Messages

421

SUP General / Re: Any one find a creative solution to the LIFTSUP

« on: February 01, 2019, 09:38:29 AM »

The only thing with any ledge handle is they hold water untill you tip the board almost completely over.  Once in a while, I forget and get a pretty good trickle down my arm whentrowing my board on to my racks after a surf.  Not a big deal unless I had just put on a dry shirt.

That's when it pays to be a converted kayaker. We have sponges. If I only had a memory that was more reliable I would use one every time...

422

SUP General / Re: Any one find a creative solution to the LIFTSUP

« on: February 01, 2019, 05:13:41 AM »

I love my Naish ledge handle - really easy to grab quickly and so big you could sublet part of it... 

423

Random / Re: LIDAR - in a way I can relate to

« on: February 01, 2019, 03:12:36 AM »

I'm building a height control system for my 78 GMC moho using LIDAR. I tried cheaper infrared and ultrasound detectors, but they're too sensitive to interference. Lidar is rock solid, even at the very short range I'm using. The GMC's have airbag suspension and originally had automatic height control. the original height sensor and the compressor system was staggeringly complex, including regenerative air dryers, automatic calibration, and automatic mode switching for parked, driving, and leveling. Wild shit. I'd restore that system if it was present, just for the technical challenge, but previous owners tore it out and installed a simple manual compressor system. I'm restoring the original functionality with ESP32 IOT controllers and Lidar. Just a few billion dollars worth of tech to do something GMC did completely analog 47 years ago.

You made me look...
https://www.hackster.io/mjrobot/iot-made-simple-playing-with-the-esp32-on-arduino-ide-0fe58c

Cost of admission is pretty low if you are a techno dweeb with breadboards, power supplies and sensors to play with lying around. I have a little toy AV - literally; I put an H bridge motor controller and a steering servo in a dirt cheap RC car - that I can control with BT messing around with sensors. Yet another speculative side project that didn't get off the ground was a robotic runway inspector; the actual unit the maker had was big brushless DC motors run by an ESC, but I wrote the propulsion and steering code where it was easy to switch between the toy, which I could use at home, and his unit for field testing. Anyway, it might be kind of interesting  to adapt it to using the web for instructions/routes. I was playing around with the Sharp distance sensor. You can get all sorts of lower level info from it, like back scatter, to try to figure out what you are looking at - like smooth/rough and how reflective on top of how far away it is. Kind of a poor man's LIDAR, but not nearly as fully functional. But that smart camera module that could learn shapes was gaining some ground when I was last messing with it.

Might give me something to do while I can't paddle...

424

Random / Re: LIDAR - in a way I can relate to

« on: January 31, 2019, 06:41:26 AM »

That's pretty cool. A few years ago, I did some side work on a speculative project ("we're all going to be millionaires" - didn't work out that way). The guy I worked with had someone stake him to buy all the hardware and we just put in time. He built what was basically an electric jet ski that could be thrown in the water and go to a man overboard automatically. The target market was commercial fishing boats in rough cold water. They can't turn around quickly, it's easy to lose sight of the person in the water and time is at a premium because of the cold water.

I did the control boards using Arduinos. There was a beacon that just transmitted coordinates from a GPS when activated, a main control box that could joystick control the AV (plus some other functions mostly for testing) and the AV itself. They all communicated with data radios that were supposedly good to 6 miles. It was an interesting project even though it went nowhere. It could have if the investor had taken a low ball offer.

I used a GPS and tilt compensated compass on the AV plus motor controllers on twin props adjusting speeds to turn it. Some math with the coordinates gave me the bearing. When I got really close, I would go into what I called lawn mower mode, going fairly slowly back and forth across the area when the coordinates of the AV and beacon indicated I was very close so that I would get close enough so he could grab it and pull himself on without hitting him at high speed. That worked pretty well in testing.

As far as current and wind, the continual course adjustment would result in a slight arc that was direct enough not to worry about trying to tweak it.

This was fine for open ocean, but the real problem was detecting obstacles on the surface if there were waves. Both below and above water sonar bounces off the face of waves. Figuring that out was still on my to-do list when we folded the tent...

425

Sessions / Re: Winter Sessions- January 2019

« on: January 30, 2019, 07:25:38 PM »

Armchair SUP surfing usually doesn't make my bursitis ache... 

Some nice rides when the wave had a nice pattern to the break. Some of those that just crashed hard full length didn't give you a lot of options.  Brr...

426

Training, Diet, and Fitness / Re: Sugar is sneaky bad....

« on: January 30, 2019, 11:33:10 AM »

I have always been a black coffee drinker. Sometimes a skinny latte but that's rare. I also don't care for stevia. I drink a lot of water and not much else, which eliminates what is a big source of calories for a lot of people. I eat mostly lean protein. I end up with a lot of "discretionary calories". I don't want to lose much more weight, so I have to eat them. that's when I make questionable choices.

427

Training, Diet, and Fitness / Re: Sugar is sneaky bad....

« on: January 30, 2019, 09:17:35 AM »

So I started this December 21st, 2018. I survived Christmas with only one dessert. My sisters vegan dinner helped and was great BTW. Here I am now just about one month later.
I was 245 lbs.

Congratulations! That's moving along at a pretty good clip. It takes a 3500 calorie deficit to lose 1 pound of fat, so if it was all fat loss that would be a deficit of 31,500 calories for the month, meaning on average you burned 1,000 calories more than you consumed each day. It's probably actually a little less than that as it is inevitable that we lose a little bit of lean body mass also, which provides fewer calories per pound. It is a heck of a lot easier to feel full eating low calorie fiber, protein and fat than it is eating sugar.

