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Stand Up Paddle => Gear Talk => SUP Gear Reviews / Newly Acquired / On Order => Topic started by: Night Wing on March 01, 2020, 05:50:43 PM

Title: My Second Blue Planet "Duke": 10'5" x 32"x 4.5" @ 190 Liters
Post by: Night Wing on March 01, 2020, 05:50:43 PM
Some of you know in another topic thread I have been looking for a replacement set of Gerry Lopez GL2-5 Fin Futures fins for my Blue Planet "Duke". I bought my first set of GL2-5 Fins from Blue Planet when I bought my first Duke. I really like the GL Futures fins. They make my "Duke" perform very well in the smallish type of waves on the upper Texas coast.

I received my second set of GL2-5 Fin, from Amazon, and these "were" going to be my spare set in case anything bad happened to my first set of GL2 Futures fins. I received the second set of GL2-5 Fin on Saturday, Feb 8th.

But on late Sunday night around 11:00 pm, Feb 9th, I saw Robert's (of Blue Planet) post stating he was moving his shop to a new location and he was reducing the prices on his 2019 sup models. I looked up the price of the 2019 year "Duke" and it was priced at $799. Then I went looking to see what the price of a 2020 year "Duke" would be, but I found out the "Duke" was being discontinued.

So I checked Robert's "All Board Inventory" which has a link and the link is below.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16mKsrbMifP3X4mIcInd4LK0knjG5QsS4IWbPZlnD2uU/edit#gid=515514258

The inventory showed three "Dukes" left. One was a blue colored bamboo expoxy and two were the teal colored bamboo epoxy. I wanted the blue colored one.

Since Robert's shop was closed at the time; on Tuesday, Feb 11th at 2:00 pm central time which is my time, it is 10:00 am in Honolulu. I briefly talked with Robert and he transferred me to Michael for a "quote" since I wanted a few other items to be included in the quote.

I received the quote and told Michael I was placing the order right then. I talked with Michael and I wanted him to know if he could ship my ordered "Duke" with United Airlines Cargo instead of shipping by Delta Cargo.

Since Houston is the hub for United Airlines, I already knew United flew to Honolulu non-stop from Houston. I was hoping United had a cargo plane that could fly from Honolulu to Houston non-stop. Michael said he would see if he could "swing this". And he did.

When got off the phone, the BP's "All Board Inventory" showed the blue colored "Duke" was gone since I bought it. A day later on Wednesday, Feb12th, I checked the "All Board Inventory" again and the two teal colored Dukes were gone.

Moving up in time, I received an email from Michael with my air waybill number so I could track the board. The United flight number was 252 and it left Honolulu at 8:31 pm on Feb 29th for an over night flight. I tracked the flight on Flight Radar 24 and watched it coming into Houston where the plane landed, today, at 7:11 am, Sunday, Mar 1st.

The link to Flight Radar 24 is below for those interested.

https://www.flightradar24.com/

I called United Cargo at 8:15 am this Sunday morning and they told me the board had been scanned and it was at United Cargo's Houston facility at Intercontinental Airport Houston (IAH). Great news for me! I then asked if they were open on Sundays and I was told United Cargo was open 24/7 of every month. More great news.

I then asked if I could come down and pick up my freight (board). The woman agent said I could pick up my freight (board) four hours after the plane has arrived. Since the plane arrived at 7:11 am, I could come and pick up my freight (board) at 11:11 am.

I called my next door neighbor and told him I was going to the airport and I wanted to borrow his iPad for pictures and oh by the way, teach me how to take pictures with the iPad. My neighbor told me he would go with me. The news for me was getting better and better.

Anyhow, we arrived at the cargo terminal at 11:13 am this Sunday morning to pickup my board. The woman agent at the counter asked for my ID and air waybill number. I gave her my DL for ID and the air waybill number. I signed the paper with my signature and right below my signature I printed; Possible Concealed Damage Pending Full Inspection.

My board was on a pallet. The United employee gently lifted the pallet with his forklift with my packaged board on top of the pallet. The shipping carton was in "pristine condition" since it had "No forklift", in large black letters, on both sides of the shipping carton. No holes anywhere in the cardboard.

Inside the shipping carton lay my second "Duke" and it was mummified. On top of the bubble wrap was heavy cardboard placed on top, bottom and both sides. Once all the protection was removed; my board, fins were inside the board bag and so was my undamaged "Duke".

At this time, a light rain started so my neighbor and I loaded my board onto my truck cab's roof racks. Then took the shipping carton and bubble wrap and put all of that garbage in my truck's camper shell. Then we "beat feet' back to my home just before the heavy rain came down.

We didn't take any pictures because of the rain, but I will take pictures sometime this week since this week we have rain forecasted for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Monday is a cloudy day, not good for picture taking, but this upcoming Thursday is to be a sunny day. And my second set of Gerry Lopez Futures GL2-5 fins are already installed on my second "Duke".

