Funky Puffin?

The funky puffins at Funky Puffin sent me a beautifully assembled press package for what sounds like an seriously challenging race. I’m not going to ask what a funky Puffin really is. I’m picturing some kind of dance that includes splaying your fingers out over your butt.

Here’s what they said:

Funky Puffin, the lifestyle brand that’s growing out of Jersey (Channel Islands), is the 2010 sponsor of the Paddle Round The Pier Euro-Enduro stand-up paddleboard (SUP) race, taking place on July 3rd and 4th in Brighton, England.

Funky Puffin, which produces a range of eco-friendly surf and beach products, has chosen Paddle Round The Pier for its first sponsorship deal outside of the Channel Islands because it is Europe’s largest free beach festival and raises thousands of pounds for charity.

The 20 mile charity SUP race in association with SurfAid International is renowned as Europe’s toughest. Competitors will race from Brighton West Pier to Worthing Pier and back in the hope of winning the £1000 prize money for first place in either of the two classes.

Andrew Scott-Miller, Director of Funky Puffin, said: “The Euro-Enduro SUP race is the perfect event for Funky Puffin to sponsor because, as an eco-friendly brand, we know how tough it is to push against the tide.

Paddle Round The Pier is an awesome event attracting thousands of people from across the country and raising tens of thousands of pounds for charity. I wish all the competitors well and look forward to handing out the prizes at the end of the race.”

Dave Samuel, organiser of Paddle Round The Pier, said: “We’re delighted that Funky Puffin is joining Paddle Round The Pier by sponsoring the Euro-Enduro SUP race. We’d like to thank Andrew and his colleagues for choosing PRTP as the launch pad for their brand. It’s going to be a fantastic weekend, with thousands joining in to celebrate the surf lifestyle and raise money for Surfaid International.”

Paddle Round The Pier is Europe’s largest free charity watersports festival and is expected to see visitor numbers of around 40,000+ over the weekend of July 3rd & 4th 2010.
The Funky Puffin Euro-Enduro SUP race is a 20 mile SUP Race in association with SurfAid International.
It takes place on July 3rd & 4th 2010 in Brighton, England and runs from Brighton West Pier to Worthing Pier and back.

12’6” and under = £1000 first prize fund

Unlimited class = £1000 first prize fund

For more information please contact:
Dave Samuel – sandals@paddleroundthepier.com or visit the website www.paddleroundthepier.com for entry forms and details.

For more information about Funkypuffin, please contact Andrew Scott-Miller, andrew@funkypuffin.com or visit www.funkypuffin.com.

SurfAid International – www.surfaidinternational.org

Stand Up Paddle Surfboard Bike Trailer

Inspired by Tim (Strand Leper on the Standupzone) I modified a mule to fit my F18. Dropped bicycle and trailer (in a little bag about the size of two books) off at Wailea Beach (Four Seasons Maui) and drove back to the Kehei Pier for a light wind downwinder. Paddled hard the whole way, partly because I was trying to catch micro-swells, and partly for training for the upcoming Maui Canoe and Kayak Club races. Hit the beach semi-pooped and sweating, rigged the trailer and discovered the tires were flat.

Ah well, I figured there was not that much weight on them, off I went. Wasn’t bad, and I got air at the Kihei Bike shop about halfway through the ride. A four foot bike and an 18 foot trailer is a bit tricky to maneuver, but I got the hang of it. I did expect the ride to be just a cruise, but it certainly wasn’t, at least not with the trailer. It was a pretty tough climb at the beginning, somehow I thought it would be flatter.

I think the downwinder was about 8 miles since I went way outside, using the Chantelle/Jack Dyson line: go to the horizon and turn left. The bike ride was probably 10 miles since I had to circle back to get my Camelback–left it at the bike store. I was pretty glad to see the jeep at the end.

So, this thing is doable. As usual I tested it by jumping straight off the edge of the fjord–running though downtown Kihei in holiday high season traffic. Not bright, but I know it’s good in worst case conditions. Gotta say, as simple as the Mule is, it’s a brilliant design. It has that pared-down character that’s so nice to use.

