Training Log

I’m training for Brother Bob’s (or Stoneaxe as he’s called in the Forums) Plymouth to Provincetown paddle–24 miles in open ocean. I’ve been doing some long flatwater paddles in the Willamette river and Multnomah channel to get in some semblance of condition. Somehow I’ve gained about ten or so pounds since we’ve been back on the mainland. I haven’t been overeating, I guess my metabolism must be in “lay back” mode now that I’m not spending the whole day in the water.

Most of the guys that are participating have been training since May. I only decided to do this in late June. Got to do an accelerated schedule. My first run will be a tough one to see if I can even get in the ballpark of doing 24 miles.

Here’s my training log so far:

July 1st: I did 17 miles today, the last eight against a nasty headwind. I think it was equivalent to at least 20. I’m sore, but I didn’t have any real problem doing it. Willamette river, from Cathedral Park under the Saint John’s bridge to the dock at Tom McCall Park in downtown Portland, and then paddled back. The first leg I had a mild tailwind but I was paddling against the current. On the return I was going with the current but the wind picked up and I was struggling into a headwind. the last few miles were very tough.

July 3rd: 18 miles, from Fred’s Marina at the top of the multnomah channel to Rocky Point Marina and back. the trip downriver was into growing wind, with the last mile being very hard, paddling into at least a ten knot wind, with gusts to fifteen. Enough wind to make rollers and whitecaps in the middle of the river. On the way back I was paddling against a strong current with favorable wind. The rollers were big enough to surf, and I had a really good time.

I didn’t do much for the last week and a half–my daughter Cassie and her kids have been here. I count playing with Grandkids as training, though it isn’t all that physical. I also race one weekend in Seattle and one in Portland.

July 12th: Eighteen miles in a little over three and a half hours, including a brief stop for lunch (two bars and some water). Favorable current going against a light wind in one direction, strong wind against the current coming back. As far as I can tell I’m paddling about as fast as a fat lady jogs.

July 19th: I tried to do 25 miles today but it turned into about six. The wind picked up too much on the river. Had some fun wake rides behind a skiboat though. Bunch of guys and one seriously festive young lady in a bikini were out wakeboarding. Their boat had tanks and bladders enough to add 1500 pounds of water besides the eight hundred pounds for all the passengers. Threw a really nice wake. For some reason I couldn’t stay in the wake very well though–I only got a few hundred yards each ride. Finally I tried turning into the wake and aiming at the center of the boat and I zoomed right up within a few feet of the tail. Could have gone any distance in that slot–I even had enough momentum to do some gentle maneuvers. I finally tried a noseride and got five toes on the nose before I ditched.

July 20th: Brother Bob posted on the forums that he thought we could do the 24 miles in three hours if we had a fifteen knot tailwind.

My response: THREE HOURS–to go 24 miles, have you lost your mind? You have us confused with Dave Kalama. We’ll be lucky to do it in five. I did three hours this morning, before watching the F1 race (a GREAT race btw, Hamilton was amazing, overcoming a truely boneheaded pit strategy by McLaren that left everyone scratching their heads, and Nelson Piquet JR got on the podium with a very lucky second, though I certainly don’t discount the fact that he managed to hold Massa off, who probably damaged his undertray going all rallycross when Hamilton block-passed him.)

I didn’t figure my mileage for three hours but it wasn’t much since I was fighting a headwind for the first half, but I doubt I did ten miles. I hope we do have a little chop. I’ve learned that my hip starts to hurt if the water is too glassy. When it’s a little choppy I get enough wiggle in that the joint doesn’t seize up. Maybe I’ll have to put some Shakira on the iPod. I guess I never did post my video “Shakira SUPs”–it’s pretty goofy. I’ll have to do that one of these days when my ego is feeling EXTREMELY secure.

I need to pick up the training pace–only three weeks left. I’m going to get out at least five times next week–that’s my goal.

A few more changes, and then back to it

For those of you that have been following along, the migration to Dreamhost is complete, and I’m working on the new look and feel. I think people will like the new navigation–there will be several feature stories, selectable by tabs according to the topic. Below that will be picture-oriented articles, with lead pictures that you can scroll through or jump right into the article. And finally there will be how-to and tip articles.

I’ve been doing a fair amount of paddling and some surfing. The oregon coast is not as friendly as Maui–even with a drysuit. But I’m having fun. Went to Manzanita for about a week to do some work on my old beach house there, and get in a little surfing. I’m planning to sell the house. It’s a very cool little thing, designed for low upkeep, low costs, and nearly zero maintenance, but I’m not using it, and that’s just a shame. Next time I go I’ll shoot some pictures–you never know, someone reading this might be interested.

My friend Paul Montgomery came down for a couple of days of SUP surfing. He’s an old Seaside surfer, but I turned him to the dark side last year in Maui. We hit Pacific City on Saturday and ran into Randall Barna. Randy has a popular blog on SUP and runs around with a bunch of loonies in Bend that are paddling in the deschutes and the lakes of Central Oregon, as well as doing the 170 mile “commute” to Pacific Beach every so often for some waves. Quite a coincidence bumping into him and his nice family. A real pleasure.

The waves were dinky, the water was 43 degrees, it was windy and choppy–in other words, we had a great time. Surfed until we couldn’t paddle any more, went back to Manzanita and collapsed, then did it again the next morning. No wind, but even smaller waves because the tide was out. Once it came in the wind came up, but we had a fine morning session, then back to Portland.

Back to the Future

Regular readers will probably notice the paddle test is back, replacing the Laird Hamilton article. The load times for Ke Nalu have gotten horrific, and I’m working on a new interface to fix that. I think everyone will like this one better anyway, it give quick access to lots of content, and it’s got a cleaner look. But the big difference will be load times–with DSL or other high speed internet the load time should be less than five seconds.

Should be up in the next few days. In the meantime, get out and paddle!

New Toy: Foote KeNalu board

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

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

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

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

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

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

Up and away

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

If we only had a wave

Learning From The Masters–In Photos

Laird Hamilton at Peahi

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

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

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

Fully committed to the Turn

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

Cutting back on the face

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

Dropping in

Wide stance, centered on the board, staying low.

Bottom turn

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

Pushing Hard

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

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

A boy and his playground

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

Skimming the paddle to steer from a forward position

Dragging and skimming

Dragging to stay in the barrel

but sometimes ya just surf

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

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

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

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

Guy must have feet like a gecko

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

In the meantime, have fun, paddle hard.

Comments Welcome

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

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

New Standup Journal Out Soon

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

Waterproof Artwork: Malama Paddles

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

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

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:

[Read more]