With most things I’ve acquired—Grandma’s dishes, batiks from Kenya—I can easily apply the Marie Kondo test: If it sparks joy, I keep it. If it leaves me ambivalent, I find it a new home. But this test fails me when it comes to my bikes, skis, tents, and other toys that bring immense joy when I’m playing outside. When I return home, my joy deflates like a leftover party balloon when I try to stuff it all back into the gear closet.
That’s why Kokopelli’s Chasm-Lite Stand-Up Paddleboard caught my attention. The company claims it’s the lightest, most packable SUP on the market—and that feels right. I haven’t encountered a more lightweight or manageable one. Most paddleboards are about 9 to 12 feet long and 30 to 36 inches wide, and they typically weigh between 15 and 40 pounds. At 10 feet long, 30 inches wide, and 6 inches thick, this board weighs a hair under 13 pounds (12.9) and rolls into the size of a three-season sleeping bag. Add the pump, four-piece carbon paddle, 9-inch plastic fin, leash, and repair kit, all of which squeezes into an included roll-top backpack, and you’ve got a 17.5-pound package, roughly the same weight as a large watermelon.
While I loved the thought of throwing this water toy in the back of my Prius rather than having to strap it down on an overhead rack, I was also skeptical: Lightweight often doesn’t equate to durable, and the northern Minnesota lakes where I generally paddle are filled with sharp rocks. Plus, how would such a featherweight and relatively short SUP track in wind or waves? With a rounded, planing hull, and 290 liters of board volume, it’s spec’d to be buoyant and stable for anyone up to 250 pounds, which is more than 100 pounds heavier than me.
A large crew, including my partner, relatives, and friends, had a few long weekends to test it on 61-square-mile Lake Vermilion. This Minnesota lake adjacent to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and just south of the Canadian border is known for its variable water conditions, from sunrise glass to whitecaps kicked up by 25-mph winds in the afternoon. It also contains the muskie, a toothy, prehistoric fish that grows to almost 5 feet in length and has occasionally been known to bite humans—which gives paddlers incentive to stay on their boards.