This is a great addition to the funmobile. Now if nobody can go do a downwinder I can just do it myself. I also made a bike rack out of bits from an old weight bench (I somehow wound up with two). I went to buy a hitch rack and discovered they ran close to $300. So I rolled out the MIG welder and whipped one up in about half an hour. It’s not the prettiest thing I ever built, but it works fine.

Laird and Dave on Nightline

I’ve been helping Dave Kalama put together a website–a blog. It’s still a work in progress, but its pretty cool. Last night ABC Nightline ran a long segment on big wave surfing featuring Laird and Dave and it’s posted as a video. Nice segment on this season’s amazing swells, riding big waves in general, and doing standup on Hanelei Bay.

http://www.davidkalama.com/ Some squatter got DaveKalama–so it goes. Dave writes like he talks, which is good news. Straight from the shoulder, funny, and self deprecating. Enjoy.

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Braaazeeel…ta da dum da dum dum da daa daaaa

I’m still humming and sometimes singing that song this morning (much to Sam’s dismay–he really hates my singing). Diane and I went to see Pink Martini last night. What a great band. I probably should have posted something sooner in case folks on Maui weren’t aware they were doing a show. Pink Martini is a Portland-based band with a tremendous international following. Diane was in Provence a few years ago and was introduced to a friend’s french husband who didn’t speak any English. When he heard she was from Portland he got very excited, rattled off a long paragraph of which the only words she really understood were “PEENK MARTINI”.

If you’re on the Big Island then you’re still in luck, they’re playing in Waimea tonight and tomorrow, and on to Oahu the next day. After that you’d have to catch them in Tokyo.

I’ve been a fan of them for a very long time. Thomas, the pianist and band leader is a huge talent. China Forbes, the singer, is superb, and the band is pro to the very core. Fabulous music and very, very fun. They had a dance floor set up in front of the stage and it was packed all evening. Ari Shapiro from NPR did a couple of numbers with them–he’s got a fine voice.

Pure fun. The only person I recognized in the audience was Giampaolo–I ran into him walking out after the show. he obviously enjoyed the show as much as I did. He was smiling and humming when I walked up to him.

The only thing that could have improved the show would have been to have the Lions of Batucada there as well. I saw them together one time and it was simply amazing. the video is kind of lame–it’s one of those things that you have to see live. Do notice though that the samba dancer women are all very tall-taller than the guys playing drums behind them, and the lady on the far side of the stage with the blue headdress is far taller–her legs come to the waists of the other ladies even though she’s further from the camera. I met her dancing with the group at the opening of the Ron Tonkin motorcycle shop in Portland–she towered over me and I’m 6′2″. The most imposing semi-naked woman I’ve ever seen.

Cuda vs. Enzo

What’s this got to do with Stand Up Paddle Surfing. Not a thing, except that you COULD stick a rack on that ‘Cuda and you really couldn’t on the Enzo. This is a pretty insane project, a bunch of whacko car guys built a piece of Detroit Iron with a engine that dynos over 1000 horsepower and then drove it the banked oval proving grounds with a Ferrari Enzo pace and chase car. Wot fun!!

Okay, if you’re not a gearhead like me then don’t bother, but I loved this video. Nice to see people still doing really stupid, very hard things.

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Mickey Mongoose–Sounds Like Fun

The Legendary Mickey Munoz is the luminary behind the new Mickey Munoz Mongoose Cup Stand up paddle board fun paddle and relay race. It sounds like a truly great event. It’s always fun to be in on an inaugural event–here’s your chance. And it is clearly designed for everyone and anyone, not just the serious racers. First there’s a fun paddle, and then a relay race that requires every four person team to have a woman paddler, one over fifty and one under 16. If you don’t have a team they’ll help you put one together from people who sign up at the beach. Sounds like geezers like me might be in demand!!

