Aqua Marina Cascade Hybrid Inflatable SUP/Kayak Review | 2024

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Aqua Marina Cascade iSUP: Overview

The Aqua Marina Cascade is a hybrid inflatable stand up paddleboard and inflatable kayak. While it has all the features of both an iSUP and an IK, the Cascade functions better as a kayak than as an iSUP for a variety of reasons.

If you are looking for an inflatable kayak that you can occasionally use as an iSUP, the Aqua Marina Cascade may be the right choice for you. However if you are looking for a Stand Up Paddleboard that can double as a kayak, I would recommend a dedicated iSUP with a kayak conversion kit instead. This review is primarily focused on the Cascade’s performance as a hybrid iSUP/Kayak rather than just as a kayak.

— Aqua Marina Cascade iSUP Summary Ratings and Review —

Construction and Durability

The Cascade uses Aqua Marina’s Drop Stitch Lite construction – the same as their all-around iSUPs – for the primary chamber, and a drop stitch floor for the recessed sitting area.

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The Aqua Marina Cascade is a two-part water craft. The primary chamber makes up the bulk of the vessel and uses the same Drop Stitch Lite (DS Lite) construction technology as the other all-around iSUPs from Aqua Marina. DS Lite uses a single layer of PVC fabric adhered to the inner drop stitch core to create the main shell of the craft. The top and bottom layers are then sealed together with an inner rail band of PVC while a second layer of PVC is wrapped around that to provide additional stiffness and abrasion resistance. The Cascade also has rail reinforcement bands on both the top and bottom of the rails. These reinforcement bands provide an extra layer of protection to the edges of the rails from damage that could cause the rails to lift at the edges. The Cascade’s main chamber has a maximum inflation pressure of 15 PSI.

Aqua Marina’s exact construction technology is not entirely clear for its DS Lite inflatable SUPs (including the Cascade). There is mention of high-frequency and heat welding in their construction generically, but no direct mentions of which models, lines, or parts actually receive these treatments. We reached out to Aqua Marina for clarification, but received no response. If we do get clarification from Aqua Marina we will update our reviews with any new information.

The main chamber of the Cascade has a large “donut hole” in the middle that is lined on the bottom with a layer of PVC. This creates a recessed cockpit area that makes the Cascade usable as more of a sit-in inflatable kayak. There is a second, completely removable, chamber for the floor of this recess. The floor is significantly thinner at about 2”, however it is still made with drop stitched PVC. The floor has a maximum inflation pressure of only 10 PSI. Because it is significantly smaller in all dimensions, the actual feel of the floor under your feet is not too dissimilar to the rest of the board, but there is more to that in the Stability section below.

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When putting the Cascade to our bend test we made the decision to test with the weight placed on the main chamber only. Because the floor of the cockpit is essentially separate from the main chamber, it would not provide a very clear view of the stiffness of the overall craft, but just the floor.

We tested the main chamber of the Cascade the same as we do with all of the other iSUPs we review. We place the board on two supports seven feet apart and place a 170lb weight at the middle of the board. Then we measure the amount the board bends between being unweighted and weighted.

Generally, boards that are wider and thicker tend to have a better result in the bend test. The extra size and thickness spread the weight out better and reduce the overall deflection. Because the Cascade has a large hole in the middle of the board it did not follow this pattern even though it’s both wider than average (35.5”) and thicker than most iSUPs (8”).

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On the water the cascade behaved a little bit differently. Because there are two standing positions available (on the “floor” and on the “deck”) you can get different feelings of rigidity. However, while paddling the Cascade it became quickly apparent that standing on the “deck” of the board is far less comfortable than standing on the “floor.” The floor’s thinner profile and lower pressure reduce its maximum stiffness, but because it’s contained inside the main chamber it doesn’t fully deflect. It’s a weird feeling to describe. It’s not super stiff, but not super flexible, but somehow it’s both stiff and flexible. The overall on-water stiffness was comparable to some of Aqua Marina’s better all-around iSUPs like the Beast, but the direct feeling under your feet was softer.

While bouncing on the Cascade’s floor you can feel it flexing and moving as the two parts move independently of each other, but the overall flex is not as large as iSUPs like the Aqua Marina Monster. While cruising around, or while seated, the flex is not particularly noticeable, however you can feel that the floor is not quite as stiff as a traditional iSUP. While paddling faster you can feel the Cascade flex as you transfer your weight to and from the paddle and board.

