I Like Whales, but…

…this is getting crazy. Every day it seems to get a little more extreme, like some kind of Stand Up Paddle whale slalom. Today started sort of uneventfully, the wind didn’t look that great–strong at the Canoe Hale up by the Kehei Pier, and positively nukin’ on the North Shore, but when we drove down to Makena Landing to drop off the shuttle truck it was dead calm and whatever windline we could see was five or more miles out. Still, we decided to suck it up (Chan is going to get tired of hearing that) and go all the way. What the heck, it’s just paddling (though it never is).

We hit the water and started getting some nice bumps and rides right away. There was a surprisingly big swell angling onshore. Must have been a reflection off Sugar Beach, there isn’t enough fetch to build a swell that size right at the Hale. I angled sharply out. Rand stayed inside for some reason, and Chan took the middle ground. I think I actually made the best choice. I had good rides for at least half of the run. Up ahead the whales were going nuts. There were huge splashes everywhere.

As we neared Sorrentos I angled out further to avoid a pod that were doing breaches and tail slaps right in my path. As I angled out a particularly large whale surfaced a few hundred feet from me and started doing kind of an oddly angled tail slap that was kind of like slapping the water backhand, then forehand, then backhand–flipping his tail over at an angle. The sound was so intense I could feel it in my feet and my chest. Just past that whale a mid-sized calf did a forward flip coming completely out of the water. Ahead of me a big whale did a partial breach–shooting about half it’s body out of the water then sliding back and sideways. It was close enough for me to clearly see the lumps under it’s chin and a big scar where it’s right pectoral fin joined its body. I felt quite small. My board seemed ridiculously fragile. Like skateboarding through an elephant herd.

I made it clear of the pod without incident, had a few more close encounters, then the wind died off, the swells got big, cresting, and oily, and I saw a boat that looked like it might be in trouble. I altered course to pass close by and checked it out. Two guys and a gal, fishing. They were fine. They must have strong stomachs, the boat was pitching wildly. I felt much safer on my Stand Up Paddleboard.

I angled in a little because it looked like the wind might be a little better. I wasn’t. A few minutes after I left the boat I heard the whine of an engine behind me. But it wasn’t my new fisherman friends, it was a lifeguard on a jetski with a rescue sled. “You okay” he said. “Sure” said I. He told me they had been called by a tourist that said two people were being carried out to sea on standup boards. He understood we were doing downwinders, asked where we started from, radioed back that all was well and left me to my paddling.

Chan was working her way out, I was working in as we neared Makena Landing. We were soon in talking distance. She had seen the lifeguard and wanted to know what was up. A few minutes later I heard her yell “Hey Bill” from a little distance behind and inside me. I turned and saw a dolphin fin, a foot or two from the nose of her board. She had a friend. The Dolphin cut back and forth in front of her for some time, rolling his body sideways to get a good look, then came over to check me out. He dodged under the nose of my board, I watched him cut through the water and swim right in front of TWO WHALES!! Holy smokes they were right on top of me!! They both surfaced, the nearer one no more than five feet away, the further one perhaps ten. I could see the nearer one’s pectoral fin under my board–it had wide white markings all along it’s edge. The nearer one hosed me down comprehensively with his spout. Uck. It didn’t feel as snotty and wasn’t as bad smelling as the last time I got whale sprayed, mostly just water and a little shrimpy smell, but I still wasn’t going to lick my dry, parched lips–though I suddenly really needed to. As soon as they were a few feet past me I jumped in the water and scrubbed off. Somehow they didn’t get Chan even though she was no more than 20 feet away and she found the whole thing pretty amusing.

We made the turn into the bay, met Rand who said he hadn’t seen a thing on his inside line–considered it an uneventful trip.

If these whale encounters get any more up close and personal we’re going to have to invite some of these whales over for dinner. I wonder if Costco carries Krill?

Stand Up Catamaran–stolen!! (Video)

I got a chance to paddle the SIC S-16 Catamaran Stand Up Paddle Board yesterday–I guess I should say I TOOK a chance to paddle it. Everyone was gone, transferring shuttle cars. So I grabbed it and gave it a try. Here’s the video:

I liked what I felt, considering how short the test was. It’s very stable, very quick and very fast. I didn’t have an opportunity to try it in a swell, but I can say that it would be very fast on flat water. It does have the inter-hull wave reflectance that I assumed it would, and that causes turbulence with leaves a substantial wake. But the hulls are clearly low friction–it doesn’t take much to get it moving, and it reaches high speed very quickly. It seemed to like Dave Kalama’s Tahitian stroke a great deal, responding quickly to the short pulls.

The rudder is precise and quick without being twitchy. All in all, it’s a hell of a good board, and beautifully finished.

Paddling with Dave

So if you wanted to get some paddle coaching for SUP, who would be your absolute, top of the line pick as coach? No question in my mind that my choice would be Dave Kalama, and Dave DOES do one-on-one coaching when he has the time. I figured if I’m going to spend time and money on racing Stand Up Paddle boards that I needed some serious coaching, so I engaged with Dave for a couple of days of training. It’s been pretty remarkable.

Some of you might not be familiar with Dave Kalama. Here’s a little background;

Dave is credited with the co-development of tow-in surfing, along with Laird Hamilton, Darrick Doerner, and Buzzy Kerbox. They pioneered tow-in surfing and later stand up surfing at Peahi (Jaws).

Kalama and close friend Laird Hamilton essentially reinvented and invigorated stand-up paddling. In October 2006, Dave Kalama and Laird Hamilton, biked and paddled the entire Hawaiian Island chain—more than 450 miles—in a week. The feat was featured on Don King’s film A Beautiful Son in support of those afflicted with autism. He appeared in the opening sequence of the James Bond film Die Another Day.

