Messages

1

SUP General / Re: http://californiapaddle.com/ Tom Jones

« on: September 13, 2007, 01:48:59 PM »

Michael,

let's talk about organizing a group to paddle with Tom and greet him a his destinations here in San Diego.  Shoot me an email or call me....858-354-6756

~Aloha~

2

SUP General / Re: Help, I'm buying too many standup baddleboards!

« on: September 13, 2007, 01:46:19 PM »

Aloha, my name is Mike Pollard and I have an addiction to the ocean.  My toy box looks like this:

10' C4 SUB
10'6" Infinity SUB
C4 paddle
Kinimaka paddle
7'4" SC trifin shortboard
9'0" Stewart longboard
8'6" 115L Starboard Combat Aero windsurfer (with two complete all carbon rigs)
2 complete fishing rigs and tackle (1 for boat, 1 for beach)
10 pieces of neoprene ranging from full suits to shirts - all conditions covered
1 complete set of free diving gear (fins, snorkel, mask, spear gun)
1 large bag full of sailing gear (harnesses, PFD's, boots, shoes, about 5x pairs of gloves,   
            heavy weather gear, etc)

Oh, and since there's not any room left in the garage for more boards, every time I demo a board, it sits in the living room of the house.  Right now there's a 10' Jeremy Fry WaveRod that I'm taking out over the weekend.

Wife get's room for car and bicycle, but I'm going to vie for car being parked outside - it get's dirty anyway.

How long do you guys think my marriage will last?

Helplessly in love......

3

Events / Re: WildCoast 4th Annual Dempsey Holder Memorial Ocean Festival- Paddlesurf division

« on: September 09, 2007, 11:56:06 AM »

Count me in!  Do you need any help organizing?

4

SUP General / SUP at ASR and more

« on: September 08, 2007, 08:03:19 PM »

Today Gregg Buckley and I visited the ASR show here in San Diego.  Two things caught my eye. The obvious first one - eye candy everywhere.  The second - also eye candy - but more intriging to me because I can actually touch and hold and have one if I like....massive amounts of SUP gear.  Seems like everyone and thier brother is jumping on the SUP bandwagon, although its easy to see who wants to capture the potential beginner market and make a few bucks, and whos in this for the long term.  Two booths stood out to me: C4 with Todd, Archie, Ted and Dave manning the booth, and Jeremy Fry and his 'wave rods'.  Oh yea, we saw the new Titus model SUB - 100% carbon fiber with a $2800 pricetag.

Other highlights: walking into the convention center, the first two people we saw were Greg Noll and Rabbit Keikai.  We stopped and talked to Rabbit for a few minutes - he was shopping for stuff to take home to the family so he didn't get in trouble.   Nice man.  Bill Hamilton had a shaping booth with windows and was shaping a board as we walked by. 

After a couple of hours we had seen enough and drove over to the San Diego Yacht Club where Gregg is a member.  We grabbed a seat outside next to the bay for lunch and Dennis Connro showed up at the table next to us.  Talk about a day filled with seeing and meeting some icons.....

To top everything off, I had two good sessions of SUP today, saw some good friends out in the water both times and now I'm about to devour a giant Mountain Mike's pizza.............hope you all had a good day.

~Aloha~

5

SUP General / C4 Waterman visits San Diego

« on: September 07, 2007, 07:23:05 AM »

Aloha friends,

Yesterday the C4 guys showed up at Cardiff Reef for a board demo and to spread thier great aloha spirit.  Todd Bradley, Dave Parmenter, Archie Kalepa and all of the SoCal rippers were there.  Ted Rutherford brought enough doughnuts and coffee for an army of paddlers (mahalos Ted!) and  Phil from Boardworks brought about 10 demo boards down, including the new shapes.

There was decent swell in the water with some head high sets, but the south wind came up early and made the conditions less than favorable with the wind chop.  The ooh's and ahh's were handed out generously as Dave was ripping- as usual.  I grew up on the Central Coast of California (Morro Bay/Cayuocs) and watched Dave rip shortboards - things haven't changed.

The new C4 shapes look awesome, although I think the only person that rode one was Todd.  Both on the short side (9'0" and 9"6"), one a swallow tail, and the one that really caught my eye - the bat wing with dual channels on the tail.  I can't wait to try one out.

Many mahalos from all of us to all the C4 guys - Hawaiian and local - for going out of thier way to set up this demo (the ASR show starts today and I can't imagine how much stuff they had going on).

Tim Mellors gets the award for furthest traveled, coming all the way from Corwall, UK.  He's a great guy with enough stories keep you intrigued for hours.  Tim brought a bar of soap out with him into the line-up...I think he said something about the water temp being close that of a warm bath back home.  That, coming from a man who surfs in ocean water that's on the verge of freezing over - now that's takes cajones.  I hope to meet up with Tim again to hear about more of his great adventures.

Mahalos to all all the C4 guys - great day at the beach!

6

Gear Talk / Re: C4 Boards?

« on: September 07, 2007, 06:56:58 AM »

Iawaia.....

if you're in San Diego, please look me up as well.  I'd be glad to show you take you out for one of my regular paddle/surf sessions from La Jolla Shores to Blacks Beach, or where ever we can find surf.  Shoot me an email at [email]mike@sdwaterman.com[/mail].