Overall I would put the Cascade’s stiffness profile on par with their Advanced series all-around iSUPs, but with a much better feeling while seated (particularly when seated on the deck).

Specifications

Features, Accessories and Versatility

As a hybrid iSUP/kayak, the Cascade is designed for lots of different types of paddling. There’s plenty of storage, multiple fin options, and includes the full kayak conversion kit.

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The Aqua Marina Cascade has a lot of special features built in to help align with its mission of being a hybrid iSUP and kayak. Starting from the top, the upper deck of the Cascade is covered with a diamond- and crocodile-textured deck pad that extends from just behind the inflation valve to the front of the cockpit area. The inflatable floor has the same textured pad as well. This deck pad offers great traction while wet, but isn’t so thick or so deeply textured to cause discomfort while sitting or standing on it with bare feet.

There are two storage areas on the deck of the Cascade. Both are medium-sized and spread across four d-rings. They both have adjustable tension bungee cords to easily tighten down or loosen up to fit your cargo. With a total carrying capacity of 485 lbs, the Cascade was definitely meant to carry everything you need for your day (or days) on the water.

The Cascade’s unique shape features a recessed cockpit that you can either stand in while in SUP mode, or sit in while in Kayak mode. At 5’9” I had just enough room to get my legs inside the cockpit while seated on the floor, but I did not find this to be the most comfortable position for me as the narrow front of the cockpit area pushes my feet together (sole to sole). Rather, I much preferred the comfort of sitting in the removable seat placed on the deck, just behind the cockpit. There are two strips of velcro on the deck and two strips of velcro on the seat that help hold the bottom of the seat in place without slipping. The four straps on the back of the kayak seat then attach to the d-rings on the side and rear cargo areas to hold the back in its proper position. Using the seat on the deck gives you more room for your legs to stretch and to place your feet flat on the floor.

The Cascade does come with a nylon spray skirt. Spray skirts are worn around the torso, just above the hips, and seal to the plastic coaming around the cockpit. This prevents water from splashing into the cockpit (whether it is from waves or from your paddle) and keeps your legs protected from the sun. As a whitewater kayaker I’m very used to wearing and using spray skirts, however I did have difficulty attaching this skirt to the coaming myself because of the cockpit’s very large size. Additionally there is no safety pull-tab on the skirt. Pull tabs on the front of a spray skirt should always be available and reachable so that you can easily remove the skirt from the boat incase of a capsize. While this did concern me at first, I found that the size and shape of the cockpit and the loose fit of the skirt made it very easy for me to pull the skirt off with my fingers or simply lift my knees with a hard crunching motion to pop the skirt. I doubt that it would actually stay in place in the event of a capsize to begin with, but you should be aware of this potential concern. Ultimately I won’t be using the spray skirt with the Cascade because I found the seating position within the cockpit to be far less comfortable than on top.

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The Cascade also includes a paddle conversion kit to switch from a SUP paddle to a kayak paddle. To do this, simply remove the handle section of the SUP paddle and replace it with the extra paddle blade. When switching to the kayak paddle, you do lose length adjustability, however I found the fixed length to be easily usable both while seated on and in the Cascade. The blades are shaped as paddleboard blades, and casual use as a kayak paddle is fine, however a longer, asymmetrical blade would be preferred if you are using the Cascade primarily as a kayak.

The Cascade has two fin boxes: one at the tail where you would normally see a fin on a paddleboard, and one in the middle of the board under the cockpit. This second fin box is primarily for when the Cascade is being used as a kayak. The seated position and longer paddle means paddle strokes are taken farther away from the centerline of the vessel. When paddle strokes are farther away from the center, they create a larger turning force. The second fin helps reduce this turning force making it easier to paddle in a straight line.

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In addition to the features mentioned already, the Cascade also comes with two 9” slide-in fins, a lightweight ankle leash, and the Liquid Air V1 hand pump. All of this fits snugly into the Aqua Marina XL backpack.

Paddle

The Cascade includes a 2-in-1 aluminum paddle that easily converts between an adjustable SUP paddle and a kayak paddle.

