Paddle & Foil Show Episode 4 / Is SUP Dead? 

I appreciate Beau’s extra effort with the lights on his hat.

When I started SUPboarding years ago the boards were much more expensive. Once you got one, though, you could leave the busy shores of lakes and paddle where nobody went. I loved how quickly one could enjoy nature, peace and quiet. The last couple of years a lot of people realized how great you can relax or work out with a SUP. Tons of people bought a cheap board or two and are flooding lakes, rivers and seas. The established brands probably don't profit much from this trend, though. Most people go for inexpensive sets (copied designs with careless assembly are much cheaper than boards from companies that did all the research and testing themselves...), and those more seasoned SUPboarders whose boards are reaching the end of their lives or might buy a faster/better one are thinking twice about investing a lot into a new board with lakes and rivers crammed as they are now. Increasing regulations against SUPs on certain bodies of water aren't helping either. Perhaps an obligatory SUPing licence could improve things?

SUP is a thing. I love it and will never go prone again. Never had so much fun surfing in my life.

Merry Christmas to all of you - as always, love your content, SUP is not dead, just relaxing from the hype ...

Great work to all the Supboarder team. Leaves issue is a thing on rivers too, especially in the autumn. I’ve found doing a wee couple of bounce up and downs on the iSup dislodges them and you don’t have to break your cadence or progress. (Ie the board flexes and releases the leaves from the fin(s).) Have a fab Christmas and happy paddling and foiling.

Is SUP Dead? The title strongly caught my attention because, in my limited experience, SUP is still a best kept secret. Just offering another point of view (even though so much more was talked about in the episode), I think those that know about SUP, think EVERYONE knows about it and perhaps that could be the point of view brands take. However, as one who stumbled into SUP by chance, I really believe there are still too many who do not know about this amazing universe, let alone the disciplines within it. To me there is a ton of opportunity for the brands and for SUP, in general. For context, I reside in Chicago, Illinois, USA. There is a gorgeous Great Lake and yet the SUP presence is tiny. The nearest paddle shop is 2.5 hours away, in another state. My chance encounter with SUP happened nearly 2 years ago during an early morning walk along the lakefront trail. In fact many of my paddle mates learned about SUP in a similar way…by a chance encounter or word of mouth. It would be great if more resources (advertising, education, etc) could be put into getting SUP “out there”, so that more people become aware of it, and subsequently fall in love with it, as I have. It could be a huge win for everyone, including the brands. Great episode! Also, I really appreciate the SUPboarder content. Speaking of exposure, I have learned so much!

Great show guys looking forward to the next

Not to me it’s not. I don’t think the annual price increases are helping.

'SUP foiling'..... ;)

Is SUP Dead? The title strongly caught my attention because, in my limited experience, SUP is still a best kept secret. Just offering another point of view (even though so much more was talked about in the episode), I think those that know about SUP, believe everyone knows about it and perhaps that could be the point of view brands take. However, as one who stumbled into SUP by chance, I really believe there are still too many who do not know about this amazing universe. To me there is a ton of opportunity for the brands and for SUP, in general, if more people knew about it. For context, I reside in Chicago, Illinois, USA. There is a gorgeous Great Lake and yet the SUP presence is tiny. The nearest paddle shop is 2.5 hours away, in another state. My chance encounter with SUP happened nearly 2 years ago during an early morning walk along the lakefront trail. In fact many of my paddle mates learned about SUP in a similar way…by a chance encounter or word of mouth. Even then, learning about other disciplines within SUP is another layer. It would be great if more resources (advertising, education, etc) could be put into getting SUP “out there”, so that more people become aware of it, and subsequently fall in love with it, as I have. It could be a huge win for everyone, including the brands. Great episode! Thank you!