Seeing the Seas

Paddleboarding is a fun way to explore the shores of your favorite vacation spot or your home waters, unfortunately traditional stand up paddleboards block their riders ability to see underneath.  A smarter paddleboard design would integrate a viewing window into as much of the body of the board as possible as well as integrated illumination systems designed to allow for night time viewing.  The render below (to be added later) shows a conceptual design that is intended to ensure that the viewing segments minimize the possibility of scratches and scrapes that might interfere with the viewing experience.

It turns out that while writing this article I found a few existing proposals/patents for a paddleboard intended to have a transparent viewing bottom, but as far as my research has gone there is no consumer product currently available.

Links

Illuminated Paddleboard

http://www.floridasportsman.com/2013/12/19/night-ops-recon-underwater-lighting/

Patent for a Paddleboard with a viewing windo

http://www.google.com/patents/US4925417

Kickboard(s) with a viewing system
http://www.gizmag.com/snorkelboard-snorkeling-flutter-board/30885/
http://www.gizmag.com/zayak-sea-sled-underwater/29740/