SUP Motorcycle Trailer

Some time ago I decided I wanted to tow my board behind my motorcycle. Lots of reasons–my motorcycle gets 65 mpg, my jeep gets 20. the motorcycle is fun to ride, and I have the notion that I can take it to some interesting places that I wouldn’t go with a jeep. we’ll see how that last reason works out, I think the trailer might be pretty limiting.

I tried the Mule, and it worked very well. But I was concerned that higher motorcycle speeds might wear the thing out catastrophically. I don’t want to trash a board if a wheel fails or the axle breaks. Bottom line, the Mule would be fine for occasional use, but I want to do this all the time.

I looked around for some good wheels, thinking used motorcycle front wheels would be good. But I couldn’t find anything. Heavy duty bicycle wheels proved to be quite expensive. Then when I was shopping at K-Mart for canning jars to make lime marmalade I came across a bicycle trailer intended to carry up to two small children. the price was right–$120–and I figured it would form the basis of my trailer. I bought a few lengths of 1″ square tubing and fired up the welder.

My plan was to build a trailer that could carry a 12′ board, but that also could fold, both for storage and to carry smaller stuff. I built a main frame that doubles back over the bicycle trailer base in the folded position, and a tongue section that also folds.

Once the framework was done, I painted the steel, reworked the fabric body of the bike trailer to provide storage under the board, and sewed some rack pad covers for the crossbars. I cut down a flag that Jeff Henderson gave me long ago when I bought a bunch of Superfreak sails from Maui Hot sails and bolted everything together.

Not an easy project, but it works great. the trailer hitch I fabricated for the motorcycle attaches to the rear wheel axle, so there’s no odd pulling force on the bike frame. I can hardly feel that the trailer is there, even fully loaded with a board and all the sailing gear so I can choose to go wavesailing. It tracks perfectly and I can still turn the bike in as tight a circle with the trailer as without.

Of course Diane thinks the thing is hazardous. We’ll see. I always wear a helmet on any motorcycle, but a little protective gear might be in order. I don’t fancy hitting the pavement in my boardshorts.

So if you see a goofy looking guy on his motorcycle dragging a huge SUP board, wave, but don’t turn left behind me too quickly–it takes a while for all the trailer to go by and that’s precious cargo on board that thing.

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SUP Fishing

Fishing from a stand up paddle board is a natural–you can get it into the water easier than even a kayak. You can see down onto reefs better than you can on any other craft I’ve experienced, and you can fish comfortably in places any boat would fear to tread–kelp beds, shallow water with waves, tricky leeward shores. You can cast from a standing position, and fight your fish either standing or sitting.

You don’t need much gear–a plastic “milk crate” from Office Max holds all my stuff–I think it cost about ten bucks. My big Starboard 12′6″ X 30 already had inserts in the front deck, so I made a frame out of PVC pipe and screwed it to the deck. the fishing crate then bungees to the frame. The frame is good for a lot of things–carrying kids or the dog, stowing a pack with water and lunch, tossing any plastic trash I find while I’m doing a downwinder.  I leave it on the 12′6″ all the time, even when I’m surfing on it.

A piece of PVC pipe zip tied to the crate serves as a fine rodholder. I have a Dakine fishing roll that holds my lures, hooks, weights, tools, etc. And I generally drag along a double sided tackle box though I have yet to open it. The Dakine roll really holds all I need. A good saltwater baitcaster rod and rell setup, some extra sunscreen and goofy hat rounds out the gear.

I generally use a floating lure that pulls down a foot or so at paddling speed. I copied what the kayak fishermen were using on the south and west side. So far it’s been very productive, though I’ve been releasing all the fish. I always figure I’ll catch something to keep just before I paddle in–but so far that hasn’t happened. I’ve recently added a net bag to keep fish fresh in, we’ll se how that works out.

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Time to do this right

I’ve seen a few really bad examples of SUP etiquette lately, on a large scale. It seems likely to me that if this continues then there will be a substantial backlash from other surfers. We as a community would be wise to remember that SUP is a new aspect of surfing with a few thousand devotees while surfing is estimated to have 2.5 million practitioners (though that includes bodyboarders). We can expect grumbling and resistance–breaks are a scarce resource. Surfers are tribal. They don’t like change and they don’t want company. That can be overcome. If nothing else, time and familiarity will work away at the resistance. Shortboarders might not like longboarders, but they don’t go nuts every time they see one.

What can’t so easily be overcome is a righteous backlash brought on by SUP surfers acting badly. There are lots of opportunities for that, some of which are inherent in the nature of SUP surfing.

