SHOW UP AND BLOW UP – INFLATION ROCKS
Hard boards and even harder rocks rarely have a happy ending; Finn Mullen discovers the benefits of iSUP and why they make no-waves and rocky shores a whole lot of air filled fun.
Words Finn Mullen – Photos Tam Mullen
Like most surfers in the UK and Ireland, I have a love / hate affair with summer. Who doesn’t like summer sun? But small surf and busy beach car parks can spoil the love. SUP is the sanctuary, the transport away from shore, ‘to the waters and the wild’ as Yeats said, and challenges beyond the surf zone. What I love about stand up paddling is not just its role as a wave riding vehicle but its even greater ability to allow us to engage positively and ambiently in our natural surroundings. It’s the ultimate antidote to modern hubris. It allows us to be in a state where the environment is both stage and star. Spotting a beautiful seascape, river or lake and then experience paddling on it somehow makes the beauty richer and more sublime and with SUP being such an easy launch, few spots are off limits.
Except for rocks.
Rocks have always fascinated me though, particularly those near shore, made jagged by the power of the sea. I love their raw beauty, the way they seemingly stand indomitable until one day they crumble under the force of ocean erosion in a heroic last fall. What I hate about rocks though is bumping into them – boats, surfboards or hard SUPs and rocks are not a comfortable mix, so hitherto any adventures of rock admiration I’ve conducted are from shore. That was before I got my inflatable Starboard Astro 10’5” board. I’d last tried an iSUP 5 years ago, it wasn’t pretty; the nose and tail of the board rose around my ears in an oddly shaped crescent as I stood in the middle. Paddling it was a bit like I imagine paddling a banana, only not so yellow. I wasn’t sold. Fast forward a few years and the iSUP market has blown up (pardon the pun). New technologies and construction techniques mean the latest generation of boards are stiff, solid and ripe for rock exploration. Put a hard board on the rocks and you’ll cry for days with dings, with an iSUP you remember every rock you bumped into for how much fun it was – that’s the difference. It’s a bit like getting your first mountain bike – every trail, bump and jump is just waiting to be hit. iSUPs have your mind scrambling to remember every craggy inlet, wild reef and stack fringed shore you always wished to explore. iSUPs are like having a land rover but without the dodgy gear box; a 4×4 for the sea.
Flat days are no longer a curse, they’re a blessing to find the rockiest, remote shores, sea caves and sounds to reconnoitre and research
With that in mind I headed out for a local stretch of coastline where rock formations of black basalt islands offshore are backed by white cliffs of cretaceous chalk – a paddler’s playground! Groups of walkers were lining the shore to make the most of a dry day’s hiking and I could sense their concern at my eagerness to get wet as soon as possible on a normally unexplored shoreline. I let the board bounce a little on the rocks when launching in a vague attempt to show them my craft was rock and seaworthy and avert their fears and any calls to the coastguard. Quickly I was surrounded by circling seabirds welcoming me to their world. No better soundtrack to start the day than the gurgles of tidal surges and the songs of seagulls. Like a mermaid luring a sailor to rocky shores, the chorus soon drew me to the narrow inlets between islands and sea stacks barely wide enough to turn the board. Having the rocks so close and trying to control the current pinching your paddle is similar to that close quarter combat and excitement of dodging trees when snowboarding or mountain biking and just as addictive. Who knew flat water could be so fun and ignite the inner child-like sense of exploration to find out what lies round the next rock or strait?
Naturally I’m pushing it and find myself wedged into a channel that has been gorged out the high rock on either side, when I paddled in it looked like it was open at the other end but that slither of light at the end of the rocks wasn’t an exit sign, it was a ‘do not enter’. I’m kind of panicking at this point – there’s a 3 foot wave surging through and pushing me closer to a sticky end. It feels like one of those Indiana Jones moments where he’s just lifted the wrong Terry’s chocolate orange and the walls start caving in – only for me there’s no special effects and I’m shit with a whip to do the old snap, crackle and pop, get me out of here, Jonesy trick. I catch myself and remember here is another beauty of my 4×4 sup – I’m not on a clumsy canoe or a ready to snap surfboard, all I have to do is jump off, swim the board out, laugh when it hits a few rocks and carry on for tea and scones later.
While taking the scenic way out of the channel and heading across the bay to check out a sea stack I meet a friendly bunch of sea kayakers on a coast run. They are head to toe in goretex and neoprene and I’m in a pair of boardies; they’re sitting down, being splashed with every paddle in the chop and I’m standing up, ankles cooling with the sun on my back. We have a great chat but there’s definitely an elephant in the room and a jealous one at that. I love sea kayaks and have a great deal of respect for the passage they’ve made but even these hardened kayakers can see the advantages sup has in this sort of coastline, super manoeuvrable, I can go to all the shores they can’t and from my elevated view, see it all when I get there. I paddle on before their looks of lust on my board turn to piracy on the high seas!
What I love about stand up paddling is not just its role as a wave riding vehicle but the greater ability to allow us to engage positively and ambiently in our natural surroundings
Reaching the sea stack I’m surprised but stoked to find a fun little wave breaking on its leeward side powered by the tidal rushes between the nearby headlands. On an otherwise flat surf day it’s a welcome wave motion. Who needs fancy man made surf parks when these little natural beauties are open all year round 🙂 Timing the wave is all about hugging the barnacles on the side of the rock and catching it just before it sucks dry on the back flush and laughing at how a small wave can be of such consequence when there’s so many rocks around. Ding proof, the iSUP is made for these little mini surf adventures. Loving life, I head back for the beach, stoked on finally breaking the virginity of a shoreline I’d wished to explore by sea for years but never had the appropriate craft to do so. Pardon the pun again, but I’ve now found a rock solid reason to have an iSUP in my quiver and why every surfer should try one. Flat days are no longer a curse, they’re a blessing to find the rockiest, remote shores, sea caves and sounds to reconnoitre and research and suddenly, like all good summers, I’ve fallen in love with an iSUP. Economists may argue otherwise, but sometimes inflation is a good thing!