Topics

46

Technique / Paddling Skeletons on supracer.com

« on: March 09, 2017, 03:26:04 PM »

I'm not so sure of the technique in the "elite" skeleton - to me, it looks like it's pulling waaayyyy past the feet. It's much better than the "novice" - but it doesn't look like most novices I've seen - they use their arms - a lot - basically pulling themselves along with their bicep. If the novice isn't shown correctly - is the elite?

http://www.supracer.com/skeletons-paddleboarding-stroke-technique-video/

Erik

47

Flatwater and Touring / Eklutna Tail Race, Knik River, Alaska

« on: February 11, 2017, 01:22:17 PM »

Late to get this post but better late than never.

Late December I went out on some of the last open water here in what we call "South Central Alaska" - a section about the size of England. It's warmer than the Interior (-40 to -50 F - fun fact -40F and C are the same) - but everything freezes over.

I brought the Red Paddle, inflated it at home because I worried it wouldn't handle being inflated in the cold. I do think it began to lose pressure. I wore my O'Neill dry suit - 3x that just fits I'm look like Mr. Incredible - before he starts working out .

I immediately hung the fin on a rock - wobblewobble




There was a lonely swan there - I think a first year who didn't make the take-off date of the flock Hopefully it will make it to spring with with people feeding it - there is no food in this rocky, man-made slough. Pioneer Peak, above, is about 6500 feet, and starts at about 50 feet - this water is effected by the tides here. It's an impressive rock

48

Gear Talk / 11' Wooden SUP kit - Pygmy Kayak

« on: December 17, 2016, 11:24:14 PM »

http://www.pygmyboats.com/boats/11-wooden-sup-kit.html

I've admired their kayaks for years. I'd prefer a 12' to 15' flatwater touring design - but if you make only one SUP then I guess the All-Rounder is the place to start.

49

Gear Talk / best/better travel paddle?

« on: December 08, 2016, 05:19:00 PM »

I have a Blue Planet 3-piece carbon fiber paddle - I like it, it's strong, I put LOTS of pressure on it and it seems to grip the water pretty well - but I wonder - what else is out there? I paddle 100% flatwater. I only have one pretty terrible paddle to compare it with, an aluminum shaft/clear blade something or other I got to break on river rocks - lucky that plastic flexes a lot so it's not broken yet. I bent the aluminum shaft just paddling lake water the first day I used it - it's a booger to take apart now.

Looked at KeNalu Hanu - is this fully compatable with their other blades? It seems to good to be true .
http://kenalu.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=53

If it comes with a the xtuf or xtuf(s) shaft, the ready-to-use Hanu is cheaper than the xtuf and ergo handle (or classic T) by themselves - and it would seem to be compatable with the blades? am I right?  Because it seems like "premium paddle on the installment plan" - that I could spend another $100/$150 on a factory2nd blade later and upgrade in the "$hock your wife in installments plan" .

I figure get the  xtratuf(s) Hanu $165 and plan to find a good factory 2nd later maybe?

Will I notice the KeNalu is much better than the Blue Planet?  Lighter? I realize it's not as "break down" as the Blue Planet is, but I can live with seasonl or travel-only take-down via hairdryer. Partly - I worry I'll break the BP and be stuck with aluminum junk for weeks or a whole season  -  the cost of a Hanu and some 2nd blades will be in the ballpark of a replacement Blue Planet carbon travel paddle.

50

Gear Talk / Xterra 14' Camo board on sale to 10/2

« on: September 29, 2016, 04:19:18 PM »

I'm not sure they ever sell at  $1500, but $659 is a good deal on bigger touring board.

14'x 6"x32"

Lots and lots of D-rings - these are pretty expensive and I like lots. Go-Pro mounts in front and back!!

I don't love the fin-mount, but I have seen glue-on fin mounts on the Net. Not unsolvable.

I think it would be a great first board for a large paddler, or a family (put kids or dogs on with you) board. Coiled leash too - nice.

https://www.xterraboards.com/collections/camo-camo-camo/products/14-camo-all-purpose-touring-board

51

Flatwater and Touring / Paddling with the Reds

« on: September 06, 2016, 03:51:35 AM »

I've been too busy to even visit the forum, much less post up - but I'm up working at 2am and I've got some downtime at the moment ( I work on telcom - the real work is at the other end of a 2k mile fiber cable this morning so I'm "just in case" ) .

This is my local, favorite, I paddle around here a LOT "canoe trail". I usually just do laps up at one of the lakes - but today, a little exploring. It's always the same - always new

Starting upstream.....



Cottonwood Creek is running clear.....



Reds!! They turn a deep red with a green head....before they turn to zombies.....

52

Gear Talk / Big guy bought a 2015 Red Paddle 14x26 Elite

« on: August 13, 2016, 07:41:39 PM »

AirKayaks had it for $999 - 2015 model - someone posted up a link and I couldn't resist. Took 3 days to get to Alaska!

