Why I Love to Sit Down Paddle Board

I had such a great day yesterday that I was inspired to write about why I love to sit down paddle board. Yesterday I went for a pretty strenuous mountain bike ride. After I was done I really wanted to get out on the lake to relax and cool off, but I didn’t have much energy. If I had to pump up my paddle board to 12-15psi and stand up and paddle or even sit down while ackwardly hunching and paddling on my board, I would not have gone.

However, I have formed the habit of keeping my sit down paddle boarding setup in my car at all times! So, the thought of inflating my board to 5psi, which is all that is needed for sit down paddle boarding, and relaxing in my folding chair while lazily paddling around the lake was a no brainer!

I don’t even mind inflating my 10-foot paddle board with my manual pump because it only takes 5 minutes and the pumping itself is only just starting to get hard when you hit 5psi. You really need to put in some arm strength in order to inflate a board from 7-15psi!

When we use our favorite paddle boards, our 12-foot Aqua Marina Monsters, we typically use our car inflator, even though the pumping is easy because they take a bit longer to inflate due to the larger volume of air needed.

I made a little video of my relaxing day touring the lake by sit down paddle board!

My sit down paddle board adventure yesterday

Anyways, back to my story. So I finished riding, stuck my mountain bike into the back of my minivan (we have four kids), changed from my mtn biking cloths into my swimsuit, and headed over to my favorite lake.

It was a beautiful sunny fall day here in California. It was in the 70’s and there wasn’t much wind.

Anyway, I got to the lake, grabbed my paddle board (in its backpack), my folding chair, my paddle an a bottle of water and walked the ¼ mile to the edge of the water.
I unrolled my paddle board and inflated it to 5psi in less than 5 minutes. I literally inflated my board, dumped it into the water, unfolded my chair on top, grabbed my paddle and was floating along in the sun in under 10 minutes.

It was the best! It was late afternoon and I had the whole lake to myself. I intermittently paddled and glided along basking in the sun and watching a variety of birds, river otters, deer, geese, ducks, and turtles going about their daily lives. The water was as smooth as glass, ruffling only from time to time when a small breeze cropped up. I did a little fantasy house shopping since this lake has some gorgeous vacation homes on it. After making a large circle, I paddled back to the car just as the sun was setting.

It was the perfect end to the perfect day!

sit down paddle board feet toesies combie lake

House Shopping by Sit Down Paddle Board!

It is always a perfect day to sit down paddle board

Anyway, sit down paddle boarding has really transformed my life since it is so easy, accessible and the fun to work component rests squarely on the side of fun. Not only is it easy to get your board to the water and ready to go, but sitting down in a comfortable folding chair makes for a very relaxing, stable paddle.

Don’t get me wrong, you can make it high energy since I’ve won many a race paddling while sitting down, but I don’t actually have to paddle unless I feel like it and sitting is so much more relaxing than standing.

It was so smooth on the water that I was tempted to stand up yesterday. It is a ton of fun to paddle standing up, especially when the water is glassy and there is no wind. All I have to do is literally stand up and stow my folding seat under the bungee cord up front. But the water was cold, I was on my small board, I was tired and I’d only inflated my board to 5psi, so after thinking about it for about 10 seconds I decided “Nah”. However, a couple weeks ago on a similar day I ended up standing for most of my paddle.

I love the ability to have so much fun while also being able to live in the moment and give my body the exact amount of relaxation or challenge that it needs.

My inexpensive, super portable, easy to use sit down paddle board setup

You can click on the pictures to read more about them on Amazon. The whole set up cost me less than $260.00 and it is perfect for me to carry around in the trunk of my car just in case the lake calls!