Freezing Your…Toes Off in Bend

I knew it was really cold when I glanced down at my booties and saw the toes were ice crusted…

Bend, Oregon is famous for lunatics–on the mountain, in the desert, on skis and snowboards, in the whitewater and in the bars. One of the most infamous is Randy Barna, who sent us this by email:

Last Saturday my friend Eddy Miller and I had arranged to go for a paddle on the Deschutes. Ed is a mountain man who doesn’t like modern conveniences and is known for winter adventures like rafting the Grand Canyon. He was introduced to SUP at Elk Lake by friend Win Francis in the warmth of last summer so you think Ed would know better than to SUP all winter. Well, Ed was determined to go since he had paddled every day since he got his first SUP board from me last Tuesday and didn’t want to spoil his record. We couldn’t let the fact that it was only twenty-two degrees out influence us. I had to experience it and so did Win Francis.

We started at Aspen Camp launch. This stretch if the river is completely wilderness and very beautiful. Also, Ed likes it because he lets his dogs run along shore.
I wore a 5mm wetsuit, 3mm booties and a XC ski hat and gloves. Ed had on paddle pants and jacket with long johns and rubber muck boots. Win was wearing ski clothes and wetsuit booties knowing that he’d freeze if he fell in. Come hell or high water, none of us were going to fall in.

The water was mirror smooth and great paddling. My hands and feet were cold at first but the hands warmed up with the exertion level. The toes kept getting colder and colder which finally prompted me to look down and noticed the ice on the toes, in fact the whole deck of the board was building up ice. Where our feet were, the deck stayed warm enough not to ice-up so we didn’t move our feet or try anything fancy. We completed the whole paddle in about 50 minutes. Went downstream until the Big Eddy rapids were visible and then upstream to the rapids up there (I think Dillon falls).

The hardest part for me was getting the ice covered board on the roof of the car. It kept slipping off the roof racks with the slightest touch and fumbling with the rack straps with numb fingers made it almost comical. We didn’t hang around to chat afterwards, it was almost dark and we all wanted to crank our car heaters and get home to warm showers. Eddy Miller doesn’t use a computer so he won’t see this but he deserves our respect for being the most die-hard standup paddler. For me, I think I will keep it above 32 degrees at least!

Holiday Greetings to all!
Randall Barna
standuppaddlebend.com

New SUP Magazine To Launch

Right after Ke Nalu launches February 25 with our Board and Paddle Showcase Issue, a new high-style Stand Up magazine is launching in early March. I’m stoked. (click the pages to see them full size). [Read more]

Merry Christmas

So much for the “Paddle for Christmas” plan.

The light rain we had this morning turned to snow just as we started opening christmas presents. I had planned to sneak away in the late afternoon and paddle in the Multnomah channel to burn off a little of that Christmas Spirit. I guess not. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. [Read more]

Top Six Reasons to Sail Your SUP

[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/HqA5n1caLmM” width=”290″ height=”242″ wmode=”transparent” /]This video is the most eloquent argument possible for why you absolutely want a sail track on your SUP board. The other five are… [Read more]

Kayak SUP?

I think this guy needs a SUP board.    Kyle Disque, who is a member of the vintage Triumph racing club I belong to (FOT aka Friends of Triumph) alerted me to this form of Kayaking called Striding where you stand in a kayak with a longer paddle. [Read more]

Oregon Coast Smashed

I went to Manzanita OR yesterday to see if my beach house was still there. It was fine, but it’s pure luck. Lots of other people were not so lucky, though Manzanita was largely spared–it’s protected by Neakahnie Mountain. Power was still out and probably will be for a few more days. I shot a few pictures through my windshield. The former World’s Largest Sitka Spruce is no more. 191 feet tall and 53 feet in circumference. Now the stump is about thirty feet tall. Read the full story to see the photo gallery. [Read more]

Shakira SUPs

Well, not really, in fact I have deep reservations about showing anyone this video. Not because of copyright issues (though it certainly walks that gray line that the nitwits at the RIAA have done nothing but obfuscate) but because it will take me years to live it down. Watch it at your own risk, and thank heaven that I didn’t have the recorder pointed at my ass.[MEDIA=1]

Teaching a Teenager to SUP Surf

Teaching a teenager to SUP surf takes a few tricks. For one thing, it’s a good idea to get them out of the surf and take them on a long paddle outside the break so they can get used to standing on the board. There’s no critter more impatient than a teenage boy, and they’ll just keep making the same mistakes over and over if you keep them in the surf. You might consider this is a sexist generalization, but girls are much easier to teach in general. They’ll listen and try to do what you tell them. They don’t have their ego as engaged. [Read more]

Jimmy Lewis’ Shop

I dropped by Jimmy Lewis’ workshop a few days ago. I really like his boards, and through corresponding with him I realized his shop is just a short distance from Pono House. My post office address is in Haiku, though this area is really Peahi, Jimmy’s place is actually in Haiku.

He was in the middle of building a board for his son. When I saw the size I assumed his son must be a little kid, but he said he’s nearly as tall as me though he weighs about a hundred pounds less. The kid has to be good–the board looked about big enough for me to use as a kiteboard.

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