Choosing The Right Paddle Board


Finding the right paddle board today can be a difficult task. There are so many brands and models that it is easy to get lost and have no idea what to choose or what size is right for you.

Now as it would take me many articles to go over every aspect of choosing the perfect board, lets go over some of the basics to help get you started.

Size:

Here is a good chart to go by when thinking about what size board you might need:

This chart helps make things very simple in regards to size. Keep it simple and don’t try to over complicate things.

Style Of Board:

For this part, you will need to decide what kind of paddle boarding you will be mainly doing. Let’s take a look at a list of different types of paddle boarding:

  • Flat Water Boarding (typically calm lakes or mellow rivers)
  • Surf Paddle Boarding (the ocean or possible a wild river)
  • Racing
  • Fly Fishing
  • Ocean Fishing
  • Yoga
  • Tandem
  • Ocean Paddling

This covers a lot of different styles. Most people are the weekend warriors who just want to get out on the water so they would be inclined to stick with flat water boarding. I would say this is where 90% of people or more do all of their SUPing which makes it easier to choose a board.

For the others of you who are a bit more daring and crazy, the decisions get harder mainly because the price of a specialty board goes up. Because of this, you want to be sure what you want so you don’t go wasting a lot of money.

Performance and brand:

These 2 factors kind of go hand in hand. A quality brand will tend to give you a quality performance board. Bic SUP in my mind is a quality brand and all of their board are fantastic. Their performance is top notch as well as the durability and board quality.

Now if you go with a cheap no name brand, it is hit or miss. Paying less tends to mean getting less on the quality scale as well. This is just my personal experience. So high end boards can go for as much as $2k and there are low end boards that are $300. If you ride the 2 one after the other you would see what I mean. There are however a few inexpensive boards like the Wavestorm that is fairly good quality considering in the price. For any beginner, this is the board I typically recommend.

Most boards have a bout a 250 lb weight limit, but there are a few that can hold 300-350 lbs, but you will be paying much more for them.

To get a good all around board, I would go with a Bic Acetec as you can use it for flat water as well as perform well in the ocean for some smaller waves. The cost is mid range so it makes it an easy buy. Sup Boards Review Offers some great deals on the BIC as well as many other top of the line boards.

I hope this helps you find the right board for yourself and we will go into further detail in later articles. Until then, happy SUPing!