Hydrus Elysium Air Racing iSUP Review – Goodbye Carbon Fiber!? | 2024

• Save

Hydrus Elysium Air Racing iSUP Review – Overview

This is Inflatable Boarder, but to tell you a secret, I also paddle hard boards from time to time. Now, this isn’t meant to be a post about the performance differences between hard and inflatable boards. But to set the stage, generally the only times there is a noticeable performance gap between the two is in surfing and racing.

But the Hydrus Elysium Air is an inflatable board that erodes the gap between hard and inflatable boards for SUP racing. Hydrus sent me a “last draft” prototype to test while the Elysium Air undergoes its production run (the only difference being a few onboard features as indicated in this review). Since then I’ve stopped racing on my carbon fiber NSP Ninja in favor of the Elysium Air.

The Hydrus Elysium Air is a racing SUP designed to put you on the podium, and not just in an inflatable category.

— Hydrus Elysium Air Racing iSUP Review Summary and Ratings —

Hydrus Elysium Air Racing iSUP Review – Construction and Durability

The Hydrus Armalight Air construction focuses on building ultra-rigid and durable inflatable paddle boards with unique materials and methods.

• Save

The Armalight Air construction starts with a cross-woven drop-stitch core. Two woven fabric layers are joined together with thousands of individual yarns to give the board its flat shape and 6” thickness.

Woven fabrics use less material than older knitted versions, and with the warp and weft of the material running in straight lines, it also makes the material more rigid. The drop-stitch yarns are sewn through both fabric layers in alternating angles to create an “X” shape inside the board. This allows the board to use fewer yarns and increase its overall stiffness compared to the more common “V” shaped stitching.

The deck and hull of the Elysium Air are made with a reinforced dual-layer fusion PVC shell. The first layer of PVC is bonded directly to the fabric core material, and the second layer is likewise mechanically bonded to the first with heat and pressure. This fusion construction eliminates glue between the PVC layers which in turn reduces weight and the chance for manufacturing errors.

To reinforce the PVC layers, Hydrus uses a custom scrim material. While they won’t tell us exactly what it is, the overall rigidity of the Hydrus Armalight Air construction is quite excellent, so they are definitely doing something right with it! You can physically see the scrim because the light gray color of the board is actually an optical illusion. The outermost layer of PVC on the board is actually clear, the scrim material is white, and the inner layer of PVC is a dark gray or black color. It also gives the board an almost sparkling look as the multiple layers catch the light.

The top and bottom layers of the board are joined together with a heat-welded interior seam. Welded seams, like the fusion PVC shell, physically bond the layers together into a single continuous piece of PVC. This eliminates the additional weight of another glue layer, but more importantly, it eliminates the concern for things like solvent/glue leaking, material stretching, or heat-related seam failures.

The inner welded rail is reinforced and protected by a larger outer layer, and then the top and bottom edges of the outer rail have white pin lines, all of which are made with reinforced PVC.

• Save

The Elysium Air has a feature that is unique to Hydrus’s other Armalight Air paddle boards. The drop stitching in the front of the board has been altered to give the nose a rounded shape on top and bottom. This piercing shape helps give the board a clean entry into the water and through waves, and the rounded top helps shed water that may come over the top of the board in choppy conditions.

There are two carbon fiber stringers built onto the deck and hull of the Elysium Air. These wide bands of carbon fiber fabric run the entire length of the board from nose to tail. Like the woven base layer fabric, the woven carbon fiber fabric stringers do not stretch, so they help the board remain extremely rigid. The carbon fiber stringers are covered by a large band of reinforced PVC.

Once the deck pad and other built-in features are added, the Elysium Air weighs in at just 25.6 pounds, has a recommended weight capacity of 275 pounds, and a maximum internal pressure rating of 20 PSI.

• Save

In our standardized bend test, we measure how much a board will bend when loaded with 170 pounds of weight in the standing area. This gives us a way to compare different constructions and board shapes. The longer, narrower, and thinner a paddle board is, the more it will bend with a given construction.

In the past, Hydrus’s Armalight Air construction has been near the top of the list for rigidity, and the Elysium Air does not disappoint. At 14’ long and only 26” wide, I wasn’t sure how well it would do in our test. But, with 170 pounds of weight the Elysium Air bent just 1.22”. That’s nearly a half-inch better than our running average of 1.62”, and is completely on par with Hydrus’s other Armalight Air boards like the Paradise and Paradise X. It’s also more rigid than the Starboard All Star Airline 14×28 (1.54”) and Sea Gods Ketos 14×28.5 (1.89”) even though it is two inches narrower.

