Topics

286

Events / Battle of the Paddle California- Bring it On!

« on: September 19, 2011, 06:50:17 PM »

Ok, so I'm actually training for the distance race Sunday. Did 30 miles last week, doing the San Clemente Pier tomorrow in the morning. Haven't seen anyone else out there other than T-Max. A lot of pros practicing at Doheny for the elite gladiator brawl-smash down! Not for me and my own board I care about. I'm more the 20k distance type, who likes to find a groove, and can't afford to have his board smashed. It will be huge this year. Already have run into a bunch of out-of-towners, in town for the race.  See you there.

287

Sessions / Surfing with Legends. So cool.....

« on: June 21, 2011, 02:37:23 PM »

This morning I was SUP surfing at SanO, and I found myself amongst a handfull of lengendaries. Ron House, Steve Boehne, Mike Muir, 'Sparky' Langley, and the king himself 'Jerry Lopez'. There were only a handful of locals out. It was glassy and the dolphins were playing in the waves right next to us. Took off on a left, and Jerry (Lopez) went right. That repeated a few times, and I felt the moment. I can picture Jerry surfing Pipeline with the lightning bolt board on a poster, on my bedroom wall when I was a kid. To share a few waves with him today, was just awsome!

288

SUP General / Warning- new submerged rocks at south side of river mouth at Doheny..

« on: June 19, 2011, 11:00:35 PM »

Friday the swell was up and Doheny was breaking. I had it all to myself for a couple hours. As the tide dropped I was getting longer rights. About 50 to 75' off the shore (inline with the south side of the river mouth), I cut out and landed on a big submerged rock. It cut my leg up pretty good. The large sand bar left over from the winter storms is getting eroded away and exposing all the rocks and boulders that used to line the river banks. The state LG said they are probably going to just post dangerous rocks signs. Their protocol is to not try to remove a 'natural hazard', but just warn people, and let nature run it's course. As my friend said," your leg will heal, just think if your fin box had been ripped out!" I was thinking, it could have been my face.

289

SUP General / LA Times story on SUP and 'paddleboard racing history'.

« on: June 12, 2011, 10:39:38 AM »

Cool story in today's LA Times local section..   http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pier-paddle-20110612,0,4206857.story

290

Downwind and Racing / Beat so bad you want to sell the board!

« on: June 09, 2011, 02:31:46 PM »

I just recently had my butt kicked harder than it has ever been in a race.  I wondered why I was even paying $$ to do that to myself? It wasn't so much my personal performance (I'd like to think), as it was the conditions. The race was supposed to be 8 miles for the unlimited boards (me), 6 for the 14', and 4 miles for the stock class. The 8 miles was more like 9. something I heard. The first thing I noticed  at the start, was there was only about 10 guys doing the unlimited race out of about 80. The first 4 are pretty much the top 4 in the US. They beat everybody's butt by a mile. Me and another guy are the only non-team weekend warriors. They start the race late so the wind is picking up. 2.5 miles down the coast paddling one side only with a 14 knot side wind. Side winds are just brutal on 18'+ boards. I was wishing I had a little stock board. Round the buoy 2.5 back up the coast paddling one side only, then do it all over again. 2 hours of hell. All the short course people had left and gone to the awards party as me the the other weekend sucker rode the last wave to the finish. I though, if I'd had a stock board I could have been at the party, but instead I could barely lift my board on to my car. I went home, took a handfull of advil, and thought about selling my unlimited board. It was so much fun just SUP surfing at SanO today. I could quite a surfing quiver if I sold my race board, but you got to "get back on the horse!" Right?

291

Sessions / Paddle surfing to a live Blues Concert! Last chance today!

« on: May 22, 2011, 01:54:45 PM »

I caught the tail end of the South Swell that hit SoCal this week. Yesterday afternoon, I was paddle surfing at Doheny with only two other guys (3' to 6'). The 'Blues festival is going on this weekend, and the stage is pointed right at the break. It was front row surfing at it's best. If you have a state park parking pass, and a board on your car, they will wave you in even though the parking shows "full to the Event'. Low tide is about 5pm. The stars will align; John Fogerty, Big Head Blues Club, The original Blasters, etc. and there is still traces of the swell. Don't miss it, best lineup in town.....

292

The Shape Shack / Piercing Bows...What works and where?

