New Toy: Foote KeNalu board

I asked Bill Foote to build me a board and asked Diane to design the graphics. I’m delighted with the outcome, except that I haven’t had a chance to do much more than paddle it around–the surf kind of sucks lately. Here’s some pics (as always, the pictures are letterboxed–click on any picture to see the full size version:

I did the mat myself. Started with a Hawaiian Island Surf and Sport mat and whacked it all up. I wanted it a bit wider in the tail and a little longer, so this is my artsy way of accomplishing that.

Diane found the Gecko on a tattoo art site. We printed it out in tiles and traced it onto rice paper. I used acrylic paint to fill in the black, but unfortunately used a Sharpie for the outline. When Bill tested the art it blew all over the place, so Dave the Painter had to redo it in a much more difficult manner–hand masking it.

Nice shape, yah? Hmm, maybe I’m spending too much time on Maui. I’m getting sun tan lotion off my hands.

A bit of rocker in the tail too. Makes it turn nice when you step back. The board is 10′11″ by 30″. A little concave under the feet, going to a slight V and flattening out in the tail.

Beach start. I do like having a pretty board to look at while I’m paddling.

Up and away

She floats, captain. Taking a bit ‘O water amidships, but nice and stable

If we only had a wave

Learning From The Masters–In Photos

Laird Hamilton at Peahi

What could you possibly learn from Laird Hamilton? The guy is way beyond the understanding of we mere mortals. That’s not just goofy hero worship. Not only is he an ultimate waterman, but he’s a visionary. He’s helped to birth multiple water sports including tow-in surfing and the renaissance of stand up paddle surfing. He was the first person I ever heard say that nearly anyone could do Stand Up at some level. His first production board was aimed not at the absurd level of expertise that he and his friends are capable of, but at the absolute beginner. He charts his own course, and we all wait to see what he’s going to do next.

But the answer to the first question is: Plenty. As a very simple example, look where his rear foot is in the picture above, and look where his weight is applied. His foot is slightly towards the inside rail, all he needs to do is shift his weight to his toes to press the rail down and turn the board, but his weight is still centered, keeping the board trimmed flat and letting it accelerate.

Now look where his weight is–his foot hasn’t moved, but the board is carving hard. This technique of anticipating a turn with foot placement but not initiating the turn until you are ready seems critical in controlling our big boards at any level. Stepping forward or back on the board, shifting a foot to one rail or the other, all without shifting your weight, is the way to maintain precise control. If you step and shift weight at the same time you’ll probably over control the board which generally means you’ll fall.

Fully committed to the Turn

Observe where his weight is applied, he’s cranking the rails hard and has his weight fully in the center of the turn. Look at where his hand is on the paddle–slid way up the shaft, with the blade skimming the face of the wave, not dragging to slow him, but cutting to act as a stabilizer. Of course he’s done this a thousand times, and it’s as automatic as sneezing, but his actions show us what we need to learn.

Cutting back on the face

Now his weight is back over the center. The board is trimmed flat. You can tell from the slash above his head and the blade angle that he’s been using the paddle to brake a little to hold in the pocket. The paddle is extremely versatile. You can speed up, slow down, stabilize, lift the tail of the board, steer from the nose, any number of things that a prone surfer has to do differently or do without.

Dropping in

Wide stance, centered on the board, staying low.

Bottom turn

Pay no attention to the tons of seawater over your head… Where was I, oh yeah, notice he’s moved his foot to the inner rail to push this turn hard.

Pushing Hard

Look how much force he’s applying to the board, he’s blowing water off the bottom, and his paddle is planted as a pivot point stabilizing him so he can press even harder on the rails. look at the bend in the paddle.

Finishing the turn
Note the foot position, on the inner rail, weight centered over the turning rail, paddle skimming for stability.

A boy and his playground

Here’s an interesting paddle-handling sequence at Ho’okipa:

Skimming the paddle to steer from a forward position

Dragging and skimming

Dragging to stay in the barrel

but sometimes ya just surf

Here’s a move I copied from watching Laird and others and have since perfected to a degree for myself. For me it’s not anything this elegant, and so I call it the “whitewater flail”.

A prone surfer facing a closeout this size would be wise to dive into the face of the wave. If they try to run down the face their speed will slacken just as the lip falls on them. Not a good thing. Generally a ticket for a free ride over the falls.

But Laird uses the power of his paddle to stay ahead, and then presses the paddle back in the whitewater to lighten the tail and simultaneously keep the nose from being pushed under in a power pearl.

