SUP Sprint Racing

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 I’m going to share my simple recipe for how to beat these guys:

1. Good board
2. Lots of practice
3. Short race
4. and most importantly, a ten minute lead.

Here’s a blow-by blow of this very fun event.

I heard about the Hood Sup Series on the last possible day–a press release posted on the Standup Zone (http://www.standupzone.com) said it was June 18th, and that Dave Kalama, Robby Naish, and Michi Schweiger would be there. The prospect of a race sounded great, and it just happened that I didn’t have anything too pressing to do that thursday night. It’s an eight-race series, which sounded even better. Hood River is 72 miles from my house–about an hour and 20 minute drive if traffic is good, but planning to arrive at 6:00 PM could be problematic, the freeway that heads up the gorge gets jammed with traffic at rush hour. So I left at 2:00 PM for a 6:30 race meeting, and arrived way too early. I got signed up, drove down to the Hook where the race was going to start, and just hung out. I should have brought a sail–any sail, and sailed my 12’2″ starboard, which is great fun.

I had plenty of time to look over all elements of the course, which is pretty short–about 2 miles. The prevailing summer wind in the gorge is against the current–west to east–which punches up nice standing swells for jumping with your windsurfer or kite. And the wind is frequently strong enough to blow a dumpster across the parking lot (which I witnessed years ago at Rooster Rock). The race started with a run along the inside of the hook, carrying a buoy on the port side, sheltered from the gale by the large berm of this artificial peninsula, then turned the corner into the face of what felt like at least a 20 knot wind.

The run to the next buoy was also against the wind though it might be buffered slightly by Wells Island just to the west if you took the proper angle, and from my windsurfing experience I knew there are some funny currents close to Wells that might help or hurt. Once the buoy near Wells was rounded it’s a straight downwind run to the event center slot. This is an odd place. Right off the end of the parking lot called the Event Center is a sandbar that kitesurfers use to launch. The sandbar goes well out into the river. Near shore there is a twenty foot gap in the bar that’s about six feet deep at the center. It’s rocky near the shore and shallow near the bar, so you have to go through this section with some caution and precision. It also angles somewhat to the current.

Once through the gap it’s a short spurt to the next buoy which you take on the starboard side, then a sprint crosswise and slightly against the wind to the bouy at the end of the inlet, around another buoy to starboard and a sprint more against the wind to the finish buoys.

I waited around on the hook for a while, then realized I had more than an hour to the race meeting, got bored and cruised up into Hood River. What a lively place Hood River is during the summer. Stuff going on everywhere. There was a skateboard clinic going on, crowds of great-looking active people wandering around. Like a ski town in winter, only in a lot less clothes. I got an ice cream at Mikes–one of those “gotta do it” places. Like eating breakfast at Bette’s in Hood River.

Didn’t really need an ice cream just before racing, but what the heck.

I wandered back to the hook and people started showing up. Soon there was a surprisingly large crowd. I had jersey number 46, and there were a lot more people that signed up after me.

You can see my Starboard Point to the left hand side of the launch area. Most folks were on standard boards, though the Naish crew had what looked like Glides. Looks like I brought a gun to a knife fight, but really, with my weight on it, the Point is no faster than the 12’2″ Starboard that I also brought. The advantage is that it’s a lot more stable and it has steering which is handy upwind and for rounding buoys, so I decided to use it. I also brought my S.I.C. F18, but elected not to use it, both because it would seem like overkill, and because I suspected it’s thick sides and long length would be hell in the crosswinds.

After a brief meeting the ladies and juniors took to the water and were off quickly in surprisingly good order. The Men’s group was starting five minutes later, so I got onto my board and got a good position in the lineup, on the inside of the group. On the horn I started paddling like heck, but a small group of lightweight younger guys (actually, I think everyone was younger) got a fine start and pulled away smartly. I redoubled my efforts, bounced off another determined paddler rounding the buoy, and headed for the hook in about tenth place. As soon as we rounded the end of the hook the wind blasted right into our faces. I crouched down and stroked hard, and was surprised to see most of the guys drop to their knees and continue paddling. I didn’t do that–two reason: 1. It’s called Stand Up paddling, and 2. I wasn’t sure I could get up again. So I pushed on, managing to pass a few people and using my rudder to get a good line to the buoy. When I finally rounded the buoy the leaders were about 50 yards ahead. They popped to their feet and started really moving. I was paddling hard but the long pull had taken a lot of wind out of me. There were some tiny following swells being created by the wind on the outside line, so I paddled out and tried to catch some even though their angle was wrong–they were angled towards the middle of the river. I recalled what Jeremy Riggs told me once about riding swells at an angle making you faster, so I tried it in these ankle-high swells and it worked! I was able to catch quite a few runners that let me catch my breath and helped me haul in the leaders. I passed four people quickly and had just three in front of me. As it happened, I was on a swell when I passed the guy in third, and he yelled “Holy s&@t, you’re leaving a wake! How are you doing that?”

I figured I’d explain later.

We passed quite a few of the women and juniors, but off in the distance I could see that there were some serious contenders that we were not going to catch in such a short race. When we reached the slot I was ten feet behind second and perhaps thirty feet behind first. We rounded the buoy and I started stroking hard in the crosswind. To my surprise the guys in first and second dropped to their knees again and started stroking hard. I thought they would surely be disqualified, but continued to press hard. I didn’t lose any ground, and when we rounded the buoy onto the final upwind leg I gained a few feet and started thinking I might be able to at least take second. I started to close, but the wind picked up, and my progress slowed a little. By the time we went through the finish line buoys the gap was back to ten and thirty feet respectively. I cooled down, paddling a little in the basin, and then decided I should get some pictures of the other finishers, since I was carrying my iPhone in a waterproof bag.

I got up to the deck above the finish line just as Dave Kalama approached the finish line. “How cool is this”, I thought, “Not only did I beat Dave to the beach, but I can get a photo documenting it.” Believe me, it’s not likely to happen again. At Maliko I’d need about an hour head start.

Dave K catches his breath after the finish line while Robbie Naish strokes to beat Michi Schweiger.

Dave Kalama, Robbie Naish and Michi Schweiger

Some of the ladies make their way to the finish

The after party at the Pourhouse was really fun. Lots of nice folks. I talked for quite a while with Dave and Michi as well as some of the other competitors and a delightful couple from Arizona who have a house in Hood River. They even offered me a bed for the night in case I celebrated a bit too much, but I did more talking and eating than drinking, so I was fine for the ride home.

In all, an excellent first effort for Big Winds. I thought the race was going to be too short to be fun, but actually it was very interesting. The upwind legs made it tough and the short length made all-out effort a practical strategy. I certainly didn’t have anything left in reserve. Their organization was excellent too, and the party was a hoot.

For those of you that might be put off by the knee paddling, it won’t be a problem in the future. I sent Big Winds an email suggesting that they either not permit knee paddling beyond five strokes (as most races do to let racers get back up after a fall) or let everyone know that it’s OK. I got an email back immediately from Steve Gates saying: “This was the first SUP race we’ve put on or been in and we never even thought about knee paddling. But we did have a discussion about it earlier today and agreed it will not be allowed in the men’s divisions in future races.” That’s a good approach. While there were plenty of capable women and junior paddlers that didn’t knee paddle, some of them would have had a very tough time in the strong winds.

I’ll be making as many of the remaining seven races as I can manage. If you’re anywhere in the area you should too.

