What’s inside an inflatable stand-up paddle board?

Have you ever wondered how an inflatable stand-up paddle is designed? What is the design process? What materials are they made from? To answer all these questions, we called on Noéline Bezard, engineer at Itiwit. Both designer and project manager for the Decathlon brand’s new products, Noéline’s work is at the heart of the creation of your stand-up paddles. What’s more, much of this process is Made In France, and we can even say Made In Hendaye, at Decathlon’s Water Sports Center! Passionate about outdoor sports, Noéline takes advantage of the location of this design center to test products directly and experiment. In this interview, Noéline gives us an overview of the birth of a new inflatable SUP, from the first ideas to the launch on the shelves.

Hi Noéline, you’re an Itiwit engineer at the Water Sports Center. What does your job involve?

As an engineer, I’m responsible for developing the new products that will be in our Decathlon stores tomorrow, as well as designing and managing these projects. By analyzing our users and the market, our product managers identify new needs and write the specifications for developing the corresponding new products. For my part, I set the pace for the technical part of the project, ensuring that it progresses smoothly and that the new models are implemented in our stores. To do this, I work in collaboration with our various experts, as well as with our engineers in the different production countries, who are in contact with our suppliers to find the best technical solutions. Finally, I make sure that the products already in our stores are of the highest quality, season after season.

What was your background before becoming an engineer at Itiwit?

My initial training was in mechanical engineering. I worked for a major French automotive group for a few years, both in production and design. A few years later, I completed my training with studies in sports biomechanics, specializing in sports shoe design. It was as part of this further study that I joined the Decathlon group eight years ago.

Since then, I’ve held a number of different jobs in different sports entities within the company, and have worked on many of the products found in stores today. I’m currently a stand-up paddle engineer at Itiwit, Decathlon’s paddle sports brand. I do a lot of outdoor sports and I love being in contact with the ocean. The location of the Hendaye site, with its feet right in the water, means that I can test products under development on a daily basis. I really like the SUP Compact, which allows me to mix different activities while hiking with the board on my back to access a lake or river. And as soon as the waves arrive, I like to SUP surf.

What’s your role in the design process of a new inflatable stand up paddle board? Is there any experimentation involved?

It takes about a year and a half for a new board to see the light of day, from the launch of the project to its arrival in stores. It’s a collaborative effort, and my role is to coordinate and call on the various technical experts at the right time.

Experimentation is part of the project, as we need several board samples throughout the development process to arrive at the final product. This enables us to test materials, colors, new processes or new functions, which we validate through laboratory tests as well as in use with users.

Experimentation… that’s part of it!

How do you make an inflatable board? What parameters come into play?

The first step is to determine the shape and volume of the board. To do this, we use numerical simulation to find the best ratio of stability to glide quality for the product’s intended users. This new shape will of course be validated on the water.

What is Drop Stitch?

Inflatable stand-up paddle boards use drop-stitch as their main component. This technology is characterized by wires connecting an upper layer to a lower layer to create the board’s structure. We can play with several parameters, such as the thickness of the layers or the thickness of the wires, to influence strength or weight, depending on the product and intended use. Finally, strips on the side of the board close the structure and guarantee watertightness. To assemble these strips and the various accessories, we use a manual gluing process.

Cross-section of an Itiwit single-chamber SUP. You can see the drop stitch, the different PVC strips as well as the pad and accessories.

Finally, apart from the production itself, the entire creation of a new Itiwit board is made in Hendaye, at the Itiwit Water Sports Center, right? So how does quality control work before a board goes into production?

The Itiwit Water Sports site in Hendaye brings together the design teams, of which I’m a member, as well as experts in the gluing process, and a prototyping room that enables us to make boards exactly as they would be in production. So everything can be thought out, designed, prototyped and tested on site here in Hendaye, France. In the first phase of the project, stand-up paddle boards are made at the Water Sports Center. This enables us to carry out some initial tests, which give us an idea of the project’s feasibility, and to nurture and test new ideas.

Pad and PVC selection at the Water Sports Center workshop!

The second part of the project is carried out directly in production with our suppliers. This enables them to get to grips with the project, put a price tag on it and set up the right industrial tools, taking into account our production rules. Laboratory homologation tests are also carried out to validate our product. Then, every week, at our suppliers’ sites, our production engineers ensure that the various quality controls are carried out to guarantee production stability.

Noéline performs quality control on a SUP.

When you look at Itiwit’s range of boards, you’ll find different names like eco-designed, robust… and then the “classic” SUPs. What are the differences in materials used for these boards?

Yes, we use different types of materials depending on the product and its intended use. The aim of these different constructions is to reduce our environmental impact, one of Decathlon’s key strategies. Depending on the model, we work on partially eco-designed components, but also on product durability and repairability.

We use a standard component on a large part of the range, on our “classic” SUP models, and we are testing different components on two models in particular: this is the case of the new “robust” SUP which is intended for rental. For this particular use, we had to respond to intensive use, which led us to use a reinforced material on the top and bottom of the board to increase its resistance to abrasion. We also added a 3rd sealing strip (instead of the usual two) to reduce the risk of leaks. Finally, the SUP “yoga” released last summer was aimed at a new market for Itiwit, and provided the opportunity to test a new drop stitch with a recycled textile base.

Left: Standard single-layer Drop stitch / Right: Reinforced double-layer Drop stitch

The great thing about these inflatable boards is that, unless they explode completely, they’re always repairable. Can you give us your tips for successful SUP repair?

First of all, Decathlon’s great strength is having workshop technicians specifically trained to repair our inflatable boards anywhere in the world. And the good news is that over 80% of the breakdowns and faults you encounter are repairable, so don’t hesitate to send them to our workshops! Visit your nearest Decathlon store for a repair service.

For the more do-it-yourselfers among you, you can find pieces of PVC ready to be glued in the bags of Itiwit SUP models, so you can repair your leaks yourself. In addition, you’ll need to buy a gluing kit, which you can find on our website or in some Decathlon stores.

Manual accessory and repair gluing process.

I advise you to choose a clean, flat surface to facilitate your repair. Also, cut rounded corners on your patches, then take the time to apply pressure to the repaired area to ensure a good bond. In terms of safety, the repair must be carried out on a deflated product. Once the repair is dry and complete, take the time to inflate your sup at home to check the solidity of your repair, before taking to the water again.

Find all the repair and maintenance tutorials on our Decathlon support site and on our stand-up paddle tutorials. Finally, all our spare parts are available for purchase for 10 years, so don’t worry about the long term.

Another advantage is that you can glue any accessory you like on an inflatable board, so there’s really no limit to design and customization?

Exactly! A board can really be customized. In fact, you can even call on our workshops if you’d like to add an accessory (visit the store to arrange this). However, some areas are more difficult to glue than others. The main thing is to avoid gluing over material junctions and overlapping accessories. As with classic repairs, a flat area is your best bet!

Shall I leave you with the last word?

Take good care of your SUP to enjoy it every season, and when practicing, avoid leaving your inflated product in direct sunlight, on the beach, on asphalt, or in a car as this could cause delamination. These precautions will prolong the life of your Itiwit products!

Thank you Noéline for your thorough answers!

Follow Noéline:
Instagram

More about Itiwit :
Official Website / Facebook / Instagram