Messages

1501

SUP General / Re: If you were too old/weak to surf a SUP, would you surf a waveski?

« on: December 30, 2015, 05:57:32 AM »

I'm old and now drag my left foot ..but not weak. Far from it. Stand Up has made me 2-3X more flexible and fit than a decade of kiting. I tried a surf-specific kayak 20yrs ago. My popup was soooo bad that I needed something for our short period waves.

Sold it not long after - the bugger flipped easily in shorebreak and the first time you hit your head on the bottom, you see images of Christopher Reeves ..not stars.  I cannot imagine not being able to stand ..on some kind of water?! I can imagine moving to an area with a kinder wave .."My wave DJ!"

Jim

1502

Gear Talk / Re: Sunova - initial dry land impression

« on: December 29, 2015, 07:44:06 AM »

SA,  I pretty much think your Minuses are spot on.  The handle works Ok.. it simply makes me nervous when picking the board out of shore pound; I image my wrist being broken if the board flips back... (having done that 3X.. I'm a little sensitive) The XXX is something I will cover.  I see it as a symbol the general public considers sexually aggressive and not relative to the sport.  I understand 'branding' but there is soooo much about this wonderful board that is as obvious as 'Naish Yellow'.. it's overkill.  (besides, the logo is already big on the bottom)



And even not riding it, you pretty much called the Pluses also.   I am so glad they made this 9-5, 32" wide.  As I will never be Mr. Slice-n-Splash, stability is far more important to me.  The cool part ..the board still trims and turns like a real surfboard unlike some of the foam slabs I have had.

Jim

1503

Gear Talk / Re: Project: building a SUP airline bag

« on: December 24, 2015, 06:51:32 AM »

EB,  That's good thinking!  I built bags to go to Cabarete with kites/boards ...even made one for a saddle. (locals sit on what felt like 2x4s)  So, I am off on a new tack....



I have a couple small rolls of really gnarly Cordura ..like 2000d with heavy urethane.  About a year ago I got to buy some overage of high quality felt when some big hotel overlooking the Hudson in NJ did a remodel.  I'll put a slick nylon over the felt so it doesn't turn into sandpaper. This will be the bottom.






If you're anywhere near a packaging house they throw out 'skins' ..like the best parts?!  This is thin but dense EVA. it will chip, but I won't bother to cover it.  The top will carry the paddles (TBD...)  More soon.

1504

Travel, Trips, Destinations / Re: Punta Cana and the eastern Dominican Republic

« on: December 23, 2015, 06:34:10 AM »

Accommodations in Punta Cana appear to be dominated by 'all inclusive' resorts, acting like stationary cruise ships. Searching for small resort properties or B&Bs is difficult.  The few B&Bs I found were clearly sub-optimal for anyone over 22 years old.  One's architecture looked interesting but bars on all windows/door and no hot water gave the impression they modeled the building after a Turkish jail.
 
So far the best accommodations seem to come off Airbnb. There are plenty of individual (non-room sharing) condos available for <U$200.  On Airbnb, one may have visions of a Danish divorcee without cats with a room to spare.. but I am bringing my wife.

One real advantage ..over even 10yrs ago, is you are not simply renting a car and heading off to No Man's Land. Airbnb provides a general map location of each property that you can further refine opening a new Google Map of the area.  Google Maps has a satellite feature that has photographs at the bottom with tags. You can get a pretty complete impression of the area's infrastructure. General appearances seem much improved compared to my trips to Cabarete in the early 2000s.

Jim

1505

Gear Talk / Re: Project: building a SUP airline bag

« on: December 22, 2015, 09:53:03 AM »

Thanks Rick...but I simply don't trust conventional 'bags'. Yet, PB is probably right about the level of prospective abuse by the machines of a freight company compared to hands of an airline.  Jorge, Yours looks pretty effective, but I am a 'Bob the Builder' type who cannot stop at 'reasonable'.

Dwight, I probably didn't get this bright idea in the middle of the night. More likely, I parked your design in my head in the event I need a good idea in the future.  After seeing your pics.. I'm pretty sure I have seen them before.

So, Here's where I got with this..  and will abandon at this point.



I got pretty decent front/back sections.  I used both screws and banding to help keep the foam parts together.  I am fairly sure they will not simply collapse because they form well and the board would provide internal support.  It's the mid section I don't like.  I got the paddles pretty well supported and they would protect the deck. The bottom and side rails are a problem; I don't see the side rails lasting 10 minutes.  Had I done a 2pc like Dwight.. more likely. 

