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Stand Up Paddleboards were the rage at last year's Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City. Everyone was demoing the paddleboards out on the lake during demo day. I chose to test kayaks and canoes since I figured the SUPs were just a fad.
I'm beginning to get the feeling that this fad is turning into a full on movement. These paddle boarders even have their own magazine. My wife was at a camp in Michigan last week and stopped by an outdoor shop, The Outpost, and they were talking the boards up for use on Lake Michigan.
Stand Up Paddleboards can be used in surf or flatwater because the rider simply uses a paddle to move them along. Surftech is one of the big brands making these boards, and I have to say they are intriguing. My only worry is that they would be slow. And standing may not be the most comfortable position to spend hours on the water. But the masses seem to be speaking. It's at least a fun one to watch for now.
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I think you are right on when you say that this is going to be a full on movement. I was also at O.R. last summer (and will be there again in about a month) and could not believe how many paddle boards there were. The ratio of kayaks to paddleboards was probably 3:1...down from about 25:1 only a year before that. I expect that next month we will see as many paddleboards (SUPs) as we will kayaks! Another great company in Michigan that sells SUPs is Powers Outdoors. We just did the Michigan Paddle Symposium and the SUPs were the big hit. You can read about it on our blog here: http://www.powersoutdoorsadventures.blogspot.com/
Hope to see you on the water sometime!
-Gabriel Cash