SUP / Stand up Paddle Boards

Stand Up Paddling is the latest trend in the water sports industry, attracting not only seasoned water sports enthusiasts but also those who previously only knew water for swimming.

The variety of SUP boards is enormous. This is partly due to the interest in this trend from well-known manufacturers in the windsurfing, kite, surfing, and canoeing industries, as well as some new manufacturers,

and also because the sport offers so many different ways to play, all of which are catered for with specialized boards or all-rounders.

This means the selection is enormous, and by offering inflatable boards, known as Inflatables or iSups, and rigid boards, known as Hardboards, this selection is almost doubled again.

Together with the huge selection of different paddles and accessories, one can indeed spend quite some time with it.

Inflatable or Hardboard?

While this isn't the first question you need to ask when buying a SUP, it is one of the most important. An absolute deal-breaker here is the space requirement, both for storage and for transport.

Look at the lengths of the boards you are interested in and consider if you have space for them in the basement and on your car.

The space required for a 5-meter long touring board is significantly greater than for a 2.50 m long waveboard. Durability also plays a role. Surprisingly, inflatables are the winners here.

Their outer shell is so thick that hardly any stone or jumping child can break an iSup. And if it does, the repair is hardly more difficult than for a bicycle tire. Even in the long-term test at our in-house station, we did not experience any failures even after years of intensive use.

Anyone who wants to ride in whitewater on the river must definitely choose an inflatable. A hardboard would not survive constant collisions with stones for long, and the risk of injury is also significantly reduced with inflatables.

A robust iSup with a low risk of injury is also suitable for multiple use as a swimming island for the kids. Board Class The most important question, of course, is what you want to use the SUP for.

All-round boards are usually 9 to 12 feet long with a width between 30 and 34 inches. The boards are stable enough so that even water sports novices quickly feel comfortable on them.

They cover a very wide range of applications; a paddling tour around the old town of Lübeck, surfing a wave on holiday on the North Sea, or a few fast sprints on the water instead of a boring gym, an all-round board can do it all.

Touring boards are longer than all-round boards and not quite as wide. True to the motto "length runs", they are particularly suitable for long distances.

This allows you to execute more paddle strokes per side before the board turns. At the same time, you quickly leave your colleagues on all-round boards behind. Anyone who likes to paddle along local lakes or rivers, or wants to explore cities by water, will take a real step forward with a touring board compared to an all-round board. The loss of comfort is minimal.

Complete water sports novices will often fall into the cool water during their first attempts, but after a few days of practice, most can cross the Burger Binnensee without getting wet.

Race boards are significantly narrower than touring boards and are only recommended for advanced SUPers. Even experienced water sports enthusiasts quickly become wobbly on them.

When used correctly, significantly higher speeds can be achieved with them than with a touring board.

For waves, there are various waveboards to choose from. This is the only discipline in which hardboards are clearly superior to inflatables as soon as you want to surf more than just straight ahead.

All-round waveboards are suitable for experienced water sports enthusiasts as an introduction to waves, as they still offer enough buoyancy for relaxed paddling. They can also be used on flat water, although their performance slightly lags behind that of all-round boards.

Radical waveboards offer just enough buoyancy to avoid sinking when paddling. However, they offer a performance that is almost as radical as that of a surfboard. If you are not an expert on SUP, you should keep your hands off these.