Mickey is quite a guy. He competed at both of the Battle of the Paddle (BOP) races. The first year he beat me soundly on the last leg. When we turned into the wind he choked way down on his paddle, bent down low like a 20 year old, and pulled away like he had a motor. I could have copied his technique, but I would have had to go straight from the beach to a chiropractor. The results listed me as finishing first, but it was only because someone had registered Mickey as a woman! Maybe they really thought he was Gidget. At 73 he’s full of fun and energy. It’s a pleasure to meet him and spend some time in the water with such a legendary surfer. You’ll enjoy it.

Here’s the release:
Hola Paddler,

Enjoy a great day of paddling fun, camaraderie, get a cool long sleeve event tee and delicious BBQ at Dana Point’s Festival of Whales. The Mickey Muñoz Mongoose Cup will begin at 9:00 a.m. with a Fun Paddle around Dana Point Harbor Island. The Fun Paddle will be launched after a vital “Rules of the Road” paddling safety meeting is conducted by officials from Dana Point Harbor and the Orange County Sherriff Department’s Harbor Patrol.

After loosening up with the Fun Paddle, participants will be organized into SUP Relay teams that will race for the inaugural Mongoose Cup. Each SUP (4) person relay team will be required to have one female paddler, one senior paddler (50 & over) and either one junior paddler (16 & under) or a beginner/intermediate paddler on their respective teams. The start and finish for the flat-water race will be at Baby Beach. To be eligible for the Mongoose Cup teams must race 12′6″ & under SUP boards.

Don’t worry if you do not have a team. We will have a SUP Relay sign-up sheet on the beach for those looking for a team. We want everyone to have a chance to participate.
Event proceeds will benefit the Doheny State Beach Interpretive Association (DSBIA).

Mickey Munoz Mongoose Cup
DATE: March 13, 2010
TIME: 9:00 A.M. Fun Paddle Start
LOCATION: Baby Beach, Dana Point Harbor
MORE: Dana Point Festival of Whales
ENTER: Click here

This is going to be a great event to celebrate & honor our friend Mickey Munoz and kick-off the season. Bring your friends and new paddlers wanting to gain race experience and learn more about the sport of SUP.
Barrett Tester
Event Coordinator
barrett.tester@gmail.com

$5.00 off entry fee with early mail-in: $30.00 for early entry includes commemorative Mongoose Cup event tee, “Rules of the Road” safety decal and delicious BBQ lunch.  Mail-in entries must be submitted/post marked before Monday March 9th, 2010.

Mail to:  DSBIA c/o Mongoose Cup
3240 Michigan Ave.
Coata Mesa, CA  92626

On-site entry fee: $35.00.
Event registration begins at 7:30 a.m. at Baby Beach.

About Mickey Munoz
Mickey Munoz, born in New York City in 1937, is an early pioneer of surfing and well-known surfboard shaper. Once described as the “surfer’s surfer”, Mickey has been riding waves since the 1950s and has been featured in many popular surfing films and documentaries. Winning the first professional surf contest and pioneering big wave surfing at Waimea Bay are a few of Mickey’s surfing accomplishments. Munoz was the stunt double for Sandra Dee in the 1959 teen film Gidget and he developed an iconic surf stance that became known as the “quasimoto”. Mickey currently lives in Capistrano Beach, CA with his wife Peggy and is an avid stand-up paddler (SUP).

Close to Perfect

It’s been a great winter for surfing, but Monday was enough to astonish even my jaded eyes. The morning started just so-so. We got to Kenaha at 9:00 and the wind was up a little more than the five MPH that Wind Guru had predicted–but not bad. The swell looked messy, but it seemed there were quite a few people out. My friend Paul and paddled out, and were greeted by an immense throng. Probably 20-30 stand up paddle surfers and 30-40 prone surfers. They were spread out across the good breaks of Kanaha–the channel left, the center, the near right, and the outer right breaks. I could see a good crowd down at the boneyard and a good sized group in the mushy wave in between Kanaha and the boneyard. There was even a good sized group out at uppers. Nice day, nice waves, people everywhere.