Communities set standards that become accepted parts of the culture. some happen automatically, some intentionally. They aren’t necessarily rules. Just ways to act if you’re cool, and ways you act if you aren’t. The surf tribes have a lot of unwritten standards about sharing waves, respecting locals and accomplished surfers, how beginners behave, and how experts behave. That works in a well-established culture because the overwhelming majority of the members know the rules–the newcomers are a tiny fraction of the community, and their low status is obvious even to outsiders: They don’t reflect badly on the general surfing community.

In an emerging tribe like ours it’s better if the newbies understand the standards from the start. In these early years they will comprise a large percentage of SUP surfers, and their actions will reflect significantly on the community. It’s also good to have a core reference–a place where the tablets are stored. It makes it easier to point someone who is misbehaving to a source for understanding what’s cool in the tribe.

I propose that we as a community create that repository. To that end I have acquired the URL www.supright.com. I intend to create a self-perpetuating place to store the standards of our community. No advertising, no links, no sponsorship,no forum, no blog. Just a place to refer newbies to where they can learn what the SUP community deems to be appropriate behavior.

I think the best place to talk out what gets placed there is http://www.standupzone.com which is the place that the community gathers when they aren’t in the water.I will repost this article there in the etiquette section.

Anyone–a board manufacturer, surf shop, individual, school, etc. can print the URL on their products, make stickies, freely reproduce the information that gets placed at that site, and use or distribute it as they see fit. I will eventually put Google Adwords on the site so it will generate enough pocket change to pay for it’s url registration and hosting.

We’ll seed the site with basic rules and let it evolve from there.

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Super Sneak Session

Funny how priorities and enthusiasms change. Last year towards the end of our trip all I wanted to do was wavesail. Every day that the wind blew too hard I reluctantly windsurfed. When there was no wind I grumbled and SUP surfed. Not exactly hard duty, but I was really into wavesailing and wanted to do it every day. This year it’s SUP surfing. When the surf is good I do marathon sessions. When it’s bad or windy I’ve been doing work around the house.

Today I decided to shake that silly bias and take advantage of the wind. Driving down the Hana highway, just after noon headed for Kanaha, I didn’t know whether I’d be windsurfing or wavesailing–it all depends on the wind velocity. It was howling at Ho’okipa, so I was glad i brought the full on windsurfing gear. Wavesailing is done on either a standard longboard or a stand up board fitted with a mast connector–either a track or a plug. When the wind is a little too strong for surfing, and a little light for windsurfing, wavesailing is the answer. You basically drive out to the surf using the sail and then surf the waves. The advantage is that you can really surf the waves–a standard windsurf board doesn’t surf for beans. And you can pull into waves that would scare the pants off you if you were surfing. When they start to crumble and get ready to crush you sheet in on the sail and off you go. Just don’t fall.

There’s no footstraps and the hull doesn’t plane well, so it’s not that comfortable in high wind–though I’ve done it.

Anyhow. I got to the airport access road for Kanaha and noticed the palm trees weren’t moving all that vigorously, and the smoke from the sugar mill at Puamana was no longer blowing vigorously back, but rather was drifting upwards at nearly a 45 degree angle. The wind was slacking! I got to the beach and saw only two or three windsurfers in the water. and they were struggling. Wavesailing!

I looked long and hard at the water and the waves out on the reef. There were no whitecaps, the tops of the waves on the reef were getting blown off, so the wind was stronger outside, but it wasn’t vigorous. I convinced myself that I could SUP surf instead of wavesail. So I grabbed my gear and headed out. There were a few surfers contemplating the water when I jumped in and started paddling, but I was all alone in the water, and all alone when I reached the reef.

The waves were firing erratically in the wind–some good surfable faces, but the wind was blowing the face into chop. I curled into the slot for a head-high rough-looking wave and paddled hard. Caught the wave easily but it immediately started crumbling and sectioning in front of me, so switched my back foot to the backside rail and cut hard to surfers left, riding in a surprisingly smooth shoulder towards the channel. Got a great, long ride.

As the afternoon wore on the wind dropped and the waves grew. after the first hour there were perhaps ten prone and ten stand up surfers. But the sets were steady. Occasionally a big double-overhead wave would pound through and turn the lineup into a foaming ball of boards and swimmers. I blew the drop in on a big double and got whacked hard, losing both my hat and my sunglasses. Damn, not only was that my lucky hat (lucky because i usually find it) but my best sunglasses. It was stupid to be wearing them in big surf.

Hey, if anyone finds some Maui Jims with a red floating strap, give a yell, huh?

I caught and rode some really fun waves, as well as a few that were a little too big for my current skill level, but I didn’t die and it all worked out. My Bill Foote custom board is really good in this heavy stuff.

