New Werner Paddles

I received this news release from Werner Paddles yesterday and asked for pictures. They look pretty interesting, the shapes are unusual, I wish the picture showed the shape from the side and back as well, but here’s what I have:
For Release: Trade: August 25, 2008

Werner Expands Stand Up Paddle Offerings
Werner Paddles has announced the introduction of two new Stand Up Paddles: The Werner Advantage and the Werner Carve. Both paddles will be available to ship beginning September 01, 2008.

As participation explodes in the Stand Up Paddle category, Werner is responding with new paddle designs that focus on the two aspects of the sport, touring and surfing.

The new Werner Advantage
The Advantage is a Premium fiberglass laminate construction blade with a modified tear drop shape designed to optimize straight ahead efficiency for touring.

The new Werner Carve

The Carve consists of the same construction as the Advantage but the shape is smaller, longer and more slender, specifically designed for dynamic surfing and turning.

Both the Advantage and the Carve come with a fiberglass oval indexed shaft and ABS Palm-grip. Werner offers three shaft configurations. The 1-piece is the lightest weight option and is least expensive ($219).

The 2–piece is perfect for paddlers who travel with their paddle ($234). The Adjustable length telescopes with four settings, each 1.5 inches apart; perfect for those individuals who move between touring and surfing ($259).

“Stand Up Paddling is a real growth opportunity for surf and paddle sports dealers. We are excited to expand our Stand Up Paddle offerings to respond to the specific demands of the market,” says Jim Miller, Werner’s Marketing Manger.

Werner Paddles is the leading manufacturer of high quality kayak, canoe, and stand up paddles, operating near the banks of the Skykomish River in Sultan, WA. For more information call 800.275.3311 or visit us at www.wernerpaddles.com

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New Features on Ke Nalu

Get a free Ke Nalu Rash Guard!

I have added several new forms with some special features to Ke Nalu, they are part of a new approach to board and paddle showcases.

The first is a Board Showcase form that is a do-it-yourself review form. If you have boards you’d like to see in the showcase you can enter all the information on this form, including photo uploads for pictures of the board, and submit it. Your review will appear as soon as we format it. You can also use this form to add your opinions to any board that is already reviewed in the showcase. Manufacturers and board builders are welcome to add their boards to the showcase in this manner.

Second is a Paddle Showcase form. It works the same way–you fill out the form, upload any photos you like, and click submit. You don’t need to have all the information to submit the form. The reviews are going to become wiki-like. they will accumulate information and depth as people add to them.

Third and finally, I’ve added a photo upload form that enables you to load up to three photos at a time. You can do this as often as you like. You may have noticed the photo band that appeared on the site briefly. This was driven from Flikr, and I didn’t like the way it worked or the photo quality, so I’m turning it over to you folks. The more photos we get, the merrier. Once we have enough photos the band will change every time you visit the main page.

Join the crowd, get your Ke Nalu rash guard

The first 30 people to submit a board review, a paddle review, or send three or more photos will get a Ke Nalu rash guard. We have most sizes, but might run out of some and have to substitute, so get your submission in ASAP. I’ll contact you at the email address you specify to get your mailing adress for your rash guard.

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Liam’s Alaskan Adventure

Liam Wilmot of C4 Waterman submitted this interesting story of an Alaskan SUP adventure using a ULI inflatable SUP board.

–ALASKA June 6th. Field Report.

Being a surfer in a surf-orientated family that lives on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, a trip to Alaska in the middle of summer may seem a strange choice of destination. However, with the onset of stand up paddling and its potential to make any day on any body of water a blast, a trip to the land of 10,000 glaciers with a sun that never set promised to be a real adventure.

Flying up Shelikof Straight and Cook Inlet into our arrival point of Anchorage, it was stirring to see mountains and snow after such a lengthy tropical hiatus. When you see glaciers like this one below, so huge they’re easily visible from 10,000 feet, it’s mind-boggling to think that thousands of years of flow-freeze are now rapidly dissipating - inches every year, sometimes even feet.

With seemingly endless potential for flat water adventures it was hard not to pump up the ULI (ultra light inflatable) and paddle out at every turn.

My first attempt failed. Overcome by the scenery I opted to save time by dissing the wetsuit and confidently headed out in my shorts and vest! My toes nearly froze off. One word of advice on the ULI, be sure to inflate to the recommended level. Anything less and it won’t be anywhere near as rigid as you need it to be. It’s rigid or frigid in Alaska!

On second attempt I would go all out. The wetsuit was lent to me by Garrett McNamarra, who tested and proved it last year towing into calving glacier waves in SE Alaska. You really need a good wetsuit. This one was a 7mm Hotline full suit with a built in hood, plus booties and gloves. Toasty!! Thanks GMac. (Like all wetsuits, they make you look fat

I rode the converging waters of glacial melt from Exit Glacier and the flow of Resurrection River for about 7 miles.
It took me a little over an hour.

