10'10 | Solo SUP™ Backcountry iSUP

ULTRA-LIGHT WOVEN DROP STITCH TECHNOLOGY

Woven drop stitch technology is two layers ultra-light material lined with woven cloth that are attached at thousands of points where a fiber connects the top and the bottom of the board. The drop stitch technology gives substantially more structure and rigidity to the inflatable.

SOLO SUP™ BACKCOUNTRY

The Solo SUP™ is a breakthrough in size, weight, portability, modularity, and integration. The development process was an exercise in the art of Japanese organization principles with a focus on “Sparking Joy” in the Konmari way. Our team spent many long weekends packing, repacking, designing, and redesigning until we hit the size, weight, and modularity goals we set out to achieve.

Driven by the challenge to reduce bulk and to save space, it lead us to the revolutionary new paddle blade design of the Solo™ Paddle, the soft rollable paddle blade. It is configurable as both a full-size SUP paddle and a Pack Raft canoe paddle. It’s extremely lightweight, compact, modular, and space-efficient.

We like drybags because we love to play in the water, whether it’s salty or fresh our stuff needs to stay dry when it needs to. That’s why we conceived the backpack as something more than just a backpack. It needed to do double duty, from being a hauler to get to the lake, to a container when paddling, so our dry stuff stays dry. It also lightweight and made from environmentally friendly TPU with a fully detachable harness that can be stowed inside the bag or attached to a bike with a strap or carabiner.

With a total package weight of just 23lbs. The whole thing has extra space for drinks, snacks, or apparel or whatever other kinds of tchotchkes you normally take with you on day hikes, there’s plenty of room for your stuff.

DESIRE

Our aim behind the Solo SUP™ was to break down the barriers of places accessible with a paddleboard. We wanted to make even the remotest of backcountry lakes accessible to anyone who dares find them. With the Solo SUP™, you can now take your paddleboard, anywhere. Easily.  

Wrestling with this challenge created a new category for SUP, the era of hiking or biking with a paddleboard or pack SUPing has arrived. It also ushered in a new kind of paddle with enormous potential, “The soft rollable paddle blade” or Solo Paddle™. We’ve barely begun to explore the possibilities of this technology.

Read the neuroscience behind blue and green spaces on the blog.

Spark

Taal lake, in the Philippines, is a tiny lake inside the crater of a volcano island. It is a mysterious tropical wonderland, just like an evil lair straight out of a James Bond film.

A friend of mine, who is a professional outdoor photographer, had planned a trip for us to go and explore this exotic wonder. As we planned out the trip, I thought that the best board for the adventure would be an inflatable. But this particular journey had a fair amount of hiking involved and from past excursions, I quickly learned that portaging a bulky inflatable in a standard gear bag is a real drag.  

Hiking with a paddleboard, even an inflatable is no fun. It’s a struggle because the boards and the components aren’t designed for backpacking. Standard inflatables come with cases that are basically luggage for the gear not tailored for long-distance hiking. So, I set out to change that.  

We had planned on going around December of 2019 but I hadn’t finished the prototype yet so we had to delay the trip. Weeks later on January 12, 2020, Taal lake volcano erupted and vaporized the lake. I guess the bond villain must have hit the wrong button? Fortunately, we weren’t there and continued to develop the concept. Now this effort has paid off in so many unexpected ways, with the arrival of an entirely new way of conceiving paddling boarding and hiking. We hope to inspire people to head out into nature and seek adventure. Just avoid simmering volcanos if possible.

Impact

We believe the Solo SUP™ Backcountry will change the way people can interact with nature and access the outdoors. Inviting more people to explore natural places and interact with nature can help in many ways including mental well-being and in a broader term ecological awareness. By allowing people to access waterways without the need for modern transport we hope we can change the perspective people have of the environment around them.

For 2021 we have changed all our packing here at Pau Hana to advance the cause of more responsible and environmentally friendly solutions. To that end, there is no disposable single-use packaging in the Solo™ SUP kit. Everything is ready to go straight out of the box and the box is made of non-bleached biodegradable cardboard and ink, fully compostable if you want to put it into your garden.  

Whats in the box

• 10'10" SOLO SUP™
• ACCESSORY HOLDALL
• SOLO COMPACT PUMP
• SOLO PADDLE™
• SOLO 64Ltr DRYBAG BACKPACK
• REPAIR KIT
• 10" COILED LEASH
• SOLO PADDLE™ BAG
• 2 X 6" QUICK FINS