Dave is a descendant from a long line of noteworthy Hawaiian watermen; his grandfather brought outrigger canoe paddling to the mainland U.S., and his father Ilima Kalama was the 1962 world-champion surfer and a lifelong outrigger canoe paddler.

He’s fast as hell, can paddle forever (he once did six Maliko runs in a day just to train) and looks like he’s effortlessly stroking the water while he disappears on the horizon. I’ve never heard anyone say a bad thing about him and literally every surfer I know considers him the ultimate waterman.

He’s a fine teacher–he’s got a real knack for taking complex physical actions apart and showing you how to do each bit. He trained Slater Trout in paddle technique and general physical conditioning. Slater went on to take an upset second place in the Elite category of the 2009 Battle of the Paddle and contended strongly for first.

I guess he’s qualified to give me a few pointers.

The good news is that I have been putting the board in the water the right way–the fin does indeed go down. The bad news is that’s about it for the parts I’ve been doing right. The basic stroke Dave taught me is so counter-intuitive, subtle and complicated that I am absolutely certain that you will be totally confused by the time you finish this article.

Let me give you these words of encouragement–the end result of a few hours of coaching with Dave and a couple of days of practice in between session is that a four mile paddle today going as fast as I can for the entire distance left me feeling no fatigue whatever. I’m not going any faster yet–I’m a long, long way from mastering the stroke–but I’ve already gained a tremendous amount of efficiency

Start by watching this video (shot by Randy Strome of the Standup Zone) through a couple of times. The first stroke he’s doing is the Hawaiian stroke, which is a lot more like what I was doing (though Dave is far more fluid). The second stroke is Tahitian, which is the stroke he taught me.

Notice how much power and effort he’s putting into the Hawaiian stroke. The paddle is pulled hard all the way to his feet, then he wings out his upper hand just enough to clear the blade from the water, twists the upper hand to feather the blade and clear the water, then swings the blade back forward, raising his upper arm back into position.

Now watch the video from about 1:40 where he start doing the Tahitian stroke. In the end of this stroke he doesn’t wing his upper arm at all, rather he pulls the blade up and out of the water like drawing a sword. He breaks the wrist of his lower hand inward and relaxes most of the lower arm, using only minimal effort to push the paddle upwards. The upper hand holds the handle more like a knob than a T handle, with the thumb pointed to the side somewhat to start with. This enables the upper hand to twist the blade to a feathered position without putting a strain on the wrist.

As the blade leaves the water the shoulder, arm and upper torso swing forward in a sort of gentle punch, enabling momentum to stretch the muscles forward and give a longer reach for the catch. The upper arm which has been extended now moves a few inches inward towards the head and the torso rotates to stack the shoulders. At the catch the muscles start to spring back almost by themselves, and a firm torso and shoulder rotation applies power. The upper hand pushes forward and slightly down to aid in the power and position the shaft vertically. Almost as soon as power is applied you relax, and start the withdrawal sequence. The upper arm motion is a fluid rotation, with the hand describing a flattened oval–like an almond. Efficiency is gained by paying attention to when each muscle set can be relaxed. You can literally SEE the relaxation in Dave’s body, at the same time that the board is positively flying across the water.

Dave explained the efficiency this way: Properly done, the catch and first bit of pull is 70 percent of the power in any stroke. The energy applied after the catch can aid speed, but only a little bit, and it comes at a large cost. You get both your hands and your torso out of position for the next stroke, and you have to get them back where they belong before you can start again–that takes energy. The Hawaiian technique is fast, but it takes a supremely conditioned athlete to make it work and compensate for the inefficiency.

The Tahitian stroke is constantly lifting the nose of the craft, and it’s designed to build momentum. Your hands, torso and shoulders return to position automatically, on a circular, continuous path, and only travel a short distance. To build speed you increase the cadence, and it’s a lot easier to do that because the stroke recovery is so much shorter.

The hard part of all this is that every little aspect of the stroke is important, and the subtleties are endless. “Soften your lower hand–you need to relax. You’re lifting your upper hand too high. Reach. No, really reach. You need to stack your shoulders more. Your upper hand has to be closer to your head to get the shaft vertical. You’re pushing your upper hand too late. More torso rotation. Reach.” Good thing this guy is patient.

The format was that Dave taught me the basics for about two hours, then I spent the rest of the day practicing and basically screwing it all up. Then we met for another couple of hours and he got me back on the right path and showed me some of the more subtle stuff I was missing. More practice. Then a hour for a tuneup.

I’m now doing a reasonable facsimile of the Tahitian stroke. I know what I’m doing wrong, and how to fix it. There’s about ten things to be thinking about at any one time, and I know what all ten are, but I only get about six right at once. Of course all this has to get into muscle memory, and then I’m going to need another tweak or two.

Dave does this quick but comprehensive and effective program of one-on-one paddle coaching for $1000 and he has other programs that are more intensive and complete, and he also does one-on-one surf coaching. That’s comparable to pro coaching in other sports and it’s enormously effective. It’s a lot like having Babe Ruth teach you to bat. He’s not always available–he keeps a pretty busy schedule. But if you’re going to be on Maui it’s a really worthwhile thing to try add to your vacation and you’ll leave a greatly improved SUP paddler.

You can contact Dave through this form, which will be automatically emailed to him:

Hmmm, we’re having a technical challenge with the form. If you want to contact Dave before I get this fixed drop me an email at bill at kenalu dot come and I’ll forward.

Standup TV: Gary Lopez Vol 1.1

Stand Up Paddle Television started airing last year as a special segment of My Local Lineup TV on every third week of the month on iTV San Diego, channel 16, covers everything stand up paddling, from surfing and flat water to down wind and white water. While airing to about three million people in San Diego County, the show has now launched Stand Up Paddle TV, with all of its episodes, on the web. We will be carrying all the future episodes on Ke Nalu, and we’re catching up TODAY on all eleven of the episodes previously aired.