For more info click HERE

Off Topic, But Fun

I hope readers don’t mind these totally off topic videos. I don’t go scouting youtube for this stuff, but I get a lot of email correspondence from fellow nutcases, and it seems lately that whacked videos, especially as related to race cars or doing extreme extreme (uberextreme?) stuff makes up a large portion. So, this isn’t about standup paddle surfing, or distance racing on SUP boards. Instead it’s about a couple of geeky guys playing around with a smartphone controlled toy car, and a result that exceeds the wildest expectations that the most fevered mind could imagine.

I’ve played around with youtube’s javascript and come up with a way of displaying videos that really suits the Ke Nalu layout.

If you don’t like these off topic forays, please leave a comment, either in the forum or as a post comment. For that matter if you do enjoy them, let me know also.

Awesome Pipeline SUP Video

One of our fine members posted this in the Forum section as a video link, and then helpfully moved it to Youtube so we could conviently move it to the magazine. So here you go–Ikaika Kalama & Kainoa McGee ripping up Pipeline on Stand Up Paddle Boards:

Go! Gumby Go!

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 to get the board off the car and into the water. Diane doesn’t mind being my shuttle driver, gives her and Sam some time for some nice south side walks.

I hopped on the board and paddled out a few hundred yards, and instantly regretted not starting at Haycraft Park on the other side of the bay. It makes for such a ripping run when the wind is slightly onshore, and this was, decidedly. I was going to have to work a bit to clear the reefs and that would slow me down. If I had started at Haycraft I’d be riding swells the whole way. It was Nukin’. You can pretty much see from the GPS speed trace that I wasn’t getting any good swell rides for about the first mile–I had to cut too tight an angle against them to get long rides, but once I turned the corner on the Shangri-La reef it was pure rock ‘n roll.

I was paddling Gumby, my Foote Maliko 12, since the Penetrator is back at the Ding King’s, drying out. I punched a small ding in it paddling on the North side the other day–no idea how, I didn’t feel a thing–and it was enough to cause a leak. So it’s getting pumped out to be ready for the next race. Gotta say, the Penetrator FLIES in flatwater. Now that I’ve learned how to get some muscle into my paddling, and i’m not doing balance checks all the time, it just rips.

Back to Gumby and the swells. What a friken rocket this thing is in a hefty swell. Glide after glide after glide. I was looking at my GPS and seeing seven to eight MPH most times. Never less than 5.5. what a hoot. Plus I’m learning to carve the swells to get more speed and better direction control. I’m also learning to get my paddle out further and pull hard in the beginning of the stroke. This pulls the nose up and gets the board into the swells quickly.

Once I’m in a swell I put my weight forward until the nose is just skimming the water, slide my back foot towards the rail I want to set, and give it steady pressure. As long as i keep the nose down the board just keeps accelerating and turns along the face of the swell. As you can see from the trace I got some pretty long rides this way, some of them in the 10MPH range, and one at the five mile point that hit about 11. Pretty fast for a goofy looking 12 foot board.

I don’t know how this software computes average speed, must be some kind of instantaneous value averaging. But I did 7.0 miles in 1:20:34 , that’s 5.83 mph average, not 5.2. What fun! And I’m sure I can go a lot faster in similar conditions next time. We’ll see.

2009 Stand Up Paddle Race, Distance, and Downwinder Board Showcase–Part 2

In the last segment we revealed our high-tech weighing and measuring processes aided by a $39 scale, some home-made calipers, and a tape measure sacrificed to rapid corrosion after being submerged in the saltwater pool at Ponohouse. So now it’s on to the beach.

We had a few people who had conflicts arise and had to cancel–that was particularly unfortunate because we lost some boards to evaluate in the process. specifically, a C4 Vortice, a Starboard point, and an SIC F18. We also had one shop on Oahu pull out for economic reasons, leaving us short the Bark and Infinity boards.

I’ll explain why that is all perfectly OK due to Mark (Kiwi) Jackson’s brilliant idea in part 3, but for now, we’ll tell you a bit about the boards we tested and the people who tested them. People first:

Our morning session was intended as a BOP-style four leg around the buoys test, but with the prevailing wind we modified that to an up-and-back run between the canoe club flag buoys at Kihei Pier. Our testers were:

Jennifer Konohia, 142 pounds, 5’6″, age 37. Jennifer is a skilled paddler with both canoe and SUP experience. She races a SIC Ku Nalu and generally beats me. I was surprised at her weight, she looks much lighter, must be a lot of muscle on that slender frame.

Jack Dyson, 177 pounds, 5’10″, 50+. Jack is a very experienced paddler with many Maliko races and channel crossings under his belt on all kinds of paddle craft, including SUP.

Dave Schultz, 230 pounds, 6’5″, age 30. Dave is a relative newbie, but he paddles well (and hard) and has excellent balance.

Alan Sidlo, 180 pounds, 5’6″, age 48. Alan is a very experienced flatwater paddler from Chicago. He has extraordinary balance and flexibility, probably a result of his mis-spent youth as a pro skateboarder.

Bob Babcock, 279 pounds, 6′ 4″, age 51. Bob has been paddling SUP boards in all conditions on the east coast (Cape Cod) for about two years. He has some balance issues related to an inner ear tumor but was comfortable on all the boards and paddles hard and well.

Bill Babcock, 248 pounds, 6’3″, age 62. Been paddling SUP boards for about three years or so. I spend a lot of time in the water, SUP surfing, downwinding, cruising and fishing.

Also in this picture are Randy and Chan Strome (founders and administrators of the Standup Zone), Frank Forbes (owner of Lightning Bolt Maui) and Randy Royce. The came about noon for the downwind session and brought some additional boards, but we had to cancel the downwinder due to very unfavorable winds. It would be hard to write this article while on a board drifting towards Tahiti.

The boards on the beach are:

Penetrator 572 by Stu Campbell–Australia 18′ 8″ X 26.5″

F16 MKII by Sandwich Island Composites, designer Mark Raaphorst 16′ X 26″

Foote Maliko 12 by Bill Foote 12’6″ X 28.5″

F14 Productionby Sandwich Island Composites, designer Mark Raaphorst 16′ X 26 3/4″

Naish Glide 12 by Naish, designer: Iggy 12′ X 29.5″

F16 MKI by Sandwich Island Composites, designer Mark Raaphorst 16′ X 26″

Foote Maliko 14 by Bill Foote 13’11.5″ X 27.5″

Starboard 12’6″ Starboard 12’6″ X 30″

The Starboard 12’6″ was included as a sort of standard representing a stock SUP board. It’s a board with a lot of stability and good glide.

Where did everyone go? It didn’t take long for folks to grab a board and get in the water. the only board I hadn’t ridden that remained on the beach was the F14, which I assumed would be slow with my bulk on it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that even though Mark Raaphorst recommends it for riders under 200 pounds, it was fast and maneuverable with my 248 pounds weighing it down.

Jenn and Jack hit the water. Not sure what Jenn is on, but Jack is taking the Foote Maliko 14. He wound up taking this board out numerous times. He was as puzzled by it as I was

Bob on the new F16 MkII. This board is more stable, but seems perhaps a little slower than the F16 MKI. Fortunately SIC is making both style of boards, so customers have a choice. Strong paddlers sometimes will sacrifice a little board speed to gain stability if it means they don’t need to take balancing strokes–keeping the power on can be more important. Conversely, people with extraordinary balance don’t mind sacrificing balance to gain efficiency. It’s remarkable that the board that is the gold standard for open ocean racing now gives it’s users that fine tuning choice.

