Topics

166

Gear Talk / Measuring Board Speed & Data Collection

« on: November 30, 2015, 08:44:04 AM »

My daughter has decided to use SUP in her 7th grade science experiment.  The objective is to determine the different performance of paddles on board speed.  Bless her heart.

I have a number of GoPro cameras but suspect that there is something that will better measure speed, acceleration and collect data than playing back strokes on the GoPro and comparing distance over time.

Probably lots of options but if there is something I can order today that would get here for the weekend and cover 80% of my needs I would be excited.  If it had future potential too that would be great.

167

SUP General / For the good of SUP

« on: November 06, 2015, 03:55:34 PM »

In my fraternity days we used to end our weekly house meetings by forming a circle.  The president would then ask “Is there anything to be said for the good of the brotherhood?”  We would go around the circle giving each member the opportunity to say a quick thing about what was good that day, that week, or something that he was looking forward to related to the brotherhood.  After the last person had spoken we would conclude the meeting with song and adjourn.

In light of recent posts about sickness and leash yanks, injury, stink-eye, pfd’s and water log I thought I would take this chance to say:

Thank the Laird for SUP!

Today is my 6th SUP birthday (anniversary).  This also marks the 4th anniversary of my SUP carrying bicycle.  4,700 miles later, riding to and from my local breaks, I haven’t used my car to go surfing in years . . I rejoice. 

Slightly more than 3 years ago I started counting waves adding to 7,248 through this morning.  Extrapolating this out tallies to a lifetime SUP wave count of 13,258.  From 1 to 25+ feet these have been the smallest and grandest waves of my life, solo and tandem.   In fact 45% of the time there has been no- one else in the lineup.  How awesome.

I will add to this fairytale some photographic support.
The first photo was from a few weeks ago.  The buoys were 8 ft @ 15 seconds & I was prepared for size but the swell just kept coming.  I was out with 6 other good surfers and they were struggling to catch waves.  There were people lined up on the cliff watching one of them took this picture with their iPhone.   While I was out the swell built to 11 ft @ 15 seconds, it was macking.  The speck on the wave was me.  When I came in the report from the cliff was “You were killing it out there no-one else caught any waves.”  I caught 15 waves that morning – Praise to the Paddle.

Last week I was snapping pictures from the peak catching Dave in the pit, and then myself down-the-line barking at the moon.
 
Last month a fog bow enshrouded the take-off, the other day a dolphin was checking me out.

Just this morning when things were too flat to surf I was out catching Zero Foot California swell with, and without, friends going right and going left thanking Laird for the gift of SUP.

168

SUP General / Scared of Big Waves? Wear Sneakers

« on: October 30, 2015, 04:27:17 PM »

It was opening day at Mavericks on Wednesday. 

I saw a picture of a Sasquatch on a SUP with one hand on the paddle on a beater board in a puke green wetsuit and thought "Who the heck is that?"

Then I noticed the sneakers.  That would be Haley.

He was wearing them a few months ago after he walked his gear to the water and just left them on.  I thought it was his small wave novelty trick.  He swears by them now.  I think he prefers Asics. 

Considering he is among the top 10 in total lifetime Mavericks wave count he might be on to something.

169

Gear Talk / Paddle Recommendations: 1 Piece, Light, Beater for $100 ???

« on: July 20, 2015, 08:18:06 AM »

I spend time in Eastern Connecticut during the summer.  This means SUP'ing flat water hitting rocks with kids, dogs and fish. My whole SUP life changes from performance surf gear to floaty plastic boards and blades that can push off of rocks.

5 years ago I purchase a $75 aluminum 1 piece paddle that weighed 2+ lbs.  I broke it yesterday on a mildly hard stroke, snapped in the middle.

I am a huge KeNalu fan on the West Coast but realize there may be an alternative 1 piece Carbon solution for ~ $100 that could still be light.  Ideally a plastic blade would handle the kid abuse and rock launches.

Any suggestions?

