Topics

1006

Downwind and Racing / Maliko today??!!??

« on: April 14, 2009, 01:03:51 PM »

It's Ka-nuking. I can't get hold of anyone but Scott and he's laid up. Anyone want to go this afternoon--should be epic. The water in front of my house looks like the Gorge on an East Wind day.

1007

Downwind and Racing / romping, stomping south side run

« on: April 06, 2009, 09:19:35 PM »

Who'da thunk it. I thought it was going to kind of suck, but Scott and I had a great run today from Kehei pier to four Seasons. Perfect conditions. Should have gone from Haycraft, but Oh well. Blistering winds, groomed water and waist high swells from Kalama park to the four seasons beach. Smaller but tidy swells before that, more or less all the way from the beach. Runner after runner.  1:20 minutes, unofficial. I didn't bring my GPS, but that what Diane said. Scott had his, perhaps he can verify or correct.

Man, that production  F14 is fast. I was linking up run after run and paddling hard with my new QB Elite Racer (what a great paddle--the only problem is that it can literally blow away on the beach) and I couldn't catch Scott when he was just standing there sailing his paddle.

1008

SUP General / GPS Capabilities on Ke Nalu

« on: April 01, 2009, 09:03:15 AM »

I've been neglecting the article side of Ke Nalu lately to build a bunch of new features, the coolest of which is a lot of GPS integration. I know lots of zoners have GPS devices. Shortly you'll be able to build your own articles on Ke Nalu using your GPS device, uploading your tracks, adding geotagged photos, dropping location flags that connect to text blocks, etc. Should be a fun way to talk about what you're doing here and illustrate it there.

I wrote a short article about what I'm up to here: http://www.kenalu.com/2009/04/01/new-features-on-the-way/

1009

SUP General / Getting Worked on a Maliko Run

« on: April 01, 2009, 07:57:48 AM »

I finally posted an article about the Maliko run Scott and I did a few days ago. It was kind of hairy. Still leaves me breathless thinking about getting dragged over the reef at Upper Kanaha underwater. http://www.kenalu.com/2009/03/31/holy-bucketsmaliko-6/

1010

SUP General / Maliko del Animoto

« on: March 25, 2009, 01:55:51 AM »

I did a little animoto slideshow of the Darrell Wong SIC heli shots. Came out kind of nice:

http://www.kenalu.com/2009/03/25/whots-it-like/

1011

Downwind and Racing / gumby rocks

« on: March 20, 2009, 10:20:53 PM »

Had a great southside downwinder today. tried to get other folks to come play but couldn't connect to anyone. Perfect conditions, I should have gone to Haycraft Park to start, it would have been an even faster ride because i wouldn't have had to fight my way out in the somewhat onshore wind and swell--you can see on the trace that for the first mile I was paddling too cross-swell to get good rides. But still, 7.0 miles in 1:20  that's nearly 6 MPH average. The big surprise, it wasn't the Penetrator, it was Gumby, my Foote 12. Not bad for a goofy looking 12 foot board

Oh, I forgot, did an article about it on Ke Nalu  http://www.kenalu.com/2009/03/20/go-gumby-go/

No pics, I was too busy riding those great swells. I'll be dreaming about this run tonight.

1012

Downwind and Racing / Looking for race board reviewers--anywhere race boards are made

« on: March 19, 2009, 07:39:20 PM »

Mark (Kiwi) Jackson got sick just prior to the Ke Nalu Race Board showcase, which upset him as much as it did me. Not only is he a fine SUP racer but he has a couple of very interesting boards and he’s a really nice guy who is always fun to be around. Sick though he was, he contributed a great idea.

We have always offered Ke Nalu readers the ability to contribute to the board showcases by filling out a form and uploading photos, but it’s a pretty low-key approach that focuses mostly on people reviewing the boards they already own. We’ve had a lot of good boards reviewed that way, but in many ways it makes sense to develop that further. Mark’s idea, and now mine (since I've appropriated it), is to develop a group of reviewers who can approach designers, shapers and manufacturers offering to review their boards. This will be a useful endeavor both for surfboards and for racing, distance, and downwinder boards, but we’re going to launch it with racing boards, followed soon after by surf boards.