The Penetrator sits hull up. That’s a little seaweed on the edge. You can see what a radical board the Penetrator is. The displacement hull, nose rocker, tail rocker, and curved rails means the waterline length and width of the board is a function of weight. As the board tips it gains stability because the width from the centerline in the Tipping direction gets greater. And as the nose plunges into the back of a swell the nose buoyancy increases quickly, causing the nose to rise in a straight line.

A challenging but very exciting high-performance board.

Jenn on the new production molded F14. This board is very agile and fast. The rudder response is immediate and proportional. I was amazed at how well I could control it. It’s also a very light board at 29 pounds, ready for the water with rudder, pad and steering mechanism.

Taking the F16 MKI out. It’s immediately obvious why this board wins so many races. Fair stability, easy steering, great acceleration and super glide.

Jenn brings the production F14 back. There are a lot of custom F14′s around Maui, it’s a size that offers a lot of advantages in some racing organizations. If you remove the rudder and put a fixed fin in the box (it has both a rudder mechanism and a fin box) it qualifies for the Stock class. Any organization that doesn’t allow 14 foot boards to run in stock generally has a specific 14 foot class separate from the unlimited class. So the 14 foot board has competitive advantages virtually everywhere.

Jenn takes the Foote Malko 14 out. This is a VERY surprising board. it was built for high wind, big swell conditions, and it excels at swell riding. Jeremy Riggs has an ultra-narrow 12’6″ version of this board that he’s used to win every Maliko stock class race he’s entered. I thought it was just the Jeremy factor until I paddled this board. The surprise is that it’s smoking fast in flatwater. It weighs 27.5 pounds, accelerates like crazy (which certainly helps to catch swells) but it also glides amazingly well. Everyone in the showcase that paddled it remarked on how amazingly fast it was.

More on that later.

Jack Dyson sticks the wood to the Foote Maliko 14. I think this was the third time he had taken it out. He liked it.

I return the F16 MKI while Bob paddles the F16 MKII. Bob liked both of them, but said the MKII would be the one for him. He loved the stability and thought it was just as fast.

Jenn on the Foote Maliko 14 and Jack on the Penetrator. Jack said what he liked best about the Penetrator was the speed thrills and the incredible glide, but he didn’t like the rudder control because it threw his balance off during right turns.

Jenn wanted to take the Foote Maliko 14 to the North Shore and play. She didn’t like the mid-mounted leash.

Jack, coming in fast on the Penetrator. Sometimes it seems like the thing could use some brakes. It will coast right up onto the beach if you don’t jump off and grab it.

Jenn looking tiny on the Penetrator while Dave puts some heat into the F16 MKII

A pair of F16s–Bob on the MKI, which he struggled with due to it’s substantially lower stability and Dave on the MKII, which both of them loved. I fact Dave said “I will be saving up for this one”.

Dave heads out on the Penetrator while I bring Gumby, the Foote Malkio 12 back. Dave called the Penetrator “unforgiving, fast, great glide and very responsive for it’s size, but very, very tippy.”

Gumby is just a pleasure. It glides pretty well, it’s very stable, but it’s character only comes out in good sized swells, where it starts to really perform.

Jack preps the Naish Glide 12. Jack called this a good intermediate board, with fair glide and good stability–perfect for cruising

conferring on the best course to take since the wind has switched–again.

Dave prepares to take the Foote Maliko 14 for a spin. Note the tail-down attitude of the board, even with just Dave’s hands pressing on it. It’s more like this board has rake instead of rocker.

I paddle the Foote Maliko 14 past the piers of old Kihei pier.

jack and I decided to race the Foote Maliko 14 vs. the F16 MKII on some downwind legs. Amazingly, the Foote was able to keep up with the F16 in this little sprint.

We swapped boards and tried again–same result, Jack beat me by a small margin in both cases.

One of the local canoe paddlers that Jack knows came by and tried a few boards. Sue took a lot of pictures of this guy–no idea why.

Alan Sidlo on the Penetrator. Alan loved this board, I’m sure his excellent balance had a lot to do with it. He called it “exciting from the word go”, and said he particularly liked the self-righting nature of the board, the way it catches itself when it rolls.

About this time Randy and Chan showed up to do the downwind segment. Chan brought her custom F14, so I had to try it. I think this thing is 24″ wide or less. That’s it underwater beneath my feet. I was very pleased to be able to remain on top of this thing, I guess all this time on the Penetrator is paying off. This board had all the stability of a telephone pole.

Here’s Chan’s F14 compared to a production F14

Chan on the Naish Glide 12. She called it “very fun, stable, great all-around stock class board. Fun glides, easy to carry.”

Randy Strome on the Penetrator. That board even just LOOKS fast.

Randy Royse, Jack, Jen, Chan and Alan. At this point the downwinder is looking kind of questionable. the wind keeps switching directions. by switching I don’t mean changing a few degrees, I mean switching from east to west. That’s something I’ve only experienced in mountain weather or on Maui. in both cases it’s caused by wind sweeping around a mountain from both sides. The wind direction on the leeward side of the mountain changes radically when the actual wind direction moves a few degrees.

Randy carries in the Penetrator. Looks huge.

I carry in Chan’s micro F14. Weighs nothing. I’m struggling to keep it from blowing away

“Let’s go guys, the wind’s fine!” Randy is always up for it. One word of advice–don’t follow him. At that point the winds were pointed straight at Tahiti.

We canceled the downwind section. I didn’t even FEED these guys. we planned to do a little lunch on the beach before the downwinder, but then there were so few people I thought I’d just take them to a restaurant on the beach near Sorrentos when we pulled out from the downwinder. But then we canceled the downwinder. Yikes. So I just moved the time for the party up to 4:00 pm and told Diane everyone would be VERY hungry. We had a nice party, even though only the North shore contingent came. Ponohouse is a long haul from the south or west side. especially after a day on the water and a party, the drive home can be very, very long.

The next segment summarizes our learnings and announces our new board testing program. I’ll also be setting up a review section for racing boards. All coming soon (though the surf is looking pretty good for the next few days, and that always spells trouble for the schedule).

Advanced SUP Techniques

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 gives you more control. I think of the Rolling Stones classic, Let it Bleed, “We all need someone to lean on, and baby you can lean on me”, when I’m leaning into a turn that wouldn’t be possible with out the paddle.

You will find some advanced Stand Up Paddle surfers doing certain turns without the paddle, but in Stand Up Paddle Surfing, the spectacular, ripping, slashing stuff is all about the paddle, and rightly so. Not only is the paddle the key to extreme lean angles, it’s also a tool for tuning your turns, recovery, and either slowing or speeding your board–abilities that traditional surfers largely do without. The richness and radical capabilities that a paddle adds to standard longboard repertoire is already making the best SUP surfers stand out. And it’s really just early days–there’s so much more to come.

Here are a few techniques that I have learned by talking to and watching some of the best surfers in the world. Some were discovered the hard way, by trial and error. I will attempt to tell you the dynamics of these techniques, but you should understand that the key to these maneuvers is time in the waves, working to perfect them. I can give you some idea of where to put your feet, where the paddle goes, and when to turn, but muscle memory, coordination and experience is the only way that you will really own advanced maneuvers.

