I've taken to kayaking - no white water; just calm waters in a SOT kayak (Wilderness Tarpon).

I'm seeing more SUPs these days. And just curious on what the attraction is - they seem like more work, less paddle efficient, can't carry cargo (like a picnic) and can't sit comfortably.

What's the attraction of a SUP? Why SUP vs kayak?

As an aside - I'm planning to bring my kayak to the bay (usually kakak on lakes / calm rivers). Is there anything in particular I should know about kayaking in a bay? I think the waters will be relatively calm - I've seen people use SUP's on the bay.

With SUP, you are standing up and stay dry, provided you don't fall in the drink. Also easier to paddle and to paddle faster.

In my experience, kayaks are more stable (simply by virtue of center of gravity being so much lower), less affected by wind (again, lower), easier to paddle, track better, and are faster.

SUPs give you more of a workout. I tried one, once. Not for me, thanks. Too hard to have an open adult beverage on a SUP.

I have a Tarpon myself, and stick pretty much to flat water/lazy rivers.

I don’t see many people fall off their kayaks. I see a lot of people fall off their SUP though. Seems you can get away with a $200 kayak but not a $200 SUP. The pricier models are a far better option.

SUP is great for sightseeing (taller perspective), workouts (uses more core muscles for maintaining balance) and shallow water trekking (less submerged depth)

Kayaks are better for choppier water, multi-tasking (fishing, resting, eating/drinking).

There are a few sit-on-top kayaks that can perform as a SUP, they usually have a flat mid surface and fold-away seat. Not as good as a stand alone boat/board, but a good option for the casual user.

I went out with a girl who was into SUP yoga. LOL Convinced her to go with me on the Tour de Coal, basically a 12-mile float down the Coal River. Around the halfway point, there is a place called "Strawberry Shoals" and as you may imagine, it gets shallow. I went first and my Tarpon scraped over the rocks. I turned around and told her she may want to sit down or even walk her SUP through. She said "I got this!" and proceeded onwards.

Fins on the SUP snagged a rock, stopped it cold, and she face-planted on the board.

I'm on the kayak side of the fence, also with a Tarpon. SUPs are pretty popular around here, i see them all the time when I am on the water and not just in protected areas, they will be out in the intercostal waterway or out in the river. People also fish off them and there is a group that paddles out and does yoga on them.

The last group paddle I was on had about a third of the group on SUPs. Overall it seemed that they worked harder at it and A few of them fell in the water. I will admit that one of the group organizers was on a SUP and he made it look effortless. He paddled circles around the entire group.

Maybe you can see more on a SUP and... more people can see you, which is probably important to some types. (I don't mean safety wise)

A kayak or canoe is far more useful IMO than a SUP, which is one trick pony.

Just rent a board—twice. The first time to fall down, the second to see if you actually enjoy it. I didn’t.

SUPs are great if you know what you're getting into. I strongly recommend a demo day somewhere. We went from canoeing into getting a Hala SUP. They are river-capable SUPs that are designed to be able to take the hits. We use our primarily on smaller bodies of open water, but with kids the added durability is really nice. And eventually I'd like to try some easier sections of river. We bought a model that is huge, I can put the ENTIRE family our ours. My wife, 8 and 10 year old girls and myself. I can also strap down a cooler or gear. I still have room to paddle but obviously I wouldn't do this all the time.

Here's a video of a couple dudes, one using my SUP (the big blue one). Linky You can see the challenges are different going down a river. Your center of gravity is much higher when paddling standing up. So in rough or windy conditions kneeing is often more efficient. You can also sit down and paddle with a traditional kayak paddle. Our SUP is a lot to handle for someone smaller or a person looking for a more reactive/faster SUP. Inflatables, like ours, tend to be a little slower than hardboard SUPs. They're a little more forgiving if you take the thing to your face too.

