Topics

31

Technique / Paddling slower, Going faster

« on: September 13, 2018, 03:40:22 PM »

I think I found a thread on that already on here, but my search comes up with a bunch of non-helpful threads -

Anyway - I'm  pretty slow I am an overweight clydesdale - maybe the small end of "big men" - you know, I'm stronger/bigger than most people but there are plenty who are bigger. Like an average Samoan maybe. Not a skinny paddler .  At 278 this morning I'm happily down from the 295 I was hitting this spring - and it's due to flatwater sup. I'm working on eating better but the sup is my reward and my stick both - this preamble is about pointing that for ME at 51, 5mph is hauling ass - pretty much top speed. I have some sprints close to 6mph but I haven't been able to maintain much more than a 4.3 average - even when I was trying for speed. Lots of "trips" 2 to 6 miles with an average of 4.2 or maybe 4.4 mph when I am done.

I was trying to be more efficient on Tuesday - working on a stroke, not speed. I sort of imagine a gondolier in my head singing and paddling..."oh solo..." reach, plant, pull..."mio...."....pull to my feet, rotate my torso, work my core...go just past my feet maybe...."oh, solo mio" again and I'm whipping the blade up and forward, thinking "NO splash" and planting for the next stroke..... but I ended up with a 1/2 mile at 6:02 (Garmin Vivoactive buzzes me every 1/2 mile) - and when I went back to my GPS on my phone, it was really a mile at around 5mph . What gets me is I wasn't trying for speed  - and my heart rate stayed pretty low (mid 90's)up until I got into some speed boat chop which also killed my speed.

I wish my season wasn't about to end, I feel like I'm starting to "get it" - but I go in for a new inner half of my left knee on Sept. 18 - but it's getting colder here already, and the lakes are full of  dead Red salmon, I needed to pull the trigger or I'd be trying to rehab on icy streets.




 

32

Downwind and Racing / Yukon 1000

« on: August 06, 2018, 03:10:24 PM »

Yukon 1000
I kept assuming this was already here somewhere - but Bart DeZwart just won another long distance race. He's been on the "other Yukon" race that was "only 400 miles". This might be his first team win? His teammate was Ike Franz - anyone who can keep up with Bart deserves an extra trophy They don't resupply - the race requires teams of at least two - someone to report the other guy was eaten by a bear maybe.....

"Hardest thing I've ever done" -
http://www.supracer.com/2018-yukon-1000-odyssey-bart-de-zwart/

33

Flatwater and Touring / Lake Washington, Washington

« on: June 29, 2018, 11:52:57 PM »

I went to Seattle for a week for my eldest daughter's graduation (Marine Biologist) - brought my Blue Planet iSup along. Lots of lugging for about an hour and half on the water - but I found a cool wetlands kind of in the middle of the freeways. Just down from the Japanese Garden in the UW district. Beautiful - if noisy with rush hour traffic zooming by on all sides. Spotted a few heron, an otter (really brief flash but I recognized the furry body) and some big fish in the lily pads startled me good

34

Gear Talk / Forgot my fin

« on: April 12, 2018, 05:54:00 PM »

Danger of an Isup - bag full of crap makes you think you have everything.

Mother of invention. It worked a lot better than you might think.

35

Gear Talk / Big Clog? "Paddle Bateau"

« on: January 01, 2018, 10:50:59 PM »

https://ianbalding.com/product/paddle-bateau/




Kind of a hard board version of my 14' Tower Xplorer but it's good to look at all types of boards? Seems like a lot of rocker on this.......

36

Flatwater and Touring / One more time

« on: October 29, 2017, 05:12:23 PM »

https://photos.app.goo.gl/nHQx0Yy2DDWIGYEP2

Got out yesterday. I gained weight this fall, so no dry suit right now . Many excuse and no paddling as things froze up. I would not have enjoyed falling in but I stayed dry. We had a week of 40s and much of the ice melted. It felt so good to be out for an hour. Only my freezing feet drove me to shore. I will try to follow up with pics hosted here.

37

SUP General / Always lug the isup along

« on: September 26, 2017, 05:18:16 PM »

I got sent to Sydney BC for some training. I figured I would just rent a paddle board or kayak..... But I guess this is winter here and they roll up the streets at 5pm. I could have gotten in a couple hours paddling Sunday when I got here and look at the sunrise..... Next time I bring it. I even have free baggage....

38

SUP General / SUP paddler assists a kayak rescue

« on: August 27, 2017, 06:07:37 PM »

Not sure how/if you can read this  -  I'll assume you have facebook. Local paddle boarder went to Eklutna Lake to stay at a public cabin - rough day but he went for it, paddling into heavy headwind - and rescued a father and daughter who had flipped their two man kayak - they'd been in the water 45 minutes! This is a glacial lake, it's seriously cold. I'll ask Andrew if I can post his text of the story here.

