More than Just Skill and Navigation

At All Winds Adventures, seamanship isn’t just about knowing how to handle a boat. It’s about awareness, respect, and community — the mindset that connects everyone who sets foot on the water.

Whether you sail, windsurf, wingfoil, or SUP, good seamanship is what keeps us all safe and makes the experience more enjoyable. It’s the invisible thread that ties together skill, intuition, and responsibility — for yourself, your crew, and others around you.

The True Meaning of Seamanship

Dictionary.com defines Seamanship as “knowledge and skill pertaining to the operation, navigation, management, safety, and maintenance of a ship.”

But that definition barely scratches the surface. Real seamanship goes far beyond technical ability. It’s the quiet confidence that comes from experience, the readiness to adapt when things don’t go to plan, and the instinct to look up and notice what’s happening around you.

When we’re on the water, things can change quickly — wind shifts, gear failures, or an unexpected squall. Seamanship means staying calm, observing, and acting in a way that keeps everyone safe.

Observation: The Core of Good Seamanship

Good seamanship begins with awareness – of your boat, the weather, and the people around you.

It’s about asking:

• What could go wrong?
• What can I do to prevent it?
• Who around me might need a hand?

You can spot good sailors and windsurfers by how often they look around. They’re tuned in — scanning the wind, waves, and other craft. If something doesn’t look right, they go and check. Because next time, it might be them who needs help.

Learning Through Experience

No one is born knowing how to reef in 30 knots or dock stern-to in crosswind. Seamanship grows from experience — and from learning alongside others who’ve been there before.

From the first day you hoist a sail or step on a windsurf board, every moment on the water adds to your personal “toolbox” of knowledge.

Over the years, I’ve been on both sides of this equation, where I’ve been able to stretch my wings in challenging conditions under the watchful eye of more experienced sailors/windsurfers/boat handlers and in turn, as I got more experienced, I’ve also been in a position to help others who might, from time to time, need it. For me, this is a self-explanatory part of seamanship and something that ultimately connects everyone who goes on the water.

Peer Rescue: What Mountain Craft Can Teach Us About Seamanship

In mountain sports, there’s a concept called “Kameradenrettung” — peer rescue. Ski tourers train to rescue their partners after an avalanche, because survival depends on quick action from those nearby.

The same principle applies on the water. The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) teaches that every capsized boat should be attended within three minutes — because that’s how long an unconscious person can be underwater before brain damage occurs.

In the UK and Ireland, safety boat crews train regularly for this. But in many places, we rely on each other — sailors, windsurfers, kitesurfers, SUPers — to look out for one another.

The Reality: A Growing Need for Awareness

Sadly, I’ve noticed fewer people stopping to help others on the water in recent years.

One moment that sticks with me was on the Urnersee in Switzerland. A windsurfer’s sail had detached from her board, and she was struggling to hold everything together mid-lake. Dozens of others sailed past without stopping. When I finally reached her, I helped reconnect her gear so she could continue her session — but I couldn’t believe that no one else had checked in.

Watersports are more fun — and far safer — when we look out for each other. Whether you’re sailing in a flotilla or windsurfing alone, strength in numbers and awareness of others is key to safe adventure.

Building a Better Water Culture

We can all help foster a culture of seamanship — one where everyone on the water keeps an eye out for others.
If something doesn’t look quite right, take a moment to check. A small gesture can make a huge difference.

And the next time you’re the one who needs a hand, you’ll be glad that this spirit of seamanship lives on.

Seamanship is about skill, yes – but more importantly, it’s about connection and care

On the water, we are all in the same boat

–

Let’s pull together and make a good crew!

The post What exactly is seamanship? appeared first on All Winds Adventures.

The STX 11’6″ Touring SUP is a 3.5m long SUP with 270 litres of volume, manufactured with a double-layer construction. The board weighs a little more than some other boards of its size, but the double-layer construction makes it a reliable, durable and stiff iSUP for its 799CHF price tag.

Unpacking

All STX SUPs come with a backpack, pump and aluminium paddle (except the Freeride 280 Windsurf Board). While the quality of the backpack and paddle is not amazing, they are perfectly functional.

The backpack is made of a relatively lightweight material with very simple padded shoulder straps. There is ample room in the backpack to easily pack the SUP back in after usage. While perfectly functional (and has proven reasonably durable) it does look a little cheaper than the backpacks I’ve seen from other brands. Ironically, while looking cheaper than the backpack I received with another brand of SUP (which costs more than twice the price of the STX) the STX backpack has survived a season’s use much better.

