What are tips do you have to allow people to (get in to) Stand Up Paddle for less? How should we best spend our hard earned? What stuff makes a good thing great?
Find someone you can borrow from for a few sessions till you get the basics down. Start with a decent paddle and find board used for cheap. Right now in my neck of the woods you can get a good used board for as low as $500 US if you hunt around for a while.
Find a SUP rental place and make them an offer for their used gear at the end of the year when they are upgrading.
You can turn a pretty ropey old adjustable paddle into a useable fixed length paddle that is usefully lighter by chopping off the adjustment part, reducing the length of the adjustable insert shaft and then gluing it altogether. Adjustables are pretty horrid to use because they take on water which adds to weight, wobble at the join etc, so unless you really need it to be adjustable, you are much better off making it a fixie. Yet most beginners seem to persevere with an adjustable long after they really need to. So, get out the hacksaw and upgrade your paddle for free :)
You can pick up a half decent second hand surfboard for under $200. Plus you won't have the inconvenience of a paddle nor will you have to wear a flappy hat or boardies on the outside of your wetsuit!
And then said.. What are tips do you have to allow people to (get in to) Stand Up Paddle for less? How should we best spend our hard earned? What stuff makes a good thing great?
Q1 Recycle an old windsurfer. Q2 A carbon name brand paddle. Q3 Same as Q2
