4 Golden Rules of SUP Safety Equipment

[@adriftonthelot4692]

Excellent thank you for this great video

[@volyund]

Thank you for this video!

[@PrisonerNChristJesus]

Enjoy your lessons

[@richardswinson4381]

No appropriate first aid kit or safety knife. Why?

[@supboardguide]

Ok, great questions, both these items come up regularly in sup safety forum discussions. Firstly, re knives. Absolutely an essential part of safety equipment for many activities, but there really isn't any feasible scenario where it's going to be of use on a SUP. As said this conversation comes up regularly, but no-one has yet come up with or heard of a SUP-related situation where a knife would have been of use. (Other than overnighting/camping situations, where obviously a knife will be part of your kit). If you want to carry one fine, but almost certainly not going to get any use, and is just going to add unecessary weight to your body. Likewise, a first aid kit. Again, if you're going way off grid, back country camping or whatever, then of course yes, it will be part of your equipment. But for regular paddling, it simply isn't going to be of any practical use. Actually needing to use a first aid kit is an incredibly unlikely scenario - what's actually going to happen that requires first aid? And even if some bizarre freak accident did happen, on a board in the middle of the ocean or lake is no place to be trying to do first aid anyway. In any sort of medical emergency, the first priority should be to get the victim ashore and into the hands of the professionals. Comms are what will matter. First aid kits tend to break Golden Rule #2, as well. It's not really practical to carry it on your person, so therefore it's almost certainly going to be in a dry bag attached to your board. Therefore it's not going to be instantly to hand. The issue with paddleboarding is that we're not like kayaks; we don't have the capacity to carry lots of cargo. Realistically, the only safe place to ensure it's easily accessible is on your body. Which is moving a lot, and you really don't want to be carrying any more weight than you absolutely have to. In the early days of SUP we all carried loads of safety gear but you quite quickly realise that you're simply not actually ever going to need it, and it's just getting in the way, and adding weight. Concentrate on comms, and the essentials of appropriate PFD, leash and clothing, and you're sorted. If you're leading a group on the water then the of course situation is slightly different, and carrying some extra safety gear for the group is a smart plan. But that's a different topic altogether.