Would you buy a car you have never driven or even heard start? No, no one in their right mind would do that, yet  this laughable concept is implemented most times someone buys a stand up paddle board.  The business model of  demoing before purchase has caught on in the world of ski and snowboard, yet most SUP companies and businesses have neglected this necessary H2O-sport pre-purchase ritual.  Many beginners opt for a cheap Costco or Chinese pop-out board, and even those with experience are stuck choosing a board from reviews, word of mouth, and just a few boards from their personal experience.  Here is every reason why this is a mistake and you should demo every board you buy!

(pic from http://budeandbeyond.co.uk/time-to-sup-with-smudge...) 

Although you may know exactly which shape suits your type of paddling best, shapes change every year even within the same company.  Sometimes these changes may seem minuscule but even the slightest change in curvature or rail sharpness can make all the difference in the right(or wrong) conditions. If you are not sure which board is the right shape for you then buying before a demo is a huge mistake.  I personally watched my father buy his way through 7 or 8 boards before he finally stumbled upon the shape that was right for him.  It was almost humorous as every possible suggestion for a surf-style SUP was thrown at him.  Long, short, skinny, wide, high volume, low volume, volume at the nose, volume on the tail, the list went on and on and offered little to no help.  After enough boards had piled up in our backyard it seemed like he had finally found a consistent shape...after nearly 3 years and thousands spent on figuring it out.  All his time and money could have been saved if he had simply found a place that allows demos, but that is a rare gem to find in the SUP community.  Now, if you have little to no board experience then demoing a board is necessary.  I have an endless supply of stories for this lesson but Eddy from bigwinds.com has broken down his experience at https://www.bigwinds.com/sup-blog/Why-Your-First-S... .  How could you possibly know what type of SUP you need if you have never even stepped on one?  Even if you knew the general type you want there are hundreds of possible board shape combinations.  Moral of the story, demo before you buy.  The places that do offer demos have generally adopted the Ski demo model where the price of the demo goes towards the price of the board. So what is there to lose?!

Check out SUPtoYOU's Demo Before You Buy Programs. This pro sup shop is one of the SUP shops allowing demos in Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego areas.