The episodes probe into several different facets of the sport, including history, profiles, industry, fitness, and more. Among some of the names already featured in the show are: Gerry Lopez, Chuck Patterson, Colin McPhillips, Slater Trout, Dave Kalama, Jamie Mitchell, Candice Appleby, Dan Gavere, Donald Takayama, Ron House, and the list goes on.

Here’s volume one with everyone’s favorite king: Gerry Lopez

Sam Busts Into iPad Launch

Okay, not really, but it looks like him. If he’d stay on a board without bailing. We’d have to staple a sausage to the deck.

The REAL sam:

The Low Buck Option

How about this board and paddle for $250? You could actually do it for less.

New Standup Paddle Surf boards are undeniably expensive compared to standard surfboards. There are several reasons for this–first, they have a lot more material in them. Not just foam, but all the expensive chemicals that go into building a board. And since they are large they need better and more expensive materials to make them both light and strong. They also need a paddle, and good ones are expensive. We’ll give you options for this later, first let’s talk boards.

Another reason SUP boards are expensive is that not everyone can build them. You need a large area and a lot of experience to shape a big board like a SUP. If you’re going to build a custom one you probably need vacuum bagging equipment and the know-how to use it. Vacuum bagging uses fairly expensive consumables. Most likely boards will be shipped into your area, and that means a lot of freight cost for the big boxes. Manufacturers have to plan on some shipping loss because boards this big and fragile are going to take some whacks.

So it’s justified–so what. It’s still a lot of money. What’s a low buck dude or dudette going to do? There are many options. Especially now that we’re well into the fourth generation of SUP boards. There’s some decent boards hitting the secondhand market. Craigslist works fine for finding a used SUP, you can expect to find older boards for sale frequently. Most are in the $500-700 range. If this is your route, have some caution. SUP boards are a good target for thieves since they bring a nicer buck than a longboard. You don’t want to buy stolen property, not just because of the legal issues but because it’s a good way to find a large angry guy shaking his fist in your face. A cop friend of mine once told me that the reason people don’t protest much when they are found with stolen property is that everyone either knows or suspects the item was stolen when they bought it. So trust your gut. Ask some basic questions over the phone to your potential seller. Like “where did you buy this board, how long have you had it, what other SUP boards do you have.” It doesn’t take much to make a thief get defensive.

But the most effective way to find a used SUP is to take an active approach. It has the added benefit that you’ll be pretty certain the board isn’t stolen. Simply ask all the SUP paddlers you can find if they know anyone with an old board they’d like to sell. SUP is one of those sports that causes rapid accumulation of gear, even though it’s pretty simple. My brother is on a tight budget and I think he has six boards. Almost anyone that’s been doing SUP for any length of time has boards they’ve outgrown. They’ll almost always be what you want–a beginner board. With a little luck the seller can show you some of the ropes as well.

You might also take a look at the classified sections of SUP forums. We don’t have a classified section on Ke Nalu, but we probably should. In the meantime, the Standup Zone has one that’s pretty active.

One very cheap way to get into Stand Up Paddle Surfing–especially the flatwater paddling–is to dig up an old windsurfing board. Back in the early days of windsurfing a lot of boards were big and floaty. You had to stand on them to uphaul the sail. !0 foot boards were common and some reached over 12 feet. Their hull design isn’t usually good for surfing, but they’re fine for flatwater and some are really fast.

Here’s a pretty remarkable project that John Watkins (Mindtripped on the Standup Zone) undertook to make a nice flatwater SUP from an old windsurfer:

So I was browsing craigslist for months trying to find a cheap SUP to get into the sport when I came upon this black 10′ 6″ windsurfing board. I checked it out and scored it for 120 bucks with a 9″ Curtis Fin.

Then came the long process of sanding down the black spray paint that these punk kids put on and discovered graphics that said 1986 F2 comet! I couldn’t believe how old it was (only 3 years younger than me) but in great condition minus the black spray paint. I pad sanded and polished the board back to its original white finish and then filled in the mast box, binding brackets and dagger board slot with foam and sealed it with marine-tex.
I purchased an OAM traction pad and converted a kayak paddle into a stand up paddle that my friend found floating in our canal.
The boards dimensions are 10′6″X26″X5″ with the tail tapering out pretty freakin thin. The board is pretty tippy in the chop and I haven’t had a chance to surf it, but am getting used to it. I’m 6′4″ and 165 and I’ve been using it in the canals around Pompano Beach, FL and it has worked great in the calm stuff.

For $120 for the board, $100 for the traction, about $30 for material, and a free paddle, I got into the sport for about 250 bucks with a board that looks and paddles pretty sweet.

The tip is hard rubber that F2 built into the board, it works really well to protect the nose. The quiksilver logo I made out of traction material because I have a crate with rod holders that I put on the board and the traction makes it stay put and not slide around. We have a straight SUP/Longboard fishing tournament coming up that has already been postponed twice due to nasty weather just south of Hillsboro Inlet in Pompano Beach,FL. http://www.boardfish.com Should be the first of its kind! I just need time to practice on my new board. –John

Actually John, paying $150 for that board is pretty high–it all came out great, but sometimes you can get old windsurfers like that for free.

DavidJohn responded on the zone with these pictures of his windsurfer conversion that he now loans to a friend:

I also have a Cobra windurfing board that works great as a flat water SUP. My friend has been using it until he can afford to buy his own… It goes great.. and very fast. I’ve been thinking about doing what you have done to it.

