SUP surfing has enjoyed a bit of a popularity explosion in the past few years. But this new gadget gives new meaning to the concept of “Paddle Enhanced Surfing.” They’re called Sealblades and we’re guessing you’ve never guessed surfing would see their creation. Imagine Wolverine from the X-Men with no more knives coming out of his hand. Instead of knives he has the flat side of a paddle, and instead of fighting to save the world he’s frantically fighting to catch a wave. That’s the simplest way we can put into words just what the Sealblades are.
The idea came to Alex O’Connor a decade ago when he took a trip to Coldingham Bay searching for waves. “I was out surfing on the east coast of Scotland and I was having a miserable day – not getting anywhere,” he said. Upset over getting skunked, O’Connor came up with a gadget that would improve his paddling performance (by 35% the new start-up company predicts) and made its creation his hobby until 2013. Then he decided to make the project a business endeavor and now we have the Sealblades. The company is working to raise six figures through private investors so they can take on the costs of a new office space and investments in marketing, but otherwise this is a real thing. Webbed gloves be damned the Sealblades have now gone through nine prototypes to get to the final product they hope to launch come next year . Seal Boards plans to market the product in North America, Australia and the UK, reaching a good chunk of the 20 million people they estimate are surfing now.
Who would ever have guessed?