I took it out this afternoon. I figured I'd be in the drink a lot - 26" from 30" Blue Planet. Not so much! First run, upwind, was a faster average than I've managed on my Blue Planet with NO wind! (4.2mph) , at just under 4.4 mph. Not bad fighting a blustery day - maybe 10-12mph wind - strong enough I could see it rippling the water in gusts. Downbreezed back at 5.23 mph - average! I have sometimes peaked at 5 or 6 in a sprint before but wow! I'm pretty stoked. At 270lbs on an inflatable, I figure this is pretty fast I went on down the lake, using the ankle-high waves to assist, and got an average of 4.9  - great fun, water splashing over the bow, felt fast Fought the wind back to the dock again at 4.4 mph again (these are all 3/4 to 1/2 mile mini-runs - the whole lake is about 1.5 miles long).

It really didn't seem unstable (on flat water! which is all I have)  - I am going to try it on the little creeks and such - I think it's speed makes up for stability - just not that much penalty in stability and a pretty big benefit of speed.

Erik

53

Flatwater and Touring / Paddle on a couple lakes and a connecting creek in Wasilla, Alaska

« on: August 12, 2016, 03:39:50 AM »

Google made an album of uploaded pics and vids - a pleasant 2 or 3 mile paddle weekend before last. I even manage to stay on my feet in the creek

I apologize in advance for stalker-breathing on the vids - mouth-mount for my cellphone - need to go head-mount or chest-mount I think.

https://goo.gl/photos/VjQjjvDXiwY48dei9

54

Gear Talk / Different isup construction

« on: April 21, 2016, 11:23:48 PM »

Tripstix -  no high tension fabric. Tunes and vacuum packed granules.... Like a vacuum packed bag of coffee.....
Nice shapes............. But will it really work?
http://tripstix.de/allround-sup/

55

Gear Talk / Tower Xplorer 14' Isup

« on: February 21, 2016, 05:12:17 PM »

Or: What I did Last Summer

Last winter my = wife got me a Tower Xplorer - it was a "grap bag special" (returned) - at $399 it was a good deal - at $200 shipping not as great. Alaska is not a state - the Unites States Post Office won't ship here.....wait it is......and they will....

Anyway - it was winter time. No paddling - but right away I inflated it and my Blue Planet 12'6" to compare.





The 6" thick Blue Planet seems like 3" compared to the GIANT 8" thick Tower board.

The Tower has about a 3" twist to it - this is why it was returned, I assume - it didn't/doesn't leak.

I've had both boards out last summer - I can't seem to get my free gps tracker to run two times in a row so I don't have back-to-back comparisons of speed on the same route - but my impression is that I can get about 4 mph out of either board.

I'm 280 so a big board helps but the xtra width and drag of the Xplorer is enough I can feel it - a lot. Tower's claims of "fast" are exaggerated - maybe it's fast compared to a 9'/10' surfer/all-rounder?

The big board takes a LOT of air to fill it  - here I'm trying my off-road air compressor - a decent, $200 Quick-Air II - it's pretty slow. Later I got one of the $50 Sevylor units - it's much faster to 15 psi - but for this beast I usally stop at 12 psi . The 8" thick board  seems plenty stiff at that pressure.



ALL my paddling is flat water, on local lakes and streams.



I got a Futures Fins plastic fin and cut and modd'd it to work with the Tower ( not only too long to fit the slot, but I have to cut the back of the fin to let it tip back and slip in) - I think it tracks better, sheds weeds better and a inch or so of clearance for underwater logs is NICE. I use the same fin on both my Isups. The stock fin STOPS on logs . The cut fin still tries to throw me off the front of the board but is less "grabbed and pulled back by an alligator" feeling. Maybe I need a soft fin.



I think if you are recreational, flatwater paddler - it's a great board. I like the stability, the ease of use. I think I'm going to want a hard board eventually - and I think this would be true with with either of these boards as a "first board". The fact is if you spend a lot of time on the water, and CAN store a hard board, they will reward your efforts with more speed. If you are just excercising - maybe it doesn't matter. I have a 14' fiberglass sea kayak that I take on multi-day trips but I have a plastic 10' boat that I like to toss in the Beetle and run to the lake 1/2 a mile away - it's slow but I only have a 2 mile long lake nearby anyway - it's great excercise to push at 4 mph, either on my plastic kayak or my Isup. Like a runner training with a parachute for drag

I don't see it as a downwinder - but if all you have for downwinders is a breezy day on the lake (like me) then it will be fun. It's pretty much IMPOSSIBLE to paddle INTO a wind - I went out on a day with just with just a little wave action and white-caps and it turned into one-way trip with a call the wife at the other end of the water trail  - I tried for 10 minutes to paddle back upwind and only made it 100 yards - even kneeling and paddling hard canoe-style made no progress.

I added a bunch of d-rings - http://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Steel-D-ring-Inflatable-Dinghy/dp/B00XFXPYQO - (these work out to less than $5 each even shipped)  and tried out the usual sup-fishing with a cooler - the board is so wide and stable it works great for this. I'd recommend it as a fishing platform  - as long as you don't have to fight wind to get back to the dock.