Your success in staying on the board in the turbulence may not be as high as Laird’s, but you won’t be going over the falls–that’s already done, finis, pau, over.

Guy must have feet like a gecko

We’ve got a lot more of this coming, courtesy of Darrell Wong, a tremendously talented photographer. You can see more of his work at www.darrellwong.com. In the next installment we’ll look at some astonishing power turns by Robby Naish (yes, he’s a hell of a good surfer, that should come as no surprise) and flatwater strokes perfected by looking at some of the best racing paddlers in the world, including ocean canoe paddlers.

In the meantime, have fun, paddle hard.

Future Standup Hot Spots…or Paddling in the Land of the Pilgrims

Glassy knee highs

How often do you get to be the first at anything?

I don’t believe anyone has ever surfed the shoal 2 miles off of Plymouth beach. Why would you? Only a few have bothered to surf the beach itself and the shoal is a 3 mile paddle from the parking lot. A long way for a prone surfer but a nice cruise with a paddle. I know some kayaker’s have been out there but no surf boards that I’ve heard. That was part of the reason I was having so much fun riding and connecting section after section on this beautiful glassy day small though it was. Just the thought that maybe, just maybe, I could be the first was pretty interesting.

Me the newb! [Read more]

Comments Welcome

Ke Nalu is a big experiment, and one test was making people jump a small threshold to leave comments (register and respond to a Captcha spambot test). The result is not many comments. I consider comments to be the lifeblood of online publishing, so I’ve turned all that off for the time being. I’m still going to work to minimize the spam, but I need to hear from all of you readers about what you like and don’t, what experiences you have, and where you’d like this publication to go.

The venerable Ponohouse blog had several postings with more than 100 comments. i don’t expect to see that level–there are a lot of places for SUP folks to spend time online these days. But I do value your input. Please comment.

New Standup Journal Out Soon

The new issue of Standup Journal is on it’s way to newstands (most Border’s Bookstores now carry it). Here’s a teaser courtesy of publisher Clay Feeter–the cover and first three spreads. These are lightboxed–click on any picture to zoom it to full size. [Read more]

Ke Nalu Forum

As some of you have noticed, I’m playing around with integrating a forum into Ke Nalu. No, I don’t think stand up paddlesurfing really needs another forum–the excellent Standup Zone does a great job. I’m just looking to build an easier way to communicate with readers about this magazine. If you click on the tab you’ll see a fairly screwed up forum–I need to work on it some more. This is going to be a “tiny” forum, integrated directly into the magazine. Right now it’s an experiment–we’ll see where it goes. I could have stuck it off in the back room, but decided to do my experimenting right up front.

Grand Gremlins and SUP

I’ve found a great use for SUP boards–entertaining grand kids. I attached a carrier to my Starboard 12′6″ recently, planning to use it for fishing and camping, but the grandkids who have been here for a week (God give me strength) took full advantage of it. [Read more]

At Long last: Tell A Friend

It took far longer to get this done than it should have, and left me thinking I don’t know much about PHP and programming, but I finally have implemented Tell-A-Friend on every page. if you read an article you think a friend would value you can quickly send them an email with a link and description of why you think they’d like the article.

I sincerely hope you’ll jump all over this and recommend Ke Nalu to your friends. It’s time for us to start building readership.

Team Industrial and the Catalina Challenge

The Prolific Paddler and Paddlebuilder Ernie Johnson sent me two great photojournals for races he’s done recently. This makes three stories so far from Ernie (and makes all the rest of you look like slackers–how ’bout getting those stories to me–you can’t just be sitting around reading about this stuff!).

Ernie Johnson and Tony Mueller teamed up to compete in the Catalina Challenge using Ernie’s sailboat (and home) as their chase boat. Here’s Ernie’s story:

[Read more]

Waterproof Artwork: Malama Paddles

A custom wood paddle is a special thing. It’s Paul Newman showing up in the bar with a Balabushka. It sets a certain expectation, creates a certain frisson. Of course on the downside, you’d better be able to play a little fricken pool.

Whether it’s a Gillespie, an Ernie Johnson Big Stick, a Kinimaka, or a Malama, a paddle made by one of these masters will make you smile every time you pull it from it’s bag. Even more important is the special qualities of wood construction. They aren’t as light, but they are easier on your shoulders and arms. My guess is it’s the damping of the wood. All I know is that as much as I love my Quickblade, and as impressed as i was with the Warner’s tough lightness, my Malama is good to my torn up shoulders. I use carbon fiber paddles, but if I’m going long, it’s all wood. [Read more]

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