Prone paddleboarders have it tough when it comes to hydration, nutrition, and carrying around a GPS, GoPro, and heart rate monitoring devices. Reaching forward to grab a water bottle can result in lost time or a dropped water bottle and there is just never enough room to put all that stuff on the deck of the board.  There are, however, solutions.

Some of these you might have seen. Others – not so much.  Here is our summary of all of the possible ways we recommend sorting out your GPS. GoPro, and hydration on a prone paddleboard

1. Coastal Eddie : we have ordered from Coastal Eddie many times over the years. They are always fast. Very reputable. Check out there water kit bottle solution  and their H2  bracket which allows you to carry a GPS and 2 bottles.
2. Joe Bark is also in the water bracket game. We kind of dig his bracket because  it has three angles you can hang your bottles on the bracket The Bark bracket does not have a GPS mount. Here is a link.
   
3. ConnexSup: This is probably a new one for many paddlers but it is something we cannot say enough about. Connexsup is a little gizmo that is placed in the deck of your board (e.g. it hast to be installed). Once you have the base installed you can swap out connectors to do things like hold your GPS or a GoPro. Here is a picture is how Roch uses it on his board. His Garmin GPS rig is made up with the C onnexSup threaded insert , the socket arm for ball bases ,  and the tough ball . To swap out and mount a GoPro all you will need is the ConnexSup camera mount insert.

4 . Make your own bottles with a straw: making your own water bottle with a straw is easy to do and takes a few minutes. Pretty much use any old water bottle you get from a bike store as a start. Then cut the pop top out and install tubes from Speedfil. They are the prefect size. Also get the bite valve for the end. This setup comes with a neo sleeve with a small stainless steel wire so  you can position the tube in the bottle where you want and it wont move around.  This is important so you don’t have your drink in the bottom of the bottle and your straw hovering over your drink.

5 . Go low tech on your water bottles: Although a lot of paddlers (and nearly all folks on an unlimited board) use bottles with “straws” which are long tubes coming off the front of the bottle so you can drink without holding the bottle, some folks go old school and just grab the bottle out of the holder and drink it like you would any other water bottle. Although you can use any old bottle in this manner, keep in mind that if you don’t close the bottle it will leak all over your board and your face. If you have it loaded up with sticky nutrition that can be a hassle. It might be worth spending a few bucks on your bottle and get something with an internal bladder, such as the Camelbak Podium Bottle, which  will prevent leaking so you don’t have to open and close your bottle every time you take a drink.

Price: $34.95 Prone Paddleboarding: Essential Techniques from breedfreakphoto on Vimeo .