Don’t neglect the “working to perfect” part of that statement. Getting into waves and surfing for fun will improve your abilities but it takes a very long period of time. You have to have some idea of what you are trying to accomplish, and at least SOME of the time work towards perfecting particular moves in order to make rapid progress. The pioneers of surfing invented all this stuff without knowing what was possible, or perhaps more importantly, what was impossible. But that took decades. We can learn from them quickly if we pay attention to what and how they are doing their dance.

Take off Fade

A fade is a turn that starts off softer and higher in the wave than a true bottom turn. Paddle with your feet in your surfing stance, not parallel stance. Set your board up to glide towards the peak of the wave. As the curl approaches, pressure the inside rail hard, swing your shoulders into the wave, and change directions leaning on your paddle. Notice the flex of the paddle in this picture. Note also that the turn is well underway before the board reaches the bottom of the drop.

When you fall in a fade it will almost always be on the inside of the turn. There are three likely flaws:

• You didn’t maintain pressure on the rail, and the board straightened out while your body was still extended into the turn
• You leaned too far for the sharpness of your turn
• You didn’t swing your shoulders and press on the paddle hard enough.

When you do this turn right, the board will come up under your feet as the turn finishes. Keep your ankles and knees soft at the end of the turn to allow the board to come back under you.

Bottom Turn

The paddle can be used as a pivot point so you can compound the speed generated from the drop into more speed. This allows you to make sections that would be impossible without the paddle. You can also use the speed to propel yourself straight up to the lip. Drop into the wave with your knees bent, hips and shoulders level, looking down the face. At the bottom of the wave set your inside edge, place the paddle into the wave and lean on it. The harder you lean on the paddle, the sharper you will turn, leading to more speed. Trial and error will help you develop a great bottom turn combining power and style.

Notice that the turn is being initiated at the bottom of the wave, the board is trimmed somewhat flat to maintain speed but the inside rail is carving. the paddle is digging at the face, providing a pivot point that slings the board around. You enter the turn with your body centered, and as you set the rail to turn and plant your paddle you bend your knees and ankles to power into the turn. as the board reaches the tightest part of the turn, your shoulders should be facing the wave and the rail should be evenly weighted between your front and back foot. As the board starts to climb the face the wave will add power and increase board speed quickly. It’s the tightness of the turn around the pivot that adds speed. The more gentle bottom turn done without a paddle lets the board track further from the base of the wave, which means the board slows before the wave catches up and the face starts adding power.

Typical flaws for bottom turns are:

• Placing too much weight on the back of the board, which pushes water and slows the board.
• Keeping the upper body pointed down the line at the apex of the turn, which ends the turn too soon and compromises balance.
• Not leaning hard into the paddle, which opens the turn, allowing the board to get too far from the wave face, causing the board to lose speed.

Note in the picture above that the rider is nearly at the apex of the turn. His shoulders are turning to face the wave. when he reaches the apex they will be squared to the wave. His paddle is firmly planted, digging hard in the wave face. His speed is maintained because he is very close to the base of the wave, the board hasn’t swooped away from the wave before the turn was initiated.

Cutbacks

The cutback is where you redirect the speed generated by a proper bottom turn. Proper use of paddle allows you to carve cutbacks with grace and power. My favorite cutbacks are the “Butter the Muffin”, “Layback Carve”, and the “The Snap”. All turns rely heavily on the paddle. The techniques are similar, but use different amounts of speed and torque.

All cutbacks tend to lose speed, both because of the direction reversal and because the bottom of the turn is executed past the base of the wave. The more aggressive the cutback, the less speed is lost.

Butter the Muffin – A hot muffin that melts butter as you effortlessly glide the knife over it is the inspiration of our first cutback. Think about that while performing this turn. You will need a fast, down the line wave and a proper bottom turn to set up this turn. Place the paddle into the water behind you and gently lean on it as you place your board on its rail. This turn is the most gradual of cutbacks and looks and feels great when performed properly. Keep the image of the knife (your paddle) gliding across the muffin in your mind as you lean into this cutback. This turn takes up a lot of real estate, sometimes 20 yards onto the shoulder of the wave and another 20 yards back to the curl.

Notice the back foot planted firmly on the inner rail, and lots of heel pressure making the rail carve. The paddle is steadying the turn, and providing a dragging pivot. Pressing outward with the rear foot will tighten the turn, but can drop you into the inside.

Butter the Muffin doesn’t require the commitment of the next two cutbacks, and so it’s the first backside paddle move you’ll be likely to learn.

Layback Carve – Leleo Kinimaka demonstrates this classic turn which allows you to carve hard on a fast moving wave using the paddle and your body as leverage to redirect your speed back into the curl. This turn uses much less real estate than the “Butter the Muffin”. Place the paddle sharply into the wave behind you set your board on its edge. Bend your knees and place your body over the edge of the board and lean on your paddle. A low center of gravity is critical here. Increase the pressure on your paddle and get your body as low as possible to create a pivot point at the top of the wave. Your butt, back and paddle can actually be partially submerged in the breaking wave. Turn your head back to admire the spray. Trial and error is really required here to teach you the proper amount of speed and torque that is possible.

You will generally fall to the inside on this turn, mostly from simply not committing fully to the turn. You need a lot of rail pressure, and you need to maintain it until the board comes back under your body. Bending your knees deeply is also critical. The momentum of this turn will not return your body to vertical, the board has to come around. If it doesn’t swing sharply enough you’ll be left hanging out over the wave–briefly. Note how Leleo bends his knees to gather the board back underneath him.

The Snap – A snap is a 180 turn executed on the wave face. Here Kevin Coffman executes this tighter version of the Layback Carve. Approach the steep part of the wave and lean hard on your paddle with your body over the edge of your board. Put as much weight over the fins as possible. This can also lead to a fin drift if you crank the turn hard enough.

This turn is executed mostly in the tail. The forward section of the inner rail is free of the wave, waving in the air, as in this photo.

Your back foot drives the board through the turn, spinning it around your front foot. The rail angle needs to be extreme. This is not a great turn for single fin boards, though they can certainly execute it in the right hands. Thrusters or a quad setup will help you by keeping a fin buried in the water at even an extreme lean angle.

The snap is executed with full commitment. You don’t lean into the turn and carve the rails, you dig back and pull the nose around.

All Together

All these turns get linked together into a sequence on the wave. Here’s a full sequence of turns on a nice wave. No shortboard surfers were injured in the filming of this sequence. The first turn looks a bit reckless due to foreshortening by the telephoto lens.

Take Off Fade

Setting up–notice the surfer stance, knees bent, shoulders and hips level, board trimmed flat to accelerate down the face

Changing trim–the board is still trimmed mostly flat and weight is even front to back feet, but he’s starting to bring some weght to the inside rail

Down the line–shoulders squared to the wave, look down the line, bringing the paddle forward

Toe pressure–flex the knees and ankles, applying more pressure to the rail, continue bringing the paddle forward

Picking up speed–rail pressure continues, weight balanced front to back, Shoulders facing forward in preparation to swing

Oops–He’s flattened out the board in preparation to swing. A natural reaction, like swinging your car a little right to turn left. Perhaps not necesary, but no big deal. On the plus side he has brought the board squarely under his hips, and he poised to put power into the turn

Leaning in–Preparing to plan the paddle, toes pressing the rail, knees soft

Plant and push–the paddle is starting to dig, providing focus for the turn. shoulder are swinging into the turn, knees and ankles pressing the rail down, the board is trimmed to carve with weight still largely equal on front and back feet

Dig and push–this body angle would be unlikely for such a relatively soft turn on a longboard. The paddle is enabling the weight to be hard on the rails, head and shoulders extended well over the rail

Recovering–Paddle is still planted hard with lots of pressure, knees and ankles soft but keeping the rail planted and carving. Weight is still fairly evenly distributed, making the board turn on the rails rather than swing on the tail

Recovered–the board is back under his hips, paddle still planted to stabilize. Shoulders pointed into the wave, the board is almost completely under his hips.