• Save

On the water, I was even more impressed with the Elysium Air’s rigidity.

I couldn’t feel any noticeable bend or flex in the board when standing, walking, or paddling at normal to fitness-pace speeds. Now, when I revved up to sprinting speeds… I still couldn’t feel any bend!

Jumping on the board did produce a moderate amount of flex with a smooth rebound, but I still didn’t feel any bend or flex when walking to the tail and lifting the nose of the board for a pivot turn.

With a reinforced dual-layer fusion PVC shell, welded and reinforced rails, and outstanding rigidity despite the board’s narrow shape, the Hydrus Elysium Air is built extremely well. The board construction is even backed up with a lifetime warranty.

Specifications

Hydrus Elysium Air Racing iSUP Review – Features, Accessories and Versatility

The Elysium Air is a dedicated racing SUP designed to work well in all water conditions. However, it does still have a few extra features that advanced paddlers can take advantage of for ultra-fast touring trips.

• Save

• Save

• Save

• Save

• Save

• Save

• Save

• Save

• Save

• Save

• Save

• Save

The Elysium Air comes with a core set of accessories. The only other items you’ll need before hitting the water are a well-fit PFD and a paddle. With the Elysium Air you get:

• Elysium Air Racing iSUP
• Mothership backpack
• Coiled leash
• Double-action hand pump
• 9” touring fin
• 6” keel fin
• 4.5” river fin
• Maintenance and repair kit

The Hydrus mothership bag is spacious, especially with a board that rolls up rather small like the Elysium Air, and has plenty of room to fit all of the included accessories, paddle, PFD and all of your other daily needs. The inclusion of the three different fins is a big bonus for paddlers who find themselves in various conditions throughout the year.

Hydrus Elysium Air Racing iSUP Review – Paddle

As a high performance racing SUP it makes sense that the Elysium Air does not come with a paddle. Choosing the right paddle is just as important as choosing the right board. While the Elysium Air does not include a paddle automatically, the Hydrus 3-piece carbon fiber Tough Blade paddle is available at a discount when purchasing the Elysium Air.

• Save

The Hydrus Tough Blade paddle is made with a combination of composite materials and Hydrus’s Armalight coating for extreme durability.

The blade and shaft of the paddle are both made with carbon fiber to keep the paddle lightweight and rigid. The blade is also coated with Hydrus’s proprietary Armalight material. While they won’t tell us exactly what it is, I can verify that it is extremely tough. The Hydrus paddle is my go-to whitewater paddle, and after several seasons of use on shallow, rocky rivers, it’s still in fantastic condition with only minor scratches.

The handle is made with molded fiberglass and features a length scale (though no exact measurements) and an indexing groove. The indexing groove keeps the handle aligned with the blade when changing the length.

The hand grip itself has individual molded finger grooves for additional indexing and grip without using texturing on the grip. At first I wasn’t sure about having the individual finger grooves, but every time I use the paddle I forget they are even there nearly instantly.

The blade has a rectangular shape with a medium-large surface area, especially for racing. It is around 90 square inches in area. Combined with the stiff carbon fiber shaft, the Tough Blade paddle can put out some serious power, but it can be a little more tiring to use for long periods of time, especially for smaller paddlers.

Even though it isn’t a dedicated racing paddle, I have tested it side-by-side with some other more typical “kit” paddles and found that my speeds increased by around 0.25-0.5 mph with the Hydrus paddle compared to the kit paddles, and it was a more efficient paddling experience.

Hydrus Elysium Air Racing iSUP Review – Stability

The Elysium Air is meant for one thing: Speed. In order to do that, the board has quite a narrow outline which drastically reduces its stability compared to nearly every other paddle board we’ve reviewed. But, it does still have an excellent stability profile for a racing SUP.

• Save

Right away I’ll say that the Elysium Air is not beginner friendly. In the grand scheme of things at just 26” wide, this is not a stable paddle board. I don’t think I’d ever recommend the Elysium Air as a first paddle board for a beginner unless they were 100% committed to SUP racing.

But, when compared to other racing SUPs (both hard and inflatable) it is actually quite stable. This is where the high quality construction and the well-executed shaping really shines through.

The Elysium Air’s parallel outline with smooth transitions to the (relatively) wide tail and bullet-shaped nose maximize the board’s volume and stability while still keeping it efficient on the water. I can easily hold the board on its rail and transitioning from side-to-side was smooth without any catching or sudden shifts.