The reviewers will have to opportunity to try boards they otherwise might not have access to without purchase. The shapers and manufacturers can expect a thorough, if subjective review, and our readers will get to see more boards tested from more manufacturers. No one has to ship any boards anywhere, and no one has to give anything away except a little time and perhaps some wear and tear on a demo board. Reviewers get credit for their reviews and can have a link to their website if they have one. Other bloggers are welcome to participate, especially since they already have an interest and skill in writing about our sport.

I am developing a set of forms and examples of the kind of information we want to gather. All the reviewers will be working from the same playlist. We’re not going to elicit or publish unabashed praise, and we won’t let anyone trash a manufacturer. We don’t expect people to be unbiased, we assume bias, and so should the readers, but the information we gather will still help greatly in determining what board and in what configuration, will be most appropriate for you and your paddling venues. Manufacturers can nominate their own reviewers or even do their own reviews but we will provide full disclosure when that happens and readers will undoubtedly give more credibility to reviewers that are not directly employed by the company they review. We will support and display multiple reviews of the same board. Employees and owners of surf shops that sell multiple lines are particularly welcome.

We are also now able to start a forum thread (Ke Nalu has forum capabilities for talking about articles) for each review published. We hope to see a lively discussion and useful about board reviews.

Bottom line, we are looking for reviewers who live close to manufacturers or who have easy access to line(s) of boards. It will take you about half a day to review a board, given the kind of measurements we want to see, and the paddling you’ll need to do. The form will be printable and you can either send it to us or transfer your hand written notes and photos to the online version of the form.

This will be an iterative process–as people review boards I expect we’ll find new things to look at and consider. The reviewers will ultimately shape the review process. Should be fun.

The form to sign up as a reviewer is on Ke Nalu in this article  http://www.kenalu.com/2009/03/19/2009-stand-up-paddle-race-distance-and-downwinder-board-showcase%E2%80%93part-3/.

Once we’re reviewed your form we’ll provide private access to the reviewing materials.

1013

SUP General / Ke Nalu is down for the evening

« on: March 17, 2009, 10:48:45 PM »

Just to cut down on the emails, I know Ke Nalu is down, my hosting company moved me to a new server--which is a good thing, should speed it up a lot--but they broke it somehow in a manner that i haven't been able to fix. they're working on it. Ain't technology great?

1014

Downwind and Racing / Race board test part 2

« on: March 14, 2009, 10:35:10 AM »

Posted on Ke Nalu. Part three underway plus the race showcase section. Coming together nicely on my prototype Ke Nalu mirror site. I usually try stuff there and then move it to Ke Nalu when it stops breaking stuff.

1015

Downwind and Racing / Maui Canoe club Race this weekend (Mar 15th)

« on: March 11, 2009, 11:00:06 PM »

Anyone planning on doing the MCKC race this weekend? I plan to be there, I'll probably do the short course, though if the wind and weather is right the long course might be fun.

Here's the details:
Leilani's 3 Sisters  #6             Saturday, Mar 14th       
Long Course - 10 nm                           Honokohau to Leilani's Restaurant
Short Course - 5.5 nm                          Napili Bay to Leilani's Restaurant

Registration will be at Honokohau from 8-9:45am.

Long Course to start at Honokohau weather permitting at 10am.

Short course to start at Napili Bay at approximately 10:30am.

Race finish to be at Leilani's Restaurant with awards ceremony to follow upstairs of the restaurant.

This race is subject to weather conditions so start points may change the morning of.


Short Course

Parking is tight at Napili bay.  You can use the beach access at the end of Hui Drive or by Napili Kai Beach Club.  Some people use the old Flemings Beach also.

Please be careful going out of Napili Bay as there is often a break that works its way accross most of the bay.  You can get in on the Right side (again facing the ocean) w/out a lot of turmoil.  You do need to time it.  Then group up at the point at the top of the bay.  Please group together so the long coursers can get through easily and then once the main pack of long course people pass, you will get started.