Paddles
New, high quality SUP paddles cost $200-500. That can break the bank right there. A used paddle is another easy way to go, and if you’ve take the active approach your new SUP owning friend might have or know of a paddle for sale. One thing to be sure to ask about is broken paddles. People who can afford a new paddle after breaking one usually just buy it, and the broken one languishes in the garage. They aren’t hard to fix. Broken shafts can be repaired with an internal sleeve and some fiberglass wrap on the outside. There will be an article on paddle repair in Ke Nalu soon.

The easiest way to get a cheap paddle is to visit your local sporting goods store or Marine supply store. They sell adjustable paddles for as little as twenty bucks. All you need is a way to extend the shaft, and there are some paddles that have long enough shafts for short people to begin with. The lifeguards at Kahana beach park in Maui did SUP paddling on their rescue board with a paddle made from a broken windsurf mast top section they salvaged and a paddle blade from a ten buck plastic paddle they bought at Walmart. And of course they rip. Lately they’re using a better paddle but they’re surfing the rescue board.

You can certainly modify this paddle to work easily

This telescoping paddle from West Marine can be easily modified into a SUP paddle

West Marine also sells an $89 SUP paddle for the Seyvlor inflatable SUP they sell. At 80″ maximum extension they are a little short for tall SUPers, but the price is right and they are adjustable. The Seyvlor Samoa SUP at $700 is a possible choice for the cash strapped Stand Up Paddle wannabe, but some reviewers had a problem with it’s quality. Still, for a board you can take anywhere and carry on a scooter or bicycle, it’s a darned good price.

My friend Sol Morey makes great paddles from salvaged materials. If you can find a windsurfing mast or broken carbon fiber windsurfing boom you have most of what you need to make a cool paddle. You can lay up the blade in fiberglass on a sheet of window glass and attach it to your handle. I’ve tried Sol’s paddles–a little heavy but they work fine. Of course Sol can make anything look good.

There’s really not that much of a financial barrier to getting into SUP. Once you have the gear it’s basically free except for time and transport to the water. A bike works fine for that:

This is my  17′6″ F18 attached to a mountain bike. I trailered this ten miles though heavy traffic. Not the safest thing I’ve done recently, but it works.

Back At It

I’ve been slacking off terribly. No Ke Nalu articles, features, or even blog posts for ages. I’ve had good reason for that, the best in fact, the surf and downwind paddling on Maui has been just too good to do anything but play in the water. But after a month back on the island I’m settled back in and it’s time to work a bit. Here’s what I have planned:

Board Reviews: One of the most popular segments of Ke Nalu is board reviews, but ours have become very out of date. I’m reorganizing the review section to reflect the yearly release of new equipment. To aid that I’m adding several ways to search for boards. More important is how new boards will get reviewed–the majority of the information will come from readers. I simply can’t access enough boards to keep this part of Ke Nalu relevant, so I’m setting up a review system that any and all of you can access. It’s wiki-like in that anyone’s comments and information can be added, but I will review the information as time permits to ensure some measure of quality. I’ll keep you posted on the launch of the new system.

I’m also considering a redesign of Ke Nalu. I did this last year, and it was a major effort, but it helps me to keep my skills updated. There are some new themes that I like the looks of. I have to do a fair amount of manual work to make Ke Nalu look good. It would be nice to have more of it automated.

Broader Scope: I built Ke Nalu as a marketing experiment. I’m writing a book on new marketing concepts, and Ke Nalu is intended to form a large number of the examples in the book. I’m at the point in the book where the examples need to become significantly more complex in scope, and so I’m going to have to invest some time in events, other media (podcasts, video, audio) and other delivery mechanisms. So you’ll be hearing more of my somewhat grating nasal voice.

More external content: I’m going to bug everyone I know to write articles. There’s a great deal of information out on the web, but it disappears quickly. forums like The Standup Zone (http://www.standupzone.com) have great content that disappears down the threadline much too quickly. I’ll be bugging the people who write these fine and detailed posts to turn into articles.

So we’re back in biz. I have a lot of articles that I’ve been collecting bits for. I’ll be releasing at least three per week as soon as I get the review system up and debugged.

Peahi Rocks Out

Bleary eyed, with just a quick cup of scalding Maui coffee and some cold cereal to sustain me, I fired up the trusty, crusty Honda XR 650, shouldered the camera bag with the big glass, and headed to Peahi (Jaws). Even at 00:dark:thirty there was a crowd at the junction on the Hana Highway. I slalomed around them and hit the dirt road only to find a huge mass of cars and people headed for the bluff. I passed most of them, got to the bluff and found several hundred people already there, and the jet skis circling below, though slinging few riders into the maws of Jaws–no helicopters around. No choppers, no up close pics. The boys (and a girl) were on hold and the crowd was restless. I took advantage of the turnover at the bluff’s edge to grab a primo shooting spot.

The waves were immense, but not the biggest I’ve seen. I’m pretty sure the Thanksgiving waves a few years ago were larger. But these had a super fat lip and plenty of power. almost every wave was tossing way out, breaking top to bottom.

To make a long story short, I shot about 450 photos, should have done some video but didn’t, and here they are. Sorry about the techno music, it helps if you think of a couple of blank-faced euro girlz grinding away at each other in an Amsterdam club with the video playing behind them. “Now is the time on sprockets when we dance.” It was the only music that remotely fit that was long enough, This is a big file since I wanted to show this off in higher rez. You may have to wait a while for it to buffer:
Peahi animoto

Some people had problems with the high resolution version above–it takes a long time to load no matter what. You can right click on the link, select “Save Target As” and save the whole 80MB file for your uninterrupted viewing pleasure. It will take a while, but I think the better resolution makes the shots. Here’s a low resolution, streaming version but the high rez one is worth the wait.

