As the seasons run their course, the time of year has arrived for snowboarders and skiers to turn in their preferred slope transportation and seek out other forms of entertainment for

the snowless seasons ahead. DSP Paddleboards, located at 950 W. Kershaw St. in Ogden, offers inflatable standup paddleboards for the board-savvy Ogdenites who will soon trade in the snow and slopes for spring and summer sports.

Dave Scadden, creator of DSP Paddleboards, has been building inflatable pontoon fishing boats for the past 20 years. He said that, three years ago, the company met mounting pressure to create a high-quality inflatable standup paddleboard.

“There’s some out there, but most of them are very poor performance, very poor quality, and us being known for our quality and our performance, we just had a lot of pressure to build one. So we did, and the rest is history, so to speak.”

Paddleboards have been used across various cultures for centuries, but over the past decade, paddleboarding has become the fastest-growing water sport in the world. Thomas Edward Blake is credited with the construction of the hollow paddleboard that provided the gateway to the modern paddleboard by drilling holes in the wood to lighten the board. While paddleboards can be utilized for recreation and racing, Blake also advocated for the paddleboard to be used as a rescue tool.

“We really go overboard on the quality that we produce,” Scadden said. He said DSP has figured out a way to incorporate sophisticated shapes and designs typically only seen with handcrafted hard surfboards. “And there again, it gave us an inflatable that rivals the performance of a hardboard and rolls up and fits into the trunk of your car.”

Scadden has been in the Ogden area for years building pontoon boats. He said the product is seeing a growth in business that resulted in DSP Paddleboards splitting from his pontoon company to become its own separate company, focused solely on the paddleboards.

“The thrill of riding a standup paddleboard, together with its ease and universal accessibility, makes the sport one of the most exciting things to happen in the action world,” said Andre Niemeyer, president of the Stand Up Paddle Industry Association, on SUPIndustry.org. “Many of the hurdles previously associated with action sports (e.g., snow, wind and waves) have been removed. And to make it even more inviting, paddleboarding is low-impact and requires no athletic prowess.”

Scadden said DSP Paddleboards offers the only unconditional lifetime warranty in the industry, that the boards allow ease of travel and are very user-friendly. He said all ages can enjoy paddleboarding. He recently sold a paddleboard to a 92-year-old man in Oregon.

“You can make it as physical, or less physical, as you’d like,” he said.

Standup paddleboarding offers a full-body workout that focuses on core strength, cardio fitness, balance and flexibility. DSP Paddleboards’ packages begin at $699 and reach up to $1,300, depending on the style and size of the equipment.