Paddle board touring is super fun for exploring hard to reach shorelines while enjoying rich marine life. You also get to utilize a variety of skills from flat water to surf, downwind, specific coastal ‘rock gardening’ paddling skills, as well as working with swift current.

With the right equipment, smart outfitting and packing, marine navigation knowledge and a good plan, you’ll be more prepared to have more fun.

Paddle Boarding Touring – 9 Tips for Coastal Trips

Deception Pass State Park – Photo by Bill Hughlet

Learn to SUP Surf:

Most coastal paddling requires launching and landing in surf. Knowing how to surf and forecast for surf will help you better plan your route and where to launch and land.

If negotiating offshore rocks, reefs plus surge channels, river and bay mouths, knowing how to not only surf but read the water to get around obstructions will make or break your day.

Surfing 14′ and Unlimited Length Boards:

Learning how to surf a loaded touring board 14′ and longer length will open up a lot of doors for new places you can go. Boards of those lengths not only carry more gear, they also go faster so you can travel further distances easier.

An example is when Karl Kruger paddled his 17′ custom Bark board 750 miles in the Race to Alaska for 14 days from Puget Sound to Ketchikan. He carried all his own food and shelter.

And surfing big boards is super fun and will teach you to land on coastal beaches! I’ve been regularly surfing a 14′ Imagine Connector for several years as my main board. I can now almost rip on the thing – nailing mild bottom turns and carving wave faces. Paddling out in waves especially in onshore conditions is super fun. I blast threw everything, get out quicker thus get more waves with less effort.

I used to have have custom 17′ and 18′  boards that also surf ok. Being so long, there’s no fancy turns on a wave, just long curves. But with planning each ride, I can get longer rides from the outside then plan my slow down and turn a round knowing it’s going to take longer. If practicing on a surf break with others around, pay attention to your path down waves in case another surfer gets in the way, big boards are hard to stop once you are gliding.

Paddling with Karl Kruger in the San Juan Islands, 2017 – Karl is riding a 19′ Kings board.

14′ and Unlimited Length inflatable boards do surf with some practice. They have a lot of buoyancy and may get pushed around in wind, and with vertical rails, you can’t do much carving. But getting on the tail will turn the board. I add a quick cross bow rudder (nose rudder) to turn the nose if it gets locked in while firing down a wave face.

The 16′ x 26″ SplinterSup is a great board for coastal touring with a hatch and full storage in the nose. Made in Port Townsend, WA, it’s a fast carbon board!

Learn to Downwind Surf:

Downwinding is key skill in knowing how to paddle in open water, offshore and in wind. And it’s super fun to ride wind swell which will also allow you to cover longer distance easier.

Downwinding has became a hot sport in recent years for those who SUP, prone, foil, outrigger canoe and surf ski because you can downwind (surf) anywhere there’s wind. Whether it’s a lake, large Class 1 river, bay, or open ocean, if it’s blowing, you got waves that can be surfed. Whitecaps (approx 12-15 knots of wind) are a sure sign of a good time!  World class downwind spots include Hood River, OR and the north shore of Maui (Maliko).

Downwind Basics:

Start on small wave days and build to larger, heavier winds.  You don’t need much to get water to develop into wavelets. You can surf knee high bumps. The key is learning to read the water by looking for troughs your can ‘drop into’, then the next trough ahead or adjacent to the first. Eventually you learn to link waves together making for a continuous ride, then another.

Rob downwinding his 18′ SUP on Shilshole Bay in Seattle

Downwind waves don’t pack the power of an ocean swell/wave.  Longer boards (14’+) are required to gain enough speed to catch a wind wave. Once comfortable on big wind/wave days, you’ll be riding epic rides 30-50 yards or longer per glide. Sometimes longer.  Check out my Downwind tips posts. 

Downwind Safety – How to Stay off the News:

Practice with your loaded board as it will feel much different than when free of extra weight.  Think about where to secure you gear so you can still stand back and control the board on steep wave faces.

Start out in small wind swell, knee to waist high then build as you get more comfortable.

Forecasting Wind with Wind Apps

Use apps like WindAlert and Windy and sites like NOAA Marine Forecast to forecast wind and check real time wind data. Hand held VHF radios can also give you 24/7 weather forecasts and real time weather data. You can learn a lot about how wind varies in specific regions. Windy’s animated feature shows how wind works through valleys and over mountains or below cliffs.

Best to use a few apps to find an average, not all are correct all of the time.

Rock Gardening:

Rob’s students exploring pocket beaches at Deception Pass State Park

Rock gardening is paddling in ocean swell through rocks, reefs, below cliffs and in surge channels. Or rather negotiating through all that without getting hammered by a wave, rock or getting pinned or stuck in a kelp bed.

