Why You Should Buy a Paddleboard
If you’ve gone to any local body of water lately, particularly on a sunny, clear-skied day, you’ve probably seen a bunch of people floating around weird surfboards, and you’ve probably wondered what they were doing.
Well, those are paddleboards. They’re similar to surfboards, but they’re not nearly as complicated to use, and you use a paddle to maneuver instead of swimming along in hopes of finding a wave.
Should you buy one though? Let’s find out.
1: They’re Accessible
First, if you’ve ever tried to surf without any prior experience, you know how difficult it can be. Even just rowing a kayak for the first time can result in you spinning in circles or flipping it over as you desperately try to understand what you’re doing.
With a paddleboard, you don’t have to worry about that. They’re extremely beginner-friendly. If you can stand and have reasonable balance, you can paddleboard safely and effectively.
You can still expect to fall occasionally, and you might get embarrassed as you frantically cling to the board after your first wave hits, but in general, most people feel at home on their board almost as soon as they step on.
2: They’re Flexible
You might start out just wanting to try your hand at paddleboarding, but we’re willing to bet you’re going to fall in love with it. At this point, you’ll pour a lot more time into it, develop skills, and maybe, try to do something a bit more complex than just paddling around the water.
You can go fishing, racing, or even do a yoga routine on a paddleboard. Of course, certain activities are best done with a specialty board, but the sport is one that can grow with you pretty much infinitely. There really is no skill cap, and you can adapt your skills to different applications. So, if you decide to go kitesurfing in Portugal or windsurfing in the Caribbean, then you would find it easy to adapt. Some people have also tried to expand their surfing activities using a paddleboard, albeit to varied results.
3: Full-Body Exercise
Everyone wants to exercise nowadays, but so few know how to maximize their workout and get great results. Well, paddleboarding can be a great full-body exercise.
Not only that, but it’s not like going to a gym or jogging around the same block 400 times. It’s actually fun. When you can make hard exercise fun to do, you can not only see results but also enjoy the process so much that it doesn’t feel like a workout.
4: Affordability
A good paddleboard isn’t “cheap”. You will need to pay a couple of hundred dollars for a good beginner board. However, consider the price of even a cheap boat. You can easily spend $4000 on a paddleboat that doesn’t have a fraction of the flexibility of a paddleboard, and you’ll have to have a trailer to haul it around.
Not only that, but if you properly care for your paddleboard, you won’t be replacing it for years to come.
If you want to get out on the water and enjoy some recreational water sports, a paddleboard is a way to go.
5: Safety
Yes, there is a drowning risk involved any time you get on the water. That’s why you need a life vest and decent swimming skills before you get on a boat, paddleboard, or any other watercraft. However, paddleboards are definitely safer than other things used for water sports.
You don’t have to worry about propellers that you can fall into, getting capsized with a heavy boat on top of you, traveling at such high speeds that a mistake can be fatal, or anything like that.
Paddleboarding is a calm, safe experience if you use a bit of common sense.