The mood was super mellow. There were so many nice waves coming through, of all shapes and sizes from nice inner chest high to occasional bombers, all with the usual user-friendly Kenaha slopey-ness. Just no reason to get your board shorts in a knot, even if people dropped in on you. What the heck.

When I was paddling out from a little wave a good sized set came in, and I counted nine people up and in the wave on the first one, eleven on the second. Looked like Gidget day at Malibu. I thought that would be a record, but an hour later I say thirteen people riding a nice wave. No harm, no foul, lots of waves. And people were playing nice–pulling out when they realized someone else was in a wave–even when they really didn’t have to. That wave with thirteen people in it thinned out to one gal going left and one guy going right before the wave sectioned. Pretty cool.

About noon Paul and I were parched and hungry. We paddled in and found Alan and Julie Sidlo on the beach, and we were soon joined by Paul’s wife Lisa, who had a rental car snafu to straighten out and amazingly had found the right beach to get Paul. I guess the fact that my jeep looks like a wandering circus probably helped all of them find us. We went to Main Street Bistro in Wailuku for lunch. Macadamia nut smoked brisket. Wow. I could have used a second sandwich, but I’m watching my food intake. Mostly I’m watching it enter my mouth.

Paul and I meandered back to the beach, but the wind was up a bit. We stalled a little bit, going by SIC to talk to Mark Raaphorst about his Catamaran, but he was busy glassing, so we went back to the beach and toughened up. As soon as we got to the break the wind started to drop. It turned a little south over the next hour, and then went away like someone had flipped a switch. Glass. Not too many people out, the waves pumped up a little with the occasional lineup cleaner, and we had a blast.

Whale mommas rolled on their sides fifty feet from the peaks. Baby whales fussed around them. Outside a big guy hammered the water with his tail. Bright sunlight. A line of white cattle egrets skimmed over the reef. High Stratus clouds. The West Maui Mountains and Molokai clear and grey blue in the distance. All a bit too much if you ask me–downright gaudy. At least there weren’t any rainbows and butterflies.

Surfed our guts out. About 3:30 Paul said he was beat and wanted to quit. I said “that’s crazy talk. This is surf till dark conditions. We may not see a session this good for another ten years. In three days you’re going back to Oregon. Do you want to spend the rest of the winter thinking about the afternoon you quit perfect head high glassy waves and warm water because you were tired?” Fortunately Paul listened to reason. We surfed on until we could both barely stand. I was missing waves in faces that only took a single stroke to drop. We wobbled in, took a cold beach shower that felt SOOO great on my toasted shoulders. Loaded up, called the ladies and headed for Flatbread. We barely spoke in the car. Barely spoke when we got there first, grabbed a table, got our beers and sat there waiting for our wives.

Nothing to say. Just long glassy waves when we closed our eyes, and the blue, blue of a perfect shoulder when we opened them.

Doing Downwinders, Part 2

In the last installment of Doing Downwinders on a Stand Up Paddle Board we covered selecting a place, some of the safety aspects and what to look for in swells and wind. In this installment we’ll cover catching and riding swells.

Many downwinders start with small swells, then progress to larger ones that are easy to catch, then move to even larger swells that are surprisingly difficult to catch, and finally to large swells that are easy and fun. You’ve got to wonder why this is? The answer is mostly about fetch and about how humans adapt their athletic skills to suit conditions.

A lot of downwinders start at the beginning of the fetch for a given run–a beach or point where the wind starts blowing along the shore or across a bay to the opposite shore, one side of a lake, a bend in the river. This naturally is the beginning of the fetch, and even if the wind is ripping, the swells are small–basically ripples, spaced closely together. They need time and distance to grow.

As the wind blows across the water some ripples are randomly a little taller. These get a little more push from the wind, like a taller sail would, and so they pick up a little more energy and get taller and wider. The energy is really a wave pulse in the water, and that’s what travels–the water really moves mostly up and down. This taller wave shadows the waves in front of it, and blocks them from gathering as much energy, but it also overwhelms and adsorbs the small ripples close to it, because the base of the wave extends as the wave grows taller. If you looked at a picture of the waves in cross-section they would look like a child’s drawing. The waves are hooked to a small degree in the direction of travel. The wind side the wave is more ramp-like, the face away from the wind is pushed into a more vertical face.