Rock gardening was put on the map by an extreme kayaking group called the Tsunami Rangers who were based on the coast of Northern California. They developed videos and coastal kayaking safety guides to support the activity.  It’s extreme as they’re going out on big swells and taking pour-overs over rocks that were dry a few seconds before. They wear full on body protection, helmets and are really good at ding repair!  The photo below explains in short what they do.

You don’t have to be an extreme paddler to rock garden on smaller days. But it is a great skill to learn for exploring the beautiful and wildlife and marine life filled tide pools, channels and pocket beaches of coastal environments. My students learn the basics of rock gardening during my Deception Pass Tidal Rapids class.

Coastal Paddling Safety:

Always wear a Leash.  We attach our leashes to our vest PFD straps to keep our feet free from getting caught in heavy kelp beds or on rocks below the surface. In fast moving current, or coastal backwash, you definitely want the leash on a quick release system on your waist. Foot entrapment is the #1 cause for fatalities of paddle boarders on rivers and tidal streams.

Coiled vs Straight Leashes? Coiled stay on you board, don’t drag and catch sea grass and kelp. But coiled can spring your board back at you after a fall.  Straight leashes don’t come in 14′ and longer lengths. I like bright colored leashes so I don’t forget them at home or in the car.

Life Jacket (PFD).  We always wear a vest PFD. They provide pockets for essential easy to access gear, body protection in a fall and warmth in cooler temps. Buy a bright color (not black). Look at kayaking stores for more variety, body types, female vs male pfds, better fit, etc. PFD on your board is useless if you loose the board or can’t climb on.  We’re currently using Vaikobi V3 hi-vis life jackets which have an internal hydration bladder in the back.

C02 vs Vest PFD? Maybe Co2’s in hot climates but not in big water. Friends in Hood River, OR are wearing vest PFD’s now to protect their rib cages during falls in big water days. If you do a C02, know how to use it and how to self-inflate.

Tip: Use two strings for your leash string. Carry extra string in your kit.

Bring Communication Devices like a hand held waterproof (and tethered) VHF radio. Cell phones may not work in offshore places. For example here in Washington State, Verizon is the only carrier that works in our most NW coastal corner, 5 hours from Seattle in Neah Bay, WA.

I use both a ICOM and Standard Horizon handheld floating VHF attached to a string on my PFD.

Use the VHF for communication:

• Between friends like a 2 way radio. Choose non-commercial channels like 69, 71.
• For a direct call to a boat in case of collision
• Check 24/7 weather forecasts and real time conditions
• Emergencies

Know how to use a VHF – Purchase our VHF User’s Guide video

Float Plan:

Leave a Float Plan with a friend which is info on your whereabouts, departure/arrival times, type of craft you’re in your route and when you plan on coming back. Check-in once you’ve arrived and/or come back.  There are a few Float Plan apps but make sure you have reception. Friends in Seattle have a float plan set up on Facebook Messenger.

Dress for Immersion:

Our coastal waters are cold all year. The Strait of Juan de Fuca is always colder than Puget Sound. Full wetsuits 4/3mm and warmer are best. Wetsuits these days are very dry, warm and flexible. I prefer these over drysuits as a hole doesn’t ruin the suit. But some like drysuits. For offshore Fall-Spring paddling I use the Rip Curl Flashbomb 5/4mm suit.

Friends who don’t like a full suit, wear tops and bottoms from companies like Giant Fish, Vaikobi and NRS.

Helmet:

Add a helmet for paddling in shallow water such as reef environments, rocky areas and/or surf. You can leave it on your board while offshore, then put-on when landing in surf or rock gardening. I’m a big fan of the Gath SFC Convertable helmet.

Gloves:

Gloves are essential for not only keeping warm and protecting your hands from the paddle shaft, but also for protecting your hands from barnacles and sharp rocks on shore. I use the NRS Maverick gloves most of the year and Glacier Glove Perfect Curve fleece lined gloves for extreme cold.

Some don’t like gloves and instead tape high wear sections of fingers and hands with sports tape.

Booties:

Like gloves, booties protect my feet, help me in walking over barnacles and sharp rocks, provide traction on slipper surfaces and keep me warm. NRS Wet Shoes are fleece lined and not as thick walled as many surf booties but just as warm and easier on and off.  And they’re affordable and have lasted several seasons or our rentals.

Strait of Juan de Fuca, WA State

Ding Repair

Coastal rocks often have barnacles or have sharp edges. A loose board even if on your leash can bang up against a rock and get severely dinged (damaged).

Bring silver Foil Tape or Gorilla clear tape for field fixes. Inflatable SUPs are actually quite stout as are boards with a few layers of epoxy. Carbon boards will ding easily.  A shaper friends suggests Gorilla Glue to fill in dings quickly. I use superglue.   Solarez is another option, if you have UV to cure it.