Modern, inflatable race boards can hold their own in a competitive environment and make SUP racing more accessible. 

An opinion piece by Mike Carney – SouthCentral Region Member

The Problem

SUP racing has declined in participation in recent years despite an increase in paddle board sales. It’s not difficult to understand why. While stand up paddle boarding is easy for new participants to start in the recreational space, there is a huge barrier for paddlers to take the next step into racing. Race-curious paddlers often feel that the only way to compete is with expensive, fragile, hard-to-find boards, that are more difficult to try before buying, to store, and to transport.

These factors make SUP racing intimidating and prohibitive for new racers.

 Modern inflatable race boards can hold their own in a competitive environment and make SUP racing more accessible. 

One Part of the Solution

Making SUP racing more accessible opens an invitation to new participants. We need a bridge between the recreational paddling community and the competitive paddling world, and Inflatable SUP racing offers one solution.

A competitive inflatable race division can encourage additional participation both from new racers and experienced racers who travel long distances. While inflatables are allowed to compete in most races, it is rarely promoted as an option. By giving inflatable racers their own category, the field becomes both competitive and accessible.

Inflatable Racing Viability and Benefits

Modern high-quality inflatable race boards from brands like Starboard, Red Paddle Co, Hydrus Board Tech, NSP, and others are high performance race boards. New paddle board racers can purchase one for a fraction of the cost of a carbon fiber SUP, get it delivered anywhere in the country (or world), and easily transport it wherever they choose to paddle without worry of damage or complicated logistics.

After a significant amount of testing between multiple boards I’ve moved from racing on my carbon fiber board to exclusively using an inflatable paddle board this year. I had no reduction in speed or race results when I made the switch, and my performance has continued to improve throughout the season.

But I’m not the only one who’s found inflatable boards to be competitive and a great way to increase participation. Christian Andersen placed second at this spring’s APP India Paddle Festival on an NSP inflatable race board against competitors on carbon race SUPs. The ICF has had an inflatable distance race for years, and GB SUP have a well-supported inflatable race division as well.

Using an inflatable race board has also made it far easier and less stressful to participate in different events. I get to use my own, familiar, equipment rather than scrambling to find a loaner board for a far-away race. Most of us won’t deviate from our pre-race breakfast, so why do we find it okay to rely on unknown equipment?

Inflatable race divisions also open the door for more sponsorships and brand involvement by providing a small fleet of racing boards shipped directly, and cheaply, to any event. That’s not feasible with hard boards.

The Downside of Inflatable Racing

I will freely admit there are still some issues with inflatable race boards when compared directly to hard boards. It’s not currently possible to make an effective inflatable race board narrower than about 23”. While the largest segment of hard race board designs is still the 23-24” range, there is an arms race in hard boards pushing top-level competition onto increasingly narrower shapes. In the grand scheme of things, the narrowest board is going to be the fastest, putting the design limitation of inflatables at a disadvantage at the highest level.

Inflatable boards also have a disadvantage in extremely short sprint races. While they are more rigid than ever, the small amount of remaining flex makes a large difference in these short powerhouse events, but not in the longer technical and distance races.

These are comparative shortfalls between the two constructions. But offering a dedicated competitive inflatable category eliminates any disadvantage.

A Two-Part Challenge to Increase Accessibility

I have two challenges for anyone reading this article who wants to help increase the accessibility of SUP racing.

1) If you are an international, national, or local race organizer, add a competitive, all ages, inflatable race division to your events. There’s very little cost associated with it (ordering a few more medals), and the same logistics as any other category. As this category grows over time, you can add age divisions as necessary. 

Don’t water down an event just because it’s for inflatable boards only. If the Open Distance race is 10K, the Inflatable Distance race should be 10K. Start them at the same time! I bet you’ll see a much closer competition between the two than you think. Add heats for your technical races, and even sprint races if you have them.

But most importantly - hype it up! If you treat an inflatable race like a consolation, it will never have the ability to increase participation.

2) If you are a racer, give an inflatable race SUP a try. Use it as a training tool, pick one up for traveling to distant races, and do your own comparisons. If you don’t like it, then you’ve got a backup/training/travel/loaner board. If you do, then you’ve got a way to compete worldwide without equipment concerns.

But most importantly - hype up the inflatable racers around you! Rising tides lift all SUPs. Support your community and encourage everyone. Gatekeeping will only hurt an activity, especially one with such a small community like SUP racing.

Let’s Do This!

If we want to grow the sport of SUP racing, we need to grow our community. We do that by removing accessibility barriers and inviting a more diverse group of paddlers to join us. Inflatable race SUPs offer solutions to both of those tasks. Whether you are an organizer, a racer, or both, you can support the growth of SUP racing by supporting the growth of inflatable racing.

Ask your local race organizers to add a competitive inflatable category. It’s such a simple solution, but it could completely change the face of racing. It allows new racers to join the fray and traveling to far flung events suddenly becomes accessible and stress free. Just get on that plane with your board and go!

Mike is an ACA L3 SUP Instructor and a contributor to SUPBoardGuide.com and InflatableBoarder.com