I want to give a public, "Thank you"; to Robert, Michael and Tony of Blue Planet for working with me and having some patience with me. Especially when it came to United Cargo.
Title: Re: My Second Blue Planet "Duke": 10'5" x 32"x 4.5" @ 190 Liters
Post by: Wetstuff on March 02, 2020, 07:39:30 AM
Good move, Winger...  Robert has done a great job keeping his standards high.  My board was also on a pallet ... I assume it was a 'loading dock" thing.  Another that came by boat was also on a pallet.  I'd rather the pallet than a guy on one end needing to scratch his nose. 

Jim
Title: Re: My Second Blue Planet "Duke": 10'5" x 32"x 4.5" @ 190 Liters
Post by: OkiWild on March 03, 2020, 03:17:32 AM
Good deal! One of the many fantastic things about BP is that they'll work with you to accommodate difficult shipping situations. 
Title: Re: My Second Blue Planet "Duke": 10'5" x 32"x 4.5" @ 190 Liters
Post by: Night Wing on March 03, 2020, 07:37:13 AM
Since the rain has held off, I decided to take a few photos of my "Twins".  ;)

First  photo shows my two Dukes and the second photo shows my Gerry Lopez Futures GL2-5 Fins. My first Duke is on the right and the new second Duke is on the left.

For our tiny to small waves we have here on the upper Texas coast, I prefer to use a 4 fin Quad setup.
Title: Re: My Second Blue Planet "Duke": 10'5" x 32"x 4.5" @ 190 Liters
Post by: TallDude on March 03, 2020, 08:00:01 AM
Nice setup. Perfect twins 8)
Title: Re: My Second Blue Planet "Duke": 10'5" x 32"x 4.5" @ 190 Liters
Post by: blueplanetsurf on March 05, 2020, 11:36:48 PM
Nice detailed write up Night Wing.  Thank you for the feedback and it's great to hear that your identical twins are in good shape and ready to go.  It's always good to have a backup so you never miss out on nice conditions due to equipment issues.
Title: Re: My Second Blue Planet "Duke": 10'5" x 32"x 4.5" @ 190 Liters
Post by: marvinhecht on December 06, 2020, 11:07:48 AM
Hey Night Wing,

Those are really, really nice looking Blue Planet boards and GL2 fins!  I did a double-take reading this thread, I didn't know those GL2s came in that greyish color, is it honeycomb? Do they have some flex? My own GL2s came in black/red and are quite stiff but I am told they are made out of fiberglass and/or fiberglass plus plastic, not sure.

My board came stock with 5 grey honeycomb GL1s, and my GL2 set did not come with a center fin. I had lost 1 fin from each set in the ocean, and called futures fins to see if they sell individual replacements. I got luck and I was able to purchase a replacement left rear black/red GL2, but they told the me the GL1s will never be back in stock.
Title: Re: My Second Blue Planet "Duke": 10'5" x 32"x 4.5" @ 190 Liters
Post by: Night Wing on December 07, 2020, 06:58:10 AM
@ marvinhecht

My Gerry Lopez GL2s are honeycomb. And they are stiff. They are stiff because:

1) My Dukes are 10'5" in length, 32" wide and 190 liters
2) I weigh 145 pounds

Where I sup surf down on the upper Texas coast, we have tiny to small waves which are the norm here since our waves are wind driven and many times, they are mushy and/or choppy. Our beachfront, you can walk out 50 yards out from the beach and be in waist deep water.

With our waves, whether a prone surf board or a sup board, one needs a good amount of volume in their board to ride the kinds of waves which I normally encounter.

With a large liter board like the Duke, in order to generate speed to catch and ride these types of waves, the quad 4 fin setup works great for me. If I would have chosen fins with more flex, they wouldn't work well in turning a large liter board like the Duke at my light physical weight.

Many times I'm at Surfside and the waves are only 2' in height. There are no prone surfers on their short boards out there since many of their boards are less than 6' in length and I would guess around 23-46 liters of volume depending on their surf boards width.

So a prone surfer at 175 pounds or more just can't really catch a wave. And if he can, he has to "pump his legs" to generate enough speed to continue riding these small waves. That is a lot of work and too much work for the reward if you get my drift. I just like the glide I get when I'm riding the small waves because my boards have lots of volume in them.

As a bonus, when the waves are small, I have the entire beach surf zone to myself with no prone surfers anywhere.

Most sup people on this site, they weigh more than the liters of volume in their boards. But when it comes to tiny and small waves, I have more volume in my two long sup boards (11'1" One World @ 173 liters and my two 10'5" Dukes @ 190 liters) than what I weigh (145 pounds). As you can tell, I don't follow conventional wisdom.

If push comes to shove, with my Dukes, I can ride knee high waves or a 1' wave which is calf high on my leg for me. One things about the GL2's. When set up with a 4 fin quad on a long and large volume sup, they really work great when the waves are waist high to head high.

When I bought my first Duke, I think I got the last GL2's in Blue Planet's shop. When I bought my second Duke, I had to hunt all over the internet to find the second set identical to my first ones in look. I was very lucky to find them. But my second set, the place that had them, only had one set left in stock.

Below is my a photo of my second set of GL2s showing the center fin. BTW, the center fin is the exact same height as my front side bites. Just hope the photo shows up.


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