Butter the Muffin

Preparing to buttah–board trimmed mostly flat, running up the face

Drag and shift–plant the paddle, rotate weight to the heels. For a tighter turn, step the rear foot to the backside rail

Backside paddle–allow the paddle to track behind the board to the back side, dig hard. Lean back against the rail and the paddle. the knike starts to butter the muffin. Weight is fairly even front to back–this turn is also on the rail.

Recovering–soft knees and ankles combined with paddle pressure allow the board to slide under the hips and recover balance. Board trimmed flat and gaining speed

Bottom Turn

Gain speed–the board is trimmed mostly flat, accelerating down the face. Hips and shoulders flat, Weight centered on front and back feet

Still accelerating–board trimmed flat, even weight, swinging paddle forward to plant it.

At the bottom–board is at maximum speed for this angle, paddle ready to plant, weight even front and back

Stuff and go–paddle planted hard, press hard on the inner rail with toes, knees forward, ankles forcing the inner rail down. Shoulders and head starting to swing into the face

Digging the pit–Max pressure on the paddle to pivot around it, The board is clear of the face of the wave, running on momentum. Shoulders have swung towards the face, maintaining pressure on the rail. Weight slightly favors back foot

Recovering–starts relaxing rail pressure, the board is coming under the hips

Recovered–board is trimmed flat, gaining power from the wave face. You’ve gotta wonder–does he have enough speed to clear that section

Running–faded turn to gain some speed in front of the foam

Swing and drive–another soft turn to chase the shoulder

Almost there

Traversing whitewater–pressing the paddle back into the whitewater adds stability and keeps the tail of the board light to maintain speed. Whitewater pushing the tail down is what usually dumps surfers in the soup

Reaching to plant–with the shoulder near, he starts to pull up into the face in preparation for a snap.

Paddle Snap

Boiingg–The snap is done on the steepest section of the face of the wave, shoving the nose around with the back foot. Here the paddle is planted, he has stepped back in preparation to get weight on the tail, and is ready to shift weight back. At this point the board is still mostly flat because his weight is still distributed front and back.

Whang–leaning back hard into the paddle and shoving hard with the rear foot, weight heavily on the rear foot, allowing the board to pivot on the front foot.

Recovering–paddle still bracing, the board is starting to come under the hip. at this point the knees and ankles must go soft to let the board slide under your hips

Almost there–residual rail pressure start the board carving and lets the rails dig, where before they were sliding. Still bracing on the paddle because the board is not fully under the hips.

Recovered–the board is trimmed almost flat and is accelerating in the steep face of the wave

Turning Out
Turning out is just a bottom turn that doesn’t end. You simply keep the rail planted until you are facing out of the wave and drive over the lip.

Bounce to reverse–as the board comes fully under the hips he starts to pull the paddle forward and shift weight towards the toes to start another bottom turn. The board is trimmed flat and accelerating down the face

Leaning and digging–the paddle has swung forward, pressure hard on the rails from the ankles, shoulders squared to the hips and pointed down the line

Accelerating down the face–weight slightly back, pivoting around the planted paddle

Maintain the turn–instead of flattening the board at the base of the turn, you simply keep the rail carving until the board is facing out of the wave

Over da lip–as the board comes over, the board will unweight and try to shed you. Planting your paddle to the inside is a good plan

Adios

Have fun with this stuff, but practice moves too. The rapid improvement in your surfing will make it all much more fun and enable you to take on tougher condition

Summary

All advanced moves require time and effort to perfect, and they all are just starting points. As you perfect your own style you’ll add personal characteristics to each manuver that will not only make your results more consistent, they will lead to new ideas to try. SUP surfing is a new sport, as good as the top level SUP surfers are today, understand that there is a very long way to go.

The Perfect Paddle

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 to order it precut. In that case you need to borrow a paddle to make the measurements and the decisions we’re going to go through.

What’s the likelihood that you’re going to get a paddle that just right for you? A lot better than it used to be, when you had mostly brand choices and everyone said to cut the paddle shaft so the tip of the handle was one shaka over your head. Now you can get a lot more variation on paddle blade width, angle, length, shape and material as well as choices in shaft flex, shape, diameter, material and handle style. But with all those choices you need more than just a guess as to what’s going to work for you.

Let’s get you into the ballpark. Feel free to ask questions in the forum discussion on the this article as well, if I don’t have the answers I’ll go to the same industry sources that I drew the information for this article from. What? You thought I know all this stuff?

Paddle length is critical to a number of factors, and getting it right isn’t easy. Most people I know who have been doing SUP more than a year or two have been through several paddles, mostly experimenting with length, though blade size and shape, and shaft flexibility are actually just as important. We’ll focus on those four factors and toss in the other parameters when necessary. Then we’ll tell you how to get, cut, and modify a paddle to fit your intended use and your personal characteristics.

You’ll need a helper to make the shaft measurements. the easiest and most accurate way is to prop your board (the board you plan to use the paddle with the most frequently) up on some milk crates or some other stand that will hold it higher off the ground than your paddle blade. You can also do it in the water, but it’s likely to be a bit tippy and difficult.

First issue has to do with your intended use. That falls into three broad categories: Surf, cruise and race.

Surfing demands several kinds of paddling–explosive power to get you into a wave, precise paddle placement and angle to help you execute turns, and pulling power to help you punch out through whitewater and peaking waves. The shaft has to be particularly strong to withstand the demands of surfing and the occasional fall across the paddle. Experienced SUP surfers tend to not pay too much attention to paddle choices, but they generally have a “favorite” paddle that they’ve gravitated to, in other words they chose a paddle by using a lot of them, and now there’s probably $900 worth of carbon fiber sitting unused in the garage. Big, powerful surfers tend to have somewhat larger blades. The most powerful sometimes like the huge blades like the Quickblade Peahi. But you’ll also see some powerful surfers with very small blades. It comes down to their preference for pulling into a wave. Some like to make a few powerful strokes. Some prefer a higher cadence. A higher cadence makes it easier to catch more marginal waves, while those that wait for the big, perfect faces can enter the wave with one or two hugely powerful strokes.

If you are a beginning SUP surfer, even if you’re experienced at surfing, you will probably prefer a smaller blade, something in the range of 8.5″ wide by 17-18″ long–100 to 105 square inches). You may even prefer one of the super-small blades like the Kialoa Methane (8″X16.5″ — 97 square inches).

The length of surf paddle shafts tends to be shorter than cruising or racing paddles. You always want to get power into the blade, and that means you want your arm no higher than your shoulder to get early power. You’re not looking to extend the stroke, in fact all strokes should be short, from the shoulder of the board to your feet. Most surfers do not use a punching stroke common to racers (explained below) so a longer shaft is not required.

