Sunday, May 22, 2011

LiftSUP Stand Up Paddle Handle: This thing's sweet!

Unless you've got the claw-hand, fingers-of-steel gripping ability of a rock climber you know that the standard finger grip found on most stand up boards sucks. The basic problem is this: There's no indentation to wrap the tips of your fingers around so you've got to go for the old Land of the Lost, Sleestack grab. And who really has fingers like that?

Check out those fingers- they'd fit perfectly into the grips found on most boards.

Here's a better way to cart your board around:

The future of stand up paddle handles!

The LiftSUP is a retractable stand up paddle board handle that gets installed into the deck of your board prior to glassing. It can also be retro-fitted into any board by ding repair guys or glass shops with experience installing fin boxes or plugs. I got a close up look at the handle at the Paddle for Humanity Race in Dana Point. Here's another shot of it: 

Nice and flush.

The handle is great for locking your board to your truck or tent or tree. Of course, if somebody really wanted the board, they're going to get it- but I think this is a great way to stop your standard grab-and-run board thief. Additionally, the handle retracts flush with the deck so that you don't have to worry about getting the dreaded toaster toe (you know, when you step forward to trim your board and your big toe jams down into the finger slot while simultaneously peeling back your toenail- sound fun?).

Being able to run a cable through your board while your run in to the donut shop is a bonus.

The best thing about the LiftSUP is that the grip makes so much more sense ergonomically. For example, you can bend your arm around the board and really get a nice grip, wrapping your fingers around the handle- it doesn't sound like a big deal but it makes carrying the board really easy. As you can see the finished install is really clean. The little holes on around the periphery are drain holes. The whole unit is light and sturdy (it's made of a combo plastic/fiberglass material).

I predict you're going to be seeing a lot more of these handles in the near future- they just make sense!

I'm working on getting one of these handles installed on a new custom board (Thanks Matt and Scott!)- I'll give you a full report once I've got it done.

Want more info on the LiftSUP handle? Click here.

5 comments:

Joe Agliozzo said...

I prefer the two loops and paddle combo -

Anonymous said...

Super cool-although i dont like the idea of basically having a large hole in the center of my board especially when surfing punchy-dumpy beach break-and my board is stringerless-i added two leash plugs near the top and bottom half of my board and put in small leash strings-slide the paddle through and off you go-but this thing is cool-i think you will see most all boards go to this as standard in the future-great idea-thanks for the post John.

John Ashley said...

Good point- especially on a stringerless board... we're going to have to wait and see the effect on strength. The things are pretty nifty though... and God knows I love niftiness.

John Ashley said...

Yeah, Joe- I hear you... sometimes simple is better (and maybe lighter?). I'll let you know how I like this thing once it's in the new raceboard.

Anonymous said...

That would be really cool, if it was already built into my board but mine doesn't even have a slot. I use the handle from Barknuckle. I'm saving up for a GoPro cam to mount on it. Check it out http://youtu.be/rvOxK-rUUqg