to paddle very fast. But the weight was a real show stopper - 45 pounds. It can still be car topped, but would require a couple of people to load/unload and wouldn't be good for general purpose paddling - meeting people at the lake to tool around or whatever. But if you are reading this blog for ideas for fishing in the open ocean, it is worth looking at; your needs and budget may be different than mine.

So I decided I wanted a more traditional touring SUP. I considered length, but it was really revisiting a decision I had made much earlier. I wanted a 14' board. A little more speed, stability and cargo space. This is a decision that I question to some degree; there are plenty of 12' 6" boards out there that I would probably be happy with. But I feel like it is more likely that I will second guess myself for buying a 12' 6" board than for buying a 14'.

About stability - my balance is good, but not great. To count on much, if any, improvement at this point isn't really a good idea. I need a relatively stable boat, not a race board with bungees. I decided I needed to look at boards in the 28" to 30" range.

I considered a Laird that was 28" on a closeout for $1089 delivered, which I could stretch my budget to. The reviews on it were fairly good but it was really designed more as a flat water cruiser than an open ocean board and some comments led me to think it might not be quite as stable as I was hoping for.

There were several vendors selling the 2016 Naish Glide 14' x 30" GTW SUP in my price range. I actually paddled this board at demo day back in June when my paddling skills weren't that great, but still paddled it at over 6 mph. I know it isn't a really fast board, but I won't have any trouble staying up with groups I normally paddle with. I also know that the reason so many are available is that Naish made a model that was only about 1/2" narrower that has less volume and slightly better performance. That board was and is more popular. Either would probably work for me, but the 30" is slightly more stable and could carry more, though either would carry more than enough.

The 30" was available to me in my price range and in the GTW construction - a lighter, better looking wood finish. The weight in that finish is about 34 pounds; a bit on the hefty side but manageable under one arm for at least a reasonable distance. Here is Naish's description of the board:

 It describes nearly everything I want in a board. I pulled the trigger and bought one for $1049 delivered.

SUP enters the picture

I lost a lot of weight in the latter half of 2017 and the first few months of 2018. I did it with walking as my primary exercise. I figured I would add paddling my little kayak into the mix as it got warmer. Kayaking has become more difficult, though. I have some shoulder and lower back problems. The motion made paddling a kayak exacerbates the shoulder pain and sitting in a kayak for very long gives me a lot of low back pain.

I was given an Amazon gift card for something I did at work and decided to take a chance on one of the cheap iSUPs. It's Amazon, right? If it proves to be junk, I will send it back and get something else. So as soon as the box sowed up, I inflated it and tested it.

Slight deflection, but it didn't pop or fold up like a taco, so I left it inflated a few days to see if it lost any pressure.

It held up fine, so after a few days I deflated it and took it to a nearby lake pumped it back up and took it out for a trial run.

look at that great form. 😏 I paddled around in a large cove that had a boat ramp. There were plenty of people around and the entire cove is a no wake zone, so it was a good place to learn. Paddling didn't bother my shoulders and still doesn't after learning better paddling form. I could move around pretty freely and it didn't bother my back.

I started paddling more and more. As an example, here is about a month of late Summer paddling:

Over 80 miles of paddling with 6 paddles of over 8.5 miles. I really enjoy paddling.

I also met a lot of people and paddled with groups, so it was a nice social outlet. I even had someone offer to introduce me to whitewater SUP, loaned me a proper board for it and guided me down a river.

I was hooked.

One group I paddled with had a lot of members who had been paddling a long time and were pretty serious about it. They would trade off and let me try all manner of boards, told me the pros and cons of different types and taught me better technique. I also augmented that training with online videos and forums.

The end result of all of this is that SUP paddling became very important to me and I decided to start making plans to upgrade equipment and skills to move up to another level.

My back story

For most of my life, I have owned or had access to some kind of watercraft. I learned to sail as a child. In my teens I learned to water ski and drive a power boat. In my twenties I learned to paddle whitewater as a kayaker and worked for a while as a raft guide. I have kayaked and rafted the Grand Canyon as well as dozens of other places in the west. I married and moved east to North Carolina where I have been raising a family. I have owned kayaks, canoes, sailboats and small fishing boats while I lived here. The kids and I loved sailing out in the sound on a Newport 17 that I had at one point. It was a fairly seaworthy small sailboat, but the realities of storing and maintaining a sailboat competed with too many other priorities. I have even dabbled in building boats, building a pirogue, a small sailboat and have a kayak in progress. I have been drawn to the ocean most of my life; even when I lived in the middle of the country for a few years I managed to visit a few times. When I was young, we spent a lot of time in the Florida panhandle, where we have a number of relatives. One of my siblings moved there and I continue to visit from time to time. I now live close enough to get to the sounds and beaches frequently, sometimes just going for the day. Another lifelong interest I have is fishing. My dad took me to a lot of freshwater farm ponds as well as public reservoirs and I learned to love catching panfish, bass and catfish.  I had a great uncle that took me trolling for king mackerel and mahi. I took up fly fishing and waded creeks for trout out west. I have taken up kayak fishing but with a small kayak only suitable for freshwater ponds/lakes/rivers and protected inshore fishing. I frequent a couple of sites where kayak fishing trips are planned and organized. I really wanted to go on some of the trips out to artificial reefs or casting, drifting and trolling out beyond the breakers and started planning and working on a kayak that would be capable. Age started to catch up with me and I have had some shoulder problems that are exacerbated by paddling a kayak for a long time and/or with much intensity. Spending too long sitting in one causes pain in my lower back, where I have a couple of herniated discs. I feared I had waited too long to chase the dream of paddling out beyond the breakers. Then I discovered SUP.