Skilled surfing on Inflatable Stand Up Paddle board

Will we see an inflatable board on the world tour?

Lets face it, the inflatable stand up paddle boards just aren’t the same as riding a good old fashioned foam and epoxy board. So when we found this video of Glyn Ovens in the UK, we were pretty stoked with the level of stand up paddle surfing on show.

The board in question is a Fanatic Fly Air, one of the little ones at 9’0”. It’s got three floppy plastic fins like any other inflatable stand up paddle board, and Glyn is absolutely ripping with it! Despite the disadvantages (we’ll get to that in a second) of being on an inflatable, this guy finds the energy for a few floaters, some snappy cutbacks and cheeky drop-ins. Check out the video below.

Now back to the boards, lets shed a little light on why inflatable boards aren’t being used by the professionals, and how you can expect them to improve over the next few years.

Firstly, a board needs to flex. Flex is one of the most important ‘it’ factors of any great surfboard. But when you consider the amount of flex (both positive and negative) in a current inflatable, surfers are at quite the disadvantage. What happens is the nose droops as the board accelerates, causing a negative rocker line over the center of the board. Aside from adding to the ‘nose dive’ tendency, the negative rocker can even cause boards to turn in the opposite direction! It takes some serious skill to know where to stand and how to turn an inflatable board.

Second, those little fins definitely don’t help the boards turning abilities. Being so soft they suck power out of turns, slip out easily and create tons of drag. But they pack down small, and they’re durable. So inflatable boards need them!

Over the next few years expect to see some massive developments in the inflatable stand up paddle board industry. The need for transportable stand up paddle boards have made the inflatable concept somewhat of a necessity. Right now stand up paddling R&D departments are secretly working on ways to make the boards stiffer and the fins better (among other things) and as a result, we’re going to see some great new designs in the coming seasons.

You never know, if professional paddlers keep surfing like this on inflatables, we might see one in the world tour soon! Don’t worry, we think it’s a few years away yet…