PS:  I have retired 1 older Kenalu to the East Coast and use it for performance cruises.  I would consider cobbling together some XTuff parts for a second blade but this could be as expensive as 3 paddles IF there is an inexpensive 1 piece carbon alternative.  & I am slightly averse to the 2 and 3 piece models because of the weight penalty.

170

The Shape Shack / Paddle Shaft Repair LIGHTWEIGHT: 18 grams

« on: June 04, 2015, 06:33:06 AM »

I fixed this paddle shaft with no dowels and without clean fiber to line up.

The break severely fractured both ends on the shaft (Item 1).  The material looked compromised so I cut off ¾” of an inch as perfectly square as I could.  I then gently sanded the ends to fit in the most aligned, straight way possible.  I rotated the two shaft ends until the alignment was as close to straight as I could make it.  I then marked the alignment with thin strips of white electrical tape (Item 2 & 3).

Rather than fumble with a dowel, or insert, I took the example from surfboard design and built a plug out of a block of Styrofoam (Item 2).   The idea was minimize weight, not necessarily to add strength and serve as a substrate to temporarily hold the two halves together.   I applied a light coating of epoxy to the last half inch of foam on both sides and pressed the two halves together (Item 3) holding it vertical with foam in a wood vice against padding on the ground.   I attempted to make the re-connected shaft as straight as possible.

The result is shown in Item 4.  I applied 2 strips of masking tape 4” from the break to be able to identify the center after applying carbon.

Starting weight:  172.1 grams

171

Gear Talk / The Best Board Carrier for $1.50

« on: May 24, 2015, 08:43:53 AM »

My favorite surf spot is ¼ mile from the closest parking.  It also requires walking up and down a 150 ft hill / cliff.

Over the past 5 years I have carried my board more than 500 times up and down this hill.  I developed several designs to carry boards and have settled on this 10th generation concept. 

It is simple, light, tote-able, inexpensive, comfortable and will secure your paddle in the event of breaking your surfboard leash.

Design Specifications:

•   8’ 6” Paracord = 102”
•   24” Nylon Webbing 1 1/2" wide
•   1 Sewn Loop
•   1 bowline
•   1 Wrap knot

Use an overhand wrap on the webbing.  Pass paracord through wrap.   Tie off with bowlines.   The resulting length of the loop pulled taught is 47”.  48” – 49” for taller people or larger boards.
Total Cost ~ $1.50.

172

SUP General / Look What I found on the Beach

« on: May 20, 2015, 09:23:43 PM »

There are mayflies in the Chesapeake and icebergs in Cape Cod Bay.  Southern California has some baby whites harassing the SUP’ers in Huntington Beach . . .

This morning I found this on my beach.

No one is sure what happened to this Gray but it looks like she took some sucker punches from whitey.  There weren't many other chunks missing so I think they were just a few love bites.  Roughly the size of a steering wheel.

173

Training, Diet, and Fitness / Lasik: What to do?

« on: April 08, 2015, 12:31:37 PM »

I am committed to doing this in the next 2 months.

I have worn glasses for 25 years.  Contact lenses for 20 years.  I am currently wearing the same glasses I have had for 10 years.  My contact lense prescription is roughly -200 right, -250 left.

Contacts significantly improved my sporting life allowing me to see waves in the distance and fish on the horizon.

I want to know any general recommendations on Lasik:

• I Live in the Bay Area - Doctor with good recommnedations?
• Cost???
• Best way to pay 1) out of Pocket 2) HSA 3) Other?
• Other Considerations?

174

Technique / Switchfoot by Jeff Clark

« on: April 03, 2015, 07:02:01 AM »

"I was driving by this rocky spot down the coast and a friend said get it now with only two guys out. So I jumped in for 45 minutes."  Jeff Clark

Jeff posted this on Facebook with no music.  Its a touch campy but does an excellent job of introducing Jeff Clark and demonstrating how he goes both ways.  He is also on a SUP.  Somehow the waves actually look pretty impressive, even with the GoPro.  And he exits the water at the end of it all with dry hair . . . . but that's Jeff.  Surfing savant.

