My 10' SUP ULI under construction.

Here are some photos of my customized ULI currently being built in San Diego, California. I requested additional D-ring attachment points to allow rigging of "grab" ropes.
Thanks to Jim and the folks at ULI! It should be shipped out next week. Oh, I just want to note that another main reason for getting an ULI is that you can deflate it and pack it into a duffle bag. So it is highly transportable. Next time I go to Hawaii, I will also take this along.

This is a photo of the ULI SUP 10 ft. Steamroller. I've ordered one and expect it to arrive this week. I also specified additions to the board to allow me to attach a grab line around the front half of the board. The grab lines were required since I will be using this board to float down a river. The main reason for acquiring an ULI is that it is constructed using similar technology of inflatable rafts and its rugged construction allows it to survive bumping river rocks. Using a conventional fiberglass or epoxy board would be a recipe for disaster. Below is an ULI board in action. ULI stands for Ultra Light Inflatable

Do it yourself (DIY) accessories for your SUP board.

Okay so you spent over $1000 for your SUP board and around $300 for your paddle. The last thing you want is to hack the rails of your SUP board with your paddle. You also don't want to chip the edges of your paddle. Several companies and SUP manufactures sell rail guards and paddle blade guards. Most of these cost at least $20. Of course $20 dollars is a small price to pay considering that your board costs $1000 or more. However what gets me is a lot of these accessories probably cost $2 to manufacture/package. Some industrious DIY SUPers have found cheap alternatives to whats available on the market. In my case I used clear postal packaging tape (something I already had on hand) to protect my rails and Scotch Linerless Rubber Splicing Tape (purchased on Ebay for $7) to cover the edges of my paddle blade.

Adding a deckpad to the Pope Bisect

I searched around for a deckpad and found the most inexpensive pad on Ebay. I paid $59.95 plus $10 shipping fee for a blue deckpad. Since the width of the deck pad was designed for an SUP board it was wider than what I actually needed for my 23" wide Pope Bisect. The pad was one piece, 23.5 inches by 86 inches so I had to cut it for customization. Before I purchased the SUP deckpad from Ebay, I spent some time mocking it up on a computer model. The digital mock-up was done to determine how and where I would have to cut the deckpad to fit the two-piece Pope Bisect. To do this I got a pic of the deckpad from Ebay and imported into a 3D CAD software (Solidworks) to use as a template. also did the same with a pic of the 9'6" Pope Bisect which I used as a template to create a 3d model of the surfboard. Sounds like overkill but I thought it was a good exercise. Anyways, I already needed a 3D model of a surfboard since I was currently working on a patent that required 3D perspective drawings of a surfboard. Below is a photo of my actual board with deckpad applied.

The Pope Bisect

The Pope Bisect is a two-piece assembly. It was designed as a travel board to reduce size and improve convenience during air and land travel. I purchased this board because I got tired of paying $100 one-way fee for surfboards when flying to Hawaii. The bisect packs down to half its size and hopefully next time I fly to Hawaii I won't get nailed with the $100 surfboard fee, however I suspect I will get charged some kind of fee since Airlines are now charging for cargo luggage. But hopefully it will be much less than $100. By the way Pope also have 2 SUP models however because of its size it comes in 3-pieces and is called the "Pope Trisect". Check it out on the Pope Bisect website.

Maiden Voyage in Hopewell Lake, NM

I tried out my 9'6" Pope Bisect in Hopewell Lake. This board is a longboard and not a SUP board. I'm light so it barely floated me but it worked okay. At first it was a little wobbly since the width is only 23 inches. I actually fell in the water once, but once I got used to it I was okay standing up and paddling. When I got tired I went down on my knees and paddled. I'm using a C4 Junior paddle. It has a carbon fiber shaft/handle and a fiberglass blade. I wonder if this is the first SUP venture in the State of New Mexico. I'm currently awaiting shipment of an ULI SUP board. Once it arrives I will test it out on the Rio Grande. If you are curious about ULI boards check out their website: http://www.uliboards.com