Messages

1

Downwind and Racing / Re: 14' vs unlimited

« on: September 15, 2018, 05:22:16 AM »

Bryce - Two words... Social Rank

3) The key difference between amateurs and elites is that I feel that amateur performance is heavily dictated by being a product of their lifestyle  .

2

Downwind and Racing / Re: 14' vs unlimited

« on: September 14, 2018, 12:14:25 AM »

“Your” mindset will keep it fresh, alive, and growing, always seeking the new adventure. The other way leads to what has happened to canoeing. You’ve got it all the wrong way round because you’ve been listening to the people who want to control the sport, not those who want it to develop - sometimes beyond their control and previous experience.

The analogies with other sports are generally bankrupt. SUP is the first new watersport to have appeared in the internet age. That has changed everything: a person sitting in the North of England can now watch Kai Lenny foiling live in Hawaii and ask “how can I get to do that?”. He can even contact Kai Lenny directly and ask him! Innovation can spread SO quickly now. In this context, if you don’t keep innovating and moving forward, you go backwards.

There has always been an arms race in every technical sport. You can never get rid of it. Fortunately with SUP, it really doesn’t make much difference if you’ve bought a 3000 dollar board or an old used 500 dollar one. The better paddler will still win. It’s not like F1 etc at all! Put Michael Booth on an old raceboard from 3 years ago weighing 30lbs and he’d still beat everyone in a typical flat water race.

As much as I have been critical of Starboard about some things in the past, one thing I have always praised about them is their innovative drive. I’m hoping that they (and ONE, Sunova etc) will help nudge the race organisers once again to consider the UL class - for all races not just DW ones. Once most paddlers have tried an UL board, they never want to go back to 14. So there are a lot of sales to be made there.

 Or - R&D on paying customers???

3

Downwind and Racing / Re: 14' vs unlimited

« on: September 14, 2018, 12:11:18 AM »

If you’d been SUPing from the outset you’d have seen how quickly things change.

Of course, the advent of good-performing UL inflatables would change everything too. They’d then be no reason not to have an UL.

Yes, you had K15's before and the organisers killed off allowing the extra length. Allowing UL's a second time around is a different proposition whereby to get acceptance may require legislative change.

As for ULi's, Starboard loaned out there UL Allstar for the head of the dart this year (the only race left in the UK that had a UL class). That looked fabulous.

I seen one - a Starboard unlimited - the guy put a hole in it by placing it on the ground! Nice - looks good - made like shite. Sorry Starboard - your build quality is utter rubbish

4

Random / Re: What do you think Slater's wave pool will do to surfing?

« on: December 18, 2017, 06:35:58 AM »

We have reefs in Scotland that are as perfect as KS wave and what it did to me - I stopped bothering with waves unless they were total perfection - break exactly the same every wave. So i didnt go near beach breaks. I reckon it could mean less crowded Pop breaks.

5

Gear Talk / Re: Mistral 17'6" downwind and flat waters boards

« on: October 26, 2017, 10:54:52 AM »

Interesting that the flatwater board also has a rudder. I wonder what the advantage of that is supposed to be?

You can lay down more power in your stroke without the need for correction phase, among other reasons...

6

SUP General / Re: SUP industry exposed?

« on: October 09, 2017, 01:15:52 AM »

I wanna see you in 24k Juliets next mag btw @ukgm

7

SUP General / Re: SUP industry exposed?

« on: October 09, 2017, 01:14:08 AM »

To be honest - the SB offerings weren't on my thought patterns when I said speed needle. I honestly don't rate any of the recent SB designs. They are just a bunch of dogs chasing their tails. Anyone who has been on the water over the last thirty decades can see that.

I was thinking more - hollow, ultralight, super fast, etc etc.

I have customers on 100-200k per year and they are buying Red iSUPs and they believe  that is the extent of the market. One guy just spent 2000 quid on his bike wheels. Like you said - its aimed at the wrong place. And as you also said - you wouldn't bother getting one?? Thats because you've never tried one and thats because they aren't readily available.

8

SUP General / Re: SUP industry exposed?

« on: October 09, 2017, 12:45:45 AM »

...
I just looked at the Naish site.  Raceboards, one 12'6 and one 14. That's it.  NOT a good sign.

I don't see the big deal.

They have a very nice race board that you can use in all conditions. In and out of races. They dropped those I wouldn't want and, it seems, their racers didn't want.

I think it's great that racing has gotten to a point where all-conditions boards work well. That serves the general SUP population very well.