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Even Whackier

The Columbia River was nuts on Thursday , and I had a really fun paddle yesterday with Rod Parmenter and Mark Ribicoff. Today I needed to do some work on our new house in Hood River. By 9:00 AM the west wind was howling and I new it was going to be a good day. I worked like a fiend, got finished, had lunch with Diane and got her to shuttle me to Viento. Rod was out of town doing the race around Mercer Island, and I don’t have Mark’s cell number, so I went solo.

Rod Parmenter on yesterday’s run. Ron is paddling a Starboard Point. The little gap behind him is the one we have to shoot to make the cove. No big deal on a mellow 25 mph wind day like yesterday, but challenging when the wind gusts to 50.

Mark Ribicoff, celebrating “we lived!!” Of course we still had a ways to go.

Driving to Viento the river looked amazing. Big swells, marching at an angle towards the south shore–the wind had swung southwest. We got to Viento park and I schlepped my board to the water, struggling against the wind. There were a few windsurfers hanging out. “You’re not going to paddle that thing in this wind are you?” I said “sure, it’s going to be fun” and they gave each other knowing glances. Clearly they considered me a few walnuts short of a bag.

I struggled to hold the board, paddle and hook on my leash. Took quite a few tries with the waves smashing into me. Felt like a clumsy morning at Kanaha. I got everything settled, hopped on and was off. Instant acceleration and instantly flying.

I think the wind was a steady 45 knots and the gusts were who knows what. The river was covered in spindrift and spray and the swells were monstrous, especially in the middle of the river.  The first big swell I caught flung me forward over the swell in front of it and suddenly I had six or seven feet of board hanging over an eight or nine foot abyss. As I tipped over the edge I thought “Oh shit” but I had enough angle to survive the plunge, though the nose speared straight into the back of the swell in front of it. I blew through the swell with water spraying off my shins and caught that somewhat tattered swell as well. The sense of speed was intense, and growing. I’ve windsurfed most of my life and I’m used to high speeds in the Gorge. Good thing. This was just like that, only no booms to hold onto. Every time I caught a swell I railroaded at least five more. Sometimes way more than five.

For the first five miles I was totally alone in the river. The size of some of the swells was simply amazing for a river. My rudder wasn’t doing much but I finally learned to coordinate rudder, lean angle and paddle to make decent turns. The long F18 is a handful, but it sure does fly, and it’s amazingly stable in reflected chop and all the odd swells that were coming from every direction.  I briefly considered a stop in the cove, but I was going pretty fast as it came up, and the 15 foot wide entry slot looked a bit narrow. Besides, I was having fun.

The wind started gusting strongly southwest just as I hit swell city. There were a few windsurfers out on very small sails going very fast. We exchanged high-speed pleasantries. I got into a death wobble curving around a particularly steep peak, went straight over the top and punched straight into the trough. I face-planted into the water next to the board. My board got sideways in the wave (my leash is attached to the center) and leashed dragged me for quite a while. Then I felt the calf leash slip down to my ankle. I hooked my toes up and held on. The board finally pulled out of the wave and I lurched across it.

Got to get a new leash.

I got back up and continued my wild ride. A few hundred yards later I fell for no apparent reason, but this time I hugged the board as I fell. Got back up, went a few hundred yards and a reflected wave backwashed me right off the board. I caught the tail and crawled back on.

The rest of the run was uneventful though fast. I got some really long rides in the shallows at the end of Wells Island, went by the Event Center on a nice big swell, curved into the boat channel and was done.

While I was putting the board back on the truck some people came by who had seen me pass the event center. One of the guys asked where the motor was. I explained swell riding, but he wasn’t convinced. I heard him tell the other folks “that board ain’t thick like that for nothin’, there’s a motor in there”.

The speed range on the right side (green) goes to 17 MPH. Looks like most of my runs were 13-15 MPH. It looks like a fell quite a few times, but i didn’t–only three–they might be where I stuck the board in the backside of a swell–did a lot of that.


Yeah, we had a bit of wind.

The overall speed is pretty good as it is, but it’s even more interesting when you consider this run is against a 3-5MPH current. That probably subtracts 1.5 MPH from the average speed.

Viento at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: GPS Community

Runaway Train

Holy Maliko what a great run I just had. Waist to shoulder high swells, 40 knot wind, warm air, cool water, and ten miles of constant swell surfing. But wait, this isn’t Hawaii, it’s Hood River!!

Diane offered to drop me off at Viento Park for a downwind run. I had hoped to hook up with Rod Parmenter, but after last evening’s marathon paddle he committed to a mountain bike ride today. Rod and I tried to do a no-wind, downcurrent run from Rowena to Hood River. But when we got to Mosier (almost to Hood River) the wind picked up to honking and the last mile looked just too grim. So we turned around and ran back to Rowena and naturally the wind died a mile or so from Rowena, leaving us stroking tiredly against the current as the sun started setting. We made it just before it got dark.

I tried one other guy I’ve been swapping email with, but he’s out of town. I had to hang out all morning until Gorgenet showed up to connect us to the web. With that done I gazed longingly at the blistering winds in the river until Diane decided to have mercy and be my shuttle driver. What a kid.

We got to Viento at 3:30 and I was in the water and paddling five minutes later. The wind was HOWLING and the swells in the normally flat section right off Viento were close to waist high. I started catching swell after swell, but as they got steeper my F18 started punching into more backsides and disappearing right up to my feet. Not to worry, the F18 stays straight when it does that, but it makes for a hairy ride. so I started steering radically every time I caught a swell. It worked like gangbusters. The speed was absolutely mind-boggling. My board was making that patty-pat-pat-patty sound of a windsurfer in full honk. Exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. I started looking at the wimpy little coiled kiteboard leash that hooks me to the middle of the board. I learned this lesson long ago–hefty leash. I just didn’t expect to need one on the Columbia. If I bailed and didn’t catch the board that leash would part like a rotten sneaker lace.

