Steve & Asia on the homemade SUP board

Remember about 3 weeks ago I shared the handmade SUP (stand up paddle) board Steve was making out of pieces of foam, epoxy and fiberglass cloth, in progress? Here's a look back at my journal entry May 22 when he just got started.

Well, he finished it -the World's Lightest SUP board! And we have all been having fun trying it out, including our 13 year old pup, Asia :) I took a quick video (1 & 1/2 minutes) of them "testing" and just uploaded it to YouTube :)

After Asia & Steve got in to shore, it was my turn!!! Hard work I tell you, to stay balanced and it uses your core and quad muscles a lot. I only stayed out for 10 or 15 minutes, did not want to do too much the first time. But I did it without falling in the water. I think my years of dancing, skiing and bongo boarding served me well! Hmm,  I think Steven might be onto something here . . . he just sent me something he wrote for possible publication in a boat magazine, I'll share some of it with you here. 

Making a SUP Board the Wrong Way

"The right way to make any sort of surf board is to buy a big enough foam blank and just shape it and fiberglass it. This is how it’s been done since the early 1960’s. The “right” way isn't necessarily the way I do things, but I have my reasons. For instance, my wife Lenna wants to try Stand-Up-Paddle boarding but I don’t want to spend $1200 and find out she doesn't like the sport, so the alternative is to make her a board and paddle. Foam costs money and especially thick foam. Three sheets of 4’ x 8’ by 2” foam would make a great paddle board but that’s too much money since I already have 4 sheets of 4’ x 8’, ½ inch EPS foam left over from another project. A beginners paddle board is basically 10 feet long, 32 inches wide, and 4 inches deep. I decided to use my existing ½” foam and construct a board the hard way, by building it like you would using plywood. This way trades LOTS of hours of work for a couple hundred bucks. In retrospect, I wouldn't do it this way again".  

: ) I think I'm lucky I got a SUP board!! Thank you Steven!! ❤