MSU Red Cedar Message Board

Atta boy!

I became the proud owner of the 11'6" Surftech Bamboo last summer. I was on that thing practically every day on the Kzoo river and out in Lake Michigan. You can make it a pretty good workout if you want or you can just cruise if you wish.

Races are fun and the SUP community in West Michigan is great!

Plus man, nothing beats tossing some cold ones on the board and paddling out to a beach or just laying out on the board in the middle of the water and enjoying a brew or three!

What type of SUP do you have?

My fam is about to open a rental SUP biz in western mich, because for the past two years people ask them non-stop about their boards.

I just paddle boarded Key West Saturday, paddle board the Grove about once every 2 weeks. Gone over manatee, tons of rays, shark and turtle along with hundreds of fish. Makes it nearly impossible to go back to kayaking. Also, the workout is so, so good, and you don't even feel it that bad.

Go early in the morning. The Lake is like glass.

You have fun! I'd much rather canoe with a cooler full of beer.

I decided to pick up a board after this past spring break where I rented one to take out on the intracoastal. I was a little nervous, at first, going over jelly fish. But once I realized I wasn't going to fall, I really enjoyed it.

Around Kalamazoo, I'll let you know when they get it up and running.

Also, you can get a solid entry board if you know where to look for around $850 down here, probably easier as we have a larger market. The thing that sucks is that there is no used SUP market yet, due to the newness of it and the popularity among owners.

I talked my mom into buying an Imagine combo kayak/SUP board, is plastic. She got it when on vacation near Sarasota, I tried and and was impressed with it, good for new folks, great for throwing gear on, I did it with a 4-year-old on it, solid. The bad thing was the board weighed a ton, where as good regular boards only weigh around 25 pounds.

I demoed a Jimmy Lewis Slice board yesterday, is a racing board, did not like. I actually learned how to paddleboard on a windsurfing board, and that's what the slice was, is a straight-line board that is real tipsy, not a multi-use board.

16oz, go to the Grove and do it, there are the Spoil islands that block the wind and current for most of the time, is a great ride with a ton of underwater action. Ran over a manatee at low tide in 2-3 feet of water, thing launched itself out of the water literally, I nearly shat myself.

Yea, please do man! I just relocated to Kzoo from Saugatuck.

Do you not like racing boards? I love to paddle them as they are smooth like butta! But damn, are they pricey.

You can install the little bungie, storage cords if you want and that could hold it down. Or just put a cooler on there.

I would have a racing board as my second board, I want a more chill board for everyday paddling/use. A good example is that in Key West last week, they had their paddle board tourney race. 300 people participated, it was a rough day, only 174 finished. You need something like an Albatross for that. I also like to do islands and mangroves, more finesse rides than pure speed.

I've been kiteboarding for 3 years now, and it's awesome. It takes a lot of patience to get started though, and it's important that you start in a area that is beginner friendly - shallow water, small waves. It's also important that you have a good instructor, it's not something you can learn on your own.

If you have any questions, send me a PM.

Can I nominate this for POTY? Mods, please enter in the category "Best post that references an awesome thread from tRCMB of yore" category.