By all measures transporting or shipping an SUP or prone paddleboard (or kayak or surfboard) is a pain in the ass. Fortunately, the process just got a whole heck of alot easier and cheaper (at least if you live in Coastal California).

Action sports express ( www.actionsportsexpress.com ) has been transporting surfboards and SUP boards between San Francisco and San Diego for the last three years.Their customers include Rusty, Bark, Channel Islands, and Firewire. According to Leon Fitchat, the owner of Action Sports Express, “[they] are geared to handle requests from individuals to companies that shape hundreds of boards each month. Currently there are 60 shapers that use our service to transport boards to their customers up and down the coast.”

Twice monthly Action Sports Express makes the run from San Diego up the coast. The route is roughly I5-I405-101-Salinas-Monterey-Pacifia-Marin. Basically, the route covers coastal California and all of the major California surf destinations.

Pickup and drop off is done at established drop zones (e.g. surf shops) up and down the coast. This means that you do not need to be at home to receive or ship your package.

An additional benefit of the service is the low cost. Depending on the distance, the fee is generally  under $150.00

This service opens up very important options for SUP racers such as:

• You can now buy and sell used SUP boards on cragslist, eaton, or the bark website anywhere along the coast and not have to worry about how you are going to ship the board

• If you are traveling to a coastal race (Jay Race anyone?) you can ship your board and avoid the hassle of traveling with your board

For more information regarding Action Sports Express, please contact Leon Fitchat at 760-521-8837 or lfitchat@ridingbumps.com . NOTE: at the time of writing the website is down. Do not be concerned. We recently used ASE to ship one of our boards. From our vantage point they are too busy making their customers happy to worry about maintaining their website .

Editors disclosure statement: we do not have any association (financial otherwise) with Action Sports Express other than that we are satisfied customers.

Photo Credit:http://www.donaldmiralle.com