Olaian Inflatable Surfboard by Decathlon

First there were paddleboards, now there’s a surfboard!

Inflatable technology has revolutionized the world of paddleboards - they have become a must on board our multihulls. The only thing left to do was to design a surfboard...

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Published 18/03/2021

By Emmanuel van Deth

Issue: 176

Published: mar. / apr. 2021

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This is an activity often popular with sailors, and surf spots are sometimes found very close to anchorages. The objective was therefore to offer a product that was thinner and lighter than a paddleboard in order to provide the closest possible performance to a regular board. Decathlon's engineers chose drop stitch technology - thousands of nylon filaments placed inside the board, which, once inflated, keep the upper and lower parts parallel. The process has been used in a woven and reinforced version in order to obtain a board that is both rigid and thin (only 2” / 5 cm thick). Eighteen months of design went into creating a convincing product - the Olaian surfboard – which has been tested by 50 experienced surfers along the coasts of the Basque region, the Landes area of France, and in Martinique. On a practical note, this inflatable surfboard will fit in a backpack and can be inflated in just two minutes: perfect for multihulls under 40 feet!

Olaian inflatable surfboard specifications:

Length: 6.6 feet (2 m)

Thickness: 2” (5 cm)

Weight: 12.8 lbs (5.8 kg)

Inflation: 19 psi

Price: € 280

Price of the pump: € 35

www.decathlon.com