I think it's great that there now is coverage of races broadcast so we can watch. I can't wait for some exciting coverage of downwind races. I suspect they'd be a lot more fun for non SUP racers to watch and would get more spancership. Even a bit more difficult to film.

If you use Starboard as a surrogate for a moment and see the difference in flatwater speed between their 'Sprint' and 'Ace' for example, then yes, the fact Naish have dropped the Javelin provides a concern that the flatwater javelin didn't sell well or wasn't designed well enough to suggest it had value. All water boards are not as fast as flatwater boards - its just some don't have the market to justify them. That is either by design or by mistake.

  Unless you own and are going to transport two boards to every race a flatwater board is not a wise purchase. My flatwater board sees use maybe 50% of the time. All water boards are fast enough for the non split hairs crowd.

I agree. Flatwater boards are only going to see use by serious racers most of the time. If I didn't race, I wouldn't even consider one.

You would if you were board of plodding the Thames at a snails pace... Its the crappy all rounder iSUPs that our inland paddlers will soon get bored of - then they may try and surf them too and get a bad surf experience. Problem is we don't have any speed needles on offer. I know for a fact plenty of my swim customers just taking to SUP will soon wanna spend a few thousand of a hollow mean machine but were do they get one?? They aint borrowing mine

9

SUP General / Re: SUP industry exposed?

« on: October 09, 2017, 12:39:39 AM »

I think his comments are reasonable. Firstly, participation sports are booming here but the sport is not engaging with this. It's focus is in the wrong place.  I have written an article in a mag coming up on the subject.

Secondly, the race board market is about to disintegrate. Look at the big players - fanatic have just opted for colourways changes for 2018, starboard apparently have years of a contrived orchestrated and fabricated r&d process sketched out and Naish butchered their line up down to just one model. Does this sound healthy ?

Maybe now we have a good experienced person with a voice - Tidz - that may change.

10

SUP General / Re: Afraid of not living

« on: October 09, 2017, 12:38:01 AM »

Afraid of not diving means - afraid of living. To deny death is to deny life itself

11

SUP General / Re: SUP industry exposed?

« on: October 09, 2017, 12:36:28 AM »

Well - I aint read the thread or the article but basically, especially in the UK, SUP is owned by Facebook. Thats about it. Whatever facebooks AI decides is why the UK SUP Scene does. Nobody really believes it at the moment but thats the size of. If Facebook goes - so will SUP in the UK. That will be a good thing in many ways because it may kill the Balloon SUP market??t

12

Gear Talk / Re: 3 broken leashes in 1 year! Fins cutting them??

« on: September 29, 2017, 08:31:01 AM »

Are you ditching your board and porpoising under the white water expecting it to stretch double and not snap?

There is an article coming up in the next SUPMagUK on leashes, Dave's SUPhilosophy....

13

SUP Advocacy / Re: Wipe Your Own A$$

« on: September 09, 2017, 04:24:27 AM »

No risk = No life....

Deny Death - deny life...

14

SUP Advocacy / Re: Wipe Your Own A$$

« on: September 09, 2017, 12:42:04 AM »

Well - in the UK we have a BS RNLI advert on the TV at the moment that highlights their lack of understanding on water safety. The Rescue services have just showed the whole UK that they are clueless! 

Another lifeboat man was "fearful for his life" when a two foot wave plucked him off the rocks.

We can all go and kill each other on SUPs at the moment and that cool but not in canoes or kayaks.

15

The Shape Shack / Re: What is it with fin boxes on SUPs ?

« on: July 10, 2017, 12:51:17 AM »

I've only been sup surfing about 18 months, but have surfed high performance kayaks with fins and waveskis for many years and learned to longboard a bit.  I've built my own waveskis and fin boxes are usually glassed in and then glassed over so they are are bomber tough.   I owned waveskis and surfboards from Island, Wavemaster,  Infinity and Walden and never had a finbox leak or get damaged even when fins have been busted out of the box by hitting a reef in Hawaii.    My first SUP was a  Laird Pearson Arrow supposedly EPS expoxy,  I noticed last year a pin line leak around one of the fin boxes and looking closer the boxes were not glassed over but just had a thin coat of epoxy.  I over glassed the leakers last year.   I have an older Focus Torpedo and same story, leaking fin boxes that are aren't  glassed over and start leaking from hairline cracks in the epoxy over coat when the fin boxes flex.  Is there something going on here I'm not aware of?  I don't think I'm hard on the boards and I exit long before I'm in shallow water, so I'm pretty sure I'm not hitting bottom with the fins ever.   Is it just cheap construction or are the boxes supposed to be sealed internally for these kind of lay-ups.

More excellence from SUP brands then???