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Product Review: Mistral Equipe 12-5 Inflatable Paddle Board – only 18 lbs!

This year we had our first hands-on experience with Mistral’s inflatable SUP line. Well-known for decades as a leader in windsurfing, the Mistral line originated in northwest US, but is now based out of Europe. Most recently, Mistral has forayed back into the US market, bringing their expanding inflatable SUP line.

This winter, Mistral introduced the Crossover and Equipe inflatable SUP line to the US, remarkable for its weight – or should we should say – lack of. Manufactured in Romania, the new SUPs from Mistral utilize a futuristic German material that is REACH-certified and environmentally-friendly, combining light weight with extreme stiffness. In fact, the Crossover line (shown above) starts at 16 lbs, reaching a high of 18 lbs with the 12-5 Equipe.
We first wrote up the Mistral Kailua inflatable paddle board , part of their standard line and an 11-5 foot SUP touted as a fitness board, but also a great all-round paddle board and sit-on-top. This was followed by the Mistral Adventure 11-5 inflatable SUP.

Now we check out the Mistral Equipe 12-5 inflatable paddle board, weighing in at a minimalist 18 lbs. (Please note: some of the info will be repeated from prior writeups.)
Mistral Equipe 12-5 Inflatable WindSUP – Getting Started
The board as-arrived is 33 x 17 x 13 inches in the box, which weighs 27.8 lbs.

Inside is the Equipe 12-5 body, backpack, repair kit with Gorilla glue, single action Bravo pump with pressure gauge, a removable fin, valve wrench and instructions. Once rolled up, the SUP board fits into the backpack, as well as breakdown paddles under 36 in length; the pump fits in the large front pocket or the bag. The board itself weighs 17.2 lbs, or 24.2 lbs inside the backpack with pump and other accessories – these all easily fit in the back of a small car.

For your first set up, remove the SUP body from the backpack, and unroll. Lay it out face up so that you can access the military valve.

The Equipe 12-5 utilizes one spring-loaded military valve for inflation. These are very simple to use and feature an inflate mode (spring plunger is UP) and a deflate mode (spring plunger is DOWN). By using your finger to gently push on the plunger, it can be moved to the inflate mode (air goes in and doesn’t come back out) and deflate mode (air goes in and comes back out). Not to worry, the instructions are printed on the valve. But before you make the effort to inflate the board, PLEASE make sure the plunger is in the inflate position.
The Equipe paddle board system includes a Bravo high-pressure, single-action pump with a gauge – what we term the “wide barrel” as it pushes out

Original Source: AirKayaks >>