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The Aqua Marina 2-in-1 paddle uses the same size, shape, and materials for the blade and shaft as the Sports III SUP paddle, but includes a second paddle blade and plastic drip rings pre-installed near the throat of the blades.

This paddle is quite heavy due to the aluminum shaft and nylon blade, so it can be tiring to use for extended periods of time. The blade is shaped with a double spoon. It’s curved from top to bottom to help catch and hold the water and prevent the blade from bending backward when pressure is applied. It also has a reverse curve from side to side to allow the water to move easily off the sides to reduce fluttering. These two curves together can make it a little confusing for novice paddlers to recognize which way the blade should be in the water, especially since the handle section does not have any indexing to orient it to the blade.

The handle does have markings along one side to help set the length each time you use it, and the second paddle blade has a push-button latch to keep it in place and oriented in the correct direction when used as a kayak paddle.

Stability

The Cascade’s wide shape and tail give it decent stability as an iSUP (and great stability as a kayak), but its standing positions are a little limiting.

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The Cascade’s unique shape makes it a little difficult to compare its stability to other iSUPs. While standing on the Cascade you’ve got two main choices. You can stand with your feet on the deck, straddling the cockpit, or you can stand with your feet on the floor within the cockpit. Standing on the deck gives you a wider stance, but significantly higher thanks to the 8” thickness. While standing wider may seem like the more stable position, it is typically most stable to stand with your feet directly under your hips. Standing wider gives you more leverage on the board to tilt it from edge to edge, so it becomes easier to tip the board. Having your feet so far out on the sides can also be a little tiring on your iliotibial band.

Standing with your feet on the floor puts your feet directly under your hips, but they do occasionally rub against the side of the main chamber of the board. However I found that I still preferred this position far better than the wider stance on the deck. The floor’s lower pressure is mostly offset by its smaller size, so it still feels mostly stiff under your feet. Either way it is a very different feeling than a traditional iSUP.

Either way you choose to stand on the Cascade you will still feel a bit of twitchiness. This side-to-side rolling/twitchy feeling is more noticeable while on the deck (again, there’s more leverage from side to side here), while the softer floor feels slightly disjointed from the rest of the board. Different sensations with the same overall outcome. The large width and wide tail of the board help produce a decent amount of stability in the long run, but, like the other Aqua Marina iSUPs, not quite as much as expected given its dimensions.

The twitchy feeling and odd standing positions give the Cascade a lower rating for stability as an iSUP. However, while seated in or on the Cascade as a kayak, it is extremely stable.

With the higher center of gravity from sitting on the deck, you can slightly tilt the Cascade by shifting your body weight, but not much without the aid provided by thigh straps (neither included, nor attachable to the Cascade). The lower position seated in the cockpit increases your stability even more. It requires significant effort (or significant waves) to capsize the Cascade from this position.

Speed

Surprisingly our testing showed nearly identical speeds when using the Cascade as either an iSUP or an IK. Both forms also performed better at cruising speeds than sprinting.

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The two-part construction and lower rigidity of the Cascade was very present during our speed testing. While standing and paddling as an iSUP, I found the Cascade to flex excessively while sprinting to the point where water was regularly coming over the 8” thick bow. It was also difficult to maintain a straight course, resulting in an overall slow sprint speed. Paddling the Cascade as a kayak also presented issues during our speed testing as the additional leverage from the longer paddle created lots of turning force, even with the second fin installed.

Where both modes did far better was as a cruising vessel. At slower speeds with a more casual paddling cadence, the Cascade was fairly efficient in moving across the water. At these slower speeds (about 3 mph average speed) the Cascade was able to move easily over the water, and had an average glide ratio of about 1.7 board-lengths per stroke. This puts it on the upper-end of efficiency for wider all-around iSUPs.

If you are looking for top speed, there are far better paddleboards and kayaks available, however the Cascade is quite efficient at slower speeds.

Maneuverability and Tracking

The Cascade is quite easy to maneuver whether you are standing or sitting, however where you stand or sit, and how many fins you are using, will change the turning radius.

