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

It doesn't come with one as a race baord but they offered an alloy paddle free or discount on a better one but I'm a bit spent out and didn't really want to spend anymore (thinking next month for a paddle). I opted to have a leash and a dry bag thrown in rather than alloy as they are minging.

I've got a fantatic carbon 35 3 piece which is fine but want to have two inflatables on go for holidays (even that means some level of fighting as we have 4 people wanting to use them!) I do have a naff JP 3 piece knocking around as well but it is heavy and horrible, was free.
 
RRD arrived today. It's a beauty. Nicest finishing I have seen on an isup by far. Had its miaden paddle. Definifely going to take some getting used to. Far wobblier than my allwater GT but I didn't get wet (I was already though as playing at burying the tail on the GT). Feels very quick. My son is light enough that he has no wobbles on it.
 
Lovely, i've heard similar about Fanatics being finished well. Just been looking and they do it in a 29" width in both the 12'6 and 14'. That'd be ideal for me. Love their designs too.

Do you live near the river? With this weather i keep being tempted but after reading about the Canal & Rivers Trusts advising against it i wasn't sure what kind of response i'd get from people on houseboats if they're dicks about it.
 
Marvt74 said:
Lovely, i've heard similar about Fanatics being finished well. Just been looking and they do it in a 29" width in both the 12'6 and 14'. That'd be ideal for me. Love their designs too.

Do you live near the river? With this weather i keep being tempted but after reading about the Canal & Rivers Trusts advising against it i wasn't sure what kind of response i'd get from people on houseboats if they're dicks about it.
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Thumbs up for fanatic as well. the fanatic premium constructions are superb. This is next level though in terms of the deck pad and look of the board.

14 foot and 29 inch would be a winner.

I live on the river. I appreciate I may be making my own interpretation of the recommendations but I pose far less risk or impact to society going for a paddle from my own dock than I do going for a run on the street or a bike ride.

Around here there is a reasonable amount of SUP and kayak traffic but almost no boats. People are staying well apart. The clubs are all shut and I would say most people are paddling from home/houseboats.
 
Wow that must be lovely. My next move is definitely going to be by water. I have a less than 5 min drive to the canal which i class as pretty low risk but just conscious of complaints from houseboats at the car park.

Yeah i think that size would be ideal for me. Conscious that less might be less stable and result in me getting very wet! The local stores don't have the range of the places down south to try out a big range.
 
I do love lving on the water. Any sunny day feels like a holiday. Can be a bit scary the odd year the water really gets up. This Christmas was pretty tasty.

I can understand being a bit self concious launching at the moment. May be you can find somewhere secluded for a bit of a stealthy pump.
 
Marvt74 said:
My god these things are harder than Youtube suggests!
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You'll nail it. Soon you'll be doing shoveits on it :)

Speaking of balance, the 26 inch RRD had an hour of me on it today. Didn't go in but certainly can't relax 100% yet. It tracks really straight and quick. I think the narrow waist allows for a very upright precise stroke which contributes as well as overall good tracking.
 
Haha unlikely!

This board is certainly better than the offcut i'd previously been using.

I've heard that about narrower boards. It's a big factor for me ideally dropping to 28".

I've bought some ratchet straps to stick mine on the roof to nip to the canal to avoid being outside too much.
 
Managed to get out this morning. The ratchet straps are brilliant as i wasn't spending ~15 minutes getting everything set up and then 10 minutes at the end deflating and rolling it all up. Just turn up, stick the fin on, put the paddle together and then get out on the water. Most of the delays were sorting out the straps and remembering how they work!

I'll definitely do this more often, especially when i'm back in the office as i should be able to get a decent 40 minute paddle in this way without getting up "too" early.

No complaints from anyone and just lots of positive comments from walkers/runners on the paths.

Felt a little less steady that last time, i definitely don't have the confidence/skill to move around much on the board and the canal is not the place to practice!

Most annoying thing was not starting the activity on my watch. I selected SUP but then didn't press start :(
 
Nice one. How clearn is the canal? I don't mind going in the thames but def keep my mouth shut! We're not as polluted here as on the tidal thames but the water companies have been caught breaking the ruels in the past. We do have quite a few open water swimmers around here that are in frequently and keep doing it so I use that as a good sign.
 
It's not too bad. It's murky to look at, but when it splashes onto the board it seems clean enough. I guess because of the locks, the water gets changed fairly often.

I've been in once and it wasn't too bad, but luckily it's only chest deep so my mouth was safe! Didn't smell too much afterwards!
 
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