Freezing water, snow and glaciers were a totally new experience for me. My friend Charlie McArthur, C4’s team rider up on the Colorado River, probably would have laughed at me. The white water (mini) rapids hardly compare to the walls of white water he scales with ease. Any how, I figured I would wear the bright yellow rash vest for visibility. I had a WalMart issue 2-way radio in a zip lock stuffed down the front of my suit should I need contact my wife in the trailing RV. If I got into trouble and had to bail, a walk through bear country might be less scary if I could hear our kids arguing in the RV! I had a leash. I have read horror stories about surfers getting trapped, overcome by the force of the current and not being able to reach their leash to remove it, but I didn’t want to go with out it, despite that ‘free’ feeling. So… I fastened it to my elbow so it wouldn’t drag in the water and I could always reach the release tab should I need it.
Charlie might laugh but I hope water safety expert Brian Keaulana would be proud!

The waters snaked back and forth from the road every mile or so, splitting and merging at will throughout the gravel banks and wash-through of tons of fallen birch and spruce trees. All this gravel comes from the melting glaciers which grind away at the mountains over eons. Following the branching water’s strongest lead was a fun game in order not to become stranded in a weak off-shoot.

There are thousands more short trips like this in Alaska, It was nothing extreme, but to me that is part of the broad appeal of stand up paddling. Anyone can do it, and you can do it anywhere. Charlie, who is a top level white water kayaking champion says “it makes class I and II fun again”. For me, to get out into the wilderness and float along with the current through pristine wilderness is in a class all of its own.

Despite the sport’s broad appeal, I don’t recommend using your inflatable SUP as a snow toy.
My 2-year-old Maika loved it while I felt like pitching a new series to National Geographic: “I wish I wasn’t alive”. Turns out that the PVC coating switches gears from slip to grip when on frigid snow and ice. This is not a snow toy.

More perfect scenery. It was so still I would paddle out in my rubber boots and throw a lure straight from the board. I managed to catch a dozen or so rainbow trout. At Johnsons Lake, near Kasilof, I was cleaning my catch and a local guy comes over shaking his head to say “Now I gotta take a look at this! What do you call this?!”. All these guys with boats and I was in and out before they had even primed their engines. Not to mention the fact that the fish never heard me coming.

Open roads, endless possibilities and empty line ups………….

Seward, on a beautiful calm morning paddle. The surrounding mountains of Resurrection Peninsula reach higher than 5,000 feet, though the morning low-level cloud obscures the towering landscape.

Cook Inlet and Turnagain Arm have some spectacular paddling areas. With a tidal difference of 24ft the mud flats are literally quicksand, annually claiming the lives of those who don’t get pulled out fast enough and either suffocate or drown on the incoming tide. No joke.

Turnagain Arm is also home to the elusive bore tide, which I had every intention of riding but, like the salmon, it was the one that got away on me. You need to know the precise spot on the narrowing of the 40-mile probe of Cook Inlet where the incoming tide doubles up on itself and transforms into a muddy, churning wave. It happens in an instant. We ended up racing alongside it in the RV without enough time to get into the water before it dissipated after several hundred yards of rolling.

Below is an aerial shot of the Cook Inlet tidal flats on the outgoing tide. You can see how far it stretches inland. This Inlet was named after Captain Cook, who initially thought it may have an outlet but learned he’d have to turn his fleet around again to get out, hence the name given to its inland end: Turnagain Arm.

The board I took to Alaska was a C4 Waterman Ultra Light Inflatable ULI. It was fantastic for this type of thing. It handled the knocks and bumps of the shallow parts of the rivers, was a perfect mid-lake landing pad for the trout, and rolled up nicely into the side compartment of the RV - not to mention the fact that it fits in a duffel bag and can be checked in as a regular piece of baggage, rather than a bulky surfboard.

Check out our web store for more details. www.c4waterman.com

Thanks for reading,

Aloha,
Liam Wilmott.

Learning From The Masters–In Photos

Laird Hamilton at Peahi

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

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

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

Fully committed to the Turn

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

Cutting back on the face

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

Dropping in

Wide stance, centered on the board, staying low.

Bottom turn

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

Pushing Hard

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

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

A boy and his playground

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

Skimming the paddle to steer from a forward position

Dragging and skimming

Dragging to stay in the barrel

but sometimes ya just surf

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

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

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

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

Guy must have feet like a gecko

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

In the meantime, have fun, paddle hard.

Long Lens

A couple of weeks ago Diane got a new long lens for the Nikon–a 180 to 500MM. I just downloaded the pictures to my computer–some of them are pretty neat.

She put the long lens on our big tripod and this was the first shot she got:

Here’s the second:

Nice job, kid.

Some waist-high waves at Kanaha

My Jimmy Lewis 11er

Decent wave, but closing out fast

Randy looking sylish

Likewise

Noosa! Big Fun Down Under

Bonga ripping
Michi Schweiger From Naish International attended the Noosa Surf Festival which ran from March 2 to March 9, 2008. He sent us this photojournal story:

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