Are SUP touring boards boring? The E-Ticket from Infinity SUP suggests otherwise

The E-Ticket, a Performance Touring Board from Infinity SUP

Touring boards are probably the most useful boards available, they are designed to be efficient, stable and robust, to work in all conditions and to carry loads over big distances. Yet they are often overshadowed by their sexier, race-board siblings. The E-Ticket from Infinity Surfboards is Dave Boehne’s take on the touring board and it is a bit special as Chris from TotalSUP found out recently.

An E-Ticket for adventure

Are SUP Touring boards boring?

The reason that they exist is to carry ‘stuff’ and no matter how much paddlers dream of going on epic expeditions most of us simply do not have the time or skills to do an unsupported multi-day trip. And if you are not going to head off to the horizon then why get a touring board?

Infinity SUP do not think Touring boards have to be boring. They have taken the hooligan DNA from previous generations of the Blackfish, mixed that up with some ‘bells and whistles’, added a robust carbon construction and given us the E-Ticket, a Performance SUP Touring Board that is far from boring!

Infinity E-Ticket Design

What is the E-Ticket? According to Infinity, it is a ’Performance Touring Board’, a board for adventures that is based on a race board. The essence of this SUP comes from the older generations of Infinity Blackfish, a board with a great pedigree that performs well in most conditions. But how to turn a SUP race board into a SUP touring board?

Infinity added some extra width, Dave describes this as a “wide point forward” design, the widest point is ahead of the centre of the board thereby increasing stability. They kept the very flat tail from previous Blackfish designs to extend the rail helping with tracking and of course, stability. They used their Innegra Tech construction to keep the cost down and to increase durability.

Underneath the hull looks simple but again the Infinity team have been smart using their experience to make a fun board. Dave describes the nose as ‘clean with soft rails’ which helps it slide over waves from the side and over waves from the front. A shallow single concave starts under the paddler which helps provide a little lift when paddling, again helping with stability.

This board is as playful as its siblings while being able to carry a lot of stuff if you feel like escaping for a long weekend on the water.

E-Ticket for fun

First Impressions of the Infinity E-Ticket

Luckily, my nearest Infinity dealer, Morten at Infinity SUP Nordic has a 14’ x 30” E-Ticket as one of his demo boards and he was more than happy to take me on a short tour of his local spot with the E-Ticket under my feet. Even luckier was the day we arranged to meet up, a beautifully sunny, warm spring day in Sweden with a stiff breeze from the north kicking up the water, enough to get a good idea of how this board behaves.

My first impressions of the board were good. On the grass by the beach the deep blue of the deck with subtle, deeper blue highlights set off the crisp white rails and Infinity logos nicely. The grey, two-tone deck pad continues the subtle highlights from the deck and ends with a kick pad. There is an FCS GoPro mount near the nose, deck bungees in front of the standing area, a central recessed carry handle and more bungee at the tail before the single leash point. Practical stuff and exactly as expected.

Worth noting is that this board has been with Morten for well over a year, it has seen a lot of use and still looks great! He sensibly taped the rails from front to back when he got it to give a little more protection in its role as a demo board but the rest of the board is as it left the factory and there was very little sign of wear and tear. Good to know if you are looking for a robust board.

The burly construction has one disadvantage, there is a little extra weight when comparing this to a thoroughbred race board like the Blackfish. The deep recessed handle helps with this and handling the board wasn’t a problem. I was surprised that there are no other handle options, if you did plan on using this as a multi-day tourer then options for handles would be nice but they would increase the cost.

E-Ticket on the water

Heading out from a very sheltered sandy bay in perfectly flat water the extra weight over my usual Blackfish Flat Deck was not felt at all, cruising along at a nice pace and having a chat about boards and SUP in general without thinking about what I was standing on. Which I think is one of the main points of a versatile board, it should be easy for anyone to paddle without thinking about it.

We then turned right, straight into the wind and an entertaining little swell. Nothing major but enough to make any paddler think about timing their strokes to match waves and about tracking, boards that zig and zag are less fun going into the wind. Here that nice wide nose and volume made paddling easy and fun and that extended rail certainly helps with tracking. We then paddled further up the coast and into a sheltered natural, sandy canal, the perfect place to see how stable that wide tail is when you move back and, as expected you can turn this son-of-Blackfish on a dime, or a kronor as they might say in Sweden. This board is so stable it encourages the playful paddler to enjoy themselves if they want to.

Back into the wind for another exposed section of the coast before another right turn and a chance to ride some bumps into our coffee stop. Here the board excelled, catching the swell without much encouragement from me, whoops and giggles all the way. If you haven’t ridden a wide board recently then you really should.

Swapping boards I entertained myself on an older, flatter Infinity Wide Aquatic on the way home while Morten got to enjoy a longer, bump-assisted trip back. I think it’s fair to say he enjoyed himself on the Big Blackfish too.

Infinity E-Ticket as a Demo Board

The reason I got to try this board is that Morten has one for paddlers to try, keeping boards in stock is not easy for many retailers so choosing the right boards is a difficult and important decision. We chatted about why this E-Ticket is in his small demo fleet

“I needed a board that represented the brand and that would fit the paddling here on the West Coast of Sweden while also being tough enough to withstand the knocks and bumps that a rental board will pick up in its life. And I wanted something different that paddlers might not have seen before that I could use alongside my race board.

The E-Ticket is perfectly suited to that need, it is stable and makes a great platform for new paddlers or those moving up from their first inflatable board. It is fast and great in the sea when there is some swell, which really helps the inexperienced with their first light downwind or ‘Downbreezer’ as Chris has started to call them!

It is also super-tough and that has helped lower my stress when I see someone bump it onto concrete or rocks. I am really pleased with my choice and this E-Ticket is helping put people on the water on their adventures.”

Infinity E-Ticket pricing

Paddling the E-Ticket is fun but there is one more thing that makes this board stand out, and that is the price. At the time of writing the Infinity USA website lists the retail price for the 14′ x 30″ at approximately half that of the 14’x 28″ Blackfish. Prices in other regions will vary because of tax and delivery but however you look at it this board is very good value.

The new Infinity Blackfish XL?

This board is an extension of the Blackfish family, it is an oversize Blackfish or Blackfish XL and if you are looking for a board that can do a bit of everything then this could be the board for you. The E-Ticket is a great choice if changing from an inflatable and you are concerned with looking after a hardboard or if you need to carry lots of stuff for your own epic adventures.

Infinity Surfboards are a family-owned and family-run business based in Dana Point, CA, USA.  The Infinity E-Ticket is their Performance Touring SUP and is available in a range of sizes from 11’6″ x 28 up to 14′ x 30″.

You can see more Infinity Boards in action on their social media channels – Infinity SUP Instagram and Infinity SUP Facebook.

Images and E-Ticket SUP board from Morten Bruhn at Infinity SUP Nordic, you can see more of their Infinity action on Instagram. Other images from Chris Jones. The tech specification graphic for the E-Ticket is from the Infinity SUP website.