You may wonder what all this theory has to do with riding a swell. All will be revealed. For now understand that the swells you are trying to catch have small faces and the side you are riding over is ramped–they won’t stop your board like bigger swells do. You can get a free ride by getting the board moving fast enough to skim over the ramps while getting a little boost from the steeper downwind faces. All you need is speed, trim, and the right angle.

To catch these you trim your board very flat, which usually means you move forward so the nose of your board is brushing the back of the micro-swells. Reach far forward with your paddle and take very short strokes–virtually just dabs. Long strokes will pull down the tail of the board and make it stall. Use a rapid cadence, and stop stroking when you first catch the swell so you can feel the balance. You may need strokes to stay in the wave but do these well up front, short dabs. Long strokes will just pull you out of your ride. With these little swells you don’t need to worry about hitting the swells in front of you, you just run right over them. Wahoo.

As the fetch length increases, the swells get bigger and further apart. The bigger swells have sucked up most of the little ones and consolidated. They also naturally have a wider base and they start to increase in period. The hook and ramp character is a lot less pronounced, but they still tend to have steeper faces than backs. The bigger size makes them easier to catch, but they are still close to the swell in front, so you may have problems with the nose of your board spearing into the swell in front. You may be able to catch the swell with the board trimmed slightly nose up. If you have a hard time moving around your board, or you like to stay glued to your rudder, then this is a decent compromise in this size swell. You can shift a fair amount of weight just my leaning forward or back. Your head is a big weight.

If you are comfortable moving around, trim to fit conditions–forward to catch the swell, rearward a bit to pop the nose up. Turn in the swell to fit the board. You need a pretty hefty swell to run more than 30 or so degrees to the direction of travel, but anything is possible when you’re good enough. Dave Kalama and Jeremy Riggs look like ballet dancers on their board, hardly paddling.

Moving along, now we get to where the swells are even bigger, but the steep faces are gone, replaced with rolling mounds. The swells can be quite large and yet you’ll find yourself stalling to a dead stop on the backside of a swell, and struggling to overcome momentum and catch the one behind it. When this happens you may find yourself taking long, deep hard strokes. Hard to believe that isn’t the answer, but sinking the tail when the nose is pointed uphill is never a great idea. It’s even MORE important to reach out, get a good catch, pull hard with your shoulders and torso, and get the blade out of the water. Momentum is the key, and a lot of short, quick strokes will give it to you. Long pulls just torque the board.

Once you catch a wave in these conditions you’ll often find yourself right at the balance point with the nose hanging out over the abyss but not quite dropping in. The reason is that the swell has round shoulders so the board won’t immediately drop. Shift forward a little bit and give a couple of hard, sharp, short strokes and most times you drop right in. Don’t freeze like a statue when you do, because the nose will punch into the swell in front of you. Look at the swell, try to find a low point, shift your weight back and aim for the lowest spot. Sometimes you can find a little bump in front of the next swell to guide your nose upwards.

If your board does punch into the next swell don’t panic, shift your weight back, or even step back, bend your knees, stay stable and wait. Most times the nose will pop back up, even if it has dug really deep. The push of the swell isn’t like a breaking wave jamming a pearled surfboard–it won’t necessarily just keep going down until it flips. Most times it will recover if you just keep your cool.

The easiest way to keep from lawn-darting into the swell in front of you is to turn on the swell. Look ahead for downhill spots and turn towards them. The board will accelerate and you’ll have time to figure out where to go. Look for low spots in the wave in front of you and steer through those. Reversing direction as you come over the top of the swell in front of you tends to speed up the ride at the same time that it extends the distance and gives you time to think. Most of the time I fall it’s because I’ve rammed over three or four swells in a row, my board is a little out of control and my lizard brain is screaming “you’re gonna crash!!!”. Think your way through it, stay loose, and you’ll do much better.