So, at the end of the day my maybe windurfing, maybe wavesailing day turned into an excellent SUP surfing day with no crowds and the biggest waves I’ve seen this trip. The hat was a worthy sacrifice to the gods of surf.

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Maui Boards for Sale

Time to thin the herd–I have way too many boards in my garage. I really need to get rid of a couple more, but even these two are hard to let go of.

JL 11X30 all arounder. I consider this the very best board to learn on, and a fine board for beginner/intermediate surfers. The soft rails make the tail slide nicely, which helps people that aren’t turning hard on the rails yet. This board is in fine shape, a few paddle dings that I have touched up, includes the new style Jimmy Lewis pad with raised tail and edges for easy control. Two fins–the huge JL fin which give maximum stability and is good for nose riding, and a smaller Island Fin Design flexi that’s about 10.5″. This is still my go-to board on days when my confidence is not high. When I got back to Maui this year my first five surfing days were on my JL 11er. I had to leave it home to not use it and move to a more demanding board. I need to stop relying on this comfortable crutch so off it goes for $900.

I’m going to miss this guy, but it’s time to move on

both fins are included

Ku Nalu Hollow Epoxy 12′2″ X 26″ by Sandwich Island Composites.  One of the original SUP boards, and the first SUP board i bought. This board is in cherry shape, a few minor scratches and a repaired ding (repaired and repainted by S.I.C. aka the Ding King). This board is famously fast and surfs very well. It’s not great for beginners because its pretty tippy, though if you master the Ku Nalu you can balance on anything. When I had this built I had Mark include a mast track which was then routed with fingerholes to act as a carry handle. Works great and you can still attach a sail. That’s a good thing, the Ku Nalu is one of the best wavesailing boards around. S.I.C. is still selling Ku Nalus to people who appreciate it’s excellent speed and fine surfing ability. I’d keep it for downwinders but I have a race board on the way. No room in the garage, so off it goes for $700.

I’m also selling one of my two motorcycles. A 2000 Yamaha XT350 with 1650 miles on it–barely broken in and well maintained (I used to be a motorcycle mechanic). 75 MPG and carries two. Pretty practical transportation in Maui as long as the tourists don’t kill you. I’ve decided keeping an extra bike here for friends is a bad idea. Maui is no place for novice riders. If you are one please don’t buy my bike, I don’t want you on my conscience. $4300.

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Back in Maui

Boy, does that title sound good! We got back to the island November 3rd. Ponohouse looks great. A little bird and/or gecko poop here and there, and the garage looks like someone ransacked it, but that’s how it looked when I left. I spent the first morning at Kanaha beach Park, paddling into some nice knee-high waves in glassy conditions. It was good not to have big waves the first day. I clearly remember how badly worked I got jumping into overhead conditions the first day back last year.

I was all alone at first, not even any prone surfers. Then a guy paddled out with a really interesting paddle, beautiful piece of work, a leaf-shaped blade with an interesting back diehedral. We talked a while and I tried his paddle–liked it a lot. For some stupid reason I didn’t get his name, and I didn’t have my camera handy, but I’ll get pictures ASAP. He’s going to make the paddles to sell. If they are as nice as the one he made himself he shouldn’t have a problem with that.

Then Randy (StandupZone) paddled out. You can recognize Randy from a long way away. Tall, big shoulders, agressive paddler, and very long boardshorts. He says he has a thing about his knees, but Randy jokes around enough with a gentle sarcasm that I never know when he’s serious. We talked for quite a while, catching up and catching waves. Great guy, and always fun to talk with, and a heck of a good surfer.

The wind came up a bit, so I headed in and headed home to do some cleanup on the house.

Saw Randy again briefly at Thousand Peaks the next morning. A lot more people out surfing–lots of longboarders and a few SUP. I stuck to the reef break off to the left side for awhile to be sure my surfing was good enough to be around other folks, then went over to talk with the longboarders–I know most of them. Had a nice long session, concentrating on picking up the little waves the prone guys didn’t want or can’t catch. took an occasional nice wave but then I went to the backside to leave the preferred slot open for the longboarders.

It’s really amazing how many more waves you can get on a SUP than prone. It would be so easy to be a wave hog.

The wind came up at Thousand Peaks about noon, and the surf got very messy, so I went west to Puamana. Not great there either, but better than cleaning the garage. I surfed quite a while, and then managed to cut myself badly on a rock. I was trying to beach start, but fell, and drag my foot across a rock face, slicing a four inch strip on the edge of my righ foot. I guess I’ll have to stay out of the water a few days. It’ll give me a chance to do some stuff around the house. More later, did a little video of Thousand Peaks.