I beat Dave Kalama at the inaugural Big Winds SUP race in the Columbia River Gorge at Hood River. Finished about five minutes ahead of him–long enough to get off my board, walk up to the deck above the river and take pictures of Dave, Robby Naish, and Michi Schweiger crossing the finsih line. So Continue Reading
So maybe you’re getting tired of hearing about Maliko runs, I think this is the last one I’ll write up for awhile. But this one was kind of special, and perhaps a little stupid. I called the usual suspects and no one seemed to want to go. Just about as i was about to give Continue Reading
Maliko run number four is in my official record book. Last guy to the beach again, but I improved my time over the last run (the Maui Canoe and Kayak club race) by 15 minutes. If I keep improving at this rate by the time I have Maliko 10 under my belt I’ll be whipping Continue Reading
I turned the corner onto South Kihei Rd and saw whitecaps. Big, fluffy spraying-off-the-top whitecaps, and chunky swells even with the short fetch from Maalaea Bay. Perfect for a fast downwinder to the Four Seasons beach. Diane was dubious as usual, she considers anything beyond a gentle zephyr to be life-threatening, but I couldn’t wait Continue Reading
We chose an odd day for our showcase–a Tuesday–but we were running out of time and Maui Canoe and Kayak Club had a race scheduled for the weekend that included Stand Up Paddle boards. We assumed most paddlers and some of the boards we wanted to test would be committed for the weekend. Alan (shapeshifter) Continue Reading
Written by Tom English www.AlohaWealth.com When people ask me why I surf with a paddle, my response is usually, “because it’s fun”. But when I think about it, it is really about the speed and power that a high performance board and paddle make possible. The paddle allows you to lean into turns harder and Continue Reading
So you are ready to buy a high-zoot carbon fiber paddle and tweak it to make it all yours. Please don’t tell me you already bought one and it’s precut. If you did, skip way down to the taping section. This part will just make you uneasy. If you’re considering a wood paddle you’ll have Continue Reading
This is an oldie but a goodie, an article published back in 2008 but as relevant today as it was way back then, a whole year ago. I’m about to have two of my best friends come visit. they are both perfect guests, but they ARE guys, and that reminded to go searching for this. Continue Reading
Dave Collins is at it again, another interesting (and heavily packed) SUP expedition. Last August we covered his last SUP adventure, a SUP expedition around Cape Scott, the tip of Vancouver Island (http://www.kenalu.com/2008/08/) . This time he’s in tropical waters, the coast of Mexico, but the amount of gear he’s crammed onto his ULI looks Continue Reading
This ebook is being written in four parallel paths: Basics; Surfing; Theory, and Conditioning. It will also eventually have a lot of pictures and video added. I have an outline, a shot list, and plans for the videos, but they have to wait until I can get to them. Chapter 3 of the Basic track Continue Reading
This post is the first in a very long series (I hope) on surfing your SUP. A lot of people are buying SUP boards just for flatwater paddling. More power to them, but there may come a day when you decide you’d like to try a bit of surfing. The good news is that all Continue Reading
I have a lot of waterproof cases–I love having music along when I do a distance paddle. So I have a H2O Audio case for my Video iPod. Then I wanted something smaller, so I got the H2O Audio iPod Nano integrated headphone/case designed for swimmers. Works great. But then I decided I wanted to Continue Reading
I gotta know. That’s my burden, probably comes from the ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) that so clearly determined my career path (Motorcycle mechanic, nuclear reactor operator, PR flack, software entrepreneur, technology marketer, direct and interactive agency founder, surf bum). When I start looking at something critically, I have to have some kind of authoritative or Continue Reading
Some time ago there was a somewhat heated challenge on the StandUp Zone (the most active forum in the SUP world: http://www.standupzone.com) regarding the notion that a long hulled racing board with an average paddler on it could beat an elite paddler on a 12 foot board. In the course of the debate (I favored Continue Reading
Leave it to Jimmy to do it his own way. While everyone else is making very stiff carbon fibre shafts, Jimmy decided to add flex. Jimmy went through a lot of prototypes and a couple of different manufacturers to get a shaft with smooth flex along its length that is also extremely strong. The result Continue Reading
Fishing from a stand up paddle board is a natural–you can get it into the water easier than even a kayak. You can see down onto reefs better than you can on any other craft I’ve experienced, and you can fish comfortably in places any boat would fear to tread–kelp beds, shallow water with waves, Continue Reading
…The beach break behind me looked about head high. I thought “oh great, I’m going to finish the race by getting worked in front of 500 spectators” but I managed to catch it before it crumbled and got out in front of the whitewater. I beached the board at full speed and stumbled up the Continue Reading
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 Continue Reading
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 Continue Reading
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 Continue Reading
You’re blissfully riding a shoulder, planning your next turn, when suddenly you see coral heads and seaweed just past the nose of your board–ah, that’s why everyone else was cutting out of the wave fifty feet before. As the reef grabs your fin and you sail through the air you contemplate a long session with Continue Reading
Tough week, but I’m back home and getting back into the things I do, including Ke Nalu. I’m working on a new set of instructional articles and some fun stuff. Still looking for any and all contributions of articles, photos, great places to SUP surf or paddle. All the best to all of you. Don’t Continue Reading
Sorry for not being very active with Ke Nalu this last week. I’m in San Diego helping the family of my closest friend, Barney Li, who died last Saturday in a motorcycle accident. It’s just kind of taken the air out of me, but I really do feel a lot more like celebrating this remarkable Continue Reading
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 Continue Reading
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 Continue Reading
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 Continue Reading
I’ve found a great use for SUP boards–entertaining grand kids. I attached a carrier to my Starboard 12’6″ recently, planning to use it for fishing and camping, but the grandkids who have been here for a week (God give me strength) took full advantage of it.
It took far longer to get this done than it should have, and left me thinking I don’t know much about PHP and programming, but I finally have implemented Tell-A-Friend on every page. if you read an article you think a friend would value you can quickly send them an email with a link and Continue Reading
The Prolific Paddler and Paddlebuilder Ernie Johnson sent me two great photojournals for races he’s done recently. This makes three stories so far from Ernie (and makes all the rest of you look like slackers–how ’bout getting those stories to me–you can’t just be sitting around reading about this stuff!). Ernie Johnson and Tony Mueller Continue Reading
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 Continue Reading
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: