Hobie All Around 11′ iSUP Review | 2024

Hobie All Around 11’ iSUP: Overview

The Hobie All Around 11’ iSUP is a great choice for paddlers looking for an iSUP that can do a little bit of everything. It’s stability and performance make it good for beginners, while its speed and efficiency keep it fun for more advanced paddlers. The All Around 11’ also comes with a complete kit of accessories so you’ll have everything you need to hit the water.

— Hobie All Around 11’ Summary Ratings and Review —

Construction and Durability

The Hobie All Around 11’ uses a double-layer PVC construction for a combination of durability and rigidity while keeping the board relatively light.

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Inside the Hobie All Around 11’ is a double-wall fabric core with thousands of drop stitch yarns between the two layers. These yarns give the board its flat shape and rigidity. The fabric walls are made of a knitted polyester fabric that is then coated in a layer of PVC material to make the fabric airtight.

A second layer of PVC – a reinforced PVC tarpaulin – is then adhered to the first layer of PVC. This reinforced layer provides a great deal of rigidity and durability without the need for a full third layer of material. Once the board shape is cut from this raw material, the edges are glued together with a band of PVC that runs continuously around the edge of the board. This inner rail band finishes the airtight chamber, but the board isn’t done yet.

Another, wider, band of PVC is glued around the edge of the board to protect the inner layer and provide more rigidity. Finally two narrow strips are glued over the edges of the outer rail band to provide additional reinforcement.

Once the board is built, then the deck pad, D-rings, and other features are installed on the board giving it a total board-only weight of just over 23 lbs.

Once inflated to its maximum recommended 16 PSI, we put the All Around 11’ through our dry-land bend test to see how rigid it is. With 170 lbs of weight, the All Around 11’ deflected 1.65” (4.2 cm) or just a little bit more than our current running average of 1.56” (collected by testing over 100 different iSUPs).

On the water, the All Around 11’ feels pleasantly stiff. I didn’t notice any flex while standing or paddling normally, though I could feel the board flex when paddling in a sprint, and it was a little bouncy as I walked across the board and lifted the nose out of the water.

Overall I think the Hobie All Around 11’ is built well and provides a good level of rigidity for most paddlers. Paddlers over 250 lbs would benefit from a more rigid board, like the Hobie Recon, though.

Specifications

Features, Accessories and Versatility

The Hobie All Around 11’ iSUP has a generous amount of cargo storage and threaded accessory mounts to accommodate just about anything you want to bring with you for a day on the water.

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The All Around 11’ comes with a complete kit of paddling accessories – everything you need to get on the water except for a PFD. Along with the board you get a wheeled transportation bag with a padded backpack harness, carbon fiber/nylon paddle, fins, leash, repair kit, and a triple-action hand pump.

Paddle

The Hobie SUP paddle has a carbon fiber shaft and a medium size nylon blade that fits a wide variety of paddlers.

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Paddles for any watercraft, including SUPs, can be a very personal choice. However not everyone wants, or needs, a high-end paddle option that is custom fit. The Hobie SUP paddle does a great job of fitting a wide variety of paddlers for most casual paddling uses.

The carbon fiber shaft helps keep the overall weight of the paddle down (right around 29 ounces) while still providing a moderately stiff feeling and good feedback in your hand. There is some flex in the paddle shaft, and that’s a good thing for smaller paddlers or anyone paddling for longer periods of time as it reduces fatigue compared to a very stiff paddle shaft.

The blade is a medium size rectangular paddle blade that allows you to easily adjust how much power you use with each stroke simply by reducing how much of the blade is in the water. Teardrop shape paddle blades have more surface area at the bottom of the blade, requiring you to use more power with each stroke. The narrower shape also makes it easier to take faster strokes when you want to paddle quickly, and the nylon material is very durable.

The handle section is also made of carbon fiber with a nylon hand grip. The grip has some texturing on the palm-side of the grip, which may not be the most comfortable for long periods of paddling at once. The adjustable handle uses a pin-and-clip system for quick, easy, and repeatable adjustments that automatically align your paddle handle and blade together.

Stability

At 32” wide with a parallel shape and relatively wide tail, the Hobie All Around 11’ has great stability for paddlers of all skill levels.

Paddle board stability is the result of a board’s size and shape. The All Around 11’ has a pretty traditional size (11’x32”) but there are a few key things with its shape that help give it great stability. First, the nose of the board is kept nice and wide before taping at the very last minute. This helps add volume to the board, gives it more surface area in contact with the water, and helps straighten out the sides of the board. The same goes for the tail. The rear of the board is also kept quite wide, and the tail itself is a moderately wide (nearly 20”) square shape. Again, this helps increase surface area and keeps the sides of the board parallel. Because the board is kept relatively straight throughout the midsection there is more volume, more surface area, and the stability feels very consistent wherever you stand. I didn’t notice any rolling, tilting, or twitching while standing and paddling on the All Around 11’. While walking to the rear of the board I felt that it was consistently stable without a noticeable change until I reached the last 3 feet of the board, near the end of the deck pad. Once I lifted the nose of the board out of the water, the stability did drop (as it always does) but it did not become squirrely or hard to manage.

