Had my mind set on an inflatable - until today....

[blong5150]

I've been doing tons of research and had settled on a 12'6" Cruiser V-Max Air: http://cruisersup.com/Cruiser_SUP_vmax_air_inflatable_paddleboards.php
I liked that they have the V-Drop Stitch like the Fanatic Air and that you can inflate to 20 PSI. I'm 6'0" and weigh about 220. They have a single and a double skin version.

I went out to a board demo today and they had a couple of inflatables (Badfish and JS Seeker) - I absolutely hated them both. I couldn't even stand up on either. They would only inflate the Seeker to 14 PSI and I'm sure the Badfish was way under-inflated also.  What did I like? The Tahoe Rubicon 12'. I was originally looking at a Bic Ace-Tec Wing 12'6" but came to the decision my lifestyle dictated an inflatable. Should I just chalk today up to unstable iSUPs? Is there really that much difference in stability? I had no issue at all on the Tahoe or any of the other rigid boards.

All this is making me rethink my iSUP decision. Opinions?

[Area 10]

Inflatables do have a bounce to them which can be disconcerting. It's is most noticeable under certain gently undulating conditions. It bugs the hell out of me too! It's hard to really get a good stroke on an inflatable unless it is really very rigidly blown up indeed, because the bounce of the board happens in rhythm with the stroke and the up and down movement interferes with proper stroke. Like anything, you can adapt to it, and when you are starting out, you don't know much different. But inflatables aren't really for serious use. That's not really their purpose.

[Green Water Sports]

Inflatables are indeed for serious use. You just need one that inflates to at least 18 psi and preferably more. Anything less and they work but they can't perform, it's like riding a bike with flat tires.

Don't write them off. Obviously I will suggest Red Paddle Co sups since I sell them but there are others like ULI out there that also work well. I pump mine to at least 20psi, they can handle 25 psi, and they work well. I'm 6ft and about 190lbs.

[spookini]

Wow, Area10 .   

In a perfect world, we'd all live on the beach and have a ding guru in the garage doing free repairs.  Barring that, iSUPs make sense, but they do give up some performance relative to hard boards.  Anyone who tells you otherwise is b*llshitting.  Bearing this in mind, consider the reviews on PBD's site -- all from a guy named Sands, who is a 'tech rep' and apparently one hell of a paddler:

"I have ridden hundreds of SUPs and can safely say this is the most stable I have ever been on"  BS
"At 190 pounds, I was able to paddle around on one foot"  BS
"The speed was incredible, probably the fastest SUP I have ever ridden."  BS

The fastest SUP in the world is.. an inflatable.  Schweet!!

blong, keep looking.  Your front-runner is a product from a generic site which sounds like it was written in Chinese english:  "the Cruiser is the fastest inflatable board Cruiser SUP offer light to heavy weights."  As Obi-wan said, "These aren't the boards you're looking for".   

[SkyeSup]

Started off on a C4 iSUP, loved it. Still paddle it occasionally and still like it. Newer iSUPs are much better than the C4. If you're limited by storage space, don't rule an inflatable out.

[PonoBill]

If you have to get an inflatable, then get a good one. I haven't tried anything new for a while, but I've always found the ULIs to be the best performing, though the new Naish ones seem darn good too. But inflatables are like a dog singing. Pretty amazing, considering...

[pugsup]

This bounce feeling will not go away ever for inflatables, it's in their nature. If you got the storage space and no plans to travel with your board, get a rigid one.
That said, Boards like the Red Paddle Race boards get as close to a hardboard in stiffness as it gets. They take 25 psi and more and have stiffening battens along the standing area.
I am 160 lbs and jumping around on my 12'6" produces but the tiniest bounce.

And don't judge any inflatable if they are anywhere below 18 psi. That's just pointless.

[yugi]

^^^ yep. For sure. Especially at your weight.

All that said I had a recent experience that opened my mind. Someone came along on a downwind with an inflatable recently.  At first I was a bit skeptical whether he should come along at all but anywhere along the run it is easy to bail and rejoin shore and is easy to pick the guy up by car on our return to the launch spot - so why not. As Murphy would have it I ended up on the inflatable for a solid 10 km (6 miles)of our run. A dealer was with us on a downwind board for sale so it made sense for the guy to try that and then the dealer fell in love with my Jimmy Lewis and eloped with it (yes, and howling the whole way!). Then, of course, why not let the guy try my board and he also was having a great time on it so time flew by. But there's also another reason I'll get to.

First it wasn't the stiffest of inflatables (nothing like a Red Paddle), probably mostly due to being a thin inflatable (thick being stiffer), second I wonder if it was even pumped up enough. Either way it was just bending all over the place. First it hugs the wave at the crest, bending almost to a U, then cruises down the wave and the nose, which is well stuck to the water plunges deep into the wave in front (one can barely say "pierce" for a inflatables nose can one?), slows down enough to come back out backwards and then one is waiting for the next wave to roll through. Everything is a bit wobbly and I'm hardly used to it so I'm getting bouncy castled all over the place and falling so of course losing ground to the other guys on downwind steeds.

I have a windsurf background so I'm no stranger to how to launch a board up onto a plane, plus I have the luxury (it was a curse at the time) of a lengthy downwind apprenticeship on my trusty old Naish 11'4 surf tagging along with a gang on fancy speed machines. So I have fine tuned the art, and timing, of launching a less than willing board up onto a plane. I was in good shape after a few months of downwind season so I gave it all I had.