Of course I had to make a coffin bag to hold all this Chit anyway, so my new tack is to make a bag with room around the perimeter for 'shaped inserts'. I have a a few foam options for the top/bottom ..even some of the heavy, bubble pack bags MISTRAL used ship boards in back in the day.

I won't start another threat but it may be next week before I have something to show.  Cheers/Happy Holidays all. 

Jim

1506

Gear Talk / Project: building a SUP airline bag

« on: December 21, 2015, 09:22:58 AM »

I simply won't make the spare time to gamble on jumping in the car and driving 18hrs to FL to discover it's blown out for the next 3,4,5 days. (did that once - came home next day)  There are some wonderful places in Panama and CR, but it's typically 4 days consumed in travel and I want to take a board.  A 2-day travel time and a cooperating carrier at a Balto/Philly airport limits me to PR or the Dominican.  Pretty sure I could find a roto BIC and metal paddle to rent.. Naaaah.  So before I look for a condo, I want to make sure I can 'tote my kit'.

Board is a 8-5 Sunnova Skate XL.  ..a wonderful board for me as my balance skills are poor.  I've had big thick boards and find them even more difficult and far less surfy.   In my dreams I'd take my Sunnova Speed 9-5 ...but in another dream I see the pronounced kick-nose folded back onto the deck.  So I'm building a bag for this more level shape.

(two reasons to post this.. 1/ share ..2/ when you live/work in a cave all you hear are echoes.  If you spot some massive error or have another idea I'd dearly love to hear it.)





It must also accommodate two paddles.




I use a sticky paper, vinyl lettering people call 'pre-mask', to make templates.






Transfer the sticky paper to cardboard - cut out full-size templates adding allowances to extend rail width.  I bought both 2" and 1" 3M board (blue) ...but decided, as this bag would be about 35/36" wide already, I didn't want to make it too thick  ..besides there were two paddles needing to be accommodated.  The green is 1/2"






So far my regrets are ..not using the 1" blue to make side walls.  I could have made plywood-like laminations..  The adhesive is wrong.  I am an impatient Fuc, and this Chit is slow to go off!  It's like I have to wait three days to see how easily it fails ..or works.  But, I've mummied the board fairly well.  ..more soon.

Jim

1507

Technique / Re: Another great instructional stroke video. SIC's Tommy Buday.

« on: December 19, 2015, 01:43:18 PM »

Glo,  Ya... but.  There's a lot of these, so when you put one together details matter.  100deg is not 90.. And it may be a
Québécois thing but Blade, Shaft, Blade, Blade, Blade... gets confusing.  It's also hard to properly display paddle handling skills on flat ground.   

..and too little time on the water.  This video of him, to my thinking, albeit longer than I was interested in watching, tells/shows me a helluva lot more.  ..just an opinion.




Jim

1508

Gear Talk / Re: Really Good Sale on Riviera Paddles

« on: December 19, 2015, 08:39:17 AM »

Mind you guys... I would not have done a re-shape on a $400 paddle. I  found another brand I really like also: Werner. I got a deal on a Grand Prix.

I was put off by the demo-dufus they use in their videos vs. a real guy like Jim Terrell of Quickblade but this also is a great paddle.  'Got a really nice non-slip shaft, comfortable handle. I have this and a KeNalu for flatwater.. the Werner is much better balanced with a better handle, but the big Nalu blade is really nice to tug on.


Jim

1509

Gear Talk / Re: Really Good Sale on Riviera Paddles

« on: December 18, 2015, 02:27:03 PM »

Picked up one called the R9 Accelerator <$200.  Light as a feather but had a wide, bag-a-Chit-sitting-on-a-table shape.  Put it on the grinder, cut it down to 8.25" and rounded it out to look more like a Methane.  It's got a nice thick shaft, very comfortable handle...  Excellent paddle.  Here it is..

http://www.rivierapaddlesurf.com/products/riviera-accelerator-carbon-fiber-sup-paddle


Jim

1510

SUP General / Re: What makes someone a wave hog?

« on: December 17, 2015, 02:59:41 PM »

I envy wave hogs..  in our shifty peaked washing machine they usually have developed the skills to make surfing look like fun. They read waves like some kid from China reads Harvard mathbooks.  We have a guy Dave, get's 98% of what he strokes for. Big board, mostly down-the-line, but has fun all day.

I hate other wave hogs.. one shop owner/ESA surfer 20yrs ago ..while I'm sitting well off the pack waiting for my ..perhaps single opportunity at a clean shoulder, would paddle like Chit to get around/outside me and shout 'Coming thru!' ..or somesuch. Azzhole.  He knew I was old flatlander/newbie/wannabe and took advantage of it.  (funny - some things you never forget.)

