Traveling with Your Inflatable Standup Paddleboard

The obvious upside of owning an inflatable standup paddleboard is that you can take it anywhere and everywhere. Whether you’re new to paddleboarding or an established veteran, traveling with your paddleboard offers a wonderful way to tour different bodies of water, learn and practice new skills, and meet other members of the standup paddleboard community.

Although made for portability and travel friendly, you still want to maintain a solid routine for packing and traveling with your paddleboard so you can confidently travel without messing up your valuable gear. Then you can paddle away and explore new sights and scenery while meeting others in the inflatable SUP community.

Whether you venture a few miles from home or several time zones, you have to pack and store your board for traveling. So this post walks through some typical packing considerations that you won’t want to forget as well as specific ideas on taking your gear with you while taking public transportation.

How to Pack Your Inflatable Standup Paddleboard for Travel

Even if you’re simply hitting the local beach, you need to pack up your gear and get going. Hydrus makes packing simple no matter where or how far you intend to travel with your inflatable SUP board because each inflatable board from Hydrus comes with its own backpack. Even when you’re not traveling, you need to pack your board into a quality bag, and if you already have a Hydrus inflatable SUP, you don’t have to worry about this part. Of course, in true Hydrus fashion, these bags aren’t your typical basic bags. These backpacks blow the lid off of quality and thoughtful design, ensuring your Hydrus board is tucked away safely and securely until you reach your intended destination. If you don’t have a Hydrus board and need to get a bag to pack your board into, be sure to consider these tips:

• Bags should store your board in a compact fashion. Bags that make a big bulky mess of your board will not be fun to cart around an airport or even from your car to the beach. So look for a bag that can store your board and gear comfortably enough for you to carry it around with ease.
• Bags should fit comfortably around your shoulders. Not all people who love to use standup paddleboards are built the same. They come in all shapes and sizes! So be sure your bag has adjustable straps that can comfortably fit on shoulders of all shapes and adjust for different heights so you don’t risk injuring yourself just carrying your board to the water, let alone through a busy airport.
• Bags should fit your other gear. A bag for your inflatable standup paddleboard won’t do much good if you can’t store other gear with it—you’ve heard the phrase up a creek without a paddle, right? Well, this would be your literal situation if you didn’t have a bag that could also accommodate your paddle and other essentials like your paddleboard pump.

Speaking of paddles, you need to have a quality paddle to pack with that quality ISUP in that quality bag, and once again, Hydrus has you covered. When it comes to a pack-worthy paddle, you want to be sure you have a high-end performance paddle that breaks down into pieces. Consider the specs on the paddle you get from Hydrus:

• Durable, carbon fiber paddle: When it comes to finding a quality paddle, the material it’s made of means more than something—it means a lot. Hydrus took innovation to a whole new level with its carbon fiber paddle. Rather than cheap plastic or fake substitutes, a Hydrus carbon fiber paddle offers the lightweight comfort you need to tote your paddle through airports and along beaches, but it also provides the durability you deserve. This durable paddle holds up to the rough handling it may experience while traveling or being used in the water, and you’ll feel the high quality as you notice how this paddle allows you to efficiently make your way through the water instead of wasting energy.
• Quick and easy assembly and adjustment: The Hydrus paddle makes a perfect travel companion. Breaking apart into three pieces no longer than three feet in length, you can store this paddle quickly and easily in your backpack with your board. Accommodating heights from just under five feet to over six feet tall, you can easily adjust your Hydrus when you reach the beach to match your riding style, height, and personal preference.
• Suitable for a variety of levels: Not only will a Hydrus paddle accommodate a wide range of physical heights, but it all suits a wide range of skill levels. Ready to ride with beginners all the way to advanced paddlers, the Hydrus carbon fiber paddle is capable of adjusting to any level of experience.

Taking Your Inflatable SUP on the Road . . . or in the Air

Packing and storing your board and accessories is critical to successful travel regardless of the method you choose, but storing your board during the actual journey requires some special considerations. If you’re taking your own vehicle with your deflated and stored board, just keep it in a safe place, but if you’re taking public transportation, keep the following in mind.

• Check size restrictions, especially if you’re flying. Each mode of public transportation has its own policies on baggage. For airlines especially, check the policies online or call and talk to someone personally well before you go. With your board and accessories already stored in your bag, you can check to see how your bag holds up against the measurements. Measure the dimensions of your bag and then measure them again to be sure you fall within the required dimensions. The same goes for weight. Weigh your gear—everything that will be stored and traveling in that backpack needs to be stored and weighed together. Like the dimensions, weigh it a couple of times just to be sure.
• Arrive early to your public transport. Plan for the unexpected. Even if you’re certain you meet all the requirements with your bag, arrive a bit earlier than you normally would just in case someone decides to inspect your bag.
• Put your bag in last. If you check your bag at the airport, it’s up to the baggage handlers how your bag gets placed on the plane, but when it comes to a train or bus, be the last one standing and place your bag on top of everyone else’s luggage to give yourself the best chance of your bag not getting crushed.

Your best bet when taking public transportation is to keep your bag with you at all times. After all, you’re carrying around a valuable piece of recreational equipment, and as long as you’re handling it, you can ensure it stays safe and sound. Regardless of what way you choose to travel, journey far and wide with your inflatable standup paddleboard so you can enjoy what the world has to offer on the water.