« on: May 09, 2011, 10:50:42 PM »

Thought I'd start some dialog regarding 'piercing bows'. They've been around for ages, so why doesn't everyone use them? What's good about them? How do you see using them in your design? I have one on my open water unlimited board. I been trying to understand the subtle aspects of the concept for over a year now. It's just starting to make sense to me now. I've paddled my board for almost a year. I find myself just staring at the point of the bow, watching how I enters the water in all conditions. After seeing some of the recent posts about piercing bow designs, I wanted to share some of the functions that I think are key to making it work effectively. Here is a picture of a piercing bow that I annotated. Thoughts?

293

Events / Warerman's Applied Science Race -Saturday-30th at Doheny State Beach

« on: April 28, 2011, 04:20:57 PM »

FYI, 2 or 6 mile open ocean race with a surf finish. All SUP's and Prone divisions. Check-in by 7 am. Race starts at 8 am. Beat the head wind....I'll be there.....The return leg should have some good bump. Did it today and got some good rides.   http://doit4humanity.org/paddle/dana-point/

294

Gear Talk / Getting into unlimited class boards.

« on: April 11, 2011, 12:52:54 AM »

Bigger is always better, right? I'll just say once you've gone into the unlimited racing boards, it's very hard to go back to anything shorter. I'm a big and tall guy who by chance got to race a 16' board my first race. It seemed like a good fit for my size (6'7" -245#). As I got more into the racing, I started paddling in the ocean 30 miles a week, if not more. A local SUP company offer to let me race one of their 18'6 unlimited's. I thought this is it. I mean this all carbon board was the bomb. The more I paddled it, I gain a sense of how it worked in different situations. Then I paddled and raced on a few different unlimiteds, and payed attention to the positive design configurations of each one. Time to build one for me. I now weigh 218# thanks to a lot of paddlng. I went to Hobie and asked them if they would build a one-off unlimited to fit me. Hobie's shaper/designer Mark Johnson sat down with me, and we worked out a board design that is all me. I love it more and more as I figure out where to stand in different conditions. It's 18'6" x 28 x 8" (but really about 25" wide wetted area in flat water), 1 # foam stringerless, carbon top (painted white with my blue caution stripes) and glass bottom. It wieghs 36#. Unlimited's have a glide that 14' and 12'6 boards don't. It takes a longer stroke, and you have to pay attention to the glide. Here are some pic's...

295

Events / Baby Beach at risk of being partially replaced by new boat docks!

« on: March 29, 2011, 03:39:16 PM »

The Dana Point Harbor Revitalization Planners are planning on moving all the Youth Docks over to the Baby Beach side, and eliminating that side of Baby Beach. They want to make more money by leasing out the existing youth docks. The turn basin will shrink considerably, as well as our beginners SUP area. This hurts everyone that does beach launches there. They are having a meeting on this Wednesday the 30th at 6:00 pm in the Youth Dock Multi-purpose room. I will be be there to voice my opposition. Join me and save Baby Beach!

296

Gear Talk / HUKI sup's in the works.......

« on: March 26, 2011, 09:15:36 PM »

Anyone that was at the Hano Hano race this year saw the very first 2 HUKI sup's. They were really just test boards, and the shapes were a mix of a racing square tail with a sort of semi nose rider / rounded displacement? I just talked to Jude (of Huki) today, and he told me they've cast the mould for a 14' race board. The 12'6 is next, then an unlimited. Huki's glass work is always beautiful, and they are design masters with OC's and Surfski's. I can't wait to see what they come up with. Maybe my next 14'? 

297

Downwind and Racing / If paddling on your knees during a race, aren't you throwing in the towel?

« on: March 20, 2011, 12:03:05 AM »

The ocean was very messy during a recent race. High winds and capping big cross swell left me check balancing and stuggling keep upright. I pulled it off, but it wasn't pretty. A number of less experienced paddlers dropped to their knees and paddled on their knees until returning to calmer waters. A handfull of these knee paddlers stood around at the trophy presentation to see if they had made the cut in their division. I thought to myself "isn't this a Stand Up Paddle race?" If I drop to my knees (or get dunked) during a race, and paddle for any more stokes than I need  to get back to my feet, I would disqualify myself. I would probably still be interested in my time, but I would take myself out of the running for sure! Would you?