「经济学人」Paddleboarding

It combines fitness, wellness and smugness

Visit any body of water in Britain this summer and you will probably spot them, wielding their paddles like modern-day Argonauts. In the past three years stand-up paddleboarding (or SUPing) has been propelled from obscurity to popularity. Some 4.5m Britons have dabbled; over 1m own a board, according to one survey. What’s up?

Paddleboards were invented in Hawaii in the 1940s. Originally marketed to surfers as a backup for days of flat water, early adopters used them for racing and exploring coastlines. But SUPs struggled to take off. Thrill-seekers thought they combined all the work (paddling) with none of the excitement (surfing).

SUPs caught their big break as a result of two events. The first came in 2008 when John Hibbard, an entrepreneur based in Totnes, a town in Devon, invented the inflatable SUP. Over time the price of a board plunged by 75%, opening up a mass market. You can now pick up a SUP in Tesco, a large supermarket chain, for around £150 ($190). Mr Hibbard’s company, Red Paddle Co, is one of the leading suppliers in the world, with sales of £20m ($25m) a year.

The second event was the covid-19 pandemic, which shuttered gyms and forced people to exercise near to home but away from other people. Most Britons live near a river, canal, lake or beach. Paddleboarding was a perfect “naturally socially distanced activity”, says Andrew Tee, chairman of the British Stand Up Paddleboarding Association, a trade body. By 2021, it was Britain’s most popular watersport. Enthusiasm does not seem to have been punctured yet.

What is the appeal? Unlike the Hawaiian pioneers, Brits prefer to SUP inland on flat water. To the uninitiated it can look odd, perhaps even rather dull. But paddleboarding taps into two ubiquitous modern trends. An hour of SUPing is a “secret workout”, says Mr Tee, in which you can burn 400 calories and tone your body “without breaking sweat”. His club in Oxford has hundreds of members; most are over 40.

SUPers also preach wellness benefits. “Paddle more, worry less,” is how Madeleine Howell, a writer and enthusiast, puts it. SUP clubs offer such wholesome activities as river cleaning and paddleboard yoga. Ms Howell thinks the sport attracts “adventurously spirited people”. It probably also helps that it’s easy. In contrast with other watersports, says Mr Hibbard, there is a “very small learning curve”.

Things can go wrong, particularly when novices head to the coast. In 2022 the Royal National Lifeboat Institution was called out almost 1,500 times to rescue SUPers who had got into trouble. Ahead of a busy summer, the charity is warning would-be adventurers to check the winds and tides. A wave of enthusiasm is one thing. Actual waves, quite another.(Apr 26th 2024)

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