Raritan Marine Experts Discuss Stand-Up Paddleboard Safety & Shark Bites
Raritan Marine Professionals Give Great Paddleboard Safety Tips
Raritan Engineering your Raritan marine distributors would like to share with you these topics we thought would be of interest to you this month regarding stand-up paddleboard safety tips.
Your Raritan marine suppliers talks about how Luke Hopkins was about to take on one of the most extreme stand-up paddleboard adventures of his life, and it was snowing.
Hopkins, a SUP expert with 20 years of experience, had decided to take on Lava Falls in the Grand Canyon, a historic achievement in paddle sports. Fortunately, he’d come prepared.
Safety is something many people take for granted while enjoying the increasingly popular SUPs, which can be found in many recreational boaters’ arsenals. Thanks to board racks, dedicated stowage spaces and inflatable SUPs, boaters increasingly bring them on board.
“If you follow a few basic safety practices, you can keep alive and well on a paddleboard for life,” says Hopkins.
Raritan Marine Specialists Continue Discussing How to Have Fun and Be Safe While Paddleboarding
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The number one most important safety practice: wear a life jacket. Why? In 14 of the 15 reported SUP fatalities in 2016, the victim was not wearing one.
If you are able to recover your board, the buoyancy a life jacket provides makes it easier to climb back aboard. Of course, chasing a board wouldn’t be as much of an issue if people practiced the second most important tenet of SUP safety: wearing a leash.
“I’ve had leashes break and boards break,” says Hopkins. “Do you really want to stake your life on a strap around your ankle?”
Hopkins also preaches to wear appropriate gear: wetsuits, or even drysuits in cold weather conditions, helmets in rough water where rocks could be present, and shoes. You don’t want to fall off your board and risk cutting your feet on rocks, oyster beds or other sharp objects.
Take the right safety precautions and you’ll enjoy your SUP time on the water — maybe not running rapids in the Grand Canyon, but at least paddling the local cove with your kids.
Is a SUP a Boat?
Many boaters want to know: Is the SUP in their arsenal of toys actually a boat? The answer is yes, depending on where you use one.
Shark Chomps on Paddleboard, Closing Cape Cod Beach
A beach on the Cape Cod National Seashore was temporarily closed Wednesday after a great white shark bit a paddleboard, authorities confirm.
The shark bit the stand-up paddleboard in 3-foot-deep water, approximately 30 yards from the shore. The encounter occurred during high tide and in calm seas.
Cape Cod Beach Closed After Shark Scare
Bigelow, of Chatham, said he saw the bite marks on his board, got back on, and paddled in to shore as quickly as possible, alerting lifeguards and a nearby surf school.
"The impact was right in the middle of my board," he said. "I have a huge hematoma on my leg."
A bite mark on his board measured about a foot across.
The incident took place at least 50 feet south of the lifeguard-protected section of Marconi Beach.
Cape Cod Beach Closed After Shark Bites Paddleboard
There were seals in the area at the time, according to Leslie Reynolds, chief ranger with the Cape Cod National Park Service.
The beach was closed for about two hours.
Staff from the Cape Cod National Park Service, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy are investigating and said they will share additional details as they have them.
Despite the scare, Bigelow said he'll be back in the water on Thursday.
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