2008 Maui Stand Up Board and Paddle Showcase
February 24, 2008 · Print This Article
The muffled thump and curses in a Boston accent told me brother Bob had tried to move another palm tree with his face.
It’s nerve-wracking carrying boards, paddles, tents, coolers, tables and myriad other items across a pitch-dark park to the beach. Especially when you’re wearing the traditional Maui “slippahs”. Cheap between-the-toe thong sandals afford little toe protection from the myriad stumps, bumps and lava rocks.
Early morning setup, first time I’ve ever seen Krispy Kremes go begging–everyone wanted to get in the water.
In Maui the wind rules the water, and usually it stiffens about noon. We wanted to get riders in the water early, so the 2008 Maui Stand Up Board and Paddle Showcase officially started at 6:30 AM. The sun rises at 6:00, so were setting up in the dark. I walked briskly into a post-mounted barbecue, and grazed a palm tree. But we got everything set up just as the sky started to brighten.
We pulled the fins to pack the boards better. Took a while to get them all back on.
The early arrivals pitched in and helped us schlep nearly 50 boards, and then attach fins and leashes. The paddles came in sheafs. Besides the “official” paddles with evaluation sheets assigned, there were a dozen or so more brought by the manufacturers and the surf shops–some very unusual, like a telescoping paddle with ball handle (so the “T” doesn’t get misaligned).
We set out doughnuts, croissants, fruit, coffee and juices but hardly anyone took any–they were concentrating on the boards. We did a brief orientation explaining how board assignments and traffic control would work. Coordinators oversaw board assignments and ensured our evaluators worked their way through the ten boards assigned to them, and completed the evaluation sheets.
“So here’s how we’re going to do this”
Once evaluators completed the ten boards assigned to them they could try any boards they wanted to as long as they did evaluations. The kids took that as a challenge and RAN their boards into and out of the water. Slater Trout was the first person in the water and was running his first board back out before most people hit the water.
First in the water–Slater Trout
The view from the beach was awesome–24 stand up surfers milling in the waves. Our evaluators spanned the spectrum from world class surfer/windsurfers to absolute beginners. Ripped physique to fat geezer (me). Seventy years old to 13. Everyone had a smile on their face all day long.
Ashley Baxter takes out an Oxbow 10′
Cross-stepping on the little Jimmy Lewis
Connor may have a career in plumbing if the pro windsurfing thing doesn’t pan out
We had whales around all day long, but one pod came close in and very showy in the morning. The whale viewing boat that pushed between us and the whales was prety funny–just as many people on the boat were looking at our paddlesurfers as were looking at the whales.
Kim Ball surrounded by crazy kids
We also had a less gracious visitor–a monk seal that seemed to have a generally low opinion of surfers, especially Stand Up. He growled and hissed at the kids and chased them around a little, threatening to take a bite out of them, cruised through the pack of surfers several times and was generally pretty irritated at us.
This monk seal tried to take a chunk out of Connor
One goofy longboard surfer paddled over and tried to pet him! He lucky he didn’t take back a stump.
Our evaluator ranks started to swell as the coconut telegraph got the word out that there was a lot of fun to be had. We had plenty of boards, so we accepted people until we ran out of liability waiver forms–we wound up with about forty people doing evaluations.
As many people watching the Paddlesurfers as the whales
The waves were small, with occasional waist-high sets. Our evaluators started surfing more as the waves built or they found a board they liked. Some of the boards were particularly popular because they fit a weight or skill level that was well represented in our evaluator team, or they were simply pretty and interesting. Literally EVERY board had fans that took it out more than once or kept it longer than a simple testing period.
Pole camera–the poor man’s helicopter–didn’t work so well
That’s the Jimmy Lewis 9′ 10″ that Sol Morey is kicking around. Man this guy can surf–looks like he’s dancing on the board. I guess when your Dad is the inventor of the Boogie Board you spend time on the water.
The bottom line is that there are NO bad boards. Standup Paddlesurfing has had enough development that the compromises needed for initial stability, dynamic stability, maneuverability, surfing characteristics, glide and speed are all well understood. Plus all these boards are being designed by shapers with twenty or more years experience and built by top-quality constructors. Each board is aimed at a specific set of performance characteristics or feature sets to please a specific spectrum of rider. So the question is not: “Is this board “better” than that board?” but rather: “Which of these boards suits me?”
Helping to answer that question is the purpose of this showcase.
Some of the issues that are individually important are not immediately obvious. For example, we didn’t think of having “easy to carry” as an evaluation category, but it was mentioned on many of the evaluation sheets. Several people even created their own checkboxes for “easy to carry” and rated the boards!
Shauneen Schweitzer and the Starboard 11′2″. She liked it. She also got a death grip on that Malama paddle and wouldn’t let go of it.
“Pretty” was another category that didn’t occur to us, but watching people pick out boards to try during the “free choice” part of the evaluation made it perfectly obvious how important a good looking board is. Any builder that slaps on a trite design or leaves the boards white is going to leave money on the table. Probably a lot of money.
