Paddlesports (Kayaking, Canoe, Stand-Up Paddle boards)

[Martynt74]

I think it's more likely I'd be doing longer distances than going fast, but I think it makes sense to go for more of an all rounder. Then after a year or so maybe I could switch to something more specialist depending on what it is I enjoy more.

When you say 'good volume' what sort of size would you recommend? 10ft seems to be the most common, but I can see 11 and even 12ft options available, or is thickness/width more important?

I've recommended it to a few people before but the 11'6 Fanatic Ray Air would be a good mix, i think it's a cracking starter board. It's 11'6 long so a little bit of extra length to help glide and a pointed nose and only 31" wide to aid tracking for going in a straight line. It's also not too long that it becomes difficult to turn. As a note, i did have myself and my mother in law on the board together in Spain, whilst i'm not saying it coped perfectly, it wasn't completely unusable given it had 2 adults on with a combined weight around 160kg so you and your kid combined are only likely to be the same as me on my own!

It's only downside is that it's single skin so not quite as stiff as higher level boards, but it's still stiff enough for me at ~100kg to not notice too much in the way of flex, and that was when using it on a choppy sea, on flat water it's pretty solid. That's the trade off for them hitting that <£500 price point i guess.

I don't think i've seen you mention it but have you got a budget in mind?

 

[MM-Seat]

I've recommended it to a few people before but the 11'6 Fanatic Ray Air would be a good mix, i think it's a cracking starter board. It's 11'6 long so a little bit of extra length to help glide and a pointed nose and only 31" wide to aid tracking for going in a straight line. It's also not too long that it becomes difficult to turn. As a note, i did have myself and my mother in law on the board together in Spain, whilst i'm not saying it coped perfectly, it wasn't completely unusable given it had 2 adults on with a combined weight around 160kg so you and your kid combined are only likely to be the same as me on my own!

It's only downside is that it's single skin so not quite as stiff as higher level boards, but it's still stiff enough for me at ~100kg to not notice too much in the way of flex, and that was when using it on a choppy sea, on flat water it's pretty solid. That's the trade off for them hitting that <£500 price point i guess.

I don't think i've seen you mention it but have you got a budget in mind?

How long are your touring board(s)? Would you only consider a 14 ft if you was buying a pure touring board?

 

[Martynt74]

I've got the 11'6x31 Fanatic i mentioned above and then a 14x28" hard board.

If i was honest, i think a 12'6x28/30 would be the ideal sized board for touring/longer paddles. I sometimes find my 14' board a bit cumbersome moving it around and i find i'm always banging it against stuff as it's so long and i've never noticed a big difference in glide between my 14' and my friends 12'6 with both being very similar shapes. However his copes slightly better in the sea i found.

In my mind it would go like this

10'6 - Ideal for splashing around in the sea and "pottering" with elements of sup surfing
11'6 - Ideal Starter board for people. Short enough to turn easy but also a little longer and so allows for better glide. This also tends to be the size where you get the pointed nose which aids for tracking vs the rounded nose
12'6 - Ideal touring board
14' - Ideal for racing and long tours

 

[NotAGolf]

I don't think i've seen you mention it but have you got a budget in mind?

I was hoping to be around the £250 mark, but I need a paddle and pump too, so I guess 300-400 is more realistic.

 

[Martynt74]

Most inflatable boards come with a paddle/pump included. It’s only really Decathlon and some of the more specialist brands which don’t (thinking of GONG/Redwood Paddle Co).

What i think i struggle with at that end, is that a lot of manufacturers go for width to provide stability and i'm personally not a fan of boards wider than 32" as i find they impact glide and my ability to paddle too much (i also noted the same thoughts on around page 1 when i was first starting out). As such i find that buying a board in the size/shape i would want to recommend doesn't tend to kick in until higher which makes it difficult to suggest boards as it's not something i would personally go for.

What i guess i'd say is that a lot of the budget end boards are decent these days. There was a time when they'd be unsafe bendy rubbish, but the better technologies have filtered down well now.

If you could spend a little extra i'd probably go with something like this.
https://www.thesupco.com/-c192/aqua-marina-fusion-10-ft-10-p2780

1 - You're buying from a proper retailer so support should be decent
2 - It's in stock which is a rarity in these times!

The other option is one called an Aquatone Flame. You can buy it from a place called Nootica for ~£400, but i'm not sure if they ship from Europe so might incur import fees, plus i'm not sure how returns would be as some of the cheaper brands don't have as good quality control. They're usually fine for swapping out a bad board for a good one again, but the odd damaged one does seem to slip through from what i've seen on Facebook groups.

Aqua Planet/HIKS seem to be popular too at this price point but they all seem short/wide from what i can see on their websites.

 

[MM-Seat]

I've got the 11'6x31 Fanatic i mentioned above and then a 14x28" hard board.

If i was honest, i think a 12'6x28/30 would be the ideal sized board for touring/longer paddles. I sometimes find my 14' board a bit cumbersome moving it around and i find i'm always banging it against stuff as it's so long and i've never noticed a big difference in glide between my 14' and my friends 12'6 with both being very similar shapes. However his copes slightly better in the sea i found.

In my mind it would go like this

10'6 - Ideal for splashing around in the sea and "pottering" with elements of sup surfing
11'6 - Ideal Starter board for people. Short enough to turn easy but also a little longer and so allows for better glide. This also tends to be the size where you get the pointed nose which aids for tracking vs the rounded nose
12'6 - Ideal touring board
14' - Ideal for racing and long tours

Really helpful - thanks for this.

