Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Traveling Yogi Must-Have: inflatable SUP!

I absolutely LOVE my new inflatable Stand-Up Paddleboard! My friend owns local, San Diego-based company Isle Surf and SUP and last summer (2013) they introduced this cool inflatable  paddle board to the market. I fell in love with Stand Up Paddling back in 2010 and have been obsessed with it ever since. As a yoga teacher, my first thoughts were - I wonder what a down-dog feels like on the ocean? So, my friends and I spent countless sunny days on the sea, flipping upside down, viewing the world from a different angle and creating yoga and fitness classes on paddleboards. I've taught weekly SUP Yoga classes for the past 3 years, with two of the my favorite memories: being teaching at Yoga Journal Conference San Diego in July 2012, and leading a group of 13 adventurous women down to Punta Mita, Mexico in April 2013 for our SUP Yoga Teacher Training retreat.




The time spent on my paddleboard has brought so many great things to my life, including: new-found courage, strength, focus and a true love and connection to the ocean. I've had so many amazing memories being on a paddleboard - it's the perfect addition to my yoga-girl life. I love paddling out with my girlfriends and chatting about our day, taking my dog out with me and enjoying some chill time with my hubby as we cruise along the sea. :)


 For work and for fun, I travel frequently to different parts of the world. One of the biggest challenges is finding good quality paddleboards in far-flung places and airline board bag fees have gotten out of control these days. I think that's what most intrigued me about the inflatable paddle board concept. You can wear it as a backpack (even the paddle breaks in half!), then easily pump it up and cruise around the Mediterranean, the Sea of Cortez, the islands of Indonesia...wherever you can fly, you can now easily take your own paddle board!


A lot of my friends love the idea of an inflatable paddleboard but have so many questions! So I put together this little outline of my first day using the inflatable board. Fresh out the box! I hope this answers any questions you may have....

Here she is! The cute little box she arrives in...
(easy for me to carry, only weighed about 25 pounds)


What's inside the box: all the equipment you need!
pump - paddle - board - fin - instruction manual


It comes with a hand-pump and says that it takes about 210 hand-pumps to fully inflate the board. Devin, who loves tent camping, frequently blows up his air mattress from his truck, thought of the genius idea of plugging it into the aero-bed pump and blowing it up that way. Only took about 4 minutes and saved us the arm workout :) 


He made me do the last few pumps manually to make sure I could make it work on my own. 
Definitely easier using the air bed pump, but not a bad option to get a little pre-paddle workout in :)

Here she is! All blown up and ready for her maiden voyage at our local spot, Windansea Beach.




Happy as clams, paddling off into the sunset :)

So here are the facts you need to know about this particular inflatable SUP made by Isle:

10 feet long, 31 inches wide (about the width of a yoga mat), 24 lbs when inflated, 
currently sold online for : $699 (includes free shipping, paddle and pump)
*watch this video to see them take the board all around Costa Rica

To me, this is absolutely the best deal I've seen on the market. Having used probably 10 different brands of SUPs, I do love and appreciate a nice, shiny, glassy beautifully hand-painted board, but nothing bums me out more than accidentally dropping it or dinging it up and not being able to take it out in the water until repaired. I'm over the days of baby-ing my boards. For my busy, traveling yogi lifestyle, this is the ideal situation for me. You can drop it, bounce it on the ground, even drive a truck over it and you're all good. Here's the owner of Isle, Marc Miller wearing the SUP backpack, checking the surf in La Jolla...


*full discolsure - I have not been compensated for my recommendation of this board. 
These are my genuine thoughts and appreciation for an awesome product on the market. Namaste! :)

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for this review! Have you ever tried a Sea Eagle board? I am curious about their Needlnose inflatable...

    ReplyDelete
  2. would you recommend this inflatable for yoga?

    ReplyDelete

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