I added the music.  If I recall Jeff was originally a Mormon took a break and then recently returned.  He doesn't drink . . . so I hope he would be OK with the music.  Then again maybe the song is more appropriate 

175

Sessions / Fear not the Wind

« on: April 02, 2015, 05:00:12 PM »

People often wonder how much wind is too much wind to go surfing.
 
The only thing holding you back is your profile.  I have found that you can successfully surf at the right spots in up to 30 mph of wind.  But don’t take my word for it 

I was fortunate to be home one morning then awoke to winds blowing 15 to 25 mph.  The local Jetty would be protected from the favonian gale but overrun with angry little proners.  As I biked by I counted at least 20 people.  So I headed right into the teeth of storm and etched out 10 waves in an hour ranging from 7 to 10 feet amidst a flotilla of flying jellyfish.

176

SUP General / Pay It Forward Zone Challenge

« on: March 21, 2015, 04:54:04 PM »

Last January after the Mavericks competition I was invited to the VIP tent and found myself talking to my neighbor.  Kyle is a 25 something bright eyed, bushy tailed engineer that works for Tesla.  He was originally from Seattle but he and 3 other Tesla guys decided to move to Half Moon Bay to live the dream.   They stuffed themselves into a shack on the beach (with two girlfriends, one now turned wife) near my house and claim to "Work, surf and sleep."  They are the reason that Elon Musk continues to prosper.

We are talking surfing and he says he sucks but is trying to get better, moving to shorter boards . . . bigger waves . . . and proceeds to describe his dream board.  I realize that his dream board is sitting in my garage.  It is the last of my ‘real’ surf boards, the only one I haven't sold because I like it too much.  Kyle hands me another one of the free IPA's and I start to realize that I am never going to go prone surfing again .  . . . Oh "High Jeff Clark" . . . check it out there's Twiggy "remember me on the electric bike" . . . “Hi Grant Washburn” . . . .

2 more beers and I turn to Kyle and say "Hey kid come to my house tomorrow and take my board it's exactly what you're looking for."  I had it custom made for ME 8' Quad, big thick stringer.  I had broken a bunch of boards so it was extra glassed with corrugated rails and 100% epoxy.  Perfect for 6 to 15 ft.

As he rode away on his bike, with my board under his arm, he asked if I wanted to sell it.  "No, I love it too much to sell it.  Take care of it.  Don't worry about me it's time to move on."  It was a beauty 

177

SUP General / Nice Board Snap

« on: March 03, 2015, 03:54:40 PM »

“You may have seen that recently in Queensland Australia that we have some amazing surf thanks to Cyclone Marcia. Here is a short clip I thought you and the viewers might get a laugh from of one of my (mis)adventures on my 12’6 race board during this swell. I’m not sure how the board will go as a 6’3″ Jon Locke

PS:  Yes I did notice the Cyclone.  I (Beasho) was 40 miles off the coast of Gladstone with my family on a little coral atoll 3 feet above sea level.  Went to bed with a Cyclone warning and woke up with Cyclone Marcia <100 miles away having escalated to a Category 5 with evacuation "Not a possibility."   That'll get your attention.  Fortunately the storm made landfall and dissipated leaving us with less injury than this guy.   

178

Gear Talk / Night Paddle SUP'ing in the Dark

« on: February 06, 2015, 02:46:47 PM »

I am taking the family to a small coral atoll and was looking into the possibilities of night SUP'ing.

Not for surf but for touring and animal watching.

Torch Paddles makes a great looking product but I am thinking I can Jerry Rig something and not have to buy/transport a specialized paddle.  I am planning to bring an inflatable board and a Kenalu which will breakdown and pack with fishing rods.

Thoughts? 

Two $10 waterproof LED flashlights duct taped to the shaft end of the blade might do the trick. 

Does anyone have experience touring over shallow reefs with an inflatable and LED's?

http://www.torchpaddles.com/treasure.html

179

SUP General / California Dreaming (pics)

« on: January 25, 2015, 02:02:29 PM »

This weekend has been firing non-stop. 

