Travelling around? Hitting exotic destinations? Paddling around your lake? Send us your ULI stories of your global or local treks with your gear and we will post it here! Click on the titles below to view the stories and photos!

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Whitewater is awesome on a ULI. I have been running rapids all the way up to class V. I haven't seen anyone else doing it yet. I kayak as well so I paddle my uli with kayakers. I have been honing a technique that makes it possible to run difficult rapids (Class V). I have started running water falls and as of right now I have only worked up to a five foot waterfall. Sticking the landing is difficult but with practice I have been getting it consistantly. I saw the movie with the rafts on the shoshoe section of CO river and those rapid look like some of the big water rapids I have been doing. If you like river boarding laying down you are going to love the uli standing up.

The ULI is the perfect whitewater board on the market and is extremely durable. Paddling an epoxy board on a river with rocks and current would be a huge waste of money and the fun factor would deminish with all the worrying. Just be careful and start on mellow rapids and work your way up. I have also found great standing waves of rivers that let me have 5 minute surfs with nose rides.

Luke (aka Localpaddler on ULI Forums)

Photos:

Our family was invited to the Caribbean over Christmas and New Yearʼs 2007 to stay with our good friends Bob and Dorothy Muroff at their winter home on the island of Nevis. Since we couldnʼt get any surfboards on the plane from Puerto Rico to Nevis, I decided to bring an ULI 11ʼ standup paddle board along for the trip. Iʼd spent some time in the islands over the years surfing and exploring and thought that SUP in the crystal clear waters would be fantastic. We had a fair bit of wind during the trip but I was able to get in a round trip channel crossing to St. Kitts along with a couple fast downwinds runs around different points on the island. My kids (7 & 9) probably had the most fun, as the ULI was used as a tender for our snorkel trips, to explore shipwrecks, and for log-rolling contests in the shallows. The visiting yachties were very impressed when they realized what a fun and simple alternative to a dingy it could be. Everyone that tried it came away with a big smile. Now an ULI goes with me everywhere whether Iʼm bringing along conventional boards or not.

Chris Koerner
Capistrano Beach, CA

The Uli inflatable board is a magic invention & as soon as I saw one I wanted to combine a Sailing trip in the med with having one on board to explore new coastlines & crystal clear waters.

So when the stars aligned I took 3 friends and borrowed not one but 2 Uli boards from a very nice man indeed. We had an original 11 foot Uli and a very newly borrowed 10 foot Uli plus 2 metal 3 piece paddles. With a 20kg each luggage allowance we packed 4 bags 2 x said Ulis in 2 North Face duffels both just under 20kgs & 2 more smaller duffels with boardies, bikinis & tooth brushes and the odd shirt, the girls were allowed 2 pairs of flip-flops & 2 dresses which they were cool with. They stealthed in a bit more but we all had plenty of clothes, 2 boards and were still 8 kgs under weight.

We flew to Preveza and took ownership of our 34 foot Oceanis as home for a week. Provisioned with water, beer, wine, pringles & fruit we were good to go.

Day 1, had us motoring, due to lack of wind, from our base just south of Palairos on the Greek mainland to the island of Meganisi. Stopping on route to test our anchoring skills & diving off the boat into clear water. Once in Port the Ulis were on deck & frantically being pumped up. It took less than 10 minutes from the bag to the water for both boards. Over the side we went & introduced the most bemused yachties & locals with our paddle round the marina & bay.

Total freedom was the feeling & the boards are so stable, you could even get away with out having a dingy to row to shore clothed for dinner, using the Uli as the coolest entrance to the jetty out side the yacht club bar yet. Only the journey back after dark & beer made us re think that one, however, we often paddled to the bars for pre dinner drinks stepping off your board in shorts to order a large chilled beer 3 steps from your board is definitely they way to go.

We spent the 6 days sailing from blue bay to marina, each time unstrapping the boards from the front rail & introducing the islands of Lefkas, Meganissi, Kalamos & the Greek main land portside villages to stand up paddling. Some of our fellow flotilla sailors also having a go. We explored under water caves, paddled to snorkeling areas not accessible by the yacht, paddled way up clear coast lines, paddled past million dollar super yachts turning heads as we went. The only disconcerting observation was the distinct lack of ocean life that passed under our boards as we paddled many kilometers. We see so much more in the sea at Gwithian.