If you find yourself falling off the back a lot, it’s because you’re not dropping low enough when you get into the swell. The board will accelerate pretty hard, drop into a low surfing stance and start turning. Wot fun!

A little further on and you should find the big guys. The swell get steep again and there’s usually a lot of chop mixed in from reflected waves off the shore or just wind changes. When the wind direction shifts a little the main swell continues in the direction it was headed, and some new swells start getting generated. These swells are easier to catch generally, but the side chop might knock you off. Again, it’s wise to do some turning, but it’s even more important to read the water and go where you want to. It’s also easy to link up swells, running over the top of those in front of you. Weaving through the swells and visualizing them like moguls helps a lot. Wind swells are rarely in a straight line, they rise and fall along their line of travel and have peaks and valleys. Use the valleys to get through and the peaks for the ride.

One of the most useful pieces of advice I’ve had is to look for the downhill bits. You aren’t so much looking for a swell to climb as a hollow to drop into. When you have a lot of whitecaps around you it’s very useful to watch the swell right behind a whitecap. For some reason these tend to be steep-faced and smooth. I find pulling in behind a whitecap almost always leads to a rocking good ride.

As you progress in swell riding you’ll find it easier to read the water and swell. You start looking for more subtle things, and you have a lot more time to look for them. When you first start everything seems to come at you too fast to make any judgments. After a few rides it starts to get more settled and you have time to observe. When Jeremy Riggs first told me I should be turning on the waves to ride them faster, I thought there was no way I’d ever be doing that. Now it seems like it happens automatically.

On fixed fin boards the ability to turn on swells and ride them at an angle is important–it’s how you get back in. Consider that when you’re paddling you’re going about 4mph, and when you’re riding a swell you might be going 15MPH. If you can turn on a swell and ride it towards shore you make up a lot of ground fast. Conversely, if you can’t turn on swells and ride them and you are paddling toward somewhat towards shore and catch a swell headed offshore, you’ll lose a lot of ground fast. So your only choice is to just slug it out paddling towards shore. It’s so much nicer to be able to let the waves do the work.

I’m certain there are a lot of other people with more experience than mine who could add to this article. I welcome your comments and additions. Either add them as comments to this part, or email them to me (bill at kenalu dot com) and I’ll put them into Doing downwinders Part three. Next time we’ll add some video clips of paddling into swells, and show some great downwind runs.

Until then, have fun, enjoy, Aloha.

Doing Downwinders

It’s always the blind leading the blind here at Ke Nalu. I continue my long practice at teaching anything–struggle to be one step ahead of the students and grab expertise anywhere I can get it. I’ve been doing downwind runs about two years, on an accelerated program fed by my insatiable, over the top addiction to the downwind glide. What a rush. So here I’m going to tell you a bit of what I’ve learned, and a lot of what I’ve observed even if I can’t necessarily DO all of it yet, and I’m going to steal shamelessly from any useful source.

As I said, downwinders and swellriding is very addictive. You can do them anywhere there is wind and water. What you want to look for is a place that is safe and fun.

Wind Direction: You don’t want to go hard offshore in a place where the next stop is 3000 miles away, you don’t want to be pushed onshore in places you can’t land safely. It pays to scout your run carefully. Understand the wind and swell direction, know where you can put in and take out safely, and where you can go if you need to ditch the run. It’s a little safer to run along a coastline than point-to-point across an open bay. But in places where there are offshore reefs or seabed topology that can build big waves from groundswell you may have to run miles out at sea to avoid the mackers.

A little offshore wind direction is not such a big deal once you have experience and can drive your board well, especially if you have a foot rudder. Generally a run with some offshore direction is shaped like a triangle–you ride the swells and wind out a ways, and then start aiming every ride towards the shore, working your way inwards at an angle against the wind. Onshore winds tend to be a bigger challenge since they are pushing you where you don’t want to go and you have to work against them right from the start.

