Hey guys,

So I've been umming and ahhing about getting into a paddling discipline, either SUP or OCR.

I personal think SUPing looks like a lot more fun and I am heavily leaning towards it.

However I don't have my licence so 90% of my paddling will require me to first paddle up wind and then offcourse turn around..

I know for a fact that racing skis paddle quite well into chop and wind. So how well do SUP's paddle into the wind?

Keep in mind that all of my paddling will be done in Moreton bay, so we really only get nasty short and sharp wind chop.

Cheers
Poop

Hi Superpoop
There is an art to paddling upwind. Sure it's not as much fun as paddling downwind, but the technique is rewarding. You will never go anywhere as fast as a surf ski into the breeze.

I do a lot of this type of paddling. You have to earn your reward. You also use muscle groups that you don't really use if you only downwind.

You would be better off looking at a good displacement nosed board as these are much easier to go upwind than a pure planing hull. You cut through the chop rather than have to go over it. In Moreton Bay you have short choppy conditions so it is not a whole lot of fun going into it on the wrong gear. You would probably also be better off on a relatively short board. I am not a fan of the 12'6" but in your case it may be a good option.

SuperPoop said..

mikeman - The board I'm currently considering is the JP Australia Cruiser. Would that do the job well?

http://jp-australia.com/2013/sup/products/sup-boards/cruiser/

Yes, the JP Cruiser looks fine - especially the nose. I would have a look at a few other boards too. Try and find one that has a raised top deck on the front section of the board. As you will be punching into the chop a lot you want to try and find a board that displaces as much water off the top as possible. If you don't displace the water left+right it will flow onto the area where you stand, also slowing you down.