Need to try different sized boards I suppose

 

[Martynt74]

Yeah, if you ever want to head over towards Preston you're welcome to try either of mine. Alternatively the Paddle and Pint at Southport on a Friday evening would be a great opportunity

 

[MM-Seat]

Yeah, if you ever want to head over towards Preston you're welcome to try either of mine. Alternatively the Paddle and Pint at Southport on a Friday evening would be a great opportunity

Thanks, really generous. Looks like one of the club are letting me try their 12ft 6 board next week

 

[Martynt74]

Awesome. Any idea which board it is?

I got my hard board back yesterday and headed over to Cheshire and paddled on the River Weaver. It was so nice being on the river with great scenery each side. Was insanely jealous of all the people living on the banks. More so because 2 of them were sat out drinking red wine!

 

[Martynt74]

I was hoping to be around the £250 mark, but I need a paddle and pump too, so I guess 300-400 is more realistic.

I can't vouch for it personally, but i saw this pop up in another search i was doing and i've seen reasonable comments about the brand on various facebook groups. Again you get a 1yr warranty should anything go wrong and the price is bang where you wanted. I wont pretend it'll be the greatest board ever but it might do the job for 12 months whilst you assess what you want

Both 11'6 and 12'6 are the same price

https://euroskateshop.uk/nkx-flash-...ghDWQ66jDzTaVoKYf_04cu8KjWXccW6BoCErYQAvD_BwE

https://euroskateshop.uk/nkx-flash-...GIWKXi90QW6ocSkKjtBJq5NIuPziJbwhoCuSwQAvD_BwE

(I wouldn't pay too much attention to the "full price")

 

[MM-Seat]

Awesome. Any idea which board it is?

I got my hard board back yesterday and headed over to Cheshire and paddled on the River Weaver. It was so nice being on the river with great scenery each side. Was insanely jealous of all the people living on the banks. More so because 2 of them were sat out drinking red wine!

Possibly a bluefin. I also paddled a red board which felt better than my board (width was shorter).

The weaver is on my list over the weekend potentially

 

[NotAGolf]

Most inflatable boards come with a paddle/pump included. It’s only really Decathlon and some of the more specialist brands which don’t (thinking of GONG/Redwood Paddle Co).

What i think i struggle with at that end, is that a lot of manufacturers go for width to provide stability and i'm personally not a fan of boards wider than 32" as i find they impact glide and my ability to paddle too much (i also noted the same thoughts on around page 1 when i was first starting out). As such i find that buying a board in the size/shape i would want to recommend doesn't tend to kick in until higher which makes it difficult to suggest boards as it's not something i would personally go for.

What i guess i'd say is that a lot of the budget end boards are decent these days. There was a time when they'd be unsafe bendy rubbish, but the better technologies have filtered down well now.

If you could spend a little extra i'd probably go with something like this.
https://www.thesupco.com/-c192/aqua-marina-fusion-10-ft-10-p2780

1 - You're buying from a proper retailer so support should be decent
2 - It's in stock which is a rarity in these times!

The other option is one called an Aquatone Flame. You can buy it from a place called Nootica for ~£400, but i'm not sure if they ship from Europe so might incur import fees, plus i'm not sure how returns would be as some of the cheaper brands don't have as good quality control. They're usually fine for swapping out a bad board for a good one again, but the odd damaged one does seem to slip through from what i've seen on Facebook groups.

Aqua Planet/HIKS seem to be popular too at this price point but they all seem short/wide from what i can see on their websites.

Thanks for the advice. Went for the fusion in the end and took it out for a spin for the first time today. Did just under 5k and it was lovely. Fairly stable, just a couple of wobbles but I stayed dry! Really nice bit of kit.

 

[Martynt74]

Great stuff. A 5k is a decent trip as well.

Looks like a great day out.

 

[Martynt74]

Cracking paddle today. Parked up at the southern end of Windermere, loaded mine and a mates boards on the roof then drove to Ambleside at the top end and paddled the full length.

Was around 11.8miles in total and had a great mix of flat calm water and brutal wind. Blinding rain and blue skies and sun.

Great day out. Plus my mate brought cake!

 

[MM-Seat]

Cracking paddle today. Parked up at the southern end of Windermere, loaded mine and a mates boards on the roof then drove to Ambleside at the top end and paddled the full length.

Was around 11.8miles in total and had a great mix of flat calm water and brutal wind. Blinding rain and blue skies and sun.

Great day out. Plus my mate brought cake!

did you park at fell foot? I’m booked in on Monday but, won’t be doing a 12 mile paddle!!

 

[Martynt74]

No. We tried but it only opened at 10 so we parked in a lay-by on the road instead.

It’s been a long time since I’ve done such a long paddle. I definitely tired after 10 miles and we took longer breaks than usual.

 

[jsmoke]

Is paddle boarding good exercise, it doesn't look very strenuous, I've come across dozens of PB'ers in last couple of weeks on the water, I'm surprised to see most don't wear buoyancy aids either.

 

[Martynt74]

It’s as strenuous as you want it to be.

Yesterday I did a leisurely 12 miles in around 5 hours and only burned 1500 calories. So you’d be much better off walking from that point of view.

It can work your core well though.

 

[MM-Seat]

Definitely works your core (or at least mine!). Always get that nice burn feeling the next day.

 

[MM-Seat]

Erm… can’t cracked fin boxes be fixed?