The same goes for bouncing and rocking on the board. The All Around 11’ remained consistent and predictable throughout its range of motion.

I would like to see the deck pad improved with some degree of texturing to provide more traction – especially at the tail of the board. The brushed foam pad is comfortable, but doesn’t feel as grippy as even lightly textured deck pads.

Speed

The Hobie All Around 11’ can be paddled pleasantly fast in a sprint and efficiently for longer distances.

In our speed test, the Hobie All Around 11’ clocked an average sprinting speed of 5.5 MPH, and hit a peak speed of 5.7 MPH. I did notice that both the paddle and the board had some noticeable flex while sprinting (though not when paddling at a more reasonable cadence). This is pretty quick for an all-around iSUP, though not a speed that is easily maintained for long distances.

When paddling at a more reasonable cadence of about 25 strokes per minute (continuous paddling with a slight pause between strokes), the All Around 11’ moved along at an average of 3.6 MPH, and I didn’t notice any undue flex in the board or paddle. Once up to its cruising speed, the All Around 11’ moves almost 20’ per stroke before it begins to slow down, giving it a gliding ratio of 1.8 board-lengths per stroke. That’s very high for an all-around iSUP, but not quite at the level of a touring-style board.

Overall I was quite impressed with the Hobie All Around 11’s speed, but mostly I was pleased with its performance at a cruising pace.

Maneuverability and Tracking

As an all-around iSUP, the Hobie All Around 11’ does a great job of balancing maneuverability and tracking, but does lean toward slightly better tracking than faster turning.

There’s a lot of different components that go into how fast a paddle board will turn or how easy it is to keep straight. Nearly every design decision about the board from the deck down will impact these characteristics in one way or another.

The Hobie All Around 11’ did fairly well in our maneuverability test. By using forward sweep strokes only, it requires an average of 7.75 strokes to turn the board in a complete circle from a standstill. That’s a little high for an all-around iSUP, but not by much. Our maneuverability test is designed as a stress test to really show differences between different paddle boards. There are much faster ways to turn the All Around 11’ as well. Reverse sweeps (paddling in an arc from tail to nose) help the All Around 11’ make the same circle in nearly half the effort – just 4 paddle strokes on average.

Because of the consistent stability from the parallel shape of the board, it’s quite comfortable to step back to the tail for a quick pivot turn as well. Here I’d like to see a different texture deck pad or a raised kick pad at the tail to let you know when you’re reaching the end of the board, but even without the All Around 11’ felt stable and smooth while the pivot turn spun the board with just two strokes.

I was quite impressed with the tracking performance of the All Around 11’. Like our maneuverability test, the tracking test is designed to be a stress test. We paddle toward a distant target and once the board is moving in a straight line we take 10 forward strokes on one side of the board without any steering input. Then we measure the difference between the new course and the original course with a compass.

The Hobie All Around 11’ did better in our tracking test than I expected and only deviated off its course by an average of 12° after 10 paddle strokes. Most paddlers tend to change sides for comfort about every 6-8 strokes, which would only increase the tracking outcome.

Needless to say, it’s very easy to keep the All Around 11’ on course while cruising around. I did feel that the tracking performance wasn’t quite as good as the board flexed during a sprint, but it was still manageable with minor corrective strokes.

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The Hobie All Around 11’ has a 2+1 fin configuration with one large center fin and two smaller side fins. All three fins use a flip-lock style fin box that eliminates the need for specialized nuts and bolts, but does limit the number and ease of availability of alternate or replacement fins. In our testing we always use products how consumers are most likely to use them. In this case, that means we have all three fins installed on the board. With all three fins in place, you can maximize the board’s tracking ability. By using just the center fin the All Around 11’ has a better balance of tracking and maneuverability, and by just using the side fins you can more easily paddle in shallow water and maximize your maneuverability.

Warranty and Customer Support

The Hobie All Around 11’ is covered by Hobie’s 2 year warranty, however it does not appear that Hobie covers the other included accessories under an explicit warranty program. Because the Hobie All Around 11’ is only available through Hobie’s retail dealership network any return policies and all warranty claims will go through your local Hobie dealer. You can contact Hobie via their website, email, telephone, or you can reach out to your local Hobie dealer.

Overall Impressions/Review Summary

The Hobie All Around 11’ is like its namesake – it does well at pretty much everything. The speed, stability, tracking, and maneuverability performance are all very well balanced. The board’s outline lends it to a consistent feel no matter where you are standing or whether it’s loaded up with a passenger or extra cargo. One key feature it is missing that most all-around iSUPs have is built-in kayak seat compatibility. You can certainly strap a seat around the board or glue on your own D-rings, but the lack of compatibility out of the box is a bit of a shock in this market. Overall the Hobie All Around 11’ is a great option for paddlers of any skill level who want a board that performs well in a variety of different conditions and activities without getting into specialized equipment.

Hobie All Around 11’ iSUP FAQ