What's up with all the kayak companies coming out with stand-up paddling (SUP) products?

I don't get it. This doesn't look like anything I'd want to do, or even would try to do except maybe in a lake that's dead flat. In the lake near my house, there's too many powerboats.

And it doesn't seem like you could go very far before getting tired or bored. You can't carry anything with you. . . .

Is this just a product chasing an idea, or is this a real market?

And why are there links to it on Playak?

I know where i live near the coast its quite popular and SUP Ireland run safaris around the bay all over Ireland. I have seen plenty of people doing it and enjoying it.
In relation to getting tired etc its the same as any sport when you begin you are using new muscles and you will get tired but as you progress you'll get better and won't tire as easily.

I'd say it would be quite fun in a bit of surf and maybe quite similar to surfing except you have a paddle for a bit more speed!

At the moment the sport is relatively new to every one as it moves on im sure there would be ways of carry things with you if you wished.

I know in Ireland its definetly a real market.

There are LOADS of dudes doing SUP here in Cape Town. They can catch the swell quite easily, before it has broken.... and.... they can see the best waves easily from their high vantage point so they are hated by surfers here as they score all the best waves. But then again, surfers seem to hate everyone. I'm in the waves as either a bodyboarder, windsurfer or surf kayaker so I'm always at the bottom of the food chain. Hahaha.. Most dudes are very brave until it comes to the crunch. Such a shame people can't share and respect each other. Anyway, I'm getting side tracked now.

SUP boards are quick to get out, and easy to catch waves. Extremely popular as not much skill is needed to have a lot of fun, unlike surfing, which requires far more.

Personally, I don't think SUP has anything to do with kayaking... My 2 little cents

OK, SUP in the ocean, to catch waves, sounds like fun, although pretty much like surfing with a paddle.

Just out of curiosity, what do you do with the paddle when you catch a wave?

Guys,

I picked up my SUP board (an 11 foot, 6 inch SouthPoint Timpone) a month ago. IT IS SO COOL. *I've posted here many times and have been hardcore into kayaking for 5 years now (race sea kayaks, slalom kayaks, etc.). But I started itching to get out of the cockpit and just enjoy nature wearing nothing but boardies (hot here in Florida right now). I have to say it is a better core workout than kayaking (which I do remain dedicated to). It's not as gear-intensive as kayaking (just a pair of shorts, your board and the paddle), and it is super dynamic. I've taken mine out for miles on the same Indian and Banana Rivers I've kayaked and also the ocean, flat or with surf. It's really fun no matter what the body of water you are doing it on and you develop excellent balancing skills. You get a whole different perspective paddling the standing position. It's great to paddle through troughs and around swells that aren't even breaking. It's much more natural than kayaking in the sense that you are just so free (like walking on water) while doing your paddling thing. You can paddle them standing (which I have so far done as far as 14 miles in a stretch) then if you get tired paddle it kneeling or sitting and use it like a SOT almost--this is very neat that way (no numb butts with this sport but the next morning E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G hurts until you get the right muscle groups into shape.

You really are depriving yourself not to try this. I took my 10 year old daughter out at my favorite ocean put in/break yesterday--she rides on the front sometimes paddling but often just enjoying the ride and the view. We saw all sorts of spinner sharks and sea life I never saw paddling it in a kayak (you wouldn't BELIEVE what swims under your boat man!).

It's funny this post came up--I've been meaning to post on this myself (but have been too busy SUP'ing). This is the real deal, folks--a great sport that does wonders for your body and is so exhilarating no matter where you do it. It ain't cheap, though. $1,400.00 for a decent board and then the paddle is another $240 - $370. There is definite magic with this, though.

You actually can carry things with you. Believe it or not a water bottle and power bars stay on the track pad just fine. Some people even strap down dry bags and fishing gear (which isn't my thing personally).

One last thing for now: I am a little concerned at all of the kayak manufacturers getting into this. It's not like making or designing a kayak is ANYTHING like shaping a board. I would be very weary of getting one from a kayak designer (not exclusively but be careful). Hurricane (maker of my favorite sea kayak) just had a false start with this--I was going to be the recipient of one of their first production boards but they had to hold the production because the seams were not coming together right. I was very lucky that happened. I ended up going to my local long board shop and getting a SUP board--they have been shaping boards for 40 years and though they didn't make my SouthPoint they understood what would be good and what wouldn't be. I kept asking Hurricane who helped them shaping and designing their SUP but never got an answer.

gary21cp wrote:
You use it to brace and steer just like surf kayaking.

I, personally, don't like the idea. I have, recently, seen people out on the water in decent surf, it just doesn't all that great to me considering I'm a play boater and creeker - more adrenaline type.