My iPhone was playing “Runaway Train” over and over–somehow I stuck it in continuous play. I was irritated at first, but then I thought, how appropriate. rocking like a runaway train.

I thought “what the hell is going to happen when I hit swell city?” Twenty minutes later I found out when I hit swell city, or rather swell city hit me. “Holy fukowitz, those aren’t swells, they’re skateboard ramps”. I hesitate to call the swells overhead in the presence of so many Hawaiians who would probably call them “tree feet”. Instead I’d say they were six to eight feet–draw your own conclusions. All I know is that when I popped the nose over the top and pointed it down the swell it looked like I was headed for the river bottom like a lawn dart. In pure panic I gave it right full rudder, and the board zoomed to the bottom and slid sideways. “Holy shit, the wave is going to hit me” methinks, and I gave it left full rudder and roared up the back of the wave in front, over the top and down the other side. Right full rudder again, and I found a rhythm. Laughing like a lunatic, I slalomed through the moguls, going faster and faster until I thought I would surely blow a turn, hit the water and bounce.

I did about twenty turns in a row, then lost my balance and in the crazy acceleration tottered to the tail of the board–completely off the pad, holding onto the bare fiberglass with my toenails. I teetered there for literally minutes while the board was pointed straight down the face of a swell, rocketing along. Finally it slid to the bottom and leveled off, and I clawed my way back to the center. I thought “wow, if someone saw that from the side it probably looked like I knew what I was doing, instead of just barely being along for the ride.” Sure enough, a windsurfer pulled up and said “holy crap, that was awesome. I have to get one of these”. and then he said “wow, you’re an old guy”. I was way too flabbergasted by the wacko ride to respond, so I smiled lamely. Only later did I think I SHOULD have said “Oh, this is what we guys at the old folks home do when we burn out on pinochle”.

I had little time to ponder all that because the wind was picking up. the tops of the swells were blowing off and the air was full of spindrift. The kite folks way up ahead off the sandbar disappeared. They might turn up somewhere in Idaho. Most of the windsurfers were gone as well, either saying their rosary and looking at the water or rigging a hankie sized sail so popular in the gorge on days like this. The few souls that remained on the water were touching down every fifty feet or so. I passed two windsurfers huddling in the water and slowed to check on them. They asked me when the wind was likely to drop. I suggested they roll up their stuff and float downwind to the hook. Hope they took my advice, they looked kind of scared.

A little cove I call the castle was coming up. I thought it might be cool to try to shoot the opening and take a break. It’s a little slot in a rock wall, but I figured I could make it. When i went through the slot at mach 2 I realized what a chance I was taking. but it worked out. I got to change my iPhone to other music, shoot a few shots, and calm down. An hour of survival swell surfing was taking a toll. I watched a barge and tug coming up the river, smashing whitewater over the length of the barge. wild stuff.

That slot looks a lot narrower from the river side, especially when you’re coming at it a bit out of control

My trusty F18. Made for Maliko, but very good in these conditions. I just need to add a heftier leash.

As usual, the photos don’t do the swells justice.

When I hopped back on my board and pushed into the wind I raised my paddle to sail for a bit. I could barely hold it up as a sail. I was doing at least five knots just from wind on my body. I suspect the gusts might have hit 50. The swells were getting ripped to pieces by the wind. I rounded the tip of Wells Island and looked behind me to see a huge set of wells bearing down. I assume it was wake from the barge that was transformed by the wind into big face. They looked like reef waves–big, smooth faced, and feathering. I paddled into the first one and was off–I rode from the tip of wells island to well past the big log that juts out of the water midway down the island. An amazingly long ride. I didn’t do any cutbacks with my F18, but I curved up and down the swell. wild ride. and when I dropped out the next one was right behind and ikt took me to the end of the island.

From there the ride was fairly uneventful, though when I went by the event center in the shallow water curving into the boat channel I caught a nice swell that carried me all the way through the mouth. While I was getting my stuff onto the truck a guy and two girls ran up to see what i was doing. they had been following me from the hook, and were completely blown away by the entire idea of riding a surfboard in the Columbia river. I could have sold them three board right then and there. They were literally overwhelmed–completely excited by the whole idea.

They should have seen it from My perspective.

Maliko is Maliko, but Hood River is a damn close second, with it’s own unique set of challenges. I bet we’re going to find some even better runs here. I can’t wait.

Cape Cod Bay Challenge

This is a bit of an experiment–an audio article. My voice is kind of nasal and my narrating skills are very rusty, but we’ll give it a shot. The good photos are courtesy of Amelia Hassler, the crappy ones are from my iPhone.

Bob (Stoneaxe) Diane and Mike (ECSup) wearing whack hats. Mike showed up at Bob’s house the day before the CCBC paddle with a car full of whacky stuff, including the RonJon hat with surf hair that Bob is wearing. Sue and Bob had anticipated Mike’s wackiness and got him this amazing visor.

Mike is as bald as a cue ball.

Bob doesn’t have much hair either. The facial slump is a remnant of Bob’s recent surgery, It’s supposed to go away. If it doesn’t he’ll still be the same lumpy guy with a big heart.

The paddlers and their friend gather at 0530

This is the track we took, as recorded by my Garmin 305. A few wobbles in there. I went back to the rear twice to check on folks.

Too many stops, but we needed to keep everyone reasonably close with just one boat.

Flat and calm, what a beautiful morning we had

Pretty classic Cape Cod

The paddlers head to the water like a herd of ducks. Flock, gaggle, wad?

