Even more water fun – SUP with a difference

Jörg Müller from Gunsails explains the trend like this: “The inflatable boards have contributed a lot. Ours come with a trolley that you can take almost anywhere. You don't need a team or a big organization. Only water. Besides, there are virtually no physical requirements. Anyone can do stand up paddling, regardless of their fitness, height, age or weight.” The SUP itself is the perfect fitness machine. The constant balancing strengthens the trunk muscles without you having to think about it. And if that's not enough for you, you can let off steam with one of the following SUP variations.

This summer, yogis are doing their sun salutations on the water. Of course you can do this on a normal SUP, or you can treat yourself to a special yoga board. Many SUP providers and fitness studios have added SUP yoga to their programs and will fix you up with the right board. Yoga boards are a bit wider, which gives them more stability on the water. They have a non-slip upper material for extra support. Nevertheless, the water surface poses a special challenge. If you’d like to try SUP yoga, boot Düsseldorf is the right place for you. Every year there are courses for all SUP yogis and SUP yoga newbies.

Then SUP FRISBEE is just the ticket. The combination of stand up paddling and ultimate frisbee guarantees wicked fun on the board. Two teams play against each other on the field. The frisbee is passed between members of a team and players may not keep the disc longer than two paddle strokes. The goal is to hit the opposing buoy with a single throw. This requires extreme skill, balance and understanding of the game.

Real competitions are already taking place in the form of SUP RACES. Anyone can take part. Although there isn’t a SUP championship yet, the German Surfing Association, German SUP Association and German SUP Challenge all organize sprint races of 200 to 500 metres and long-distance races of 5 to 12 kilometres. There are also technical races, which involve several buoys.