1016

Events / Downwind/race test part 1

« on: March 11, 2009, 12:59:09 AM »

Is up.Not quite finished, I need to add some photos. this is NOT the results of the showcase or the board reviews, it's part one, some goofy videos of the measurements we did on the boards. It's not quite finished, I have a bunch of photos to add. But it's kind of interesting in a paint-drying, geeky gearhead kind of way

1017

SUP General / Advanced sUP surfing article

« on: March 07, 2009, 08:08:25 PM »

Tom english contributed an incredibly helpful article on advanced SUP surfing moves to the SUP Surfing E-book being serialized on Ke Nalu. great photos illustrating the moves. http:www.kenalu.com , in the how to and news sections. I'll embellish the titles with thumbnails later, right now the wife is saying dinner is on the table.

1018

Events / Race/Downwinder Board Showcase

« on: March 05, 2009, 09:15:48 AM »

The showcase test day is complete, we tested two SIC F16's (the MkI and Mk II boards), the new SIC molded F14, A Bill Foote 14 Maliko, the Bill Foote 12 Maliko, the Penetrator 572, and Naish Glide 12, with a Starboard 12'6" tossed in as a baseline standard board. That's a lot fewer boards than we intended to test, but we had some companies withdraw at the last minute due to financial constraints, and we had some participants that simply couldn't make it. The weather didn't help either--the downwinder leg had to be canceled when the wind couldn't decide whether to blow east or west. sometimes it seemed it was doing both. But we got some solid baseline data, had some big surprises, and our friend Mark (Kiwi) Jackson has come up with a brilliant idea for how to add to the knowledgebase without shipping boards all over the place.  We'll explain it later.  In the meantime, the test will be up on Ke Nalu in a few days.

1019

Downwind and Racing / Ke Nalu downwind/race board showcase

« on: February 26, 2009, 10:41:18 AM »

Here's the plan--firm unless it somehow falls apart. We've had a few setbacks on this showcase, so I'm holding my breath.

We're going to do the measuring of the boards on Monday, March 2nd, including some weighted waterline and profile measurements in my pool. we'll also do standard measurements and weigh the boards.

On Tuesday, March 3rd we'll do a BOP-style four legged course with all the boards. It will be a relatively short course so the stronger paddlers can do multiple laps with different boards. Then we'll do a south-side downwinder with a lot of board trading from Keihei wharf to Sorrentos. Then pupus and cocktails at ponohouse to debrief.

If you have a distance/race board and a GPS, and you'd like to participate, send me an email. Since a couple of board builders and shops have bailed (citing expense, which is perfectly understandable) it's going to be a pretty small selection being tested. Right now it's Penetrator, the line of stock SIC boards, Naish's new glide series, and perhaps a Bill Foote Maliko board.

I don't plan to do a Maliko run for the showcase. The forecast looks grim and the logistics suck. I'll try to do something about that later.

I'm building a do-it-yourself form for this showcase. It will be up in a week, so anyone can enter the specs and their impressions of a distance/race/downwinder board and upload GPS screen shots.

1020

Technique / Paddling out: Lift foot technique

« on: February 23, 2009, 10:04:05 PM »

this may be old hat to you more experienced folks, but i had a revelation recently, and have found it extremely useful in punching out over big waves. I've been getting over waves by paddling hard into them, then leaning back as the wave hits and pushing down with my back foot to pick the nose up. the board shoves back under you and after a few wobbles, off you go. Only problem is you fall off the back fairly often.

Recently I started trying leaning forward but keeping my wieght on the rear foot, and raising my front foot as the wave hits. It sounds clumsy, but in the dynamic environment of a wave it's easier to do than it sounds. Today I was punching out away from the channels, because with the wind up I didn't want to paddle downwind, paddle out, then paddle upwind (or vice-versa) so I just plugged out when no one was coming. the waves were head high and I was driving into either freshly broken waves or unbroken but feathering. The technique of unweighting the front foot worked amazingly well. On two occasions I would have been catching the board with my face (or at least a forearm) but having my foot in front caught the board as it rose to meet the unweighted foot. Control was easy. I'm just amazed by how well this works. took about two weeks of practice to make it feel natural, but now I do it for any size wave.

I DID get worked trying this on a wave that was too far gone. Over the falls backwards, but I managed to kick the board up and out. Still, I did two full cycles in the washing machine, the first was backwards, looping over the falls on my back, feet first, the second i got sucked up again and went sideways. OOOoof. First time I've ever dragged my board. usually the board is dragging me.