We were blessed with some lovely weather for our first proper Paddleboarding test which we were very thankful for! Our first test was on our favourite local spot - Stithains Lake. We are so blessed to have somewhere to paddle less than 5 mins drive from our doorstep, especially at times like these with the current lockdown restrictions. Our second location, Maenporth Beach is another firm favourite on our top 10 list of places to paddle in Cornwall! We haven't actually done a Top 10 places to paddle in Cornwall yet, but we will soon! Maenporth Beach is just along the coast from Falmouth and it does get quite busy during the summer months and the wionter when the sun is shining. The best thing about Maenporth is the fact you can park right next to the beach and from a paddling point of view it is quite sheltered so will often give you nice calm conditions when other beaches are quite rough.
Our main mission of the weekend was to test out all the technical aspects of the boards including the pumps, backpackpacks, paddles andthen the fun part, actually getting them on the water and going for a paddle!
After a thorough weekend testing, the conclusion is that everything is great! They pump up nice and quickly and are nice and solid. We pumped them to the max recommended PSI of 15, which took about 5 mins. The paddle goes together nicely and the rubber edge is a nice touch to protect it and you. Once out on the water the board handled great. There was a bit of a wind on the first day at Stithians so we had to paddle a bit harder but the longer nose helps cut through the wind chop. At Maenporth there was a bit of a swell but nothing to cause any problems. We took the boards for a longer paddle to test how it handles on longer distances and it was fine.
At the end of the day the boards deflated easily and went back into the bag without any trouble.
A good day all round!
Now we are confident of the quality and handling of the boards the shop is well and truly open. We know it is still only January but why wait? As the pictures show you can still have some lovely conditions in the winter. As long as you have the proper winter paddling kit, which we'll cover in another post, you'll be fine.