l'm looking at purchasing an inflatable sup mainly for river use.The only one l have seen in the flesh is the Red air,which l can at least say was better than l had envisioned.
l am curious if all brands are essentially of the same construction,and if anyone has been able to do their own comparisons.ie stiffness,durability,deck material. etc
Thanks

The boadworks 10-7 is a stand out for me for price, board shape and qualitiy , super stiff , the Red and Coreban are definetly not the same standard and this board and is around the same price. The C4 10-6 all terrain is the next step up same shape as their Sup boards and super rigid but is $300 more.

l'd say you were spot on for the advice.l actually picked up the Red board for convenience (as it was in store)and to just see if the whole concept works for me.lf so l'm definitely going for the C4 later on.
ps ordered your DVD

Which Red Air did you get? We're huge fans of the brand, construction and toughness wise they're head and shoulders above all the others. We have been using them in our school for two years now and they're still like new. The 10' and 10'6 are probably the best for river work. Don't be afraid to put serious amounts of pressure in them. Their multilayer skin construction can take it - we keep our school boards at 25psi+, so they're incredibly rigid. (Don't try that with any single-skin inflatables though!).

Here in New Zealand, the NZ SUP Champ Lynden Kennings is using Red Airs for his river riding, and he's absolutely firing on them - tail-sliding them off rocks, taking huge drops, you name it. So - depending on which Red Air model you got (the 11 is a bit too flat-rockered for serious river riding, while the 9'4 is too thin in the nose), you've got all you need right there for some high performance sport.



Billy D
Northland Paddleboarding

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BillyD said...

Their multilayer skin construction can take it - we keep our school boards at 25psi+, so they're incredibly rigid. (Don't try that with any single-skin inflatables though!).

25psi with the red air hand pump?

Fair cop. With 12 boards in the main school fleet we use a compressor to zap them all up super quick, as we're largely mobile in operation (again, the joy of the inflatables - take your entire board fleet to a venue in the boot of the car).

However, with the Red Air Ezee (hand) pump it's pretty easy to get to at least 22psi. You just depress the plunger about half of its full range, in short quick stabbing strokes, arms straight, just bend the knees and use your body weight. You can keep going like that forever. I certainly wouldn't flinch at having to pump a board up to 25psi by hand with that pump if I had to. But with 12 of them, the compressor is definitely the easy option).