That same outline helps give the board a very consistent feeling as you walk to the tail with very little noticeable change in stability. I could easily get back to the kick pad and lift the nose for pivot turns, set the board back down, and walk or hop back up to the standing area with confidence.

• Save

While paddling on wind-chopped water I could definitely feel the board rocking side to side more than a wider option like the Hydrus Paradise X or Starboard All Star Airline 14×28, but it still felt very comfortable. I never had sudden shifts in stability nor felt a need to shift my focus from paddling to staying upright. Likewise, off the starting line during a recent race (when the water can be very turbulent) I felt confident and stable on the Elysium Air.

There’s a general consensus that, especially when it comes to narrow racing SUPs, you can typically feel as stable on a hard board that is 1-2” narrower than an inflatable SUP. When compared to my 25” wide dugout NSP Ninja, the Hydrus Elysium actually feels more stable to me rather than just equally stable.

While the Elysium Air doesn’t have beginner friendly stability, and, in the larger picture of our review ratings, “lacks” stability, I am extremely impressed by its stability for its width, rivaling wider boards with more tapered shapes like the Sea Gods Ketos ULF (28.5”) and even the Nixy Manhattan Plus G4 (29”).

Hydrus Elysium Air Racing iSUP Review – Speed

As a racing SUP you would hope that the Elysium Air can put up some impressive speed numbers – and you would be right.

• Save

Let’s get right into it. The Elysium Air is fast.

In our speed testing we run four different tests. The first is measuring speed at a sustained sprinting pace of 75 strokes per minute. This is a pace you could maintain for a few hundred meters. At this pace I was able to paddle the Elysium Air at 5.8 MPH.

The next test is a full speed sprint with no stroke rate limit. This is a max pace test that you can really only maintain for maybe 10 seconds at full power. At this speed I was able to paddle the Elysium Air up to 6.7 MPH. These are both chart-topping speeds for our speed test.

Our next set of tests involve cruising speeds and efficiency. At a very casual cruising pace of just 25 strokes per minute, the Elysium Air motors along at 4.2 MPH on average. That’s faster than most all-around iSUPs in a sprint.

When you are paddling at this cruising pace, if you take a single paddle stroke and pause the Elysium Air will travel a whopping 32 feet before you can feel it slowing down. That’s 2.3 board lengths per stroke making it the most efficient iSUP we’ve tested.

Once again, both of these results are chart-toppers for our testing.

There are lots of reasons why the Elysium Air is so fast. First it’s dimensions. The longer a board (or any boat) is, the faster it’s hull speed – a mathematical limit to how fast it can go before additional speed requires exponentially more power input. For example, a board with a 11’6” waterline length has a hull speed of 5.23 MPH, but a board with a 14’ waterline length has a hull speed of 5.77 MPH.

The narrower a board is, the more efficiently you can power it through the water. Having a narrower cross-section means you have a lower surface area to push through the water. Narrower boards are also easier to paddle in a straight line making them faster getting from one point to another.

Lastly, the more rigid a board is, the faster it can go. If a paddle board flexes too much during a paddle stroke it bends – wasting energy pushing the board down in the water (instead of forward) and reducing its waterline length.

The smooth entry nose rocker and piercing nose shape help maximize the ease with which the board moves through the water, and the hard tail wedge prevents water from sticking to the tail of the board (which creates drag). That tail wedge also helps reduce the size of the tail wake, making it harder for other paddlers to draft behind you.

Now, I know you are going to ask – is the Elysium Air as fast as a carbon fiber race board?

The true answer here is “it depends.” It depends on a few different elements.

• Save

In a contest of “what is the fastest speed I can reach, no matter the distance” I have been able to paddle my carbon fiber race board at a highest speed of 7.1 MPH on flat water compared to the Elysium Air’s 6.7 MPH. I was able to do that for around 5 seconds. In a very short course sprinting competition, a high-end carbon fiber racing board will likely out-perform the Elysium Air. Acceleration is very closely tied to rigidity. While the Elysium Air is extremely rigid for an iSUP, my carbon fiber board is even stiffer and has a faster acceleration profile.

When we look at actual sustained speeds the comparison gets much, much closer.

With multiple tests with sustained paddling at 40, 50, and 75 strokes per minute, the Hydrus Elysium Air iSUP and the NSP Ninja carbon fiber SUP were essentially deadlocked. At the slower 40 spm, the Elysium Air is actually a little faster on average and for the top speed reached. At 50 spm, the Ninja is a little faster for top speeds, but dead-even in average speed. At 75 spm, the Elysium Air was actually faster in both average and top speeds.

