Unleashing the Dragon - a 4 person x 22ft long iSUP.... Downwind

[Off-Shore]

RedPaddle have introduced a 22' long iSUP called "The Dragon" and we are fortunate in Hong Kong to be hosting one of the first Dragon SUP races on Nov 10th. Since the boards arrived last week, it was time to take one out for a spin, but the problem was that Typhoon Sarika appeared... so what could we do, but go try and see if it would downwind...

This was our first outing on it... and it is a HUGE amount of fun...

Trying to get 3 kids to synchronise their paddling or even sit facing forwards was a little challenging, so this will fly with 4 experienced downwind paddlers..

https://youtu.be/WC38UnL3HMI

[stoneaxe]

Very cool.....hoping to get John to come back and paddle in the 2017 CCBC. It would be fun to have one there.

[PonoBill]

Yup, fairly hopeless with my grandkids. We couldn't make it more than 50 feet without them pushing each other off. Okay, well maybe I was occasionally involved in the pushing too.

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

I would love to try this!


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[Night Wing]

I would like to try DW'ing period. But I would like to try it with a non inflatable sup. But I'll probably never get the chance. The waves in the Gulf of Mexico are just not conducive to DW'ing. 

BTW, really enjoyed the video. 

[SUPcheat]

Yup, it looks like fun, and the board is handsome.  For people who can actually cooperate with other people.

[burchas]

Super cool. I'm now waiting for the "will it downwind" video
Are you going to try and get your downwind gang have a serious go at it?

[Off-Shore]

Good to see Pono with 5 on your board as opposed to us with 4. Actually with 4 it is pretty cramped and unless you are completely in sync there is a not of clashing of paddles... Pono's board looks wider. The Dragon is only 34" wide which is actually not tippy.. It is the stall - glide repeat rocking motion of the board (forwards - backwards) that happens if you are not in sync that tips you off, and means you need to always be in staggered stance to stay standing..

What was cool about our session, is that if I had taken these kids downwinding on individual boards they would have got scared and it would have been a safety issue trying to keep then in line. Being all together they were just having a lot of fun, and at no time did anyone get scared... though there were a few smacks of paddles on each others hands which caused us to stop and regroup a couple of times. Me being at the back meant that I could see what was happening in front of me, and if anyone fell off before me, we could extend a paddle handle for them to grab onto as we went past them. I was wearing a long SUS leash which was very effective at stopping the board when I fell off (and with a good tug on it, I could get everyone else off the board too!)

Will it downwind? I definitely think it will and with our competition coming up next month we have a lot of the local paddlers and almost all those who downwind training on them. The idea is once the competition is over, we will take one on a proper downwind run with 2, then 3 and then 4 people. I think mouth guards and helmets may be in order with 4 of us...

A couple of pictures to show when I had 3 of them sitting down and paddling and me at the back, we were catching glides nicely..

[Argosi]

Looks like it was a blast! I have a 18.5 feet x 5 feet inflatable that's a lot of fun, but it probably won't downwind - at leasat not too quickly - unlike the Dragon. Great way to let kids experience downwinding for the first time.

[Off-Shore]

Looks like it was a blast! I have a 18.5 feet x 5 feet inflatable that's a lot of fun, but it probably won't downwind - at leasat not too quickly - unlike the Dragon. Great way to let kids experience downwinding for the first time.

Argosi, I have also paddled on the larger wide MegaSUPs similar to the one you have and the Dragon being 34" wide is completely different, and really starts to feel like a normal SUP when you get everyone in sync. I absolutely agree it is a great way to get kids into downwinding, as once they feel okay doing this, doing it by themselves on their own board is a much smaller step. I've taken these particular kids paddleboarding individually in flat ocean conditions and their general consensus is that "it's okay", but when I asked them about this experience, the response I got was it's "REALLY FUN".. Only one of these guys has downwinded before.

[PonoBill]

The Imagine board is much wider, I think about five feet wide. It has been successfully downwinded on the Columbia--did a few Viento runs last summer. I didn't see it out there, but from what I understand it was probably about six or eight people--double rows, with canoe paddles. They'd do it more often, but it has a slow leak. It did a surprisingly respectable time--as I recall, about 1:30.

[Argosi]

Looks like it was a blast! I have a 18.5 feet x 5 feet inflatable that's a lot of fun, but it probably won't downwind - at leasat not too quickly - unlike the Dragon. Great way to let kids experience downwinding for the first time.

Argosi, I have also paddled on the larger wide MegaSUPs similar to the one you have and the Dragon being 34" wide is completely different, and really starts to feel like a normal SUP when you get everyone in sync. I absolutely agree it is a great way to get kids into downwinding, as once they feel okay doing this, doing it by themselves on their own board is a much smaller step. I've taken these particular kids paddleboarding individually in flat ocean conditions and their general consensus is that "it's okay", but when I asked them about this experience, the response I got was it's "REALLY FUN".. Only one of these guys has downwinded before.

That's great - let us know if you have any future sessions on the board.