Jim

1511

Travel, Trips, Destinations / Re: Punta Cana and the eastern Dominican Republic

« on: December 15, 2015, 01:40:53 PM »

DC.. Never went into Puerto Plata... but seeing arm guards in Cabarete and having been told; "Don't walk west around the point." pretty much gave us a heads-up.  We could walk from kite beach to town each evening without much worry because there were so many others doing same. 

All Central America can be as sketchy as walking Detroit after dark. Police waved us over twice in CR ..perhaps for having light hair.  One of our local surgeons with wife+3 kids ...stopped for lunch about an hour outside San Jose - some nice folks completely cleaned out their car for them while they ate.  Another local had a house in Nosara, completely boarded up when not there ..he had a new, glassless skylight upon return.  Problems can be found in the most idyllic places. 

My wife was born/raised in the Canal Zone and was in Panama for 10 days a month ago.  She was with a friend who imported coffee from Boquete and a couple other ladies.  Especially in Panama City - they always hire a driver and have the phone number of a fixer.  I suspect, compared to El Salvador or Honduras, Panama is more like Long Island  ..but there are still serious risks  ..the remains of two young women were found in the jungle close to Boquete in 2014.  They came from the Netherlands to attend a language school.  ..and another young guy a couple of years before that.
 


Jim

1512

Travel, Trips, Destinations / Punta Cana and the eastern Dominican Republic

« on: December 14, 2015, 12:08:18 PM »

I wanted to start a new thread because there seems to be pretty good potential for water rats in the eastern end of the DR. Punta Cana seems to be best known for All-inclusive, packaged holidays and has a very busy airport. It's attractive to me because Frontier Airlines carries boards from Philadelphia.  And, 'package people' do not show up with 5 kites/3boards like folks in Cabarete. I've learned a few things so far....

A friend, Ralph Sammis who has Private Label Systems and has sewn surfwear for 20yrs in Nica, China and S.Florida, is working in Juan Dolio ..which is about 1/2hr E. of Santo Domingo (the capitol city) ..on the Caribbean Sea (South) side. He flys Spirit Airlines out of Ft Lauderdale.  (Spirit had cheap flights to Managua, NICA ..but at 3am)  His flights into Santo Domingo depart at 11am.

Having been to both Puerto Rico and the Dominican, I have never heard any favorable talk of South exposures of either island… but Ralph says he gets a soft shoulder (calls it a 'Florida wave') wave out front virtually every day, shoulder-to-head is not unusual. He said it also seems a little less windy this year ..perhaps due to el Nino.  (today's wind below)

https://www.windyty.com/?18.577,-69.109,10


As a lifelong surfer, he's also spotted a wave he thinks is special ...near the commercial container port in Boca Chica. It's a RH point break.  In either case, there is nobody on these waves.  He has no need to go to Punta Cana but heard from another surfer friend about Punta Terrenas.

Punta Terrenas is about 1/2 way between Puerto Plata and Punta Cana airports on the Samana thumb that sticks out east on  the northside of the DR.  If you do a Wiki search, it looks like a place you want to retire ..if you don't have health issues.

More later...  (and please fill in gaps and/or add to on any eastern locations)

Jim

1513

SUP General / Re: Leash question...does color effect durability?

« on: December 13, 2015, 12:32:33 PM »

SF, Carbon (Black) retards UV degradation ..lasts longer (depending on the base chemistry).   Mother Nature did the lab work; nobody on the Equator looks like anybody from Finland.   

But, even on a FL rental barge ...its longevity is pocket change compared to same money spent at Starbucks?! 

Jim

1514

SUP General / Re: What does your SUP carrying vehicle look like...?

« on: December 11, 2015, 02:23:50 PM »

SG50,   Very intelligent car ..and another the U.S./Canada will not get to drive.  In 2013, this diesel/electric hybrid was among three selected in New York for 'World Green Car of the Year'.  We are on our third Volvo wagon, V70.  It rides like a Citroen DS.
All my wife's friends ask her to drive...

Jim

1515

Gear Talk / Re: Mistral carbon fiber paddle snapped as I paddled for wave.

« on: December 05, 2015, 02:15:38 PM »

LB S, A big, strong fireman friend is going to bring me the remains of three paddles (not seen yet to know mfgr/s.) he's busted this summer. Said he did them all stroking for a wave.  I fell on an oval shafted, Kialoa and had to splice it.  ..'gotta keep a spare in the truck.

Jim