Paddleboard maker brings sport to Flathead

The smell of mahogany and wood stain prefaces the view of two 12-foot paddle boards in various stages of development at the front of Terry Click’s shop on Montana 35 outside of Woodsbay.

They are Click’s own special brand of stand-up paddleboards he hand crafts out of wood and fiberglass at Sweetwood Paddleboard.

For the last year-and-a-half he’s researched, sold, learned to ride, crafted and re-crafted his brand of stand-up paddleboards. And on May 18 he’s opening a retail shop addition to his workshop.

“Not everything I have done has worked,” Click said. “But I’ve always just made the next one better.”

He’s made the next one better by doing things like creating his own venting system for releasing air trapped in the board. Every board that floats on water has one, but Click said his board design was so unique that none of the traditional venting systems worked for them.

“I couldn’t buy a venting system that worked for my boards,” Click said. “So I invented one.”

Last week he had five of his newest board model, the “Glacier,” on his sawhorse assembly line and more scheduled on the docket.

Stand-up paddleboards have grown in popularity over the last decade, most notably on the rivers in Oregon, where Click already has a sales representative. They are like extra long surfboards you stand or kneel on as you paddle across the water’s surface with a specially made paddle.

The majority of Click’s sales are done via word of mouth and through sales representatives. He makes special order boards in addition to models like the 12-foot long “Glacier,” and the prices range from $1,400-1,700.

Click said he can kick out a board in a week or two with the help of his stepdaughter Carson Harris and his employee Morgan Caldbeck.

From the front of his shop to the back, boards are laid out, with the ones closest to being finished in front of the garage door, and the newest one being carved out by Harris in the back.

The whirlwind of activity started when a friend of Click’s asked him if he could build a paddleboard a little over a year-and-a-half ago. Click was a custom furniture maker at the time and thought he would give it a try.

It was a monster, 14-feet long, made out of cedar and foam, and it was so heavy it took more than one person to lug it to the water. Click fondly calls it the “Flathead Lake Monster.”

The family still uses it and Click said it’s a great board for someone to learn on because it is so big.

Right now the “monster” board stands against a wall in the retail shop. On the other wall is a board rack that holds another of his first attempts, the “Biscuit Board” he made for Harris.

Harris said she wanted a board she could ride that was not as long as a normal paddleboard (12-14 feet).

“It didn’t really work out so well. It was so heavy I couldn’t carry it myself,” Harris said. “And I got on it, and it started sinking.”

The newest model, the “Glacier,” has a good blend of agility and speed, and it’s lightweight, Harris said. It’s light because although it’s 12-feet long, it isn’t foam-filled, but hollow on the inside.

Harris has watched and participated in Sweetwood’s progression over the last 18 months, and said it’s been filled with a lot of trial and error. The whole family, Harris, Click and his wife Kim, has tried out every board Click churned out, and learned to stand up and paddle in the process.

“If you fall off, you’re just landing in the water,” Click said.

Sweetboard Paddleboards’ retail shop grand opening celebration is May 18 from 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. After that they will head down to The Raven in Woods Bay for demonstrations. On May 19, Click is holding demonstrations in Bigfork Bay from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.