Well, fair enough. Try to remember that it is a very new and up-and-coming sport without a lot of history (unless you attach its lineage to an ancient Polynesian form of paddling, then it is very ancient). It is neither kayaking nor surfing, so we are all learning new stuff with it all the time. I will say that being a kayaker myself, it was easy for me to make the transition. Things like braces, sweeping strokes to turn, etc., all apply with both. Even for me the notion took a little bit to catch on. When I first saw someone doing it as I took my sea yak out I did think "What the heck?!" But I really started to warm to the positives of the idea of SUPing. The most common reaction I get with it at most places I take it out are overwhelmingly positive--I have to paddle out and go pretty quick because adults and kids alike swarm me wanting to know everything about it (and the kids of course want a ride). As Adrian aptly pointed out though-surfers are a notoriously close-minded bunch.

One should explore and give it a try before passing judgment, though. Google Stand-up Paddling and check out some of the vids of the pros and you get a better idea of what's possible.

Cheers Dudes!

Check THIS out for the adrenline junky paddlers in the bunch:

vimeo.com/5519497


I freakin dare ya.

i know a few people have paddled the bitches tidal race down in wales on them and looks quite fun, nothing like kayaking though only thing to do with kayaking is the paddle

It's just not my cup of tea. In all honesty, it's too close to surfing to be linked with kayaking, but your taking a kayak paddle and making a surf board more stable and easier to ride. I am glad that its called Stand Up Paddle Surfing, and not Stand Up Paddle Kayaking. I feel this sport is going to stay a sub-genre and even head more towards the tourism business rather than the Olympics. Lets face it, Sup-surfing is easier looking and attractive enough for an tourist to give it ago on a sandy beach in the Caribbean. Enjoy the sport, if that's what you like. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean others won't - please don't take my criticism as hostile or demeaning in anyway - it's only my opinion on the matter. Like I said first -- it's just not my cup of tea.

Oh hey guys--It's very much All Good. And I do agree--this has nothing to do with kayaking. SUP'ing has it's own plethora of blogs and websites all to it's own anyway for sure. So no worries. Being a former surfer, sponger (BodyBoarder), current kayaker and SUP'r, I will say it is NOT easier than kayaking. Easier than surfing? Maybe to stand but that's about it. It is far more an endurance sport (like kayaking in that sense) than surfing (where you sit there and sit there and sit there...). With SUP'ing you are constantly moving. My fear is that it will gravitate not towards the 'tourist' market but the extreme sport crowd. The length and size of the boards are very much like to old big gun boards. *I have noticed in SUP'ng (in doing it with several others) that there is a split within the SUP'ng community, at least here on the east coast of Florida: (1) Surfers who paddle and (2) Paddlers who surf (that would be me).

See you folks on the water in whatever you ride!

Didn't mean to offend anyone with my original post.

The surfing angle makes a little sense to me, although it doesn't seem likely that kayak makers will take away surfer customers from surfboard makers, especially looking at the video linked in the earlier post -- that just looks like surfers who have a paddle.

I was thinking of the video that Native Watercraft just put out, featuring the new Oscelo Elite. This doesn't look like a surfboard or a kayak. Same with the new Hurricane Aquasports SUP board.

It's just curious that there are these products appearing, from kayak manufacturers, when I've never seen anyone doing this wherever I paddle. . . . That doesn't mean that people who like this are nuts, of course.

TBudd wrote:
Eh, it's too similar to surfing. If i wanted to surf i could surf with a long board. I think the cross between the two, kayaking and surfing, are too different to mix successfully. One you stand up, another you sit down - that's kind of what makes kayaking...kayaking. I believe white water kayaking, where it is today is still young - there is still a lot of room for some serious improvement(on tricks and stuff.) I'll be surprised if this doesn't utterly fail to take off and become an acknowledged sport, unless people considered it a sub-genre of surfing. That's just my opinion though. Have fun on the water!

"I'll be surprised if this doesn't utterly fail to take off and become an acknowledged sport"

That was exactly the prevailing opinion for the past 40+ years about kayaking (and that is only recently starting to change!).

Many of the main surfing contest venues are adding Stand-up Paddling divisions and the major players in surfing such as Tom Curren have embraced the sport. There are Iron Man-like challenges all over the globe for SUPing and it is being looked at by kayak manufacturers (I've already stated my opinion about that) as a way of saving their butts since they aren't selling nearly as many kayaks as they need to to pay the bills. Some news articles have been published quoting outfitters as saying things like SUP is saving their businesses. With all of the consolidation of kayak brands and companies going out of business it may not be SUP that's reduced to a footnote.

Be interesting to see where things go.

