Traveling SUP setup

I've been working on a system for SUP traveling for some years and at every step I've made changes to improve it.  My parameters are simple.  It needs to be 50 pounds or less, it needs to hold everything I need for a trip and it cannot include any unnecessary equipment.

THE GEAR:

• Red Paddle Co 14' Elite (14' x 26" x 6")
• HP Pump with gauge and hose
• Werner Nitro M 3-piece adjustable
• composite fin
• repair kit
• FCS leash
• Watershed Ocoee drybag
• PFD
• Camelbak Molokai Hydration Vest
• MSR 3L dromedary bag for additional water capacity
• Seal Line 115L Pro Portage Pack to hold everything while traveling and then double as an on-deck drybag for camping gear.

IMPRESSIONS:

• The 14' Elite is hard to beat.  It continuously exceeds my expectations for performance & durability.  If I could own just one board, this would be it.  The only thing I've had to do is trim the battens, add deck attachments & repair the fin box. 
• The Werner Nitro M is pretty great.  I do plan to shorten the two longer pieces by about 1" in order to make packing easier and more streamlined.  Right now, those are the longest pieces in my kit and are a bit too tall for the pack.  
• The Seal Line 115L Pro Portage Pack is awesome.  It's well designed, well built and very comfortable with a 50lb load.  I am disappointed that I've worn two holes in the bag after just one flight, but I blame myself for bad packing.  Holes are easily repaired anywhere since the repair kit includes everything necessary to do the job quickly.  

packed

packed

unpacked

40 hour vacation

I turned my phone off at 9pm on Friday, tossed it in the drybag, launched my paddleboard and began my 40-hour vacation from email, phone, texts and work.  We planned an hour to make the crossing to the campsite and with wind and current at our backs we met up with the rest of the BPC at 9:45pm. Dinner was made, the full moon was shining, the fire was burning and the relaxation could continue.

Until Sunday afternoon we spent our time paddling, napping in the sand, hula hooping, eating, relaxing & laughing.  Exactly what I needed.  

Full moon launch

My memory of the first night

Don't be an Inflator Hater!

Inflatable standup paddleboards get a bad rap from too many people.  My first & second experience was on a borrowed POS (piece of shit) that I rolled up and took East - twice.  Yes, it was great that I could travel with it, especially to an area where board rentals were mostly non-existent at the time.  But the board was heavy, slow, unstable and way to flexible.

Fast forward one year and I'm getting ready for a baja trip.  Again, nowhere to rent quality boards where I was going so I again started to research inflatables.  I settled for the Starboard 14' x 30" Astro Touring - a great board, especially against what I'd paddled in the past.  I first paddled the board back in October and thought it was alright.  It was fast, it was stable, wasn't too heavy - didn't have any of the characteristics I was afraid of.  It doesn't have the beautiful lines you can get with a rigid board, but you can still roll it up and fly with it.

After that trip, I continued to paddle the Astro and I noticed something when paddling it.  My stroke adapted to minimize bounce and I was having lots of fun paddling it.  It became a great loaner board, since it's so durable.  Every time I paddled it, I liked it more.  By December, that board became my go-to board for everything but surfing.  And even when I did take it surfing, it did alright on waves up to 3'.  By January, I started selling off my rigid boards since I wasn't paddling them anymore.  I'd fallen for inflatables.

Paddling that Starboard Astro gave me so much joy every single time I used it.  It has this far-out characteristic that is hard to measure, kind of like umami.  You don't read about it on the board websites, no mention in the specs page.  I call it the fun factor because that's what it is - so much fun.  Inflatables are fun to paddle..

This month I purchased a 14' Elite by Red Paddleboard Company.  Holy shit!  The fun factor has remained the same, but all the other board characteristics have just shot forward into the rigid board category.  It's narrow (26"), it's fast, it has a great shape, a good design, it's stable and it incorporates a standard fin box, a huge improvement.  Like other inflatables it's durable as hell, fits on my back, my bike, or in my luggage and is a joy to paddle.  But, it doesn't bounce as much, it's stable on the tail and great at pivot turns, it feels light on the water & has a full deckpad.  Look for a review in the future.

Inflatable SUP bike trip

Mission accomplished.  I was paddling in Oakland Saturday with some friends and figured it was the perfect time to see if I could bike there with a SUP and all my paddling kit.  I loaded the cargo bike with an inflatable Starboard 14'x30" Touring SUP with paddle, pump, clothing and the rest of my normal junk.  Pedaled the 7 miles to the put-in, pumped her up with ease and paddled out.  After a few hours of paddling, I just as quickly deflated, rolled and loaded the equipment back onto the bike, stopped by the bar for a drink and pedaled back through Oakland to Berkeley.

Quite the successful test!  Got a couple stares but well worth it and it's definitely a good setup for a longer bike trip, bringing on the BART or even an overnight cycling & paddling adventure.  Fun stuff and I'm absolutely loving the inflatable SUP.  It's now my go-to board for just about everything.

Extracycle, iSUP, paddle, pump - everything I need for a day on the water

loaded

made it to the launch without problem

inflating takes 5-10 mins

post paddle.  deflated, ready to load back up

making the return trip