I use the board when I just want to poke around the lily pads and up the shallow stream or for when I need a 2nd board for a loaner/to bring a friend along (again - super stable - easy for beginners).



Fin as it ended up - most clearance I felt I could get while still tracking ok:


The combo of the fin and the really wide, long board means I can skim along if very shallow water.




I think if this had been the first Isup I had ordered I might only have the one - or I might have ordered another at the next "Grab Bag" sale (especially with a bit of planning on shipping it somewhere other than AK first) - I keep thinking if I have two of them I could have a great pontoon fishing boat like this ( pic stolen from the internet) :

56

Flatwater and Touring / Rental in Seattle

« on: June 14, 2015, 09:37:00 PM »

Any I should not use?
Any place renting displacement hulls? I would love to try something faster than my 12'6" isup.
Erik
Oh it would be weekdays this week. Back this weekend. I'm back to Alaska next week

57

Flatwater and Touring / Tern Lake, Alaska

« on: June 12, 2015, 10:30:00 AM »

I've paddled here since camping as a kid, which means (holy crap! I'm old) about 40 years - it's beautiful lake in the mountains. Lots of little flat tundra islands - great for nesting birds. Tern Lake used to have hundreds, perhaps thousands of nesting terns, but something wasn't planned well with the local state campground, and there was a fish die-off, and no terns for years. There were about maybe 10 nesting pairs there this time - the lake is slowly recovering.

Anyway - I had to work in Homer (a stunningly beautiful little town on Kachemak Bay) for work - I brought my 12'6"x30 Blue Planet Isup. I was expecting 2 maybe 3 nights of work (I'm in telcom so major work is night work) and figured I could maybe try standing up on the mild waves of Kachemak. It turned into just one night of work, so I was not getting time to play in Homer. However  - on the way back there was a hole in the clouds as I came to the junction for turning onto the Seward Highway towards Anchorage ( it's a 4 or 5 hour drive Homer to Anchorage ). I stopped at the once-campground-now-picnic-site at Tern Lake, and pumped up the BP Isup. About 300 strokes to a bit over 15psi ( I figure the cold water will drop the pressure a bit). I'm really considering an electric pump.......

Anyway - it's really pretty there. You can poke along the shoreline in the flooded-forest section, and since I was fighting an 8-10 mph breeze, this got me out of the wind on the way up, and I down-breezed the way out ..

The route:


EDIT: Btw - this track is from a free GPS app called ViewRanger - it has "after the paddle" editing ( I hate when my average speed is 35mph because I forgot to turn it off) and good maps, LOTS of maps - and you can figure your average speed for different sections or upwind vs. downwind by sliding the pointers around to suit. Very usefull and mostly user friendly.

58

Flatwater and Touring / Sunday Flatwater paddle - did NOT suck :D

« on: May 18, 2015, 03:59:50 PM »

The morning was brisk at 6:30am -  34f - I wore my polar fleece vest ....

As the sun got higher it warmed to almost a 50! beastly hot.....

First part of the morning, "steam" on the water, before the breeze started picking up....

59

Flatwater and Touring / Well THAT kind of sucked... :D

« on: May 12, 2015, 01:44:18 PM »

I had a busy day at work, long commute home, took my kid to karate, it was 8:15 before I was able to make some time to try to paddle my local lake, get some excercise.

I took my isup in my little diesel bug and puttered the 2 miles to the lake. It clouded up as I got out the board (I should mention sunset is already pushed back to past 10pm, it was sunny-ish when I started - I was hoping the dark clouds to the north east would stay back awhile )  . Started raining as I pumped it up, and it was blowing a bit from the southwest - as I went out I paddled into the wind first so I could coast back, I hate putting the difficult part and the end of the run - I like a pleasant coast in if I can get it . As I got farther out across the lake the wind reversed completely and went up in speed to about 10mph with gusts above , the temps dropped as the clouds got thick  and I decided to turn back - to face the wind AGAIN... And it began to rain HARD. Combine that with temps in the mid-40s and I wimped out, gave up on getting in a few miles and headed back to the car. I usually generate so much heat paddling that cold air doesn't bother me - but with the rain being driven into me I was soaked and cold. Of course as I packed up there wind died and the glimmer of blue began to show again......

But .....18 minutes on the water to go a mile, even paddling into the wind, is better than none. Combined with Paleo, I'm down more than 10 pounds in a month - I get below 280 and it's the first time in .... a long time.

60

Flatwater and Touring / Long distance adventure touring

« on: April 12, 2015, 06:12:02 PM »

I found very few online accounts of even day long adventure type trips. I think this is in part due to sups not being the best long distances boat. I hope to put the few I find in this thread.

Nick Healey paddling in Prince William Sound Alaska

http://www.supthemag.com/videos/alaskan-sup-adventure/


Interesting he is paddling thru icy basin shorts.  Also his first inflatable board repair is a serious one.  Makes me think about what I would do before a trip like his.... Deliberately puncture and repair? Scary.