The C4 guys are here for the ASR show and we had a great session with them yetserday (good swell, but horrible conditions).  Archie Kalepa, Dave Parmenter, and Todd Bradley were all there, along with all the SoCal Rippers.

~Aloha~

7

Gear Talk / Re: 7 footer anyone?

« on: September 02, 2007, 04:00:08 PM »

HOLY CR&^%%P....See ya guys, I have that board and I'm taking it out right now.  Starboard Combat Aero 115L..........this was the first board I took out on flat water before I got my custom 10'6" Infinity.  What was I thinking?

~Aloha~

8

Gear Talk / Re: Your next board-Poll

« on: September 02, 2007, 03:52:52 PM »

Sorry, I can't help you man, my board's not on your list.  There's a guy here in SD (CRAIG) who's making some REALLY short boards.  Try 8'0 on for size! I saw some local guys out on them and freaked.  Not sure how they surfed, but they had no problems paddling and catching waves.  Didn't really get to look at the shape in detail - but I'll keep you posted.

~Aloha~

9

SUP General / Re: Stand Up RSS Feeds

« on: August 31, 2007, 03:28:08 PM »

Nice plug Ashley.  At least put it in a link so I don't have to do so much work to get there.....

10

SUP General / Re: September is Here! September is Here!!!!

« on: August 31, 2007, 03:25:13 PM »

Chan,  this the second time you've made me laugh hard enough to start a coughing fit.  STOP IT!  Funny stuff.....keep it up.

 

Aloha....

11

SUP General / Re: C4 Demo at Cardiff Reef Thursday 7:30am

« on: August 30, 2007, 10:25:08 PM »

I'll be there......Hot coffee from Mike's Tailgate Diner is first come first serve, 7am! 

Sorry Mr. Ashley, no sausage and tortillas this time......

Aloha

12

Events / Re: The Infinty Classic Surf Cup - Sunday October 7th

« on: August 29, 2007, 12:51:55 PM »

Perfect time for a plug.....

Don't forget about the 1st Annual International Waterman Stand Up Paddle and Surf on September 22nd! The event begins with a paddle from La Jolla Shores to Blacks, where we hope Neptune blesses us with some good swell and classic Blacks Beach barrels.  Then paddle back to La Jolla Shores where we give out lots of prizes, BBQ and have a chance to check out gear from Allan Chateaux (Nui Moana), EJ and Big Johnson Paddles, and some gear from Legends Surf.

The entry fee is only $15, you get a great t-shirt sponsored by Deline Wealth Management and there'll be lot's of cool prizes from one of our generous sponsors, which include C4 Waterman, Legends Surf, Bob's Mission Surf, Las Olas Restaurant, David Hebble Photography (David will be phtographing the event personally), and possibly Mitch's Surf Shop.

Check out more details at:
http://www.sdwaterman.com/events/SummertimeContest.htm

Hope to see you all there!

~Aloha~

PS.  See you at the Infinity event!

13

Sessions / Re: La Jolla Shores: Hot Coffee and sweet links!

« on: August 28, 2007, 06:01:03 PM »

...be careful not to leave the fuel canisters in a hot car -------BOOM!!  As we say in sailing when something breaks, "not fast".

Wait until you catch your first sunrise with coffee brewing on the tailgate, seeing your breath in the morning air, laughing at your friends' "bedface".  All a priceless part of the experience.

FYI, John and his friends do not have "bedface".  Not sure about Allan yet.

~Aloha~

14

Sessions / Re: La Jolla Shores: Hot Coffee and sweet links!

« on: August 28, 2007, 07:46:14 AM »

Aloha,

we missed having Allen on the trip, but that just meant more sausages for me!

Thanks for the kind words John!  Always good to paddle with you and your bros.

For all of you that have been surfing your whole life and not made coffee with sausage and tortillas, you're missing out.  I carry my $20 camp stove with me always, along with everything I need to make coffee.  When I feel ambitous and have time, I stop off at the local market and grab $4 worth of food to put on the fire.  This is one of the best parts of surfing for me - hanging with the bros afterward and talking a bit o' smack.

Anyone paddling this weekend?

~Aloha~

15

SUP General / Re: New C4 boards arrived

« on: August 21, 2007, 10:01:13 PM »

If you're looking for C4's in SoCal, check Bob's Mission Surf in Pacific Beach or Legends Surf in Carlsbad.

Also, Randy has posted my review of my 10' C4 in the product reviews section of this site, which I wrote about a month ago and the board just keeps getting better as I figure out it's subtlties.

I can add only one thing to that review, and that is in regards to the robustness of the paint coat.  You must baby this board in that regard.  Definitely put the mastick tape on your paddle and don't smack the paint with anything harder than it.  If you don't want to deal with babying the board, get a hand shaped version.

These pop-out boards are as Blane says - they work in a variety of conditions and are fairly high performance.  BUT...when it comes to the ultimate in high performance, Blanes shapes are the ones on the cutting edge.  Ikaika has proven this true with the latest images of him at Teahupoo - absolutley mind boggling, and a testament to Blanes shaping prowess.

~Aloha~