Casey Trout takes out the lovely Ben Aipa while Big Ed watches on.
Two other things were obvious–Standup Paddlesurfing is accessible to- and attractive to nearly everyone, even people who will never surf the boards. And second, people who are having fun are great to be around. Everyone was smiling and laughing–even when we ran out of lunch.
Most fun of the day, watching Liz. She was an absolute beginner and stayed in the water all day, laughing all the time.
The menu choice for lunch was a big success, perhaps too big a success. We had way too much breakfast stuff (everyone wanted to charge into the water) and a little too little lunch. Everyone was pretty hungry after five hours of surfing and paddling. They descended on the Kalua Pork, noodles and salad like locusts. Anyone that didn’t hit the beach soon after lunch was served had to make do with rice and energy bars. Casey Trout said “I know better–I know all these guys, and I know better than to be late in the lunch line–they’re piranhas”.
Of course after lunch everyone hit the water hard again. Most evaluators had gone through their ten assigned boards, so it was a bit of a free for all, though our coordinators did a fabulous of keeping track of who had which boards and keeping the flow of evaluation sheets going. At the end of the day we had about 50 evaluators, many of whom had evaluated 20 or more boards. The wild kids did more. We had more than 900 completed evaluation sheets, not counting paddle evals.
Slater Trout and Zane Schweitzer grabbed a big Laird and started tandem paddlesurfing it. Very funny, very fun, and very impressive. I fumbled the camera the first time the guys shot past me with Zane sitting on the nose (hanging butt) and Slater on the back. They tried all kinds of combinations, including tail first, helicopters, surfing sideways, and anything else they could think of.
Ashley Baxter wasn’t feeling well, but couldn’t pass up the fun, so she and brother Connor paddled out tandem and tried some classic poses with Connor playing the part of the “girl”. As a tandem ballerina Connor makes a good windsurfer. But then both he and Ashley are Pro Windsurfers with international reputations.
Everyone got inspired by the kids and started pulling out their slickest moves. There was a lot of talent in the water. I demonstrated my unique “walk forward until your hat floats” move, but I don’t think it’s going to be big at the Buffalo anytime soon. The crowd was pretty underwhelmed.
I also tried to help Slater get a little closer to his dad by shoving his board into him. It didn’t work out that well–Slater surfs a lot better than I and was completely unperturbed by my machinations.
Continuing in this helpful vein, I assisted one of our evaluators with steering her board. (if this picture is of you, somehow we can’t connect your name to this picture–let me know by adding a comment and we’ll properly caption it).
We planned the showcase to run until 5:30 PM, but everyone was winding down by 2:30. By that time many of the folks had been in the water for nearly eight hours. Our coordinators were looking cross-eyed. By 3:30 we had everything packed up, the beach was clean, and we were headed for Ponohouse. I got a call from Hawaiian Island Surf and Sport saying Lenny was on his way over to play, and asking if we were still going to run until 6:00.
Too late Lenny, we’re pooped, we’re going home.
Great job.
When reading the board tester’s comment, it would help to know the weight and age of the person being quoted. When one person says stable, and another says not stable, it makes more sense to know if weight and age played a factor.
Bill,
you rock! what an undertaking. it was great to read the various perspectives. i thoroughly envy all who attended your event. i do agree with the previous response, that riders’ weights would be extremely helpful if they were listed by their quotation. either way though, i really appreciate your efforts!
-mike
Thank you PonoBill and all the other that had a hand in putting this together. I have really enjoyed reading all the review and seeing the pictures. I hope I can participate next year!
Bill, you are probably very busy now with getting Ke Nalu off the ground, but I would like to get some input on specific comparisons I am making when you get a chance. Are you going to have a place here where we can ask for explicit opinions?
We’ll add writer stats as much as possible. Some people didn’t notice that the evaluation sheets had a place to write their name, so we’ll have some challenges. We’ll also be adding a lot of pictures of people riding the boards which should help give an idea of who a board fits. It will take a little time to do that, but the showcase is a permanent feature, so we’ll add to it. That’s one of the really nice things about online publications–you can change them and everyone’s “copy” has all the new stuff. For that matter there’s a lot more to add to this article. Check back to see the updated version in a few days–a lot more pictures and better captions.
Paddledaddy:
Glad to help. You can ask anything either in comments like this or there’s a tab at the top of each page called “Ask How” that takes you to a form for asking questions. Either way works. If the question is something of general interest we’ll take it to the experts to get an answer and write an article around it. One of the things that makes this magazine possible is that there is a tremendous amount of expertise available in Hawaii for any question related to surfing or wavesailing.
Looks good bro. Was acting a bit flaky this morning but seems OK now. I’m seeing the same skill/weight comment on the zone. Maybe a compromise of the average evaluator assignments?
Sorry I missed the event,but it looked very successful. I am off the Island for a while down in southeast asia living near your buddy Lane and getting some very decent waves in the summer months.I just ordered a 9′ sup from starboards and am looking forward to gettin’ some good sessions this summer.The sup thing is still newly developing down here, which is nice.Basically no crowds here. I’ll try to submit a photo in the future.Pj out……..