You want swells to ride. Getting pushed by the wind in flatwater is fine and all that, but riding swells are the addictive part of downwinding. To get good swells you need wind and fetch, fetch being the amount of distance the wind gets to push on the water. Swells take time to build and gain shape. A really strong wind blowing along water for a short distance can toss up a pretty high swell, but the peaks will be close together, choppy, and uneven. When the swell has time to form it will spread out (gain a longer period) get more even, and gain more energy (get thicker). So in a river you want to look for a place where the river direction and the wind direction run parallel for a distance. A small bend won’t undo all the good fetch since some energy will make it through, but a couple of right angle turns and the fetch is starting all over.

The southside runs in Maui start at the inside curve of the island, and the wind blows across the island, which means almost no fetch if you are starting at Sugar Beach or the Canoe Hale. That makes the run an almost ideal example of what happens as the fetch length grows. When the wind is brisk (say, 20 kts) you start with little ripples and a lot of push from the wind at your back. After half a mile the ripples have grown to ankle high swells that are enough to push your board if you paddle hard to catch them. Fun practice in reading the water. A mile further and the swells are knee high, and close together. Fun to catch, but your board smacks the backside of the swell in front frequently. Good practice for turning in a swell or railroading over the top of the next one. A few more miles and some bottom features will toss up waist-high stuff while the majority of swells are still knee high but wider apart and more rounded. Both of those characteristics mean there’s more energy in the swell, it’s thicker on top because it’s period is longer and there’s more energy. It tosses higher when the water gets shallow because the friction with the bottom slows the leading edge of the wave, piling up the water.

A Maliko run on the North side of Maui displays what a long fetch ride is about. Here the wind has been on the water for hundreds of miles, the wind swells are thick, long period, and very big–sometimes the bottom topology kicks them up to 20 feet from peak to base. When you’re in a trough you often can’t see your friends, or even the shore. Riding these swells is more like snowboarding down a mountain than surfing–the swells aren’t breaking.

Gear
Any board will work for doing downwinders, but they are more fun on specialized downwind or touring boards. If all you have is surfboards choose your longest one and go as narrow as you can comfortably balance for a long while. If you have thrusters, take them off and go with a single fin–you’ll gain a lot of glide. Old long windsurfers work. Pretty much anything works. Don’t let yourself be denied the fun because your equipment isn’t optimal.

If you decide to buy a downwind board, try to demo first. Weight, height, and skill level have a lot to do with the kind of board you’d like. A few days ago I took a friend for his first run and let him try both my SIC F18 and my Foote Maliko 14. He vastly preferred the F18. Easy to see why–the F18 is very stable, catches swells well and gives a great cruising ride. The Foote Maliko 14 is like a little sportscar. It zips into a swell and lets you play with the wave. But its not as stable and comfortable. For me, jumping off the F18 onto the Foote was like getting out of a Corvette and into a Ferrari. Both fast, but the Maliko 14 has a wonderful nimble, pared-down feel.

If the board you use for downwinding is substantially thicker than your surfboard, you’ll probably like a longer paddle.

Some very experienced folks jump on a board with no leash, no water, nothing but a paddle and their boardies. I think they are insane. You can get away with that until you don’t, and then you’ll have a very long afternoon. These boards have thick rails and can blow away from you in a second, and quickly reach speeds you can never match, no matter how well you swim. I always wear a leash. I have a light one made from a boogie board leash for southside and a big, thick one for Maliko. Anywhere you have the potential to be caught in a big, breaking wave you want a stout leash. I got caught inside at Upper Kanaha and turned my coiled boogie board leash into a straight leash the diameter of a shoelace–so lucky it didn’t break. That would be at least a one mile swim in heavy surf and current.

A PFD is a good option, especially since some jurisdictions require it and issue citations. The inflatable PFDs can be worn without discomfort or interference. There are both belt type and suspender types. If you get separated from your board and don’t have a PFD your camelback can be a lifesaver. Just drink part of the water and then inflate the bladder by blowing in the tube, then reverse the position so you are wearing it on your chest. Don’t dump the water unless you need all the floatation–it comes in handy on a long swim in.

