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Beginning SUP - Chronicles of Remickulous

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Remickulous:
~ 70hrs on the water, and after getting back from watching my first SUP event (Pacific Paddle Games), I thought this might be a good time to do some rambling about what I've learned so far. I'm known to be verbose with bursts of loquacious, so if you don't wanna read, I don't blame you. But maybe this might help some newer folks out there. Here goes:

Relevant info - I live in the Pacific NorthWest, 48yr old dude, 70" tall, 240lbs. I've broken 4 vertebrae in my back, dislocated my left shoulder 4 times, Level 2 separation of my right shoulder (clavicle sticks out noticeably), broken arch in my right foot that healed wrong so the bone sticks out a bit there, too, and many other injuries over the years. I'm a veteran of SOCOM with PTSD, ADHD, and TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury). I'm a hot mess, lemme tell ya, and there are guys & gals on this forum with far more serious limitations than I have that do a LOT more than I'm doing with SUP - that's the beauty of this sport!

I'm also an engineer and like having all the right answers before I do stuff, so I research a lot...and I mean, A LOT. Know what I found? There's WAY too much info, opinion, and variables out there for me to make sense of it all before getting started, so I did the best I could. I've wasted some money, but nothing terrible so far. Here's how it went down:


* My wife decided we should try SUP with inflatables for ease of transport & storage. I bought a 12'6" Isle iSUP on Amazon (-$800), the wife bought a 10'8" Costco iSUP. I didn't like the Isle because it was a noodle in the middle when I stood on it, and the wife's didn't, so I sent the Isle board back (+$800), and bought another Costco iSUP for myself (-$500).
* After about 10hrs on the water I found that the Costco iSUP sucked upwind, and was still a lot tippy-er than I liked, and I just HAD to find out what a hard board felt like. That's when I joined this site ($0) and started getting a LOT of info on boards from the awesome people here.
* I had no idea what hard boards would feel like, what all the details would translate to when I'm standing on it in various conditions. After getting some great input from retailer dudes like JimK and Robert Stehlik on this site, I demo'd a few universal surf shaped boards at my local shop that would float me - a Riviera Original 11'6" x 33" x 4.875" (210L), and a Surftech 11'6" x 32 x 5" (238L). I could hardly believe how stable it was compared to the iSUPs I had tried!
* I returned the Costco iSUP (+$500) and bought the Surftech because it is pretty heavy duty (-$950), which created a bit of a stir with my better half because I didn't discuss it (read: I was selfish). I also bought a carbon fixed length paddle with 105sq in blade on clearance at Amazon ($150). That brings the total spent to $1100, after all the returns, and I just found out I prefer a smaller blade so I can pick up the cadence a bit, and don't strain my joints as much.
I will pause this diatribe here and pick it up again soon, but if you're a beginner looking for advice, here's some: 

1 - My wife's inflatable is sitting on the side of our house in SUP hooks in the shade, inflated, and we transport it inflated. This is what ends up happening with MOST folks who buy an iSUP, so the benefits of it are gone, and they just aren't as much fun to learn on or use, in my opinion. Great workout pumping it up, though :o

2 - It took me about 10 hours to get comfortable on flat-ish water, and I it would have saved me some time, frustration & money if I had gotten time on the water before buying my boards & paddles. Demo, rent, or borrow anything that might work, and it's probably gonna pay dividends.

3 - I got a lot out of just watching all the SUP videos I could find. Blue Planet Surf has the best info out there that I've seen, and it was a good investment of time. 

More later, but my stoke is high, and I gotta get to paddling - Aloha!

striveseeksup:
Remickulous:

Loved this thread - and I'm glad I went with my gut and said no to the inflatable. Haven't bought my board yet as others have given me the same sage advice you just shared: try lots of boards and then try some more. I've got about half the hours on the water that you do, but even in the first 15 minutes on a board, I knew this was a lifetime thing.

Thanks for sharing your stoke, and your story. It's a good one.

Night Wing:
I enjoyed reading your post. I'm lucky my back problems have went away. Like you, I hunted down everything on the internet concerning standup paddle boards. My present short surf sup is my favorite.

Everyone goes through a learning phase. Glad to see you're still enjoying your's.

stoneaxe:
Great post....I've always felt it is important for folks that are new to the sport to share their experience so that folks that are interested would have someone that has recently gone through it.

Also...thanks for your service. Sounds like we owe you.

supthecreek:
Good stuff Remickulous!

Totally agree with stoneaxe that new stoke, feedback and lessons learned are invaluable on forums like this.

Thanks for your service!

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