EDIT: Take the time to watch the videos - he comes up to the two man kayak empty, bobbing in the waves with no one there. SPOOKY. Last year a kayaker was lost and not found for months. I'm really glad this one turned out ok - and I hadn't realized there was another kayak flipped and another rescue happening at the same time! Last night Andrew only reported the 2 people in a short post.

What a hero.

Erik

39

Flatwater and Touring / Knik River, Alaska

« on: August 22, 2017, 04:21:38 PM »

My daughter's friend has a drone, he offered to take some video. I've been wanting to try this short run from Eklutna Tailrace (I visited it last December https://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php/topic,31342.msg345553.html#msg345553 - if photobucket will let you look...) to Knik River Bridge, where the highway crosses this silty, cold water. BTW -- I have seen Beluga Whales under this bridge once - I was sort of hoping they would show up for me paddling...long shot...

SO I put in up near the Tailrace, where Eklutna Lake pours thru a 6 foot tunnel thru the mountain, driving a power plant.

The Drone shot taken at the end shows where I started - right at the bend in the river with white buildings nearby.

40

Flatwater and Touring / Reds are in the lake again

« on: August 21, 2017, 02:33:39 PM »

video link to google:

https://goo.gl/photos/1e7QY4wwNfweGda57


Between workout runs I stopped to try to take pics and video of the Red spawning near where I put in the board on Cottonwood Lake. The salmon wash away weeds and mud right down to the stones on lake bottom to give the eggs space to breath. They are the only salmon spawning in the shallow warm lakes - all the others need fast moving creeks.

same video on youtube if it ever finishes processing...

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=03ZbaxfcFfw

41

Flatwater and Touring / Early morning paddle with fog and trout, Cottonwood to Mud Lake and back

« on: August 08, 2017, 03:52:19 PM »

I used my Samsung S6 on FHD, this vimeo is only 720 so barely HD - and I should use my Sony RX100 the anti-shake is WAAAY better. I was trying a "paddle then coast/film" method - I'm not steady enough

But there are a couple good scenes - I'll post up some of the better stills when I can. I actually got up 2 days in a row at 6am maybe if I mix the two mornings and cut out more I can make a smoother video from the two days - we'll see - video editing takes patience and I'm terrible at patience.

Erik

42

Flatwater and Touring / Google Movie - Cottonwood Creek, Alaska

« on: July 22, 2017, 02:36:04 PM »

Tried out my Christmas gift of a GoPro hat  -  I think I aimed down too much, needs another sunny day with more footage "facing out" edited into the mix - but in the meantime, Google put this together for me - ain't perfect but it's done...

Cottonwood Creek, I went to the outlet, then up to the inlet creek and Google figures I will never get around to editing it so it did it for me...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wOp806q4LbMFo0XO2

43

Flatwater and Touring / Ice Poling?

« on: April 07, 2017, 04:18:40 PM »

Found this while looking at the frogfish fin....

44

Gear Talk / Spring loaded fin for rocks/shallows/flatwater/rivers

« on: April 07, 2017, 09:24:41 AM »

I've been thinking on a solution to the problem of the "sudden stop" problem of hitting rocks/logs while paddling - not an issue for surfing, but those of us in little streams and extensive shallows (fishing?) this is a pain. I found this option just this morning while trying to find pics of the Coreban river-fin that was put on the back of iSups with glue-on mounting nuts and such...

This uses a standard fin box. How great is that?

No idea how well it tracks - but seems like it can't be much worse than a rubber fin. Pretty clever idea - and if your other option is "no fin at all" it might be wonderful. I'm very tempted to try one.

https://www.amazon.com/SUP-River-Fin-Pivoting-Shallow/dp/B01JDTJW8O

http://www.frogfishfins.com/



EDIT: added a PIC - linked from their site:

45

SUP General / adjustable rocker

« on: March 13, 2017, 10:24:38 PM »

I've seen these before - amazing for a folding kayak  - you might not know it's a folding boat at first.

what I hadn't seen was this trick:


Watch him crank it from totally flat to banana in about 5 seconds:



It would be cool to see a combination of this frame as a hybrid iSUP with an air-floor  or something.

I know I'm dreamin' - but thinking outside the box is fun - I was thinking of this since looking at the latest "canoe" style unlimiteds. I am sure it wouldn't literally be THIS kayak shape, exactly - but this kayak shape isn't that far way, is it?

This vid is on Skookumchuck - it's in banana form again: