When should I consider purchasing a custom stand up paddle race board?

Anonymous, USA

Answer: Truth be told – many of our Ask Us Anything editors race on custom stand up paddle boards*. The question is why do they all have custom boards?

When considering an SUP race board your board should match your weight, experience/stability, race conditions (flatwater etc.), the type of paddler you are, and the durability you need to handle the beating you will give it. Board manufacturers are required to design stock boards that are a compromise between these factors. Again, stock boards are always a compromise design. The fact of the matter, however, is that there is no single board that will be perfect for every rider in every situation.

As an analogy, if you were to buy a bike you would start by getting a bike frame that is the right size. You then get to fine tune the bike by raising and lowering the saddle, picking a crank length, a stem that fits your reach and flexibility, and handlebars that fit your shoulder width. Conversely, when you buy an SUP board you do not get to dial in these individual fit decisions yourself.  Buying an SUP board is like buying a bike frame and the manufacturer decides your saddle height, crank length, stem size, etc.

Your job, therefore, is to determine if your situation is compatible with a compromise design. In our experience, most paddle racers should be able to find a stock board that will work for them as they get their feet wet with paddle racing. As such, our recommendation is that most racers should get a few years of racing and paddling experience on stock boards before they consider a custom board. Stock boards are now fast enough that your fitness, skill, and experience, are going to be your limiters in your first few years or racing – not your board.

Moreover, it may be a while before you can benefit from a custom board. For example, some custom boards push the limits on board width (narrow boards are faster but less table) so you will need to be an experienced paddler to stay upright. Similarly, custom boards seek to gain speed by saving weight. This speed gain comes at the expense of durability as shapers using extremely light glassing to save weight.  If you are falling off your board hacking your paddle on the rails or you routinely send your board smashing into the beach as you fall going through the surf, investing in a custom board may not be the best idea. Finally, if you are going to really benefit from a custom board, you will need to have the experience and knowledge to communicate your needs to the shaper. For most paddlers, it will take years of experience to gain this experience.

The one significant exception to our recommendation is that very light riders (including many women) should consider a custom race board straight off the bat. Although this situation is changing thanks to vendors who are marketing race boards to women, in our experience, for many women and very small men, stock SUP boards are just “too much board.”

Our friends over at paddleathlete.com ** add:

…back in the early days of SUP racing one really needed a custom board because production designs were wholly inadequate to the task. High-end production race boards are exceptional today and if you are willing to try a number of them you can very likely find a board that will work well for you at your level.  When you order a custom board from a designer/builder you can potentially get a leg up on the competition, because theoretically you will have access to designs that are not generally available in production equipment at that moment in time. The trick is that if you are going to get the most benefit from a custom board,  you are going to need to find a designer/builders that is at the top of their game, who is pushing the limits of design and construction. The catch-22 is that  these designer/builders already have access to design feedback loops from an elite core group of paddlers are therefore highly sought after, and usually won’t have the time or inclination to build a custom board for anyone on the block. For many racers it is worth waiting for their designs to hit the stores as production boards.”

*Don and George race narrow custom boards that are light and fragile. Roch races his custom board as well as his production Bark Surftech boards. Chuck Glynn paddles for Laird Stand Up and is happily racing and winning on his production boards.  Jenny Kalmbach races on a light and narrow Naish production board. John Ennis is in the envious position of buying and testing new boards for Surf Ride and he seems to have a new board to ride every three months. Currently he is riding a production Boardworks Infinity Cutthroat.

** Please stop what you are doing and go to www.paddleathlete.com and sign up for their newsletter. You will be glad you did.

Roch, George, Don , Chuck, John, and Jenny