TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands SUP Travel

Does anyone have experience travelling with an inflatable standup paddleboard from to BVI through STT/ferry? We just bought 2 and are thinking about bringing them for our trip in a couple weeks rather than renting. Wondering if anyone has ran into issues traveling with these with the airlines or TSA or whatever. We'll be on Delta and have free checked bags.

TIA,
Rebecca

We transported 2 inflatable SUP to our yacht (which remains on our yacht for the enjoyment of our guests). No trouble with airlines or TSA.

You will incur baggage fees all along the way (Even if none thru the airlines). $1-2 per bag with each taxi, same with bag guys at ferry, $10 per bag (Maybe more due to size/weight) on each ferry. I would guess you are talking about $40 per bag per trip, assuming no airline charges.

We've taken inflatables a number of times. I've taken mine to many other sailing destinations too. It usually works out fine, though the bags are technically slightly oversize. Maybe once I've had to collect my bag from the oversize luggage.

We have done it many times. I don't know what your SUP weighs or the dimensions but we have never had a problem. We usually have enough weight left to add sunscreen to the SUP bag.

Have travelled with SUPs without any issues and also was able to put sunscreen and beach towels in the SUP bag. Totally worth paying the extra bag fee. Cheers

Thanks for the info and suggestions! Sounds like we should have no problem travelling with them. We have the iRocker all around 11 ft boards. The roller bag is kind of tall and definitely has some extra space and weight for packing other stuff. The pump these came with is huge, but we plan to take small, electric pump and only one of the iRocker pumps as a backup.

If you are not taking the pump that came with it make sure the one you bring has the correct attachments and the ability to fill to a specific PSI value. We had to pick-up an adaptor for a similar piece of recreational equipment that we keep on our boat in order to use our other pump. The adapters are not expensive just hard to find if you don't bring it with you.

Good catch, thanks! We'll test that out before we leave.

An update on our travel with SUP's. We took 2 iRocker SUP's on our 12 day charter. The worked great, although we didn't use them as much as we'd like due to quite a bit of wind and current in most places. We had no problems with the airline flying Delta from ATL to STT. We had to drop them off at the oversize baggage drop, but that was the only thing out of the ordinary. We checked them for free with my Delta status and used private land and water taxi's so didn't have to worry about extra fees. The large roller bags allowed us to add other stuff... clothes, bathroom supplies, sunscreen, snorkel great, etc... and still stay at 50 lbs.

However, the only negative was the roller bags themselves. They are not sturdy enough to stand up to airline travel. Both of the bags have holes in the netting on the outside. One has a hole in the canvas, which is very lightweight compared to a normal travel duffel. The zippers are not very secure so one bag was opened when we picked it up in STT, but fortunately nothing fell out. These bags are great for everyday, local use, but not suited for airline travel (even on a direct flight). I don't think they'd hold up to another trip.

I would definitely take the SUP's again, but I'd get a large duffel or something with a heavier canvas to carry them in.