With all my yaks currently sold and none under wraps, I am going to switch gears and try something new–– Stand Up Paddle Boarding. Don’t panic my fellow yak’rs–– the operative word here is, “paddle.” I am not done with kayaking.
Two aspects of SUP have intrigued me: First, I have friends who have been into SUP touring in this beautiful state of Florida and the images of their travels leave me wanting to tag along.
Secondly, there is the vertical challenge–– when kayaking, my head is too close to the surface and I am missing all that is below. There are Pros & Cons to both kayaking & SUP, so I consider my foray into the world of SUP as a balance of nature.
A couple years back, along with the purchase of a vintage P&H Baidarka Explorer was a garbage bag filled with stuff and among that stuff were four books:
- The Complete Book Of Sea Kayaking” by Derek Hutchinson (Signed Copy)
- Guide To Sea Kayaking in Southern Florida”, by Nigel Foster
- A Canoeing and Kayaking Guide to the Streams of Florida, Volume I, North Central Peninsula and Panhandle;
- A Canoeing and Kayaking Guide to the Streams of Florida, Volume II, Central and South Peninsula”, by Lou Glaros & Doug Sphar.
These are all fantastic reads for anyone interested in Sea Kayaking as well as exploring Florida’s floating peninsula.
So where to start? Ahhh… Dennis L.! A decade ago Dennis (Jersey Longboard friend) got hooked on SUP surfing and never looked back. I spoke with Dennis and explained that my interests were going to be mostly flat water touring in Florida. Dennis was an encyclopedia of knowledge–– a true waterman who started me on my mission.
Trying to find an all-purpose board, that handled everything, I knew was unreasonable. One would never take on any sport with a single tool of the trade. SUP’ing is no different especially adding into the mix, the iSup (Inflatable,) vs. hard SUP and within the latter: fiberglass vs carbon vs epoxy, etc.
With all water sports, it is best to identify the why and where you will spend most of your time on the water: For me it was going to be Intracoastal & Mangroves (60%), Lakes, Springs, Rivers and Streams (40%) . Living just off the Intracoastal, along the Treasure Coast of FL, I will need something capable of cutting through chop and deal with Florida’s steady E-SE winds with currents that speed up in the narrow sections of the IC. Hull shape, length and width of the board were going to be key factors— too long a board makes for difficult maneuvering in narrow places, too thin a board at slower speeds favors instability, and too much rocker would act like a plow in open water. These considerations narrowed my scope to a board with little rocker and a pointed raised bow to handle the open water yet something not too long (11.6) with enough width (no less than 31″) for stability as well as ample strapping for light gear. Additionally, I wanted to stow my free diving gear and did not wish to negotiate with recessed sides trying to get on or off of the board.
A great place to start was www.paddling.com (Touring SUP), where I have used this site for all things kayaking. This site has some excellent resources on, All things SUP, as the sample below illustrates.
Next, I headed out to a few local shops, which I frequent. There are some awesome SUP boards out there, some very tempting to buy just on looks alone. I could have purchased a board everywhere I visited and came impulsively close a couple of times. All in all, I received some great advice from: Doug who is the Owner/Operator of Surf Central in Stuart, Greg of Ohana Surf Shop in Stuart, and Ted who is the Owner/Operator of Native Water Sports in Jensen Beach, FL. These are great folks who share the culture of water and cool enough to lead you to other places if they themselves do not have what you are looking for.
Another great option to to scour the selling boards: Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, Craigslist as well as NextDoor to see what others are selling. One thing I have picked up on in the past is if you see a lot of the same things for sale, they did not work out for the same reasons. Not always, but more often than none, the best of breed seldom come up and when they do they do not last long.
Before narrowing down the lengthy list of manufacturers and models my research was leading me to, I headed over to YouTube to get an inside track on people who are using specific boards for where they paddle and the pros/cons of those boards.
After seeing and handling several manufacturer’s products, I thought I would step back and think through all aspects of what I wanted to achieve: Core Excercise, Video Touring, and Free diving from the board. I had narrowed down my selections to three:
MY SELECTION:
These are all great boards and there are many more manufacturers and models, but exploring these and narrowing down to three, I found an Isle Voyager, 11.6 to be my best bet
The Starboard Touring 12.6 was a serious contender–– ideal for open water and speed with its recessed deck, tunnel concave bottom and gorgeous lines. The fin is located far back and the starlite version is super light. One feature I was not impressed with is the bungee chord rigging ( back), which is elevated above the recessed deck and I could see that being a tripping hazard or preventing the paddler from walking back and pressing down on the tail for quick turn-arounds. I would remove the back rigging.
My selection of the Isle Voyager won out on a these decision factors: 1) The 11.6 length makes it a little more manageable in the mangroves, streams and springs; 2) Very little rocker for flat water touring; 3) A raised bow for handling chop; 4) Plenty of cargo netting & deck padding; 5) A pop-up handle that tucks away; 5) A flat raised top for getting on and off for free diving; 6) And finally, the weight factor being under 30 lbs. It was a tough call but the ISLA Voyager won out for me. The next board just might be the Starboard 12.6 Touring (Starlite).
FINDING ONE:
I could not find any local shops that carry Isle boards, so I headed over to the Isle Website and they were out of stock on this model (popular?). As a fluke, I typed in isle voyager SUP in: OfferUp, Nextdoor, Craigslist, and FB Marketplace–– bingo! I got a hit and exactly the color blocking I was looking for (Seafoam/Navy), a recent model year and a board in near perfect condition. Unfortunately their cat had discovered the deck padding was excellent for sharpening its paws, but the scratching of the pad was minimal. The owner and his wife had moved over to fishing kayaks.
It was a long day hiking across Rte 60 and back but seeing the ISLE Voyager in person was more beautiful than I imagined, the owners were so nice and accommodating.
I also found an adjustable QuickBlade 100 FB (Carbon shaft /Fiberglass blade) in excellent condition on FB Marketplace for a great price. I think this was a good move to get an idea of what length works best before committing to a cut-to-length solid carbon paddle.
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