The paddle is a very basic aluminium paddle, which, while functional, is possibly the one thing I would personally like to upgrade in this package. It is at least comparable to the paddle which you would receive in any other bundled package.

The pump is where STX starts to prove its value for money. It’s a good quality pump that can be set to either inflate or deflate, which is great when you want to pack the board up as small as possible. I’ve ended up using the STX pump as a matter of preference when inflating other SUPs of other brands.

Rolling the board out, you get a sense of the materials being more sturdy than quite a few of the other boards I have tried. In terms of build quality, the board is comparable to boards from many more expensive brands. The double-layer construction inflates to provide a very solid, stiff board.

On the Water

The quality of the deck pad is good, and the board is very comfortable to stand on. Once on the water, the board is stable and paddles efficiently without any noticeable feeling of bending under my 80kg. We have efficiently paddled the board two up with the 270 litres of volume, providing enough flotation for two adults on flat water.

The narrow nose of the board rides efficiently through chop if the water state gets rougher. However, like all iSUPs, this board is quite a handful when the wind picks up. It is certainly not any worse than any other board I have tested in this respect.

Once finished paddling, the board rolls very easily and fits without any difficulty in the supplied backpack. If you want to have things fit a little bit better together, you can use the deflate function of the pump to reduce the space the board needs when rolled up in the bag. This allows ample room in the backpack for anything else you would like to take with you on your way to the lake.

The bungee cord on the front of the board provides ample storage space for a dry bag with a picnic and possibly some warmer clothing in it. The handle is comfortably padded and does not cause any difficulties when carrying the board over a longer distance. The supplied fin uses a slide-in clip system rather than a plate and screw. This is much easier to set up and definitely saves a minute or two when setting the board up to get on the water. It does mean that if you were to lose a fin you would need to find a suitable replacement, whereas the standard US box fins would be easier to come by if necessary.

Perhaps the only thing that is missing from this package for me is a leash. Despite having a number of SUPs to test over the summer of 2019 from Oxbow, Bic, Quatro, STX and Fanatic, this board became my board of choice. Coming in at close to half the price of the Fanatic, Oxbow and Quatro, the board offers performance in comparison with the best of the more expensive boards.

Summary

The STX 11’6″ inflatable SUP is a great value for money double-layer board, which will provide many hours of fun on the water. The performance is comparable with much more expensive boards, and in my opinion, STX is probably the most underrated brand of SUPs that I am aware of on the market at the moment.

Update 2020/21

STX hasn’t rested on their Laurels with their iSUPs. For the 2020 season, they updated the construction to make the boards lighter without losing any of their stiffness. The new fusion technology fuses the two layers of the SUP instead of sticking them together with glue, which means a considerable saving in weight without any sacrifice to performance. The STX SUPs are one of the stiffest boards out there and stiffer than almost all of the brands, which sometimes cost double their price.

Availability

The board is available in Switzerland through Swiss Alpine Adventure/All Winds Adventures. Use the contact link above.

The post STX 11’6″ Touring Inflatable SUP – Review appeared first on All Winds Adventures.

The STX Inflatable Windsurf 280 is the board that initially introduced me to the STX brand. I first discovered the board on display in a shop and it’s simplicity, versatility and price point immediately appealed to me. I had sailed a few WindSUPs, but this board seemed like it had more to offer. On paper it seemed to be a “Jack of all trades” which could be used by beginner and intermediate windsurfers, but with straps and a release edge so that planning was also possible. I was immediately interested in the concept and contacted STX to try and get my hands on a test board.

The Board

The Board is 280cm long and has 280 litres of volume. The shape is very simple with a rounded nose and square tail and a glued on “rail” starting from approximately where you would expect the planning area to start. This rail is to help with water release assisting the board in getting onto the plane. Most inflatable boards have rounded edges which sucks into the water and prevents the board from releasing.

The STX features two fin boxes in the rear of the board and one centre fin in the middle. The centre fin is removable for planning conditions in the hands of more advanced riders. All three fin boxes protrude from the base of the board which does increase drag and there is a little flex in the rear fins when loaded laterally at higher speeds. The rear fin boxes are US slot boxes with a screw fin system and the centre box uses a slide in fin with a clip similar to what is found on the other STX Stand Up Paddle Boards.

The mast base is a single threaded hole in the board and STX recommend that you use a “cardan” (hinged) mastfoot with this board to reduce loads which could potentially pull the mast base out of the board. The mast foot thread is covered with a sticker saying “recreational use only” when you first unpack the board.

