What to wear for stand up paddle?
Stand up paddle is not very demanding sport in terms of clothing. You can wear whatever you want. However when we speak about paddling in more difficult weather conditions, for example out of summer season in Poland, it is good to buy the required minimum. Below you will find few tips, how to choose wetsuit and other clothes like UV protection lycra. I will share also my favourite bikini brand 🙂
Inspiration to write this post was my own experience. I needed to exchange my old wetsuit for a new one. I was asking question to myself: do I really need it? Also checking many wetsuit models online. Finally, I decided that the best would be, just like buying standard clothes, to go directly to surf shop and try few models on. As usually, I visited Easy Surf Shop in Poznan city, where I decided to buy Roxy wetsuit – 3/2 mm with long sleeves. It will be an ideal wetsuit for paddling in spring/autumn in Poland and staying longer time in water while visiting warmer countries. Watsuit looks perfect not only for SUP but also for other watersports like kitesurfing.
Wetsuit – do you need it or not?
Is wetsuit necessary for stand up paddle? I would say no, but if you want to paddle out of summer season in Poland it can be useful. It is a piece of cloth which keeps you warm. However if you think it is needed because of falling into the water, you are wrong. Believe me, after short training, you don’t fall into the water so often, so having a wetsuit for stand up paddle is not a must have.
If you want to be prepare for cold weather condition and use it for other watersports – go for it! How to choose the most suitable wetsuit?
Wetsuits differs by neopren thickness. These 6/5 mm are the wetsuits for autumn-winter time. Wetsuits with neopren thickness 3/2 mm are ok for warmer locations and spring-summer time in Poland. Speaking about wetsuit for stand up paddle, I recommend long john model – without sleeves. While paddling your body produce huge amount of heat and in wetsuit with long sleeves you can feel overheated after intensive training. Wearing long john wetsuit and windproof jacket, you get a perfect set even for spring or autumn stand up paddle session.
Additionally, to protect yourself from cold, I suggest to buy a waistcoat available in Decathlon shop. It is amazing! It is a combination of life vest produced from innovative textile, which also keeps your body warm. That’s a great solution for colder days before summer time. The advantage is that you don’t need to wear additionally PFD vest to take care of your safety while paddling.
Moreover in topic of wetsuits, I recommend new lifestyle brand Flyn&CO and their cool wetsuit design. This is a surfing brand, but in my opinion, it would be great also for stand up paddle. You will be amazed with this polish brand, from Wroclaw. Keeping my fingers crossed for them, because they create very stylish sports outfits!
Stand Up Paddle shoes
Do we need special stand up paddle shoes? In my opinion, not necessary. Stand up paddle shoes would be useful, if you have difficult entrance to the water, which can hurt your feet. However, same as with wetsuit, it is not necessary to own it, as you can just paddle in sports shoes. If you want to be fully equipped, I recommend buying neopren surfing or windsurfing shoes available in special watersports shops (windsurfing, kitesurfing, diving shops).
Advantages of stand up paddle shoes are few: they will keep you warm, you will not be afraid to get them wet and can protect your feet from stones or coral reefs. While choosing shoes, please pay attention if you feel comfortable, stabile and if sole doesn’t glide on board surface.
Special stand up paddle shoes are offered by Aquamarina brand. I didn’t have a chance to try it, so will not share my review on it. Soon some info or review from tests should appear on supsurfer.pl portal. You can check recommendations directly there. I personally paddle in windsurfing shoes during spring-autumn and with bare feet in summer or in tropical destinations.
Lycra
This is definitely my favourite outfit for stand up paddle! Lycra t-shirts provide UV protection and are a must have when you travel to tropical SUP destination. Without my lycra, I wouldn’t survive sup tour to Philippines (here you can read my post about good stand up paddle spots in Philippines) and would get serious sunburn. Lycras also looks great! My favourite brands producing lycras are Roxy and O’neil.
Lycras has different UV protection level. Mine have 50+ UV protection and are sufficient enough to prevent my skin from sun tan. Being exposed on sun all day long together with watersports activity requires protection against sun. Sunlight reflects from water surface and can cause serious sunburn. Lycra is the best way to protect your skin. The cloths dry super fast and are well fitted to figure. What is more surfing brands create great designs. As you can see lycras have only advantages. This is a must have for stand up paddle board!
Microbikinis
Last but not least… micro bikinis! If we want to get sun tan and show some skin, we can paddle in bikini. I suppose male companions will be pleased. I recommend Wicked Weasel brand – the only one world producer of microbikini called mikrokinis.
You will get perfect sun tan in these bikinis and believe me, there will be small amount of pale marks left on your body.
Wicked Weasel is a brand set up in Australia. They are present on mikrobikini market since 1994. Do not worry, they provide worldwide shipping. My mikrobikini reached Poland after 3 weeks and was definitely worth waiting. Yes, indeed they are very tiny piece of material, but you get perfect suntan and not often meet anyone else on a beach wearing the same model.
Leggings/shorts/top
Considering stand up paddle clothes for summer season, when your SUP skills are good enough that you do not fall into the water anymore, I recommend just to paddle in sports clothes. Leggings or shorts, top or t-shirt. Whatever is comfortable for you. I used to paddle in sports, quick dry clothes which usually I wear to gym or for running.
Truly speaking it is not important what you wear, paddling in summer time doesn’t require buying expensive clothes. The most important is to stay active.
See ya on water!