And we’re off

Nice conditions. We set a good strong early pace, but it might have been a little aggressive

We met the boat about three miles out

Heading for the lighthouse. we turned the corner on the spit and took a heading of 101 degrees

Entering Provincetown nine hours later

Big bald Mike blows the ceremonial conch

Rounding the breakwater and forming up so we can land together

Tired but happy.

Looks like I’m kind of sinking Bob’s 12′6″ Starboard–must just be the camera angle

The crew–everyone made it.

Prizes, awards, and presentations

Hood River Big Winds Windup

Sunday was the final event in the Hood River Big Winds SUP racing series, and a fine windup it was. We also had a grueling Thursday evening race, and I’ll cover that first.

Hard to find a prettier venue than the Columbia River Gorge

Nick Stuart has been laying out the courses for the series as well as acting as the starter and paddling in the races, and he’s done a great job at it. Virtually every race presented new challenges and required different skills and SUP racing knowledge. The early races offered variations on a straight race from the Hook with varying amounts of upwind effort required. Then he added in paddling upwind around Wells Island and a longer downwind section. Most recently we did a straight downwind run from the hatchery to the event center–a run of about 2.5 miles in high winds and fine swells. Then this Thursday he got out the big hammer.

I guess part of the reason we did this course was the trailer that usually carries a bunch of the SUP rentals up to the hook wasn’t available, so Nick figured we needed to start and finish at the event center. The course he laid out was a run slightly upwind, and then straight out into the river, going around the big sandbar that the kiteboarders launch from (the satellite photo in the map shown below is a bit old, the sandbar is a lot bigger now). Then along the back of the sandbar and up the Hood River, against the current up to the footbridge. A quick 180 turn and back down the river to the base of the sandbar WHERE YOU PICK YOUR BOARD UP AND RUN ACROSS to the channel that runs into the old boat launch channel next to the event center.

Okay, well that sucks. Especially since the only suitable board I had on the truck was my 17′6″ F18. But I would give it my best.

A substantial women’s group (eight paddlers) lined up before the men. Ten minutes later the eleven men lined up and we were off. The big SIC F18 handled the crosswind nicely, and stayed up with the leaders as the group spread out, dashing for the end of the sandbar about mid-river. As I paddled I realized how shallow the water was and angled out a little to make sure my rudder didn’t strike. The sandbar fell away as we neared the end, so I angled a bit downriver and caught a few little swells. The wind was about 20 knots. As I turned to cut across the end of the sandbar my paddle hit bottom at the start of a stroke just as a swell hit my board. I teetered, and fell, hopping straight into the water feet first. Big mistake–I felt the old skateboard injury in my right ankle flare with pain, but I hopped back on the board and started paddling hard. I lost some ground and fell back into third. Rounding the east end of the sandbar I ran into some shallow water and had to jump off and run the board out to the deeper channel. But still by the time we were approaching the mouth of Hood River I was close on the heels of second and third place–even briefly passed Rod Parmenter and got into third, but I went the wrong way while passing one to the woman paddlers and ran out of water again.

The slog up the river was hard, both because of the current and the necessity of reading the water to avoid rocks and shallows. Dan Gavere was hundreds of yards ahead, paddling in his backyard. At the turnaround I was in forth with no one behind me for a long way. Rod and Craig Bishop were right ahead, still in reach. We paddled hard down the river together. When we reached the closest spot to pull out and start the run I followed Rod and Craig up onto the beach. I briefly considered paddling down the shore much further, but I thought running would be faster.

Big Mistake.

I got the board on my back and started running. Rod and Craig sprinted away. The wind was pushing my board all over, and my run was more of a stagger. Nick Stuart passed me, Doug Hopkins passed me, Nick Leonard passed me. I staggered into the water and tossed my board down. Too shallow. I picked up the tail and started running (sort of) up the channel to the deeper water. “Here’s where my heart seizes up and I pitch on my face” I thought. No such luck. Travis Ronk passed me. I got on my board and paddled hard to the finish. When I crossed the line I tossed myself into the water and floated. Damn.

Ninth place, my worst finish of the series. But I definitely won the “didn’t die” award. And Diane said I was a stud. We went to the Pourhouse and had a nice dinner. Sometime around midnight I finally caught my breath. Got to work on that running part.

Sunday Morning Race
Anyway, on to the last race. Rod Parmenter asked to borrow my Point so he could have a shot at beating Dan Gavere. I said “sure” and brought it along for him. The race meeting was at Ten AM which left time to go to Bette’s for breakfast. Anyone who has been to Hood River knows what that means–good food and too much of it. Diane and I both had crab omelets. The perfect training food.

The wind was howling so Nick called for a downwinder from the hatchery. Perfect. Nick wanted to add the extra challenge of swinging to the south side behind Wells Island, but we talked him out of it because the wind had a bit too much south in it. Besides, the swells up by the hatchery were pretty good sized–it would be lots of fun riding them. A substantially smaller group of four women paddlers took off and were soon remote specks. Ten minutes later we started, and I got into some nice runs right away.

My plan was to angle across the river gradually, and hit the slower current close to the shore just after passing Wells Island. The swells usually get a lot smaller upriver from the Hatch, and I thought that might be the fastest track. I was solidly in third, with Dan Gavere and Rod Parmenter sprinting away. I thought they would burn each other out, but they never slowed down. In the meantime I was getting some great rides on my F18 and conserving energy, trying to stay ahead of Craig Bishop who was already hugging the south shore. As the rides started to peter out, Craig pulled past me, paddling hard in the slower current close to shore. The swells looked wimpy in there, so I figured my F18 was better off a bit offshore. Then I fell. Can’t even say why–I just did. It’s a bit of a bitch getting back on the F18 because it floats so high. While I struggled onto my board Nick Stuart passed me and pulled out a lead. “Damn, that’s not happening” I thought, not after he passed me in the sand on that grim run Thursday night. I paddled hard to catch him–and fell again!