Unpacking

The STX 280 Windsurf comes in the same bag as all STX inflatable SUPs. In the bag there is the same high quality pump supplied with all STX boards (The deflate function comes in handy with this model), three fins and the repair kit. The 280 Windsurf does not come with a paddle.

When first unrolling the board it is worthwhile remembering how it was folded up and packed in the bag as with the extra fin box it is not necessarily obvious how to best fold the board to pack it away at the end of the session.

With the supplied pump the STX Windsurf board pumps in under 10 minutes. The board feels quite hard and stiff for an inflatable board when on the water with 15 psi of pressure. The valve on the board states that it can take up to 20 psi, but I am not aware of how this might affect your warranty.

On the Water

Advanced Sailor

For a more advanced sailor the board definitely feels different to a hard board. But it would be unfair to compare a 899CHF inflatable windsurf board to a 2000CHF+ Carbon board. At 80kg I could feel a very slight give in the deck which felt similar to how a slightly delaminated hard board might feel.

The volume is immediately evident and if you are used to sailing smaller boards it does take a moment to get used to this. But, bearing away in about 18 knots of wind the board started to rise onto the plane as you would expect with just a little extra drag compared to a hard board. Once planing you do feel a little drag from the external fin boxes but the board does release to give a proper sensation of windsurfing. I managed to get almost 20 knots out of the board which was not much slower than the speed I was going on my wave board in the same conditions.

The volume makes the board very stable off the plane and normal low speed maneuvers like tacking and gybing are very easy on this board. Due to the good quality deckpad which provides considerable grip the board is ideal for practicing any manouvers you might want to learn in lighter winds. Once planing foot steering works, but the board is quite challenging to plane through a gybe preferring a flarve technique of foot steering in and flaring the board out.

Beginners

The high volume of the STX along with the soft edges and good deck pad lend it to being an ideal beginner/intermediate board. I’ve thought beginners up to 100kg on the STX over the summer of 2019 and it has proven to be a very dependable board for those taking their first steps.

The relatively short length and centre fin make the board very maneuverable and with flat water conditions most beginners can learn and progress quickly. The stable platform allows total beginners to concentrate on learning how to handle the sail and progressing sailors can use this stability to think about their technique rather than just trying to stay on the board.

I would go as far as to say that this is possibly one of the boards that I have had most success with in teaching beginner and intermediate windsurfers.

SUP

While developed primarily as a Windsurf board, the 280 Windsurf also works quite well as a Stand Up Paddle board. At 9’2″ the board is shorter than most other inflatables, but offers great stability and maneuverability at the cost of a very slight reduction in gliding ability. When paddling with someone else on a 10’6″ inflatable I did not really feel disadvantaged, but the board did feel like it needed just a tiny bit more energy over a standard SUP. The only thing missing (in my opinion) for using the 280 Windsurf as a SUP board would be some bungee cord on the nose to allow carrying a drybag along when going for a paddle.

Some taller or heavier people I’ve had out to try out a range of SUPs actually choose the STX Windsurf board as their SUP of choice, due to it’s stability. So, the STX 280 Windsurf can definitely also be used as a SUP board if you are so inclined (paddle sold separately)

Packing Up

Packing was probably the most challenging element of using the STX 280 Windsurf, but with a little practice this can also be mastered. Due to the box for the centre fin the board can not be simply rolled up like other iSUPs. The board first needs to be folded from the nose to about half way along it’s length, then the tail needs to be folded over the back of the fin boxes and the board folded from the tail to meet the section which has been folded from the nose. Using this method ensures that the board can fit easily in the bag despite the extra fin box. Using the deflate function on the supplied pump to remove all the air from the board definitely makes folding the board easier.

Summary

The STX 280 Windsurf is a great value for money board for a family who would like one board to do it all for Stand Up Paddle or Windsurfing. The ability to store the board in it’s backpack greatly helps with storage and transport. For those who already windsurf at a higher level the board is a great toy for lighter winds in the summer or to teach your family and friends to the sport. If like me you are generally sailing in higher winds on small wave boards the STX can be a great compliment and allow you to get out and play in the summer on days when you would otherwise sit on the beach.

Availability

The board is available in Switzerland through Swiss Alpine Adventure/Wannabe Watersports. Use the contact link to contact us.

The post STX Inflatable Windsurf 280 – Review appeared first on All Winds Adventures.

