The Winds are still strong , so I hope you’re all heading to protected waters to get paddling.
Just had a fantastic paddle up Swansea’s river Tawe.
I had been invited by the boys at HAZESUP to test out there 12ft Explorer and 17ft Velocitas stand up paddle boards.
But, a strong north east wind didn’t stop us from gaining some distance into the wind.
The 12ft Explorer at 31″ wide faired well in the chop , its a stable board with a nice bit of tail rocker so supposedly also surfs well,good glide and some great elasticated fastenings make this the Francis Drake of paddle boards !
Next up with the wind gusting down the narrow valley of the Tawe river , was the 17ft Velocitas , a sharp-prowed hull with a big but low sail middle and a jet-like stern.
Very fast with awesome glide , this board was made for flat water and handled the headwind very well, your attention had to be spot on with your paddle strokes, too late on the paddle recovery and exit meant the board seemed to twitch to one side and as the wind caught the nose it could have bucked me off, however I survived the Tawe’s depths and the seal which was trying to keep up with me !
Turning around up by the Copper quarter and The Liberty stadium the wind became a friend and took all 3 of us downwind reaching an estimated 4 knots just standing on our boards and gliding down back to Swansea SA1 waterfront!
Great fun and fantastic to see the sunshine !
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