Here's a vid of where it's not like surfing (same gear...but different experience)

www.surf-paddles.com/Paddle-surfing-Michigan.php

More non-surf-like SUP activities:

www.paddlesandboards.com/gallery/main.php?cmd=album

It seems, TBudd, that you know much more about SUP than i do. That is good to hear though - that SUPing is saving many kayak manufactures from going out of business. I really have nothing against it - I'm bias because its just not for me, haha. Thanks for the insight though.

No worries, guy, and thanks for the conversation. If you're ever in Florida send me an email and I can let you try the board. (Or if not you could just use one of the many kayaks in my garage!) Water folk are water folk to me.

I don't get it either - at all for non-surf water. I guess if balance practice and conditioning, or looking like you've been marooned on an island and managed to escape with a log and paddle is your thing then it makes sense to drop $1.5+K for a clunker to rest next to your old one-design windsurfer in the garage. Each to their own however - this thread had a touch of marketing enthusiasm in it so I thought I would offer up the (un)illusioned POV to balance that out.

It seems to me that SUPing has already close to made it as a sport here in Australia. every surf shop has them for sale, many comps and growing numbers out in the line up. I did find it weird when they started showing up on kayak sites and forums! It seems up till recently most involved have been surfers using it as another form of surfing. After all SUP was practiced by the same polynesians that started surfing as well.
Just recently there has been some people from different backgrounds, like kayaking, trying the sport and hence there has been a movement towards trying SUPing in rivers, including white water rivers. i cannot see this taking off too much. fun in a safe spot but i'm not gonna be doing any SUP creeking!!! Also the kayak fishing crowd have jumped on board and along with the tourist SOT kayak crowd have meant that it could be lucrative for the kayak companies to have a go at SUPs.
There is certainly two streams of SUPing: The surfers and flat water crew who ride boards shaped by surfboard makers, and the others who are using them basically in SOT kayak market (tourism, cruising etc). In that sense they are kinda like a flat SOT (only now it would stand for Stand On Top kayak).

I don't think in ANY way it will take away from the kayak market, particularly the white water side. If you like to surf then they are GREAT! Lots of fun. Not a different sport, just a different genre. Just like short boarders will ride a long board for something different sometimes, or like the fish fad.

For rivers on the otherhand, it seems like trying to make something work in a way it was not meant to work. ie. like trying to modify a bicycle to fly!!

Stephen

I'm a kayak designer

I'm a surfboard shaper

I've been doing both for as long as I can remember.

One thing that kayak design HAS done to my SUP shapes is look at it from TWO angles, not just one. I can see the surf shape in my SUP and I can see the kayak shape in it, and the result is a better board.

Corran

An observation: So far no one trashing SUP on this thread has tried it. Closed minds do little for me, personally.

Kayaking is far and above my favorite sport. I really use SUP as a cross-training tool. But it is a cool sport in its own right. I've done a lot of kayaking and now several months of SUPing (both in the surf, on flat water, all sorts of conditions) and whereas I definitely prefer to paddle a kayak, I don't feel like I need to be some kind of facist about it--that's just silly. Arguing isn't going to change a locked mind. But don't ignore the possibility that there are more than a few ways to enjoy the water with a paddle for goodness sake. It would be like being an annoying soul surfer. What the heck is that? An oxymoron.

I really would like to give SUPping a try. The biggest drawback of paddling is that you are sitting all the time. With SUP you can enjoy being on the water, but standing which is nice because I am already sitting behind the desk 8 hours a day at work so it would be nice to do something else on my free time once in a while.

No doubt nothing will ever replace kayaking for me, but SUPping seems fun and is something different to do.

Hey Corran,

Thanks so much for everything you've done for water sports, guy. My 10 year old daughter and I were really needing a spirit lift one day when we caught the PaddleQuest - World Kayak Adventure 1996 here:

www.exchile.com/kayakchilehistoricalvideos.html


We still watch those classic videos now and again. LOVE it! I've got 2 of your DragoRossi SL350 slalom boats and paddle one almost daily (excellent work-out boats for an upcoming race I'm signed up for).

Anyway, cheers dude!

Forgive me for being late to the party, but I just discovered this forum.

It seems this is a good time to chime in, since the original post and most comments are now about 3 years old.

I think we can all agree that SUP is more than a passing fad. And it doesn't seem to matter whether you're a 'paddler who surfs' or a 'surfer who paddles'. What's important is a common love of being on the water - and at least to some extent, using a paddle to get around.

C'mon now...bring it in, group hug....

Its been 3 yrs since the first Close Minded post that started this thread and in that little time I have seen the sport of SUP grow faster than any paddle sport I have seen. SUP will be a larger market than Kayak and Canoe and will probably be bigger than surfing as well. Open your mind and embrace all watermen and women you see out in NON-Powered watercraft enjoying their day.