Thanks BIll. As you may recall from another forum, I am considering another board primarily for fishing. (I currently own a JL 11er which is great in the surf but slow to paddle any distance; and I have a 12′ Munoz Superglide which is a good surfboard that can be used in flat conditions as a SUP, but there is not enough volume for my 215 lbs. in choppy situations.)
I am looking for a board that can keep up with my friends in quality sit on top fishing Kayaks for a few miles. But then when I get to my fishing spot I want to be able to stay standing while I sight cast to fish in the flats. Which means it has to be quite stable at a stand still. Some of the boards that I am considering are the Jimmy Lewis Distance, Starboards 12′6″x 30 or 12×32, Angulo 11′11″ or 11′9″, or perhaps you have an idea for some other. I also like the look of the new C4 Vortice and Holoholo but I am guessing they are just too tippy for what I have in mind. I have paddled the Starboard 12′6×30 and it would probably work for my purpose, but if there is something out there that is faster without giving up stability or more stabe without giving up speed I would be happy about knowing it before I put money down. For instance that new Angulo 11′11″ looks fast and stable.
So, Can you give me your opinion about the paddle speed of the boards I mentioned or any others you think I should consider? Maybe you can put them in order fastest to slowest for me. And then can you do the same for their stability?Finally, what board would you choose for the purpose I described? I hope I have not highjacked this space or your time too much, but perhaps there is someone else interested as well.
I can chime in with my thoughts on most those boards paddledaddy. I think Bill and I have similar thoughts. I ride the Starboard 12-6 x 30 (wood veneer) at home and used Bill’s (sporttech?) while on Maui. Great board, lots of glide and stable and you can get all kinds of hardpoints mounted on the sporttech version for easy equipment installs. I think Bill’s had 6 or 8 threaded hardpoints built in.
The Starboard 12 x 32 is rock solid stable, not quite as fast as the 12-6 but close. I think you can get all the hardpoints on that as well.
The Jimmy distance was faster than either but not as stable standing still. But someone with better balance than I (and thats most people) could probably fish from it.
The Angulo 11-11 for me was a magic board. Not quite as fast or as much glide as the Starboard 12-6 but just as stable (maybe even more so) and it surfed well too. The 11-9 felt similar but I tended to perl it when surfing.
I don’t have any experince with the C4 or the Holoholo but as you said I think they’d be a bit tippy as a fishing platform.
I’m not sure about getting hardpoints installed in any of the other boards except the Starboards but would assume its possible.
If I were buying a board just for fishing it would probably be the 12 x 32 Starboard. Fast enough and a very stable platform. It would be great with a bunch of hardpoints on it.
As some background I’m a beginner (7 months) 6′-4″ and 260 lbs
I’ll be doing lots of fishing off my Starboard this summer if I don’t get my fishing cruiser built.
http://www.ponohouse.com/ponoblog/2008/01/18/fishing-cruiser/
Good Fishing!
Stoneaxe: Thanks for the help so far. You mentioned both the Angulo 11′11″ and the Starboard 12′6″ as being a bit slower and a bit more stable than the Starboard 12′6×30. Can you offer a direct comparison between the Angulo 11′11″ and the Starboard 12×32. In your opinion, which one paddles faster and which one is more stable and by how much. The Starboard 12×32 sounds like a good choice, but I am still a bit attracted to the Angulo as well.
Bill, perhaps when you get back from your adventures with friends you can chime in here as well; or anyone else who has experience with all of these. I appreciate all of it.
The Angulo is slightly faster but less stable, the Starboard is almost too stable, but that’s a good thing for fishing. Both have large sweet spots. If I could have only one board it would be the Angulo. For a pure fisher I’d go with the Starboard. I don’t think either would keep up directly with the kayaks but I don’t think you’ld fall too far behind.
Thanks for the help stoneaxe. I may also look into the Laird 12×31, but I think I am getting this thing narrowed down.
Happy paddling.
No problem, it so tough to narrow down a choice. I’d be willing to bet that if you took the top 10 boards that most folks would think of as good primarily fishing boards and tested them one after the other you wouldn’t find more than 5 mins difference over a 2 mile course and the stability of all would be sufficient for fishing. The faster boards mentioned wouldn’t work for me as a fisher but all the others would, including the Laird 12×31, that was solid too.
I would think stability would trump speed for this. The paddle to and from is likely to be less time than the fishing andI would definitely want it extra stable. I tended to get down on my knees after hooking up last year but I’d rather fight standing.
Thanks to everyone for the great comments and suggestions. Many have asked for information about the evaluators to make their comments more relevant. We’ve sorted through all the info, and are in the process of adding weight, skill level and male or female to each comment that we can (an occasional comment sheet didn’t include a name). We’ll also be adding action shots in this area. Keep the suggests coming. We’re thrilled with the response to the Showcase.