For me personally, my 2- and 4-mile training and racing times and speeds are also completely even.

Did I mention that buying a new NSP Ninja is going to cost about 300% more than the Hydrus Elysium Air?

So what does this all mean? It means that I don’t take my NSP Ninja to races any more. The Hydrus Elysium Air is as fast for me as my carbon fiber race board.

Hydrus Elysium Air Racing iSUP Review – Maneuverability and Tracking

With a shape that is optimized for straight-line speed, the Hydrus Elysium is absolutely geared for tracking performance rather than maneuverability.

• Save

The longer the board, the harder it usually is to turn. That is absolutely the case with the Hydrus Elysium Air. But, it’s not designed to be a highly-agile paddle board.

In our maneuverability stress test, the Elysium Air takes the top spot for being the hardest board to turn (so far). While using the 9” touring fin, it takes an average of 19 forward sweep strokes (paddling in an arc from nose to tail) to turn the board in a full 360° circle. That is a massive turning radius.

This is a stress test, though, and luckily the number of full-circle turns you’ll ever have to make in a race is basically 0 (unless you somehow get really lost around a buoy). But if you do find yourself in that situation, I’d recommend using a reverse sweep stroke and working against the fin, as it only takes an average of about 5.5 strokes to make the same full-circle turn.

When you do need to quickly turn the Elysium Air – like around a buoy – the best thing to do is a pivot turn. The board’s parallel outline makes it comfortable and easy to walk to the tail of the board and lift the nose out of the water. Now you can spin in a full circle with just two or three paddle strokes.

It’s also relatively easy to turn in smaller increments (real-world turning, if you will) using some intermediate skill level techniques. I found the Elysium Air to respond well to cross-bow-draw strokes for smaller turns, and even partially walking to the tail to adjust the pivot point without fully committing to a pivot turn.

• Save

The flip side of the Elysium Air’s difficulty in turning is that it has incredible tracking performance.

In our tracking stress test, the Elysium Air deviated off course after 10 paddle strokes by an average of just 2°. Honestly, it was incredibly hard to measure and I repeated the testing multiple times just to get some amount of measurable drift.

Now, the board does still have some drift if you continue to paddle more than 10 strokes on a side. I often paddle 20-30 strokes on a side when doing long distance training sessions and races, and the deviation is more noticeable there, but not any more noticeable than on my carbon fiber race board.

• Save

Hydrus includes a variety of different fins with their inflatable paddle boards including the Elysium Air. We used the 9” touring style fin (seen on the right side of the image above) in our testing. This fin will give you the best tracking performance of the set. The Keel fin (seen in the fin box) gives you great tracking performance while allowing for a shallower draft (6”) and allowing weeds to slide off the fin. Lastly, the 4.5” river fin (center) is flexible and lets you paddle in very shallow conditions without worrying about fin/fin box damage if you do hit something. It also markedly increases the Elysium Air’s maneuverability, but it does not offer anywhere near the tracking performance of the larger fins.

Hydrus Elysium Air Racing iSUP Review – Warranty and Customer Support

Hydrus is one of the few iSUP companies that offers a lifetime warranty on their iSUPs. They believe in the quality of their materials and construction and are willing to back it up over the expected lifespan of the board – which is typically around 10 years before the PVC material itself begins to degrade in any iSUP. Hydrus extends this warranty to the Hydrus paddle and the Mothership SUP bag as well. Leashes, pumps, and other items are warrantied for 60 days. Hydrus also offers a 30-day return period on all of their products. Hydrus prides themselves on their prompt and robust customer service. You can reach Hydrus with any questions via email, web form, phone, or social media.

Hydrus Elysium Air Racing iSUP Review – Final Thoughts

• Save

I’m breaking up with my carbon fiber race board.

The Hydrus Elysium Air is damn fast. It’s stable, it tracks great, it’s affordable, it’s portable, it’s durable, and it’s versatile.

If you are interested in SUP racing, either as a new aspect of the sport to explore or as a competitive veteran, the Hydrus Elysium is not just a racing SUP that works, it’s a racing SUP that works incredibly well. When you add in the excellent value of not just the price of the board, but the lifetime warranty and excellent customer service from Hydrus, the Elysium Air is an absolute win.

Hydrus Elysium Air Racing iSUP Review – FAQ