Spinera Ultralight Inflatable SUP range

Spinera’s Ultralight Inflatable SUP Paddleboards are astonishingly light – making them super easy to transport and store – without sacrificing strength, stiffness or durability.

We hesitated for a long time about SUPs… we just couldn’t see what we had to offer that would make us “a bit different”. Unless you go very specialist, once you read through the marketing hype, inflatable stand-up paddleboard ranges are remarkably similar to each other.

Unlike inflatable kayaks – where there are three distinct construction methods – ALL inflatable SUPs are basically made from a piece of high-pressure dropstitch material, with some additional material on top, bottom and sides for structure and branding purposes. The number of factories that actually make nearly all the paddleboards in the world, is remarkably small (in single figures).

But these Spinera Ultralight Inflatable SUP boards – from a newish brand with a very experienced team behind it – are astonishingly light, without sacrificing strength, stiffness or durability. The secret is a new type of multi-layer fabric where the layers are fused (heat welded or effectively surface-melted) together, rather than glued. Only the topmost layer (the colour and pictures bit) is not integrated into the structure.

If you think about it, on a paddle board that’s 3m long and a metre wide, that’s a saving 6 square metres of glue (3 top and 3 bottom) per layer, which adds up to a really surprising amount (and weight) of glue.

The fused layers in the fabric used for Spinera Ultralight Inflatable SUP paddleboards are 100% bonded over the entire area at same strength, without added weight.

Some other better-known brands also offer lightweight boards, but it’s easy to spend well over £1000. For example RED’s lightweight Stand Up Paddleboards (RED Compact series) have RRPs from £1299 upward – and according to specs are actually slightly heavier – so you could have three of these Spineras (and change!) for the same price.

So at risk of labouring the point, besides the weight, the price for a Spinera Ultralight Inflatable SUP is astonishing. We actually had to check with the supplier that there was not a mistake, but he says they are indeed aggressively priced because as a late entrant to the market they feel they need to sell at way below “established brand” margins in order to get market share. We think they’ll probably go up next year!

To be fair, once you’re on the water, the difference between a 6kg SUP and a 10 or even 12kg SUP is barely noticeable, because what you have to push through the water is a combination of your own weight AND your Stand Up Paddleboard. If you weigh 85kg then we’re talking about pushing 91kg or 95kg through the water (less than 5% difference in the total).

When the weight will notice is all the rest of the time. When you’re lifting a Spinera Ultralight Inflatable SUP in and out of the water, carrying it to the beach, hauling it on and off your yacht, trying to take it as luggage on a plane, for example. Kids or grandkids can probably carry a 6kg thing, but may struggle with a 10kg thing.

And, the multi-layer fused fabric that Spinera use is also less bulky than a glued construction material with the same number of material layers. Obvious really, each of the glue layers has a certain thickness and stiffness to it. So as well as being lighter, they’re smaller to pack.

REALLY small TO PACK. The middle (10ft 6″) size Spinera Ultralight Inflatable SUP can reasonably be compacted down to about 45x30x18cm, possibly a bit less if you really go for it and suck all the air out with a pump first. Only slightly more “footprint” than an A3 piece of paper. And remember it only weighs 6.7kg, too.

That will go in a suitcase and barely notice. To be fair that does not include the paddle or pump, but the folded size (and weight) of almost all other inflatable SUPs is much greater.