So measure the paddle based on having your fist at the same level as your shoulder with the blade under the board and the paddle shaft straight down from your extended arms. You can even go a little shorter than that, with your hand down an inch or so below the level of your shoulder. Have your helper measure the distance from your hand to the bottom of the rail of your board. You want the beginning of the upper curve of the paddle to be right at the rail. Mark the point on the shaft to be cut by measuring the distance your helper got (from the bottom of the rail to your fist) from the upper curve of the paddle blade. You might want to check your work by doing a test cut a few inches higher than your actual measurement.

Racing is a completely different animal. Most racers use one of two strokes: Either a stiff-armed press down for the blade from a point a little forward of the shoulder of the nose, or a punching stroke, where the upper hand is initially close to your chin. The paddle is pushed in the water close to the nose, and then the upper fist is pushed out and down, rotating the body to put shoulders and trunk into play. Both of these strokes require a somewhat longer paddle to fully engage the blade in a further forward position. To measure length you should be on your race board, which is often a thicker board than a surf SUP, and you make the measurement to the rail with the paddle in the forward position of your typical stroke. This will generally add 6 to 10 inches to the length of the paddle over a similar surfing paddle. It is a wise precaution to tape the handle onto the shaft with several wraps of helicopter tape (aluminum tape) to ensure that this added length is comfortable and you are not raising your arm substantially above the level of your shoulder to use it.

Racing blades tend to be small to enable a fast cadence. The stroke is from the nose to the toes. extending your stroke back past the legs doesn’t do very much to help your times. Many racing paddlers use a “chicken wing” paddle raise where you rotate your upper arm down to your waist to raise the blade out of the water. Blade control is important in a racing paddle, for that reason they tend to be T handles which give a more positive sense of blade angle than the ergonomic grips.

Shaft flex for a racing paddle can be stiff to medium. If you are doing longer races you’ll want some flex to save your shoulders. If you mostly do four- to five-mile sprints you might want a stiffer shaft. You get more power into the beginning of the paddle stroke with a stiffer shaft. A softer shaft spreads the power out more. If you are trying to lift the nose a bit to get maximum acceleration then you need instant power at the grab.

Cruising paddles are roughly between these two extremes, with the determining factor being the kind of paddling you prefer. You never want to be bending at the waist to stroke your cruising paddle–your body should be comfortably erect. You also shouldn’t extend your upper arm above your shoulder. The stroke for cruising tends to be shorter than a racing stroke, from slightly behind the shoulder to the feet. The retrieve is often done by letting the paddle drift back and up, since the “chicken wing” retrieve takes more concentration. Shaft flex is good, and ergonomic handles work very well.

We’ll add some pictures to this article ASAP, just got to get it done. but for now it should give you a good idea of how to cut your paddle for the kind of SUP you do. a well-fitted paddle isn’t a requirement, it’s just a pleasure.

SUP Surf 101 Basic Track Chapter3

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 covers entering the water, paddling out through whitewater, finding the right place to be, and reading incoming waves. I used a lot of source material for this section including the following books that you might find very useful if you’re a beginner or intermediate surfer:
Learn to Surf for Beginners

This is a good basic primer for surfing of all types. If you already know the basics you might skip the title above and get this book:

Learn to Surf: Intermediate Level

Another source book I referred to a lot is “The Art Of Surfing” It’s a general training manual that has both surfing and conditioning information. It’s aimed more at surfers than SUP surfers, but I found it very valuable.

The Art of Surfing: A Training Manual for the Developing and Competitive Surfer

Let’s get in the water

Chapter 3: Entering the Water

This sounds a little stupid, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched people carry their board into the water, put it down in the wrong place and the wrong way, fiddle with their leash or paddle, and have their board swept into their ankles by a wave, taking their legs out from under them, running them over, tangling them up in ten inches of water. Furthermore, entering the water is probably when most board damage gets done.

You want to read this.

A lot of SUP boards have handles these days. You can often carry your board right into the water by the handle, but sometimes a steep or constrained entry prevents this. A common and relatively safe way to carry your board into the water is on one shoulder. You can also balance it on your head, but in this position it’s harder to handle wind, and a sudden gust can put a substantial compression on your neck that you might regret for a long while. The shoulder carry is a little safer.

There are also carrying straps and handles like the “Surf Schlepper” strap or the Big Hook that can get you to the water’s edge with ease, but then you have to deal with storing them. If you have a long way to go, or need to carry a lot of other stuff, the Surf Mule is an excellent device that turns your board into a trailer that can be pulled behind a bicycle. The entire trailer collapses into a package about as big as two hardbound books.

As a beginner you should choose a sandy, sheltered, safe entry. If you don’t have that option we’ll cover the tougher entries in a few paragraphs. Carry your board in one hand or on one shoulder with the fin behind you, the leash end and paddle in the other hand. Walk straight into the water until you are about knee deep. Wait for a lull in the waves and set your board down with the nose pointed straight out. Never let the board get across your body, especially with the board on the outside, facing the waves. You might think you can control your board sideways in small waves, but you’re wrong. A board 12′ by 30″ has more than 20 square feet of surface area. Water in a tiny wave can exert more than 30 pounds of force per square foot. That’s 600 pounds of force against your board in a SMALL wave. Good luck holding that with your ankles.

If you are carrying your board on your shoulder and there are no people and no rocks nearby you can let the board pivot off your shoulder to plop top down in the water next to you. In either case, get the board pointed out, lay your paddle on top and hold it by the tail. Wait for a lull and attach your leash, keeping an eye on the board and the waves, being prepared to abort the leash attachment and keep the board under control if things go wrong. Once you have hour leash on, pick up the paddle, hop onto the board and paddle out.

You might like to try a beach start just to keep your boardshorts dry on a chilly morning. To do that you get in water deep enough to clear your fin, put one foot dead center on the board and push off with the other, hopping into a parallel stance. Takes a little practice, but it’s handy when you haven’t warmed up enough and you’re not quite ready to take the plunge.

In a rocky or challenging entry, it’s even more important to keep your board pointed the right way. In rocky areas, choose your footing carefully, and don’t lift your anchored foot until you have tested the stability of your next step. Surf booties are a good idea. You can tuck them into the back of your boardies once you get away if you just hate wearing them. Be careful stepping into sand between rocks, if you lose your balance you can get your ankle caught. Sometimes it’s helpful to put the nose of the board in the water ahead of you and hold on by either a fin or the edge-saver web of the leash. Once you are in water deep enough to clear the fin you can rest a hand on the board to stabilize yourself. Keep the nose pointed at the waves and the board in control–this is no place to get your feet swept from under you. Slide yourself onto the board and off you go. his is one place where it makes sense to wait until you get away from the shore to attach your leash (unless there’s a possibility of immediately losing your board).

Coming out is a lot like going in. Take your leash off when you are close to the shore. Paddle until you are in knee-deep water. Watch the waves coming from behind you. If one is about to hit at a bad time you can hop back a bit on the board and sink the tail, which will let the wave pass without sending you forward as much. Drop to your knees, put a foot down, and keep a hand on your board, pointing the nose straight to the beach. Find your footing, get stable, pick the board up by the handle and walk in. If you don’t have a handle and the beach is sandy you might find it easier to pick the board up by the tail, run the nose up into the sand and stand the board straight up, making it easy to get it onto your shoulder. Otherwise reach across the board and hold both rails, swing the board over your head and put it on your shoulder. Head in.

Such a simple thing that it almost seems superfluous to write about it, until you see someone struggling even after they’ve been SUP surfing a few weeks.

