looks like you have already made your mind up.

willing to pay a bit more in petrol
vote- hard

You know what they say... if you can blow it, it sucks.

^^^Never had the opportunity to do a comparison!?

Mine sits in the corner of the bedroom at home and is called 'Patches'.

ipod,ifone,isups when are they gona start making ibeer???

Adoy said...


Fuel would probably be like 1-2% more, 14kg SUP on 1400kg car is 1% extra weight and SUP is totally aero dynamic I wouldnt be worried about the extra fuel just a convenience thing.

If I was going on a P & O type cruise taking an ISUP would be ideal

always wondered what the tail on those things was for !!

I think the price of inflatables would need to come down to well under $1000 to be competitive in number of sales as hard boards.

If storage isn't an issue a hard sup will win any day. Personally if I looked at an inflatable and had to blow it up every time I wanted to use it, it would get used half as much as a hard sup.

1) Pumping issue - all kite surfers pump their kites - the smaller gear pack to transport was one of the reasons that made kite winning over windsurfing.
2) Fuel consumption: having traveled many years with windsurfboard(s) on the roof of my car(s) to vacation destinations (>750miles one way) I can assure you the consumption is 10% (even 15% at high speeds = about 60USD per vacation)

Most people with decent income (not poor, not wealthy) in the world live in city area's - wondering if will they keep on playing games on their smartphones, tablets and go shopping or out eating as they now do ? Or will a significant part become active and start to Fitness SUP, MTB, etc in order to experience real excitement ?

billboard said...
Its like comparing a real woman to a blow up one I reckon !!
Personally I prefer the real ones !

I thought that was a great comment, then i looked at where you live

Yes but not in a simple sup-inflating version.. They are coming soon from brands like Naish and Starboard (so I've heard)..

Hand pumping these inflatable Sup's really is hard work.. I was talking to a very small petite lady the other day that found my 12'6" Glide too heavy for her to carry and I suggested the new 12'6" Naish One for her to buy.. Then I thought about how she would cope pumping it up herself.. I don't think she could do it.. Even I find it very hard..

DJ

Hi fullas,
thought I'd add my two cents.

Today I went SUPing at Torquay, I took my inflatable Naish nalu 11" and mate hired a poxy board.

We are noobs, and spend a lot of time falling off just trying to catch waves, lol.

The surf was small today and performance was not really and issue.

We both caught waves off the reef and had a great time.

I guess all I'm trying to say is that for most people who just wanna catch average waves and paddle around iSUPs are great.

I use a 12v compressor in my ute to inflate, at 14psi it's quite ridged.
Inflation takes about the same amount of time it took to load/unload the poxy off the roof, maybe slightly longer.

I live less than 100m from port Phillip bay, so I guess at some stage I'll buy myself a "real" board.
But for now the iSUP is great.

For me inflatable is really practical, and I would recommend the Naish nalu 11" x 30" x 6".

Maybe he should try an iPoxy board next time..

I've paddled that 11' Nalu and it would be a great do-it-all board for most new people getting into sup.

I'd love to see inflatables that can be pumped up to about 20 lbs so they loose that jelly-belly feel.

DJ

Matt18, thanks for your well wishes. We've just had our best 12 months by far in Oz but that's also largely attributed to the popularity of the sport. By 2020 all households in Australia will own a SUP board - wishful thinking but would be nice for business if not the overcrowded beaches.

DJ, agree inflating the boards manually can be a workout. Having said that the new and improved manual ULI pumps are efficient and user friendly (even for females and most kids). In fact we get a lot of customers who have purchased other brands buying our pumps for that reason. The fact they are assembled by hand in the U.S. speaks 'volumes'; pardon the pun .
We too use electric pumps (not ULI manufactured) and have tested many local and international brands in pursuit of the perfect pump. They get to about 14psi and with about 50-60 extra strokes of the manual pump you get to about 17-18psi. Based on experience I would recommend a manual meter pump as opposed to a digital one. Also a single phase over a two phase. The digital and two phase pumps appear less reliable as there is more potential for things to go wrong. The ones we've tested have had extensive use and all bar a couple are still going strong.
Also, i reckon if you try our new 12'6" that "jelly belly" feel you talk about, is not an issue. They are super rigid. The thing with inflatables is that they do take a bit of getting used to underfoot especially if you predominantly ride hardboards.

Agree with your comments Sandsy1. Inflatables will probably never be as capable in surf conditions as hard boards no matter how much they evolve. However, they were never designed to be a board for serious competitive surfers. They were designed to be capable enough to be surfed and enjoyed by surfers of all capabilities including advanced surfers (well I speak for ULI Boards at least). At least surfers can travel with the piece of mind of not having to worry about their boards being damaged in transit and know they can still catch waves on an inflatable. Steamroller, our 115kg team rider, is testament to that. Our FAQ is probably the pick of the bunch in the surf.
Cheers

I think that they are going to sell a lot of iSUP's that are going to end up as dust storage devices, hidden behind the box of other "stuff" that is also collecting dust.

I am sure that there are a lot of hard SUP's that do the same, but when you can see the board and it gets in the way every time you go near in garage you are more likely to get it out and use it.

For those who ultimately opt for a hard board rather than an inflatable because they don't want to have to pump the thing up every time they use it, don't forget, you are not obliged to deflate an inflatable. You can keep it inflated permanently if you want and treat it just as you would a hard board. Tie it to the roofrack inflated and once at the beach, you are good to go.