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Topics - 14 West

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16
SUP General / Mini session in the rain
« on: November 24, 2012, 09:29:45 AM »
Rain kept the camera away for the better part of the session as the swell built, but still captures the lumpy, current infested surf that was had yesterday.

I am insanely jealous of you guys who get to wear boardshorts.

Lumpy Lefts in November

17
Gear Talk / What is a good prone (gulp) board to compliment my SUP's
« on: November 07, 2012, 08:10:16 PM »
Yup, I am thinking of doing it lying down from time to time just to add some variety and be able to do some undercover recon at more conversational spots before taking the SUP. However I have no clue as to what board I am going to have more fun on than either of my SUP's, so I am not sure if this can "slot" in between. So maybe something that is just all-around? Lately I've been riding the 8' Pro in conditions as gross as 15+ knots, when I almost had no choice but to prone it to make headway upwind, so where I thought wind might force me back on my belly, it almost doesn't anymore.

Ideas?

Currently have a Starboard 8' x 28" Pro and a Starboard 8'5" x 30" Pocket Rocket. I'm 6'1" and 187ish lbs. with what I would consider decent surfing skill.

18
Sessions / Canada Sessions
« on: September 23, 2012, 03:23:03 PM »
Cox Bay yesterday. More beautiful south swell, warm air and water... and almost October! Little bit closey at times, but if you found a shoulder it was amazing.


19
Sessions / Labour Day in Canada
« on: September 05, 2012, 11:01:13 PM »
South swell showed up thick and heavy, from chest to maybe 7-8' on the rarest biggies, with a crazy period over 20 seconds most of the time. Most of it was closing out, sometimes you found a shoulder and ran. Depending on the tide you might score a wicked shoulder for 30 minutes before it went away.

Fog rolled in thick for a good chunk of the weekend making the break invisible from the beach, but these are a few nice ones. Photo credits to Lisa Riehl.






20
SUP General / Rare positive vibes from Surfers
« on: August 26, 2012, 10:24:24 PM »
This was surprising to me, so I thought I'd share.

I was out at Cox Bay in Tofino yesterday morning in glassy head high conditions under a relentless sun, doing my best to make up for the depressing lack of waves the South Island (4 hours away where I live) suffers through over the summer. Cox Bay is a notoriously localized place when it gets good; in the summer conditions are mellower, so that is rare and you'll even see a lot of surf schools here, but on decent summer days there can still be hoardes of aggro-types out. Anyways, long story short, there I was tearing around on my 8' Pro with complete with a rasta colored deck pad so as to attract as much unwanted attention as possible, and this confrontational looking surfer paddles over towards me, I knew to expect a big "F-U" or the like, but instead something strange happened, the guy says "I've never seen someone shred a paddle board so hard brah." I said thanks, and he paddled off.

It was like a scene from the twilight zone.

Anyways, thought I'd share.

21
SUP General / Windsurf/SUP Video from the Oregon Coast
« on: July 21, 2012, 05:54:25 PM »
Here's a mini documentary we made covering a trip a bunch of us Canadians took down the Oregon coast last month to windsurf and SUP surf. Hope you enjoy.


22
Sessions / Oregon Coast Info
« on: June 25, 2012, 03:34:37 PM »
This might be fools fishing but...

I'm heading down later this week for some windsurfing and SUP surfing. Been going a few years now, so I know some of the obvious surf spots, but it sure would be nice to check out some new breaks. If anyone feels inclined to share a few secrets PM me please. In return I offer you the same information should you come up to Vancouver Island.

Thanks in advance.

23
Gear Talk / Starboard Pocket Rocket vs. 8'0" PRO
« on: June 21, 2012, 09:42:13 AM »
There aren't enough comparisons like this around, so here's my part to contribute information to those who are looking to downsize but aren't sure how low you can go (I'm 185 lbs).

Check out how much more rocker the PRO has and the size difference in the tip. I'd say that is where 15L of the extra 20L hangs out. The tails widths are quite similar until about 5" before the end where the swallow tail of the PR stays wide where the PRO goes squash. The thickness however varies greatly, midway the PR has much thicker round rails, whereas towards the tail the PR is actually thinner with a sharper rail from about 6" to the back. Which is probably why it loves to turn off the tail, I am hoping the PRO is going to be much better at carving on it's rails. Biggest difference underfoot so far is that the PRO has a slightly curved deck as the volume is very central which just feels so weird when you are used to the PR which has a nearly flat deck.

First Test

First test in real waves, big ones too. Not a perfect test, since I only caught 4 or 5 before I knocked off one of the thrusters on a boulder.

This board is insane! It's almost like relearning how to SUP in many ways. The boils and current at secret overhead glassy a-frame bet you didn't know that existed in Canada spot made it signficantly harder to stay standing on when compared to other spots or paddling around flat water in 1' chop. I'm sure my balance will continue to improve as I get used to it though. Sometimes I did find myself wishing I was on the PR, and able to just stand there and pay attention to the sunset instead of not falling, once on the wave though... all worth it.

Dropping in requires some different technique, especially when missing a thruster. You can't just square up to the wave and haul ass as the board will tend to turn, and even the slightest rail pressure once you are moving carves the board. Instead you have to be a bit more critical (but you can still enter the wave well before the longboarders were), and get into the surf stance as quick as possible to counteract the rowing motion. On really early entries you can stay in a offset side foot stance, but you have to really pay attention to weighting the rail on the side you are paddling on to keep tracking straight.

Unlike the PR, which turns off the tail with more of a long board style, this thing shreds just like a shortboard. You set yourself with a wide stance and there is no walking the board required at all. The rails dig in oh so nice and you can pull off super snappy turns, or nice drawn out ones. It's noticeably faster than the PR, scary at times, but stays planted and controllable, once you get used to the twitchiness (which took awhile at those speeds). A really good short boarder would be loving this thing. It was possible to float the lips, slash harder and quicker than the PR, all without the feeling of a pendulum swinging in front of you as you turn. On the PR if I would carve a hard top turn I'd often have to take a few steps forward to drop back in on this wave, whereas the PRO hits the top, turns around and just slides back in. Pump this board and it takes off like a rocket ship with very little flex.










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