Messages

61

SUP General / Re: Ten foot and over!

« on: May 21, 2018, 02:31:42 PM »

Still on my 8 year old Laird Pearson 10 6. Still the most fun board I've ever surfed.

62

Downwind and Racing / Re: Old article about why racing is declining so fast

« on: May 05, 2018, 04:16:53 AM »

It's not the length of the board. It's the engine. Always has been, always will be.

Except no, it's not. We race for two miles. You go on a nine foot surfboard, and I'll take my 18' speedboard. If I don't smoke you, you can have my board. my paddle, and my boardshorts. If I win I get your boardshorts and you walk home.

Deal?

That's a little extreme there Bill, I think you know that's not what I'm talking about. What I'm saying is, if racing follows your proposed lack of length restrictions, the small fast guys are still always going to beat the big heavy guys, ESPECIALLY if they can all show up on boards optimal for their size.

63

Downwind and Racing / Re: Old article about why racing is declining so fast

« on: May 04, 2018, 02:09:59 PM »

It's not the length of the board. It's the engine. Always has been, always will be.

64

Gear Talk / Re: The crew's quiver evolution

« on: April 25, 2018, 03:36:26 AM »

That one looks different than the Pearson Laird's that are more common with their potato-chip nose and pintail.  Is that a Ron House-shaped board?  Interestingly, I agree that a lot of the newer long-board SUP shapes are like going back to the older Pearson Arrow Laird boards which were great designs...

I believe that is the Ron House. I wasn't a fan of that board. I always felt like it was too narrow for it's length and a bit corky because of its volume. I'm not sure sure how long Laird used the House design but it wasn't long after 2008ish that he went with Pearson. The Laird Pearson Arrow by contrast is the best surfing "longboard" style SUP I've ever used. That pin tail with the razor sharp rails in back surfed off the tail like a dream. If I ever do a custom board I am going to bring my (beat to shit) 10' 6" Pearson Laird to the shaper, point to the tail and say, "I want THIS in a 9'6 x 30 x 120 L"

65

Gear Talk / Re: 2+1 for paddling to your surf spot?

« on: April 20, 2018, 10:35:40 AM »

To get to one of my favorite spots I paddle a little over a mile on my 9'6"x29 x 130L surf SUP with a 5" thruster fin set-up. It's half sunk and wants to skate like crazy but with close attention to good paddle technique it's no problem. That distance takes me about 18 minutes on that board. I consider it a good warm up. I probably wouldn't want to go a lot further though.

66

Random / Re: Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

« on: April 17, 2018, 06:45:26 AM »

The only tough thing I do is read Feynman's Lectures in Physics every five or ten years. Takes me more than a year and blows my belief in my math skills all to bits.

Oh god, don't beat yourself up for not keeping up with Feynman in math. lol You could be in the top 1% and still not even be close. Thanks for the recommended reads, I'm going to get "The Edge of Physics" today.

67

Gear Talk / Re: Stand Up Paddle Boarding with Kids

« on: April 05, 2018, 03:40:31 AM »

Ummmmmmm....?    WTH? Is this a late April Fool's joke? Sorry man but that is one of (oh there have been others) the dumbest things I've seen show up in SUP over the last 10 years. There is nothing worse than paddling a board that has nylon straps running under it. The board is essentially unpaddleable. Also, no one develops balance by holding onto a fixed support. You and the kid will both be MUCH better off if you just give the kid a paddle.

68

Random / Re: Tax/accoutant question

« on: March 30, 2018, 04:13:30 PM »

Thanks guys. I have an appointment to go have another chat with the tax guy next week. I appreciate the responses.

69

Random / Tax/accoutant question

« on: March 29, 2018, 12:41:56 PM »

Last year I sold two things on eBay and collected payment via PayPal. One was a kokatat dry suit that I purchased 11 years ago for $1200. I sold it for last Spring for $650. The other item that I sold was a new Garmin gps that I bought at REI for $350 then sold a couple months later on eBay for exactly the same $350. PayPal reported that $1000 to the IRS as income. I had to pay income tax on that to the tune of $275. The accountant who did my taxes said yep that's how it works. WHAT!!!??? How the phuck can that be the way it works? What am I missing here?

70

SUP General / Re: Price to surf Slater's Ranch.....

« on: March 19, 2018, 12:52:04 PM »

Maybe I'm wrong (and with all due respect) I don't think the flat screen tv analogy applies here at all. Most of the initial cost of the tvs was to recover costs for R&D and setting up the manufacturing infrastructure to make them. Once that was out of the way the actual tv's are probably pretty cheap to make. I can't see anything like that with these wave pools. Real estate is real estate- it ain't cheap and isn't going to become cheap in say Chicago just because 2 or 3 or 4 other cities have wave pools. Same with the actual construction of each successive pool. There is no economy of scale here. Each one costs what it costs- to build and to run. Furthermore, the market for flat screen hi def tv's was always going to be in the 10's if not 100's of millions. Not so with a wave pool, especially if you are running only 12 people through per hour. This thing is a gimmick. Do not expect one to show up at a town near you. I expect to see this one silently growing algae like the Chernobyl cooling pond before too long. That's just me though.

71

SUP General / Re: Price to surf Slater's Ranch.....

« on: March 16, 2018, 07:07:22 PM »

72

NorthEast / Re: Anybody hit 1st Beach today?

« on: March 11, 2018, 12:22:29 PM »

Yep, there will be no surfing Tuesday.

73

NorthEast / Re: Anybody hit 1st Beach today?

« on: March 09, 2018, 10:45:33 AM »

I had a great “sick day” last Tuesday somewhere in lil Rhody, why not double down? The forecast looks great at this point but we are supposed to be enjoying another nor easter on Monday/Tuesday so keep an eye on that.


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74

Downwind and Racing / Re: Negligent Operations... seriously!?!?

« on: March 08, 2018, 05:58:15 PM »

When offshore I carry both a phone and a vhf. The each have different benefits. The biggest plus to the vhf is that if you make a call it's likely that LOTS of people hear you. If you use a phone, only the person you calls gets it. I was off Sakonnet Point RI a few years ago and watched a large wave flip a 28' work skiff that was tied up in a very bad spot to an offshore lighthouse. Three workers got dumped and were swimming and unable to get back to solid ground. We called a mayday on the vhf. CG in Newport immediately answered but were not able to get to our position for I think about 45 minutes. But because most boats and local fire rescue departments monitor emergency channel 16 we had two private pleasure craft show up within 10 minutes. They were able to get the swimmers off our kayaks and out of the water. Middletown FD and Portsmouth FD both had boats there within 20 minutes. A phone call to a single agency would not have gotten that response that quickly.

75

SUP General / Re: Rhode Island winter SUP video

« on: March 08, 2018, 02:44:14 PM »

so david levy is sup friendly??

I know there are several Levy shaped custom SUPs out there. Some of them might even have other brand's stickers on them. If you look close enough.