New JM boards coming.

[DavidJohn]

I paddled a SUP race today with Jamie Mitchell and he had two of his new race boards that will soon go into production... 12'6" and 14'.

I took some pics... Nice or what..  .. and what a nice guy.

DJ

[pdxmike]

DJ--who won--you or Jamie Mitchell?   

Those are beautiful boards--thanks for the photos.  Did you happen to talk to him about the board designs--specifically, the steep slopes on the tails?  They are extreme, and obviously weren't designed that way by chance.  I wonder what the thinking behind them was?

[Adapt]

Hey DJ, did the nose have much displacement or was it similar to the Lahuikai Shape?

[caRRera]

Really beautiful that 12'6".

Do you have any idea when they go into mass production?

[DavidJohn]

DJ--who won--you or Jamie Mitchell?   

Those are beautiful boards--thanks for the photos.  Did you happen to talk to him about the board designs--specifically, the steep slopes on the tails?  They are extreme, and obviously weren't designed that way by chance.  I wonder what the thinking behind them was?

The race started with Jamie just ahead and over to my left.. I paddled hard to get ahead of him and were level for a while.. I took an inside line as we rounded one of the points and we soon came back together and even bumped boards at one stage.. Jamie was on his 12'6" and I was on my 17' Glide.. We approached the finish and I caught a small runner and got ahead of Jamie.. I finish ahead of him.. and finishing about 50th out of about 110 paddlers.. Jamie came in soon after because we had both just cruised the race paddling along newbie paddlers and taking pics along the way.. I'm sure this will be the only time I ever beat Jamie.. 

We had another more serious race the next day and Jamie kicked everybody's arses and won on easy his 14.

The tail shape is just to get heaps of volume in the tail and reducing drag by water not flowing over the deck or tail area.. even when stepping back on the tail.

That's me and Jamie in the first pic (me in the greet top).. and Jamie with his top off in the second pic ..btw.. I look the same with my top off..    ..(kidding)

DJ

[DavidJohn]

Hey DJ, did the nose have much displacement or was it similar to the Lahuikai Shape?

They're very different boards to the Lakuikai boards.. These had flat bottoms without and concaves.. and the noses were designed to pierce.

DJ

[DavidJohn]

Really beautiful that 12'6".

Do you have any idea when they go into mass production?

Maybe later this year from Surftech.

These boards were to be the plugs for the moulds to be made from.. Slight changes will now be made from these boards and we should see them in the 2012 lineup.

DJ

[sbsup11]

AWWWEEESOOOOMMMMMEEEE!! I LOVE the paintjob on the 12'6, or is it the 14? The flat colors are rad! Can't wait...

Really interesting design. I recall Danny Ching in last years BOP Cali paddling a thick board like that, when nearly everyone else was on a thinned out style similar to the Surftech Barks.

[greatdane]

Nice pics DJ... good stuff.

[pdxmike]

The race started with Jamie just ahead and over to my left.. I paddled hard to get ahead of him and were level for a while.. I took an inside line as we rounded one of the points and we soon came back together and even bumped boards at one stage.. Jamie was on his 12'6" and I was on my 17' Glide.. We approached the finish and I caught a small runner and got ahead of Jamie.. I finish ahead of him.. and finishing about 50th out of about 110 paddlers.. Jamie came in soon after because we had both just cruised the race paddling along newbie paddlers and taking pics along the way.. I'm sure this will be the only time I ever beat Jamie.. 

DJ--When I was in high school a buddy of mine and I beat Frank Shorter, the 1972 Olympic marathon winner, in a 10k road race in Seattle.  We got up next to him at the start, then pretty much sprinted the first mile trying to keep up with him and the lead pack, until we lost contact.  With a quarter mile left, we saw him up ahead--he'd pulled a muscle and was just jogging in.  We both had the same thought at the same time--if we could catch him (which we did) we could tell people for the rest of our lives (which we do) that we beat Frank Shorter.   We don't always mention the pulled muscle thing. 

Just like the former Olympian I beat occasionally in swim meets here.  I usually leave out that it was the 1956 Olympics, and that I still can't beat him in his good events.

So now you can tell people you beat Jamie Mitchell, even though you were taking pictures and paddling a heavier board.   

[DavidJohn]

AWWWEEESOOOOMMMMMEEEE!! I LOVE the paintjob on the 12'6, or is it the 14? The flat colors are rad! Can't wait...

Really interesting design. I recall Danny Ching in last years BOP Cali paddling a thick board like that, when nearly everyone else was on a thinned out style similar to the Surftech Barks.

The 12'6' is the blue/grey and 14'er is the all blue board.. I paddled both boards and they were both very light and very fast.

Check out this funny vid from Jamie Mitchell's site with him interviewing Dave Kalama.. 

DJ

[paddlesurf.net]

Those boards look great! I noticed, too, that the tails looked a lot like Danny Ching's 404 (maybe because JM was behind it for all of B.O.P. California... just kidding JM, please don't kick my ass now) boards. I like those big square tails- they seem to release really nicely and the extra volume in the back seems to help with burying  the tail and dragging ass.

A couple of issues ago in the Surfer's Journal they did an article about the hydrodynamics of square blocky tails (evidently some kids from Laguna Beach are cutting out blocks of foam that look like Sponge Bob and surfing them)- according to the article, the square tail is a really clean viable shape for water craft.

I can't remember the guy's name but in the 30's (40's?) he wrote a book discussing hydrodynamics of that shape... his name was Lord something... can't remember but the S.Journal showed photos from it of the shape being towed through water and commented on how clean it went.

That's where I'm going with my next one- all the cool kids are doing it!

[1paddle2paddle]

DJ did you find out if Jamie is going to do Molokai SUP this year or go for yet another title in the prone category?

[DavidJohn]

DJ did you find out if Jamie is going to do Molokai SUP this year or go for yet another title in the prone category?

Yes we talked about it and he is.. and hopes to make it ten after wining nine in a row.. and then he will jump across to SUP full time (even if he doesn't get his ten).

Jamie will miss the upcoming Hawaii BOP because of a friends wedding and also gets married himself in a few months time.. Jamie took lots of vid with his GoPro over the last few days so I'm sure we'll something about it on his site soon.

http://jamie-mitchell.com/index.html

DJ

[Lobes]

Thats a seriously thick tail DJ but I like the look of these boards. How is the stability of them?