Friday morning:  7 ft @ 20 seconds

Friday evening 10 ft @ 20 seconds (wind came up to ~ 12 mph dicey and intimidating just me and big wave Bart)

Saturday morning 10 ft @ 17 seconds (just me and the bigger wave enthusiasts)

Sunday morning 8 ft @ 15 seconds:  People more comfortable again.  Proners all showed back up.
 
I am worn OUT

PS: The GoPro doesn't do justice to the size but I estimated the faces to be 7 to 14 feet in the batch below.

180

SUP General / The Parable of Hide (Hee-Day) at Mavericks

« on: December 25, 2014, 10:47:06 AM »

Several weeks ago I headed to Pillar Point (Mavericks) @ 7:45 am spooked by the 14 ft @ 13 second report  from Pt Reyes & HMB buoys.  I was dragging from the apprehension and was greeted at the beach by Ian Wallace and Jay Alders (Apparently a surf artist and accomplished big wave SUP enthusiast).  They were just coming out of the water as I was entering.  Ian and Jay were going to a safety conference being run by Ken Collins at the Harbor House.   I was dismayed to see them coming OUT of the water @ 8 am for such an event given the conditions.
I asked if “no-one” was out and they informed me that Haley was the only person surfing.   I hurriedly worked my way around Mushroom rock and headed to the peak.  I was greeted by Haley alone in a soupy mix of Mavericks white capped rollers.

Within minutes a wave served itself to me I paddled and then I paused.   I could have pulled hard but wasn’t feeling ‘it’ as I gasped at the terrifying, lumpy drop in front of me.   I paddled back out and asked Haley how big the conditions really were.  He responded “There have only been 2 waves as big as the one you just missed.”   He was being gracious but I knew what he meant.

We talked for a while that morning with Haley regaling war stories like surfing the 2nd Peak on a day that was 20 ft @ 22 seconds.  He and Ian kept catching waves from the furthest point outside the 2nd peak and would come gliding through the bowl.  Eventually Skindog and Shawn Dollar paddled out but could not catch any waves. . . .  None of the proners could compete.  Then there was the story about catching the 3rd set wave, just behind Twiggy, that he claimed was bigger than Twiggy’s wave but didn’t photograph well.  “It was huge, probably the biggest wave ever caught on a SUP.  I saw it coming and was like ‘Oh my god this is going to be massive’ and I paddled and fought and dropped in and it was a legit, enormous wave . . “  Twiggy nearly won the XXL award that year for the wave just in front of Haley’s wave.

Later that week while sitting at my computer I pondered our conversation and concluded that in the rankings of Mavericks surfers I was just a 2.0 on a scale of 10.0 and Haley was truly a 10.0.  For me to get to a 4.0, or even a 5.0, would entail going deeper risking boards, limbs, ribs and life.  I was having a midlife crisis.

2 weeks later I saw Haley in the parking lot and reminded him of our conversation and how it rattled me.  He asked if I knew about the parable of Hide (pronounced Hee-Day)?

Hideshi (Hide) is a Japanese surfer famous in Japan for surfing Mavericks but somewhat of a menace in the lineup.  He has been known to fall, or cause others to fall on more than one occasion.  Hide would rank 4 out of 10.  When Haley started surfing Mavericks he was teased for being on a SUP but as he got better the lines changed and he was taunted by the pros to go deeper and take off in the pit or it just didn’t count.   So he took off one day deep on a huge set wave.  There were 3 people inside of him on the shoulder.  As he was dropping he hit some chop and got thrown from his board.  While tumbling down the face he could see Hide farthest out on the shoulder skimming away.  After the beating Haley took a second wave on the head, and a third, and a fourth.  Gasping for breath he was washed through the rocks.  He eventually collected himself and paddled back out happy to be unbroken.  When he saw Hide he asked ‘How was your wave?’  Hide responded with fractured English that he had ridden the wave all the way past mushroom rock ~ 400 yards away. 

Haley turned to me and said “Taking off in the bowl does nothing but soothe your own ego.  The Skindogs and Fleas will not care how deep you go because they will redraw their lines in the sand.  Meanwhile Hide will be riding from the shoulder all the way past mushroom rock.”  Haley summed it up with “Who do you think had more fun that day?”