By now Nick had a good lead, and someone else was pulling up close on my port side. I concentrated on catching swells and getting the most out of every ride, and I slowly closed on Nick. I pulled up directly behind him, robbing some of his wind, and then pulled around and passed. “Will you get that damned big thing out of here” he said as I pulled past. “My board or my butt” I said, and then added “Okay” and I did.

Up ahead Dan and Rod crossed the narrow neck to the finish line nearly side-by-side but I could see Dan had him by a few feet. Craig Bishop was well ahead of me–out of range for any final dash notions I might have. I paddled hard to the end and as I cross the shallow neck into the boat channel my board hit sand. I jumped off and pushed through the shallows then hopped back on to finish a few feet ahead of Nick. Good enough, a solid fourth. I felt redeemed after Thursdays dismal showing.

The top four overall series finishers in both groups got some nice swag–paddles for first and second, Da Kine bags, shirts and such. The three finishers also get invited to San Diego for the series final. I finished fifth overall for the series. Missing one race and scoring low on two had moved me out of the hunt. But I had a great time, met some truly fine people, and was motivated to train hard for weeks.

Doing your own race series
I think the Big Winds race series points out very clearly that you can do a successful SUP race series anywhere. You don’t need an ocean, don’t need waves. You can deal with any kind of wind or current. All you need to do is be as clever as Nick Stuart was in choosing the courses to fit conditions. The course doesn’t need to be super long, and you don’t need a huge number of participants for it to be fun. The participants will improve over the course of the series so you can make it progressively tougher. If Nick had sent us upwind around Wells Island the first night probably half the paddlers would have quit before the turn, but by the third event they were ready for it and all made it.

It doesn’t take much money–numbered jerseys are about all you need and even that is a nicety–you can write numbers on the paddlers arms with magic marker. Your race buoys can be milk jugs with an anchor. It doesn’t take a huge amount of organization–someone to write the numbers down as people cross the line.

Basically you just have to do it. Tell us all about it. I’ll be glad to publicize your event, publish your articles and race reports.

Results:

Scoring is 1st = 10 points; 2nd = 8; 3rd = 7; 4th = 6; 5th = 5; 6th = 4; 7th = 3; 8th = 2; 9th+ = 1

Women’s Division

Paddler	18Jun	25Jun	2Jul	9Jul	16Jul	23Jul	30Jul	2Aug	Total	Series
Karen Wrenn	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	70	1
Skye Robbins	1	1		3	1	2	2		53	2
Victoria Hopkins		3	3	4	3	3	3	2	49	3
Emma Rose Rossoff	4	4	6		6		4	3	33	4
Amanda Borel	8		5	6	9		6	4	18	5
Cynthia Brown	3		1						17	6
Elizabeth Whelan	5		4				5		16	7
Tami Starczak				5	4				11	8
Nikki Gregg				1					10	9
Lindsay Claus			6	7	8		dq		9	10
Katie Crafts		5							5	11
Meg Chun					5				5	11
Amy Combs	6								4	13
Erin Gates			7						3	14
Mariva England	7								3	14
Carol Shick					7				3	14
Cat Kutz			8						2	17
Charlotte Bell	9		11						2	17
MJ Reeves	8								2	17
Alyson Fromm			9						1	20
Beatriz Acosta	dq								1	20
Sarah Lyon			10						1	20
Susan Rourst							dq		0	23

Men’s Division

Paddler	18Jun	25Jun	2Jul	9Jul	16Jul	23Jul	30Jul	2Aug	Total	Series
Dan Gavere			1	1	1	2	1	1	58	1
Rod Parmenter	5	1		3	3	3	2	2	52	2
Craig Bishop			2	2	2	1	3	3	48	3
Nick Stuart	4	2	3	4	4	8	4	5	46	4
Bill Babcock	3	4		5	9	4	9	4	32	5
Doug Hopkins		6	6	6	6	5	5	6	30	6
Mike Haase	4	5	4	7			6		24	7
Travis Ronk	6	10	7	9	5	6	8	7	23	8
Dave Kalama	1	8							12	9
Owen Macdonald	5	3							12	9
John Davies	1								10	11
David Ambrose	7	7	9	8	10				10	11
Kent Forrest	6		5						9	13
Michi Schweiger	2								8	14
Steve Gates	2								8	14
Lee Murray	8	9	8	11	11	10			8	14
Robby Naish	3								7	17
Mark Ribcoff			13	10	8	7			7	17
Alex Stankie	10	13	27	16	14		11		6	19
Nick Leonard							7	8	5	20
Bob Rueter	11	12	16	14					4	21
John Wren				13		9	10	10	4	21
Dan Schwaz	19	11	13						3	23
Ashlee Bridgewater	17	16	18						3	23
Mark Wiltz	7								3	23
Maui Meyer		14	20		13				3	23
TJ Gulizia					7				3	23
Matt Willett			18	12					2	28
Greg Starczak				15	12				2	28
Raimund Pichler			10						1	30
Jeff Pritcher			11						1	30
John Rurenn			14						1	30
Tripp Frey			16						1	30
Johnny Simms			20						1	30
Kyle Simms			21						1	30
Ben Groener			22						1	30
Stuart Shankland			23						1	30
Adam Shankland			24						1	30
Mike Groedner			25						1	30
Derek Fromm			26						1	30
Aaron Paz		15							1	30
Bob Anaceron	18								1	30
Brad Gordan	16								1	30
Chris Boston	12								1	30
John Ritter	13								1	30
Jon Sassonne	9								1	30
Mark Ames	14								1	30
Trevor Gregson								9	1	30