Switzerland’s many beautiful lakes make it one of the best places in Europe to enjoy Stand Up Paddle (SUP). Calm morning water, breathtaking mountain views and easy access to the shore make SUP the perfect way to connect with nature — whether you’re a first-timer or a seasoned paddler.

At All Winds Adventures, we’ve watched SUP evolve from a surfside curiosity to one of the most accessible water sports around.

My SUP Story – From Waves to Lakes

I first stood on a SUP board back in the early 2000s when it was emerging as a new way to ride waves. At that time, I thought it was great for catching mellow surf, but I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to paddle it on flat water.

Fast forward ten years, and I found myself eating my words. Looking for a way to spend more time on the water when there wasn’t enough wind to windsurf, I started exploring Swiss lakes on a SUP.

Standing gives you a better view than sitting in a kayak, you use more muscles to balance, and with today’s inflatable SUP boards, storage and transport are easy — pump up in 5–10 minutes and you’re ready to go.

Now, I enjoy SUPing on flat water even more than I ever expected when I first tried it all those years ago.

SUP Regulations in Switzerland

Before heading out, make sure you know the rules and safety regulations for Stand Up Paddle in Switzerland. Here are the key points every paddler should remember:

• Stay out of swimming zones: Inside the yellow buoys is for swimmers only. Entering with a board can result in fines.
• Avoid harbours, marina entrances, and ferry landings: These areas are reserved for motorboats and passenger vessels.
• Wear a buoyancy aid when paddling more than 300 m from shore. It’s legally required — and safer.
• Carry a white light after sunset that can be seen from all directions.
• Keep 25 m distance from reed-covered shorelines to protect wildlife habitats.

SUP Safety Tips

Stand Up Paddleboarding is one of the safest water sports — but a little common sense goes a long way:

1. Always wear a leash. Your board is your best flotation device. Losing it in wind or current can mean a long, tiring swim.
2. Dress for the conditions. Cold water? Wear a wetsuit or drysuit.
3. Learn recovery skills. Practice getting back on your board in chest-deep water before heading far from shore.
4. Avoid offshore winds. If the wind blows from land to lake, it will push you away quickly. Return early if it starts to strengthen.
5. Supervise children and check your inflatable board for leaks before launching.
6. Use the correct leash type on rivers.
7. Take a lesson if you’re new to SUP. You’ll gain technique and safety awareness that make the experience far more enjoyable.

At All Winds Adventures, we offer private coaching — perfect for beginners or anyone wanting to improve confidence and technique.

Choosing the Right SUP Board

Inflatable

Inflatable boards are ideal for Swiss conditions — easy to store, lightweight, and portable by car or train.
Performance is slightly less than hard boards, but for recreational paddling, that’s a fair trade-off.

Typical inflatable SUP sizes:

• 10’6″ All-round boards: Very stable, ideal for beginners and casual paddling.
• 11’6″ Touring boards: Slightly faster and track straighter — great for longer outings or carrying a drybag.
• 12’6″ Touring/Race style: Narrower, faster, but less stable. Best for intermediate paddlers.
• 14′ Performance boards: Designed for distance and efficiency, but less manoeuvrable.

For most paddlers, an 11’6″ inflatable SUP offers the best balance of stability and glide.

Hard Boards

Hard boards deliver more performance and efficiency, especially for long distances or waves, but they take up more storage space and are harder to transport.

• Race boards (≈14 ft): Fast but narrow and less stable — ideal for fitness paddlers.
• Wave SUPs (7’10″–10’): Short, manoeuvrable, and designed for surf. On lakes, they’re less efficient but fun if you want crossover use for travel.

If you’re choosing one hard board to use both on Swiss lakes and in small surf, aim for 8’6″–10’ length and 130 L+ volume.

Summary

Stand Up Paddleboarding is a fantastic way to explore the lakes of Switzerland, stay fit, and enjoy nature from a new perspective.
With the right board and basic safety awareness, almost anyone can do it.

Inflatable SUPs offer portability and great value, while hard boards bring performance and speed.
Whatever you choose, the key is simply to get on the water — and start paddling.

At All Winds Adventures, we offer:

SUP Equipment Sales — from trusted brands like Naish, STX, North, Slingshot & Mystic

SUP Coaching & Taster Sessions — learn with professional guidance

SUP Rentals — take a board for a weekend or your holiday

Feel free to contact us if you would like any further information regarding Stand Up Paddle in Switzerland.

The post Stand Up Paddle (SUP) in Switzerland appeared first on All Winds Adventures.