If you’re going more than a mile or two you should have water. I like a camelback. Dave Kalama sticks water bottles in his pocket–doesn’t like sucking on the tube and getting winded. I know exactly what he means, but I don’t have his balance to be pulling a bottle out for a drink and hardly missing a beat.

I also carry my iPhone in a waterproof bag, tucked in my camelback. I can operate the phone through the bag and even talk through it. Better yet I can turn on music with the internal speakers and it’s loud enough to her pretty well when it’s on my bak. No earphones, no wires–a human jukebox. I also use my iPhone to record my trip using it’s GPS, and of course it’s there as a safety feature in case I encounter serious trouble.

I’m careful not to let myself consume safety margins provided by gear. That is, I don’t do things that are more dangerous just because I have some safety equipment. I stay away from offshore reefs when there’s groundswell even though I have a leash. I don’t ditch the leash because I have a PFD. I don’t go out in excessively offshore conditions just because I carry a phone.

Next installment: Catching and Riding Swells

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Always Something New at SIC

I always love dropping by the Ding King/S.I.C. Not only is it one of the coolest buildings around, but there’s always something interesting going on. I’ve been watching Mark and the gang build a set of Stand Up Paddle catamarans for the last few months. Here’s the first one, ready for it’s trial run.

These are semi-production cats, with the hollow hulls built in a mold. Mark is building them for Ray Phillips and some friends of his. Ray is an ehthusiastic Stand Up Paddler who lives in Wailea. Ray always seems to have a great new toy, these are going to be just spectacular. While I was looking at them I fantasized about building a radio controlled sailing cat with these hulls. What a rocket that would be.

While I was at SIC I also saw and photographed the new production F16s. These are hollow F16s, made using advanced composite approaches and autoclaved carbon fiber in China. the manufacturer is one of the best of the Chinese OC1 producers. More on that next time.

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.

..Now for something completely different

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.

Whitewater SUP

Dan Gavere and Nikki Gregg invited me to join them on a whitewater SUP expedition on Sunday morning. The plan was to run the lower White Salmon river (I think that’s what they call the run–it goes from Rattlesnake Rapids to Northwestern Lake) and then do a downwinder on the Columbia. Sounded great to me.

My whitewater experience consists of flyfishing in the Deschutes river in a Hobie fishing catamaran and a few runs down the Deschutes in a drift boat, occasionally handling the oars. Still, I figured it wouldn’t be that hard. I won’t keep you in suspense–I sucked at it. I spent the morning kneeling on my board or bobbing through the whitewater alongside it. It was great fun, and for some masochistic reason I can’t wait to try it again.

Everything works differently in the river. The toughest thing to learn (for me anyway) is to keep the up-current edge of the board angled up so the water runs under it. Also, your paddle works very differently depending on which way you are facing. Sometimes it zips away from you and sometimes it wants to hide under your board.

Nikki and Dan were great guides for the trip. Not only were they patient with my flailing but they taught me a lot–not that it probably showed yet. Dan is amazing on the board but he knows exactly how to break down what he’s doing and explain it clearly. Didn’t help, but that’s my problem. Nikki hasn’t been doing it as long as Dan, but she’s really good and charges everything. Inspirational and fearless. Here’s an animoto video of the two of them, first running Rattlesnake rapids, then a long turn with a big rock in the middle of the drop, and finally surfing in some standing waves. Enjoy.

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

Viento Park to Hood River Downwinder

We were in Hood River today (Diane and I) to finalize purchasing our house there. To celebrate I took a nice downwinder from Viento park to Hood River and used my iPhone to record the trip as a GPS track. There’s the slideshow. clik on the play button to see the animation. Not hugely exciting, but it has possibilities.

Hood river downwind

Widget powered by EveryTrail: Share GPS Tracks

Lots of cool features in the GPS widget. You can mouse over ther speed track and see instand stats for that location and a dropped pin indicating the position on the map. Move the mouse and the pin moves and the stats update. Click the play button the the widget automates the track, showing speed for a given position (elevation too, but that’s just clutter). Near the top of the widget you can select full map view or the default stats view. Double click on the map to zoom. Shift-click to make it smaller.

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