A quick look at the basics of the Stand-Up Paddle Board

I spent one September afternoon in Del Mar scratching for pieces of an incoming NW swell that had been broken up by afternoon winds. After a long summer of mediocre surf sessions that included much of the same crappy waves and futile efforts to quench even a little of my addiction to the ocean, I witnessed something that instilled a desire that I have not experienced in a long time. Two silhouetted figures calmly glided in front of the reddish-orange sunset, as if to invite me to join them... and what surprised me was that I wanted to. Yes, stand-up paddle (SUP, for short) surfing had finally caught my interest.

At First Glance

My first ever experience with a SUP surfer was at Hanalei Bay in Kauai. Paddling along the outside of the reef, I never got a good look at his board until he joined his regular surfing friends that I was sharing the point with.


From the look I got at his board, it seemed just like a longboard. Later I learned that the more the SUP board is like a regular longboard, the better the SUP surfer. Requiring an incredible sense of balance and core body-strength, SUP surfboards for the average surfer are more like a wind-surfboard than a regular longboard.

Evolutionary Parallels
    
Just as pioneers of today’s surfing culture had rudimentary shaped boards to accommodate the infancy of the sport, SUP shapes are following the same course. Although SUP shapers have a wealth of knowledge based in regular surfboard technology, the designs of SUP boards must be able to accommodate the skills and requirements of beginning SUP surfers who are just getting adjusted to the concept. Therefore, many advanced SUP surfers find themselves frustrated with much of the available equipment. Whatever the skill level, there are some major differences between SUP boards and regular surfboards.

Requirements

Width
The advantage of SUP boards over a basic surfboard is the added width. Expect about a 30-inch wide board (that’s a whole foot wider than the board I ride now). Without the width, standing up to use the paddle becomes a futile effort in balance. The easier it is to use the paddle, the more power and speed you will get -- the two key ingredients to making SUP surfing work.

Length
Length of the board is as variable in SUP surfing as regular surfing, but only to a point. Of course, the longer the board the more stability, but the key is to have a board that is as surfable as it is paddleable. Expect the average SUP board to be around 12 feet long. The shorter you go, the easier it is to maneuver but the more difficult it is to get the necessary glide.

Thickness
At what point does becoming too floaty become a bad thing? When you are talking about standing up on a board when it is standing still, too thick is not thick enough. SUP boards need to be bulky: expect a  thickness of around 4.5 inches.

Particulars
Refinement of SUP boards is the source of many on-line message boards, blogs and surf shop discussions. But just as in regular surfing, the thickness of the rails, rocker, tail, etc. are the icing on the cake that play a much bigger role after the basics of using a paddle while standing up is mastered.


One thing for certain is that the biggest challenge of shapers and surfers is finding the board that encompasses both the necessity of extra float and balance with the technical fine points of progressive surfing.