Paddling Out
We covered choosing your way out in the chapter on Channels and Rips. But here’s a quick review–you want to wind up behind the break you’re aiming for, outside the impact zone for any wave you’ve observed. You aim for the rip or channel and watch the waves coming through. You’ll want to exit the rip at a little angle towards the break–this is most likely to release you without drama. As you paddle out, look for the spots where the waves are breaking and where the shoulders last the longest. You can punch through whitewater, but a smooth, unbroken wave or shoulder is much easier. You’ll also see places where a broken wave reforms, usually with a little whitewater still on top. These are nearly as easy to get through as as an unbroken wave. Try to pick the line of least resistance. When a sharply peaked wave rolls under you it will often give you a little kick upwards. Fun when you’re ready for it, but unsettling if you’re not. You can go into a surf stance, or at least step back with your natural back foot, before every wave hits, but many people prefer to stay in a parallel stance for much of the paddle out.

When a breaking wave approaches, don’t panic, you can go over a pretty big wave easily. Move your back foot further back, stroke hard for the wave. Try to time your paddling so the paddle will be behind you as the wave hits. When your board starts to hit the ramp of the wave lift your front foot to let the board come up and lean forward a bit with your weight braced against your back foot. The board will hop over the wave. As the board starts to come flat push down with your front foot to get the board flat, and let your weight come back to center. You can lean on your paddle to brace yourself. You will generally fall AFTER you’ve gone over the wave. Pay attention to which way you are falling. If you are falling forward, start pressing against your front foot sooner and shift your weight a little further back. In the rare case that you are falling backwards, keep weight on your back foot a little longer.

When you get outside it’s a good idea to keep your board pointed out, even if you decide to sit down. Waves can double up, or the sets can stair-step up suddenly and you’ll find yourself caught inside of a wave you’re not ready to handle. If you see a wave on the outside that looks bigger than what you’ve seen, don’t wait for others to sprint for the horizon. Just go–don’t be embarrassed, it’s a lot better than being pounded. If you’re sitting down, don’t get to your feet, just kneel up and paddle.

Next Time: Take a WAve

Dry Pak Waterproof Phone/iPod Bag

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 take my iPhone along on long paddles so I could check in with Diane, or coordinate a ride back to the Jeep, or call the Coast guard if I found myself headed for Japan. At first I just stuck it in a waterproof gear bag and carried it in my Camelback. But I decided I wanted something I could stick in boardshort pockets. All the waterproof cases I looked at were bulky and expensive, and most limited access to iPhone features (iPhones have a touch screen). Then I found the Dry Pak.

These are simple, cheap, and work amazingly well. the one I bought was $15 (instead of $80+) and I’ve been using it for months with no problems. The closure clip is a little bulky, so I have to fold it carefully to fit it in my boardshort pocket. But it works. I use a rubber armor case around my iPhone that I slip my license, ATM and credit card into, and I’ve got everything I need in one waterproof packet. I could go around the world with just what’s in that one pocket.

With my phone, credit cards and license I’m good to go anywhere

Simple, cheap and effective, the Dry Pak gives full access to all the iPhone features

You can do all the phone functions right through the soft clear plastic front. And you can talk and listen right through it. Works just fine. I took an important business call a few days ago while sitting on my board half a mile from the shore. Sitting there in the sun, bobbing gently on my board while I talked about stressful business issues made the call a lot less onerous than it would normally have been. When I was done, I stuffed the phone back in my pocket, hopped to my feet and resumed my paddle.

The only thing you can’t do is plug headphones into the iPhone to use it as an iPod. That’s fine for me, I have other ways to listen to music.

Highly recommended

SUP Fishing

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, tricky leeward shores. You can cast from a standing position, and fight your fish either standing or sitting.

You don’t need much gear–a plastic “milk crate” from Office Max holds all my stuff–I think it cost about ten bucks. My big Starboard 12’6″ X 30 already had inserts in the front deck, so I made a frame out of PVC pipe and screwed it to the deck. the fishing crate then bungees to the frame. The frame is good for a lot of things–carrying kids or the dog, stowing a pack with water and lunch, tossing any plastic trash I find while I’m doing a downwinder.  I leave it on the 12’6″ all the time, even when I’m surfing on it.

A piece of PVC pipe zip tied to the crate serves as a fine rodholder. I have a Dakine fishing roll that holds my lures, hooks, weights, tools, etc. And I generally drag along a double sided tackle box though I have yet to open it. The Dakine roll really holds all I need. A good saltwater baitcaster rod and rell setup, some extra sunscreen and goofy hat rounds out the gear.

I generally use a floating lure that pulls down a foot or so at paddling speed. I copied what the kayak fishermen were using on the south and west side. So far it’s been very productive, though I’ve been releasing all the fish. I always figure I’ll catch something to keep just before I paddle in–but so far that hasn’t happened. I’ve recently added a net bag to keep fish fresh in, we’ll se how that works out.

Lots of New Paddle Reviews

We’ve had a little flood of paddle news. Brad Gillespie sent us a review of a new Gillespie blade (how about reviews of the rest of the line, Brad) and Bob Long from Mission Surf in San Diego sent a review of the new Warner Advantage–Warner’s new Fiberglass offering.

And last weekend I got a call from Jimmy Lewis while I was at the race track (I’m addicted to racing cars, a major benefit of which is it makes SUP seem inexpensive). Last winter in Maui I saw some of Jimmy’s new ideas about what a paddle should be. Pretty startling–a bright blue fiberglass shaft and brilliant white blade from one of Jim Terrell’s (Quickblade) molds. The fiberglass shaft was very bendy. I didn’t get to try the paddle, but Jimmy’s finally got them produced and he offered me one to try when I get back on the island. Stay tuned.

Gillespie
Gillespie Paddle has a new surf tool, based on a popular outrigger paddle profile. Besides being a beautiful piece of wood, it looks like a fine surf blade, with width to supply turning torque but a relatively short blade length and therefore small area to aid maneuverability. Add to that the natural vibration damping of a wood paddle and you’ve got a shoulder-friendly paddle for your surfing needs.

Preferred paddle characteristics are as personal as your choice of skivvies, but you can be certain of one thing with a paddle this pretty–you won’t get tired of looking at it.

Werner
The Werner Spanker has a devoted following among surfers. From the looks, and the price point of the new advantage it will have just as devoted fans among tourers and flatwater cruisers. Bob says he thinks it will be a good wave-catcher too. No question, Werner knows their stuff when it comes to paddles.

Another SUP article–from Virginia Beach, VA

By Laine M. Rutherford

Correspondent

At first glance, the two men seen out past the breakers and the surfers off of 45th Street seemed to be doing the impossible: walking on water.

A longer look during a morning surf session last week showed more. The men were standing on boards, propelling themselves with paddles, practicing a sport that’s creating a wave of interest in Virginia Beach this summer – Stand Up Paddle surfing.

The trend – called SUP, Beach Boy surfing and other names – is already hugely popular in California and Hawaii and began lapping at the Virginia Beach shoreline a few years ago.

This summer, enthusiasm swelled as surfers and other athletes began embracing it with the same excitement they give to reports of double overheads in October.

Translation: they’re getting stoked on SUP.

“I didn’t know there was anything left to do on the water that was this much fun,” said Rick Romano, a local artist and avid SUP surfer. “It’s fresh, it’s new and it’s very addictive.”

Romano first tried the sport three years ago after visiting legendary surfer Laird Hamilton’s home in Hawaii.