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We test maneuverability with a series of simple tests. Using the best technique we can, we turn the boards in a complete circle from a dead stop. The fins of a paddleboard are very helpful in keeping the board moving straight and correcting some turning energy into forward motion, so it’s always harder to turn while you are in motion. From a standstill, the cascade takes an average of 6 forward-sweep strokes to make a complete 360° turn. This is an average result for the larger all-around iSUPs we have tested. Using reverse-sweep strokes will reduce that to just 4 strokes as we work against the fin.

While in kayak mode the Cascade was actually a little bit easier to turn than as a SUP, even with both fins installed. While seated and using the longer kayak paddle, it is easier to get the paddle blade out and away from the boat to create more turning force. While seated on the deck as a sit-on-top kayak, the Cascade only takes an average of 4.5 strokes to turn in a complete circle. While sitting in the cockpit, there is more weight on and in front of the center fin, and it takes an average of 5.5 strokes to make the same circle.

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While the Cascade’s maneuverability is great, its tracking is a bit lackluster. While paddling the Cascade as a SUP, it did poorly in our 10-stroke tracking test. After gaining forward momentum in a steady course toward a distant target, we take 10 high-quality forward strokes on one side of the board and measure the difference between the direction we started moving in, and the direction we finished moving in. While testing the Cascade as an iSUP, this difference was over 25° off course in just 10 strokes.

Measuring the tracking performance as a kayak is a little tougher as we have two blades and can theoretically use the same amount of force on each side with each stroke to keep us straight. Instead of a 10-stroke test, we evaluate how long it takes us to get the kayak moving in a straight line and how easy it is to do so. While sitting in the cockpit of the Cascade, there is a significant amount of spin with each starting paddle stroke but quickly straightened out. While sitting on the deck as a sit-on-top kayak, the spin was far more noticeable and took longer to work itself out with less weight over and in front of the forward fin.

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The Cascade has two fin boxes, but not in a twin-fin configuration like you would expect to see with a dedicated paddleboard. Instead, both fins are along the midline of the board, with one at the tail and one under the middle of the board. The forward fin box is meant to be used just when the Cascade is being used as a kayak, though nothing is stopping you from using both while in SUP mode to improve the tracking performance. The cascade comes with two of Aqua Marina’s standard 9” SUP fins rather than their shallower kayak fins. Both slide-in fin boxes have a very tight fit with the fins and I needed to actually use another object as a hammer to both seat them all the way, and remove them. This is really only a problem I’ve encountered with slide-in fin boxes, and it seems to happen about half the time in my experience. I’ve dented a few Hydroflask water bottles trying to set and remove slide-in fins. Slide-in fins are also more limited in availability and variety if you want to change which fins you are using, or if you happen to forget your fins at home and need to borrow one.

Warranty and Customer Support

Aqua Marina warranties their paddleboards, including the Cascade, for 1 year against manufacturing defects. Because Aqua Marina does not sell or work directly with consumers, all warranty claims must be handled by your local distributor. This also means that any return periods and all customer service activities will also be determined by your local distributors. In North America Aqua Marina is distributed by Zoppinh.com. They offer a 30-day return period for new, unused products and are available via chat, email, phone, web form, and social media. Aqua Marina is also available via Social Media, however we have not received any response from them via social media during our evaluation of their products.

Value

The Cascade offers a hybrid experience for paddlers who want to be able to stand up paddleboard and kayak with the same vessel. The Cascade’s performance lends it to being a far better inflatable kayak than inflatable SUP, though. When comparing it to other hybrid iSUP/Kayak options available, the Cascade’s versatility is more limited at roughly the same retail price. If you are looking for a drop stitch inflatable kayak, the Cascade is a good offering at a competitive price point. If you are looking for an iSUP that can be converted to an inflatable kayak, there are more efficient options available at a similar price point like the Isle Switch.

Overall Impressions/Review Summary

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The Aqua Marina Cascade brings a lot of thought and design to the world of hybrid recreational watercraft. The drop stitch construction makes it a viable iSUP, while the twin fins, recessed seat, and other included accessories make it a very functional inflatable kayak. Between the two, I prefer the Cascade as an inflatable kayak. The standing positions and stiffness are not ideal for an iSUP, and the overall performance on the water between the two modes leans more toward the double-bladed side of things. The Cascade is a great choice If you are looking for an efficient inflatable kayak with a large carrying capacity and a small footprint that you will occasionally use to stand up paddle.

Aqua Marina Cascade iSUP FAQ