UKC

Paddle boarding forums.....

Anyone know about any decent paddle boarding forums for the UK. I've been looking but struggling to find anything. 

It would be nice to hear advice about places to paddle,  advie on gear etc....

Thanks.

Tried facebook?  I'm not into it, but people I know talk of a SUP UK facebook group

Sadly, well maybe not sadly,  I'm not on Facebook but I'll google SUP UK anyway.

Thanks.

The governing body in the UK is the British Stand Up Paddleboarding Association, although the BCU also seem to cover them, so those are good places to start:

https://www.bsupa.org.uk/
https://www.britishcanoeing.org.uk/

I've had BCU membership for years for both the liability insurance and the included waterways licence - all for £45 a year. In fact, mine's just renewed and I probably need to upgrade it to include my wife, now we have 2 paddleboards.

There's also some useful stuff on this website: https://www.aquaplanetsports.com They've currently got an offer on an online intro course for £20. If you sign up for their newsletter, they have a lot of stuff in there, too - although, obviously, they're trying to get you to buy their stuff.

With all the sh!t currently pouring into our rivers and sea, you've not exactly picked the best time to get into it, though, unless you have a handy clean lake nearby!

Join a local canoe/kayak club. The places to paddle them will be similar to kayaking. For advice on gear it's worth doing BCU Explore Award which will cover some important rescue stuff and also things like access, environment, equipment.

Given your location, try Andy's Courses. The owner is an instructor, trainer and designs his on SUPs.

https://www.andyscourses.co.uk/

Peak district is crap for water access, but some stretched of the River Derwent are okay. Matlock area or in Derby. Go Paddling site is a good start, and shows whether you need a river permit (included in British Canoeing membership).

Should also add that BCU membership has an optional add-on to insure your craft against loss/damage - £45 covers 2 "craft".

I've just taken this out, since I discovered earlier this year that our household contents insurance now explicitly excludes water craft from it's cover.

As there are running, biking and ski-ing forums on here it could be argued that there should be a Water forum - for kayaking, canoeing, SUPing, surfing etc

Just an idea like.

Thanks for all your advice, I'll be looking into it.

As far as a forum for tips and general chat I'll keep looking. 

Go paddle is helpful but I know of a number of lunch points near to me that aren't mentioned. That's why I'd like to chat on a forum to share this advice and as locals what they experience. 

You could have a look at UKRGB and Song of the Paddle:
https://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/forum/
http://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/

But there's more activity on the various Facebook groups.  Song of the Paddle is an open canoeing forum really, but if you're looking for info on places to paddle, access, launching and landing etc., it's obviously largely the same.