“I saw these boards in his garage and heard the great things he had to say about it and I knew I wanted to do it,” Romano remembered. “You couldn’t get boards here then, so I started paddling on an old windsurfer, lopped off the end of an old kayak paddle and went out like that all summer long. I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Romano’s equipment has improved over the years. He now counts four “real” SUP boards in his quiver and has local access to the latest products. He cites Freedom Surf shop on Laskin Road and Surf & Adventure Co. in Sandbridge as the first area shops to carry SUP products and to promote the sport locally.

Gear consists of an epoxy board and a paddle, usually made of carbon. Boards average 11 feet, weigh about 20 pounds and are 30 inches wide with a turned up nose. Traction pads usually cover the surface. The average paddle is 80 inches and has a scooped end.

“It’s definitely an investment,” Freedom Surf owner Dave Shotton said of the $1,500 tag for board and paddle. “But once you’ve made that investment, you’re set. Three generations, from 8 to 80, can ride the same board.”

Shotton took up the sport when he bought Freedom Surf last year.

“We spotted the trend and knew it was coming, but if I was going to talk the talk, I knew I had to walk the walk,” said Shotton, who used to be surfboard sales rep. “I was hooked immediately.”

Shotton, 41, is one of SUP’s chief local proponents and part of a North End contingent that hits the waves nearly every morning and evening. He is also a witness to the popularity of the sport at the Beach. Since the beginning of the year, he has sold about 50 boards.

“There are so many benefits to it,” Shotton explained. “It’s a great core exercise, you can stay in the ocean longer, later in the year and on flat days, I’m still out, getting exercise, and enjoying the water.”

The learning curve is steep, comparable to snowboarding.

“It can take three hours or three days, but once you get it there’s no problem getting up and getting out,” Shotton said. “Right now it’s mainly surfers, but we know it’s going to expand.”

A ripple of SUP opinions

In town to host a surf camp last month, Robert “Wingnut” Weaver borrowed a board for a quick SUP surfing session. Weaver, who is a member of the Surfers’ Hall of Fame, gracefully dipped his paddle in the water, using it to traverse the board and carve turns in the small waves he rode to shore.

“It’s super fun to do and it opens up a whole new realm of wave riding,” the Santa Cruz resident said. “It’s just a great workout that gets people outside and gives them another way to interact with the ocean.”

Not everyone is riding the wave of support for the new sport. D.J. Joyner, 25, an employee of Freedom Surf, counts himself among the “haters,” those who find the big boards offensive. For D.J., and others, SUP boards have replaced longboards in the chain of “haterdom.”

“I consider them canoes; you can’t bring canoes into the lineup,” the Hilltop resident said. “They can catch absolutely everything and they do – they’re people who don’t know how to share. There might be a place for them, but it shouldn’t be near surfers.”

Sandbridge resident Bill Gassett stresses good surf etiquette to those who try out the boards multiplying in his backyard.

“This is such a positive sport that anyone can do – we don’t want bad behavior rippling through to cause negative attitudes,” said Gassett, 48, a retired Navy deep-sea diver. “Because this is not a fad, it’s something that will change a lot of people’s perspective on how they can enjoy the water and more people are doing it every day.”

The sport is evolving as it gains popularity. Boards are becoming more specialized – refined for conditions and uses, such as distance touring or racing. SUP surfing is showing up as a category in surf contests and other water events.

New terms are coined daily, such as “downwinding,” where a vehicle is dropped off miles away from a starting point and surfers make their way down the coast, running with the waves and the current.

“I’ve seen it grow exponentially this year,” Romano stated. “And I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. Whoever embraces this sport now is going to be a frontrunner. It’s going to be fun to look back and say, “I remember the early days.’”

Laine Mednick Rutherford, Laine.R@cox.net

Beginning Stand Up Paddle Surfing

Before you start paddle surfing you need to assess your swimming skills and your ability to handle yourself and your board in surf. Any watersport is dangerous, and good swimming skills are a necessity, even if you only do standup on flat water and lakes.

Leash: Wear one. Even on a lake. When you fall you often give the board a kick that sends  it zooming away. Then the substantial freeboard gives the wind something to push against and suddenly you’re all alone. In waves it’s even easier to be abandoned by your board. I had to swim in from the outer reef at Kanaha when my leash parted one morning last summer. It was after noon before I hit sand. Long morning.

It’s not just your safety that’s at stake though–you can kill or injure someone with one of these boards. A leash is not a cure all for that problem but it’s a start. More important though is the issue of where you practice. Don’t learn where there are other surfers. These are big boards and it’s easy for them to get out of control. You don’t need the best spot in the lineup, all you need is some sloppy waves to practice on. Don’t forget how long the board and leash are. If you get worked and are bouncing along in the whitewater your board can be 25 feet away from you. There’s no excuse for learning where there are people below you who can be hit by your board. When you do fall in, pretend that you don’t have a leash. Do what you can to control the board. DON’T grab the leash though–if it gets wrapped around your fingers while you’re in the wave they can easily be broken.  It’s happened.  It’s a good idea to have a grab handle on the back of the board. Handy on the front of the board for that matter. If you have a solid handle to hang onto then it’s much easier to keep your board away from people. The other big advantage is that you can get an occasional breath while you’re being bounced around–you’ll always be near the surface if you’re hanging onto the board.

While we’re talking about breathing and drowning, your paddle is actually a big help when you’re getting pushed down by a wave. Put it across your chest with the paddle blade above your head and the dihedral bent down. As you are pushed through the water the paddle will send you upwards. I’m not sure why this works, but every time I try it I’m amazed at how fast I pop up.

Lifejacket: It’s not unreasonable to wear a kayak-style lifejacket. The inflatable kind that are almost as narrow as a pair of suspenders are really handy. Some of the best big wave surfers in the world wear them today. Yes, you’ll look stupid, but you’ll be alive and stupid, not dead and cool.

Be aware of the wind and currents, you can easily be blown to sea by an offshore wind or find yourself fighting a powerful current. Start your learning experiences where there are lifeguards, and it’s highly recommended to have someone on the shore that’s paying attention to where you are and whether you are screaming or not.

Etiquette: Once you get good, remember that you have a huge advantage over other surfers–and DON’T take more advantage of it than you should. You can start into a wave long before standard surfers can, you can get back to the lineup much quicker, and you can catch waves even when you’re out of the slot. Don’t be a wave hog.

There’s a backlash starting of surfers being pissed off about SUP folks coming into their favorite spot and taking too many waves. Of course for some of the territorial knuckleheads that think they own the beach, and any wave you take is too many waves. But there’s two good reasons not to irritate fellow surfers

• First of all, you don’t need their waves. A SUP surfer can surf almost anywhere. Waves that are too small for shortboarders are just fine for SUP. Long frequency, no shoulder waves give long and fulfilling rides. You can SUP surf in a ski boat wake. You can also travel long distances to get to outside breaks or breaks that aren’t easy to get to from shore. It’s fun and good exercise getting there, and you don’t have to dodge the grems.
• Second, they were there first. No matter how stupidly they might assert their territory, you’re the new guy, even if you shortboarded that break for the last twenty years. Give them room

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.

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]

Grand Gremlins and SUP

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. [Read more]

Team Industrial and the Catalina Challenge

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 teamed up to compete in the Catalina Challenge using Ernie’s sailboat (and home) as their chase boat. Here’s Ernie’s story:

[Read more]

How to Paddle Straight

Kind of an old video, but a lot of people have been talking about paddling techniques lately.

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

Next Page »