This professor did an interesting experiment to prove it is all about calorie consumption, eating almost nothing but junk food and losing 27 pounds in 2 months:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html
What is really interesting is how much better his cholesterol counts got from losing the weight. His triglyceride level dropped dramatically. All while eating a diet that was 2/3 sweet snacks.

428

SUP General / Re: LongBoard SUP renaissance

« on: January 29, 2019, 07:22:04 PM »

SUP came from longboards.  This vid has been posted several times on the zone so what's one more?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=On-LxsGpLBw

Wow- way back in 2002...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfing#/media/File:Synchronised_surfing,Manly_beach,_New_South_Wales,_1938-46_(6519242455).jpg

Looks an awful lot like a paddle...

429

Training, Diet, and Fitness / Re: Sugar is sneaky bad....

« on: January 29, 2019, 02:36:17 PM »

I eliminated alcohol 583 days ago and I think it has helped a lot my general health. I was almost 70 pounds heavier at the time. It wasn't just giving up alcohol. I also got smarter about what and how much I ate and got more active, including paddling which I had taken a break from. I switched from kayak to SUP and caught fire with it; this is the most I have enjoyed a hobby in a long time.

I was concerned about turning 60 overweight, out of shape and drinking too much. I didn't.

I have cut back on sugar recently, but don't really want to give it up completely. The study that started the discussion showed end result of the sugar in mice was a reduction in a particular beneficial gut bacteria. Despite people eating a lot of sugar, low levels of the gut bacteria is rare. I do get most my sugar from fruit and veggies; I reduced the sweet treats. I felt great before, so it's not surprising that there hasn't been any noticeable improvement.

430

SUP General / Re: LongBoard SUP renaissance

« on: January 29, 2019, 09:41:03 AM »

Think you have to be young or small or extremely fit for your age and surf regularly  to paddle a low volume short SUP....as well as have the skills.

Boards with a bit more glide are everyone else’s friend.....

I think it is good to have a shortish board and a longer board.....personally I prefer boards around 9,5 plus on the waves I have. I just don’t get out enough too.

I am 1, maybe 2 out of 4. Actually might even be zero while in rehab for shoulder surgery. Before surgery, I was extremely fit for my age, but it's 60 so I am not young, have not surfed all that much and borderline on small at 5'8" and 155. I am drawn to the longer boards largely because I don't surf enough to have a dedicated board. So I want an all around that can surf well but isn't all that hard to surf and will paddle at a reasonable speed for group paddles on lakes and whatnot.

EDIT - I am also in NC and our summer waves are typically pretty small. I will have ample opportunity to learn to surf my 14' battleship.

431

SUP General / Re: LongBoard SUP renaissance

« on: January 29, 2019, 05:31:01 AM »

Forgive the novice, but from Badger's parallel rail comment, I take it there is a difference between longboard and long board. For instance, one board I would consider as a next board is the VESL 10'6":



After 1:30, it's mostly surfing and you can see does some quick turns and he walks the board. In the right hands (or under the right feet), it appears to be be a pretty good board for the surf. The rails are anything but parallel, though. Is that long board but not longboard?

432

SUP General / Re: Creek in Portugal - a travelogue in Vids and pics

« on: January 28, 2019, 06:44:48 PM »

Another great dose of armchair adventuring. Thanks!

433

Training, Diet, and Fitness / Re: shoulder surgery went great

« on: January 28, 2019, 12:32:26 PM »

My right shoulder, around 4 years ago, was at a levitation pain level. This one hasn't been nearly as bad. No opiates just NSAIDs, mostly because I grew a little too fond of opiates dealing with the shoulder pain 4 years ago. But it has been manageable. The muscle pains I have had since the operation are not unexpected and the doc was very pleased with how much I can move. Another 2.5 weeks in the sling, then about 2 weeks after that I will start getting some strength exercises. Just mobility in the meantime, with the PT moving it for me to slowly increase range of motions. 3 months to paddling is realistic if I am not too aggressive. He said after about 4-5 months I will be back to normal except for trying to reach between my shoulder blades in the back. That comes back the slowest. This is all assuming I do everything the PT tells me to, which is absolutely my plan.

434

Training, Diet, and Fitness / Re: shoulder surgery went great

« on: January 28, 2019, 07:52:09 AM »

Update after 10 days. Was able to start driving last week, holding the wheel at 7 o'clock with left hand when re-positioning right. Started using it a little more than I should have and had some pain. I didn't do any damage to repair, just aggravated muscles that weren't ready for action yet. Backed off. I had PT on Thursday; that's where I got the low down on the pain. See doc this afternoon for stitch removal and follow up with the pictures. I may post some of that later.

435

SUP General / Re: Can't hurt to ask.

« on: January 28, 2019, 02:50:47 AM »

Relating to RideTheGlide's preference for pov as a learning tool he had the paddle cam in there. I was watching my Assassin demo vid and noticed at one point it captured my "Shuffle" really well. lol...Always been a shuffler, never got that smooth Creek style cross step thing down.
The wave is at 03:30 incase the queue doesn't work.
https://youtu.be/HdpRgGCWQAg?t=210

That's exactly the kind of thing I am talking about - where you put your feet, how you move about, where your weight is (high/low, side to side) and how you use the paddle. The last one is a problem for the paddle cam and the others are when you need to focus on what you are doing.