If you are shopping for a SUP race board, one of the biggest decisions is not just length and width. Where you stand in relation to the waterline can dramatically change how a race board feels underneath you.
Race boards generally fall into three deck categories: flat deck, recessed deck and dugout.
I've paddled different race board designs over the years, and as an Infinity SUPFreak, two of my personal favorites provide a great example of the differences: the flat-deck Infinity Blackfish and the dugout Infinity Everready.
Neither design is automatically better. The right choice depends on your skill level, weight, balance, paddling conditions and the type of racing you plan to do.
What Is a Flat Deck SUP Race Board?
A flat deck has a relatively open standing area without tall rails surrounding the paddler.
One of the biggest advantages is freedom of movement.
You can move forward and backward easily, change your stance, step toward the tail for buoy turns and move quickly around the board during technical racing.
Flat decks can also make remounting easier after a fall because you don't have tall cockpit walls to climb over.
My Flat Deck Favorite: Infinity Blackfish
My favorite example is the Infinity Blackfish.
Infinity calls the Blackfish an all-water flat-deck race board. The current design has approximately 1.5 inches of recess, with the narrower 21.5" and 23" versions sitting approximately another half-inch deeper. Infinity specifically positions the flat deck for paddlers who move around the board frequently and paddle in and out of surf.
That's an important point because "flat deck" doesn't necessarily mean your feet are sitting at the absolute top of the board. Modern race-board designs can blur the line between flat and recessed decks.
For paddlers who like active footwork, buoy turns, surf and moving around their board, that open feeling can be a major advantage.
Advantages of a Flat Deck
- Maximum freedom to move your feet
- Easier transitions into staggered and surf stance
- Easy access to the tail for buoy turns
- Generally easier remounting
- Great for technical racing, surf and beach starts
The tradeoff is that you generally stand higher relative to the water than you would in a deep dugout.
That can affect stability, but remember that deck depth isn't the only factor. Width, hull shape, rails, volume distribution and the paddler all contribute to how stable a board feels.
What Is a Recessed Deck?
A recessed deck sits somewhere between a traditional flat deck and a full dugout.
The standing area is lowered into the board, but the paddler isn't surrounded by the much deeper cockpit walls found on a dugout.
That lower standing position can help with stability while preserving much of the freedom of movement associated with a flat deck.
A good current example is the SIC RS3. SIC describes the RS3 as a recessed-deck all-water race board designed specifically to preserve freedom of movement and make remounting easier than its deeper dugout models.
For recreational racers and paddlers progressing onto narrower race boards, this middle ground can make a lot of sense.
What Is a Dugout SUP Race Board?
With a dugout, instead of standing primarily on top of the board, you stand inside a cockpit surrounded by higher rails.
This allows designers to position your feet considerably lower relative to the water.
The primary advantage is stability.
Lowering your standing position can make a narrow race board much more manageable, particularly in chop, side wind and open-water conditions.
The Dugout Infinity Everready
The Infinity Everready. replaced Infinity's Blackfish Dugout and was designed as an all-water race board capable of handling flat water, distance racing, chop, bumps, upwind/downwind conditions and technical racing. Its deeper recessed cockpit puts the paddler's standing area very low relative to the waterline.
This is where you really begin to understand why dugouts have become so popular.
You can potentially paddle a narrower board while maintaining enough stability to continue putting power into your stroke instead of wasting energy trying to stay upright.
The Everready also uses multiple drains to evacuate water from the cockpit, an important consideration with any deep dugout design.
Advantages of a Dugout
- Lower center of gravity
- Greater stability for a given width and comparable hull
- Can make narrower race boards more manageable
- Excellent for distance racing
- Particularly useful in chop and open water
The tradeoff is movement and accessibility.
Deep cockpit walls can make remounting more difficult and may restrict how freely you move around the board compared with an open flat deck.
Other Race Boards Worth Looking At
Infinity isn't alone in exploring these different deck concepts.
Starboard has pushed dugout development extensively with the All Star. The latest All Star uses what Starboard calls a "Hybrid Dugout," while the company's Gen R takes the opposite approach with a flat-deck design intended to provide greater freedom of movement.
SIC Maui offers an interesting comparison within one race lineup. The RS3 uses a recessed deck, while boards such as the RST and XRS use deeper dugout cockpits.
You'll also see different approaches to deck depth and cockpit design from other race-board manufacturers, including Sunova, which is another brand worth considering when comparing modern race-board shapes.
The important thing isn't which logo is on the nose. Look at how the entire board is designed around the paddler and its intended conditions.
So Which Deck Design Is Faster?
This is where paddlers sometimes get caught up in equipment.
A dugout isn't automatically faster because it's a dugout, and a flat deck isn't automatically faster because it's lighter or easier to move around on.
Deck design is only one part of the equation.
Hull shape, width, rocker, nose design, tail shape, volume, stiffness, fin setup, water conditions and paddler skill all influence performance.
More importantly, the fastest board is usually the board that allows you to paddle efficiently and apply power consistently.
If you're constantly bracing, hesitating or reducing power because your board feels unstable, having a theoretically faster narrow board isn't doing you much good.
If you can paddle a 23" board hard while you're fighting to stay upright on a 21", there's a very good chance you're going to be faster on the 23".
Stability isn't the enemy of speed. Unnecessary instability can be.
How Do You Pick the Right Race Board?
Start with where and how you actually paddle.
If you primarily race flat water and longer distances, a recessed deck or dugout can provide the stability needed to comfortably paddle a narrower board.
If you regularly paddle open water, chop and side wind, the lower standing position of a dugout may become even more valuable.
If you enjoy technical racing, beach starts, buoy turns, surfing and moving aggressively around your board, the freedom of a flat or moderately recessed deck may be more important.
Your body weight also matters.
A board that works beautifully for a 130-pound paddler may behave completely differently underneath a 190-pound paddler.
And don't choose your width simply because that's what an elite racer is paddling.
Your goal should be to find the narrowest board you can paddle efficiently in the conditions you actually encounter, not the narrowest board you can simply stand on.
Demo Before You Buy
Specifications only tell part of the story.
Two 14' x 23" race boards can feel completely different because of differences in hull shape, rail volume, deck depth, rocker and volume distribution.
Whenever possible, test the board.
And don't just paddle it for five minutes on perfectly flat water.
Move your feet. Paddle hard. Perform buoy turns. Paddle across chop. Let boat wake hit you from the side. Try remounting it.
Then ask yourself:
Can I paddle this board efficiently when conditions aren't perfect?
That's much more useful than asking whether you can balance on it at the dock.
The Bottom Line
Choose a flat deck if freedom of movement, easier remounting and technical paddling are priorities.
Choose a recessed deck if you want a compromise between a lower standing position and freedom of movement.
Choose a dugout if maximizing stability on a narrow race board, particularly for distance or rough-water paddling, is your priority.
Personally, this is one reason I enjoy having experience with both the Infinity Blackfish flat deck and Infinity Everready dugout. They approach race-board performance differently, and each design has situations where it makes sense.
The right race board isn't necessarily the narrowest, newest or most expensive board.
It's the board that matches your weight, skill level, paddling environment and racing goals while allowing you to maintain good technique and put power into your stroke.
A race board can look incredibly fast sitting on the beach.
What matters is how fast you can paddle it.
