You can’t beat nature. Stand Up Paddleboarding is incredibly fun, but a simple afternoon on the water can turn into a life-threatening situation in minutes. Staying alert to your environment is a key element in SUP Safety to make sure your three-hour tour gets home on time. (cue the Gilligan’s Island theme song)
SUP Safety – Check Conditions Before You Go
The first thing you should do for any SUP trip – whether it’s a quick cruise on your local waters or a multi-day expedition – is to check the weather and conditions before you even leave home.
What to look for when evaluating SUP conditions:
- General weather conditions
- Air temperature
- Clouds / precipitation
- Wind direction and Strength
- Water temperature
- Tide times / directions, surf reports
- River flow rates
- Nearby weather conditions (especially for rivers)
You can get general weather information from any weather app. But they often don’t include more detailed information for things like wind speed and direction over time. To check wind conditions, I like to use a combination of Windfinder.com and the Windy.app iOS/Android smartphone app. Both can supply wind forecast information with sustained and gust speeds and direction down to the hour.
For tide and surf reports there are many great options like TidesChart (iOS/Android), and Surf Forecast (web, iOS, Android). For river levels and flow rates, I like to use RiverApp
Having this information is great, but you’ll also need to contextualize it to really understand what the conditions are like. Every paddling location is different, so certain combinations of things like wind speed, direction, tides, flow rates, etc. can mean totally different things from one location to another. This is a process that is built through experience and learning from those with more experience.
You can also check with your local paddling groups for detailed information about how these factors impact the real paddling conditions in specific areas.
Stay Alert! Weather Changes Rapidly
It is also critical to stay alert to your surroundings while you are paddling. You should reassess your conditions every 30-60 minutes with a few quick questions:
- Has the wind changed direction or intensity?
- Has the tide or current changed direction or intensity?
- Are there storm clouds building that weren’t there before?
- Has the temperature or air pressure changed suddenly?
- Has the river level or speed increased suddenly?
Cold Water Safety
In addition to wind and air temperature, it is critical that you pay attention to the water temperature. Falling off the board is part of our sport and we are all between swims. Cold water can cause immediate and life-threating physical reactions. We’ll have a more detailed post about cold water safety in the future, but for now remember to always dress for the water temperature, not just the air temperature. It’s easier to cool yourself down than it is to warm back up and cold water can kill instantly. For lots and lots of information about Cold Water Safety, check out the National Center for Cold Water Safety.
SUP Safety – When In Doubt, Don’t Go Out
If you aren’t sure about the weather conditions, if something changes or something just doesn’t feel right – When In Doubt, Don’t Go Out.
Beginner paddlers especially should be highly conservative when it comes to paddling in wind or current. Offshore winds and currents (blowing/flowing away from land) can quickly carry you very far away from land making it difficult, or even impossible, to paddle back.
In addition – When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors. Lightning can strike 25 miles (40km) from the host storm. When paddling we become the one of the tallest things (easiest path for lightning) standing on a highly conductive medium (water) and often carrying highly-conductive paddles!
There have definitely been times (even with paying clients paddling alongside me) where I have canceled trips at the beach or even after just a few minutes of paddling. Having to reschedule a trip is far less hassle, paperwork, and expense than suddenly being caught in an emergency situation.
Stay safe, check your surroundings, wear your PFDs and appropriate leashes, and have fun!