The trip finished back at the Sunsail base and with 6 hours to kill before the flight it was rude not to paddle up the coast, on arrival back to the marina some of the kids at the Sunsail hotel, on seeing us, had grabbed some Canadian canoe paddles and were standing up on starboard windsurfing boards paddling around the swimming area. More converts, they had it wired too.

Sailing & Stand up paddling are a match made in heaven & the Ulis were the perfect tool for the job. We shall definitely be going again.

The New River Gorge is an incredibly deep gorge that literally cuts through the appalachian mountians in West Virginia. It is older than the mountains and is the only major river on the eastern continental US that flows north. It is also home to the world largest arch bridge.

Paddling big water rivers on a SUP is very difficult. Being fully prepared is the best way to go. If anyone is thinking of doing something like this make sure to wear a life jacket and a helmet. I was even wearing knee pads....not that I actually hit my knees on rocks.

The bridge is 1030 feet long...almost a quarter of a mile. The bridge is 896 feet above the river.


The first major rapid is called Upper Railroad and it had a 4-5 foot waterfall ledge that could be run which is shown below.


Running this drop is difficult when you have fins. So I paddled the board backwards and wheelied the board a little while running the drop.


The next major rapid was ender waves which had a small surf wave with a hydralic behind it. The surf wave was good practice for getting on and off river waves and to crash and swim through a rapid.




So if anyone thinks that they feel like an old ball out in the surf line up then you should try paddling a river with everyone looking at you like you are an alien and paddling an alien board. All the kayakers were really cool and asked if I wanted help running rapids.

This photo was taken above upper keeney rapid.


This photo was taken below lower keeney rapids.



Luke (aka Localpaddler on ULI Forums)

So I got up early and saw that the temperature had drop down to about 32 degrees. Then I checked the temperature online for this lake near my house that I have been paddling on. This isn't just some lake...it is home to some amazing big wall climbs that I have done off my ULI...well the lake temperature was 68 degrees. I got down there at about 8 AM and this is what I saw.







Luke (aka Localpaddler on ULI Forums)

Nice work on the Uli and thanks again for making my weekend. We got hit with a storm and did some of my first paddling in a snow, good stuff.















Seth
Washington DC

"A little news from the French Riders...

The new season of Handisurf action have begun with the return of the sun, and warmer water. The adaptation of the ULIboard was a great success, and we get a lot of pleasure with it . We were also very happy of the facility, easy use of the board, for the transport...

This winter I helped a friend for 11 years who is very handicap (myopathie in electric rolling chair) to realise his dream, we travel to LA REUNION island. I profit to bring adapt material to some guys of our association living there to help them to practice handisurf on this french island. I bring 2 boards and you know what, the ULI is giving pleasure to guys and girls overthere in the INDIAN ISLAND !!!!!!

www.vagdespoir.com"

February 21, 2010
I have been working as a personal trainer since 1994 and am very active and just love the sun and water. I've been meaning to transport a paddle-board from US to Croatia for several years now since I vacation there every summer. I just couldn't figure out how, until I discovered ULI. I simply checked it in as my luggage, as it even came with a perfect bag, paddle, and pump all included. I inflated it easily with my two year old son as an assistant and was ready to go beach hopping within five. It was easier to paddle than I expected, so I found myself paddling for hours on my first trial and succeeded in pissing my wife off, because I was gone too long. She decided to revenge the next day by paddling with ULI the entire afternoon but came home happy and I was forgiven because she understood. Island of Hvar is considered one of the ten most beautiful islands in the world, and is one of the hot spots to windsurf, but paddle-boarding is still a very new concept. We were, to my knowledge the first ones to paddle-board on the island, hence we kept receiving curious and puzzling glances by both locals and the tourists. The most frequent question we received was where is our sail. On one stormy day one of the yachts even slowed down as it was approaching me, and the captain asked me if I needed help since they thought that I lost the sail and was paddling back to shore for dear life. I laughed and thanked him while explaining that I was having the time of my life, that this is a new and upcoming sport and I told him to go on WWW. ULI.COM if he thinks I'm pulling his leg.









Marko Dresevic, Naked Fitness, Croatia

Fort Port San Francisco













Jesse Faen