On an inflatable that just wants to stay glued to the water you really got to launch it, I mean really go for it. When you do manage to peel it from the water, you then need to jump right to the back so 2/3 to 3/4 of the bouncy castle is well in the air. Then it <bleep> fly's. It's the funniest feeling because it then turns into one of those saucer type snow sleds which spins since there are no edges. Of course the fin keeps it going mostly straight so it is doable. The roundness of the thing means it barely brushed off any speed compared to a real board which, in touching left and right with micro bumps eventually scrubs enough speed to drop the board off a plane. The inflatable just slips over anything in the way on an imperfect line and keeps on trucking, the front 2/3 of the board wobbling in the air. Positively hilarious. I managed to figure it out enough to plane most of the time and could keep up with the other guys. If I had more time on it I might have learned to not to fall off the flying bouncy-castle/saucer-sled I think I could have passed the other guys. I ended up having such a blast, probably mostly because it was just so improbable and a challenge. Which is the real reason I did about half of our run on it.

So, long story short, 2 take home lessons:
- It is so totally doable! OK, so it's not ideal, at least not what you expect, but it is doable and lots of fun in a "now we are six" kind of way.
- If you gotta go iSUP get a good one. I know the Red Paddle Race is thick enough, strong enough to inflate crazy hard and with stabilizing lateral battens so should just about carry a big guy in a reasonable way. There may be others.

Enjoy! Oh, and don't sign any spansership contracts where you promise to keep your hair dry.

[blong5150]

Thanks for all the info. I think out of everything I have tried, the 12'6" Touring boards are the best fit for me - which shifts my focus back to the Bic Ace-Tec Wing or others in a comparable price range. I really can't afford to go much over that price though which seems to narrow the field.

[PonoBill]

My experience with the concept of "affording" boards is that adding it to the equation means you buy three instead of one. That doesn't mean me, that means everyone I know who has "economized". If they do manage to sell the boards that they quickly tire of (some never do--they keep them for friends, etc..) the difference between buy and sell is generally the price of the board they couldn't afford in the first place.

I know it all sounds theoretical, and taking financial advice from someone you don't know is silly, but it's what I've seen every time.

[blong5150]

My experience with the concept of "affording" boards is that adding it to the equation means you buy three instead of one. That doesn't mean me, that means everyone I know who has "economized". If they do manage to sell the boards that they quickly tire of (some never do--they keep them for friends, etc..) the difference between buy and sell is generally the price of the board they couldn't afford in the first place.

I know it all sounds theoretical, and taking financial advice from someone you don't know is silly, but it's what I've seen every time.

Yep - I know exactly what you mean. I'm also a musician and I seem to keep a collection of about 3 keyboards at all times. I'm sure I'll always upgrade - cool thing is, I know as soon as my wife gets on my board, she'll want one. I'll upgrade and she can take my leftovers. We're moving to the beach in a few months anyway and will probably have a constant revolving door of 'guests' that wouldn't normally come to see us.

[BaronPaddle]

My experience with the concept of "affording" boards is that adding it to the equation means you buy three instead of one. That doesn't mean me, that means everyone I know who has "economized". If they do manage to sell the boards that they quickly tire of (some never do--they keep them for friends, etc..) the difference between buy and sell is generally the price of the board they couldn't afford in the first place.

I know it all sounds theoretical, and taking financial advice from someone you don't know is silly, but it's what I've seen every time.

Maybe for some. I have a different take on it as someone just starting in this sport.
I got one of those cheap inflatables (Tower) as something I could afford this spring. I was not sure I would use it enough to justify getting a quality board and figuring out the logistics of hauling and storing a hard board.
Thought was I would use one atleast enough to justify keeping an inflatable in the garage for playing occasionally on local ponds or on vacation. If not a inflatable makes shipping reasonable so I could resell on ebay.
If I ended up deciding I wanted something better the inflatable is great for guests and my daughter to play on.

As it ends up I am having a great time paddling that cheap SUP around the local lake. I can store it in my car so its ready to go when I can get the time. And because I don't know better I don't miss the lack of performance. Maybe next year I can afford the nicer hard board and get the racks for storage and transport i will need but i'm glad I didn't wait on getting one I can use now.

Craig

[blong5150]

I dropped by a store today to look at a few boards. They had a Naish One on display. It seemed like a night & day difference between the other ones I tried. Anyone have one of these that weighs about what I do (220)?

[SUPoftheday]

The way I look at it is that you do get what you pay for when it comes to inflatables. Now that being said, my first board, a Boardworks Shubu, is still loads of fun and quite versatile.  That one is 3 7/8" thick and inflatable to 15 psi.  There are plenty of boards out there that are also inflatable to 15psi that use extra thickness or camber to compensate for weaker seams and to add stiffness or minimize the banana effect (tower goes to 8", for instance).  ULI and Red Paddle, for instance, are in a separate league due to the use of manufacturing tech that allows for 18+psi without blowing the seams in order to add significant stiffness (plus the addition of Red's battens and ULI Kevlar stringers). It makes a huge difference and, frankly, you'll pay for the upgraded technology.  I think we'll be seeing new technologies soon that could be game changers.  For example, mistral's new cross-dropstitch technology feels still and results in an uber-light board. Didn't ride it but was extremely light. So things are getting muddy as companies that had sold mediocre inflatables in the past begin to adopt newer technologies (like Mistral moving from the M1's to the new ones). Isn't competition great??

Still, there will probably always be a certain amount of the trademarked inflatable bounce left over, particularly if you're 200+ like me.

By the way, my latest is an ULI 14x27x6 race. I'll do a writeup on it soon.

[JimK]

I too was an iSUP hater They just never worked for me (I'm to big)
That was until I used the JP and the Fanatic inflatables (ok I'm not giving up my hard board) but they work GREAT
For a BIG guy. Yes you feel someflex but they are useable can be inflated to over 20psi are using the V drop stitch
Plus they assemble /o tools Shapes are great too...oh yeah they also come at a VERY reasonable price (when compared to other high end inflatables)

I'm a believer NOW!

JimK
www.extremewindsurfing.com