So, why SUP you ask. Well, unlikely canoeing and kayaking, SUP allows you to be on the water...or easily in the water...and changes the experience. You can choose to stay dry, you can jump off in the water and cool down. You can tan, do yoga, whatever you desire. My kids use ours as a floating play barge. I do laps around lakes for exercise. I've learned some moves and spin tricks that are fun to practice and great exercise. It's much more of a play in the water kind of experience. You don't cover distance as fast, but frankly I don't really care because it's more immersive to me. Next up is to get my dog to enjoy time out on it. I've been talking about doing that for a year or two and finally need to give it a try.

Go get out on one and try it, they're lots of fun.

I much prefer a kayak over a SUP. If you want to just sit and chill (and stay dry) you can sit and float in a kayak. On the SUP, you're constantly balancing because you're standing and have a higher center of gravity. Unless you want to sit on the SUP with your legs in the water etc. and then you're getting wet. My knees don't like kneeling. I also feel the SUP takes a lot more balancing and more core muscles, it's definitely more of a total body workout versus the kayak. Everyone's different, some like the kayak, some like the SUP.

The inflatable SUP's we have on one of the yachts I work on, roll up pretty small when they're deflated and it's easy to carry out of the engine room (or car or etc.) and blow up with an electric pump once you get to where you want to use it. So it is much easier to transport than a rigid kayak.

I have both. During the summer, I live at the beach and when I’m not surfing, I’m probably using the kayak more (not that I use it a lot really).

SUP is a novelty to me, they got real big 4 years ago and started to die off. I’ll play in the surf with mine, but it seems the tourists gravitate toward them.

My wife and I like the SUP for workout purposes. We paddle around an island on the lake we go to - it's peaceful and it's a workout / get your zen on type thing for us. Concentrate on your breathing and balance while you watch an eagle or heron fish plus burn some calories.
I do not like the SUP in any kind of rough water.

Cool. Thanks guys.

Sounds like, despite the seeming popularity of SUPs around here, I'm not really missing much, if anything. I'll stick to the kayak.

Although it's interesting that I may be able to SUP using my Tarpon - I'll have to look at again to see if that's workable. Just buy a paddle if so. But no loss if not.

The aspect that may have been interesting to me was perhaps that SUP seems easier to transport (load onto cars, carry to the water, etc).

Based on my limited experience kayaks are for everyone while sup is much more limited. I tried sup on a vacation along with the wife. She had the balance for the standing but limited upper body strength resulted in it being tough for her to keep up. I can handle the paddling just fine but have the balance and coordination of a pregnant hippo so fell in the water a lot. I have taken a lot of kayaks out since but never tried stand up again

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Cool. Thanks guys.

Sounds like, despite the seeming popularity of SUPs around here, I'm not really missing much, if anything. I'll stick to the kayak.

Although it's interesting that I may be able to SUP using my Tarpon - I'll have to look at again to see if that's workable. Just buy a paddle if so. But no loss if not.

The aspect that may have been interesting to me was perhaps that SUP seems easier to transport (load onto cars, carry to the water, etc).

They do make inflatable kayaks......but just like the inflatable SUPS, there are drawbacks to not having a rigid one.

So for those of you who might still try SUP go for a board that is as wide and as thick as possible to start. Length makes a difference in performance too but a wide board with a good volume and thickness will usually offer more stability to start. Longer and narrow will typically go faster but are not as stable. You want your legs comfortably spread and with a little bend helps. The paddle is unique and you need to learn how to get the most power out of your stroke and to paddle efficiently. You really work your core a lot. I like the vantage point above the water. You can see deep into clear water and I'm going to start fishing off of ours this year.

We have a open-top kayak for our kids and that gets used in conjunction with the SUP. Definitely different experiences. My kids can move pretty effortlessly with the kayak but yet they still come back to the SUP. They want to play on it and get more in the water. They are unique but can be outfitted with seats, paddling accessories like foot supports and other items to better mimic kayaks.

Demos days are fun if you can get out. Try a bunch of boards to see what you like. Go early if you can. You can also rent them for $20-30/hr around here typically.