Arbitrage: The Electric SUP

[pdxmike]

I call bait and switch.  I'd thought I'd be watching a video about arbitrage--maybe some technical analysis, discussion of derivatives and price convergence, interviews with arbitrageurs,  that sort of thing.  Instead we just get surfing. 

[Beasho]

The surf rack was the basic Hermesman design found here:
http://www.rodndtube.com/surf/info/surf_racks/BicycleSurfboardRack.shtml

The caveat I add is that this design does not carry load very well.  I added 2 stays that run from the top tube to the end of the front cantilevered pipe and from the seat to the end of the rear cantilevered pipe (see photos).   These attach with a stainless steel eye bolt drilled vertically through the joint.  This completes the truss structure and permits the design to carry significant loads.  I have carried everything from Short boards to 12 foots SUPs, 2 longboards (at one time) and a windsurfer, sail boom and all equipment on this rack.  The stays also permit the modular design.  If you do NOT glue the cantilevered pipe then the rack can be removed in less than 1 minute. 

The last thing I would recommend is to orient the board fins forward and out.  This seems to have the best aerodynamic and swing weight profile to handle quick(er) turns and lateral wind gusts. 

[freetobeme]

That is a great lifestyle...wish I could feasibly pedal my bike to my break with my stick....keep it simple....good stuff!

[bean]

Relatively risk-free gains at minimal cost...

[RideSurf]

that video was pretty bad ass 

[Waves4supper]

Beasho, thanks for the info!
My normal wintertime spot is at walking distance. Will see how often I go to the other place (2 km down the road) this winter before I start building.

[Beasho]

The video was originally created to showcase the advantages of the electric bicycle.   I have 3 young kids and a supportive wife that allows me to escape for 120 minutes of solo time in the mornings usually on weekends.   Since time is money financial arbitrage can translated to time arbitrage.  The bike can add 25% to on-water time.  

7 years ago I built a surf rack for my bicycle and learned that I could get to surf spots in the same or less time on my bike than by driving and walking.  This was typically because I could park my bike closer than my car to the break and reduce total commute time to the water.  The only downside was additional exercise on top of an already taxing SUP session.  Getting home could be much slower and I would often lose 4 lbs. to as many as 7 lbs. of water weight from a combined bike and SUP session.  

3 weeks ago I saw an electric bike at a street fair and knew in 3 ticks I had to have one.  The electric bike has since tipped the scales from nearly breakeven to massively in favor of bicycle commuting.  Some people will get this.  Others with different pressure on their time e.g. empty nesters, no kids . . . distance to the beach > 5 miles, or passion for their vehicles will hear me singing from the rafters to no avail.  Believe me I have been crowing about Stand Up for exactly 2 years (today) and have only managed to convert a handful of people.   You are the converts, just not yet to bicycle surfing.

The electric bike is treated exactly like a bicycle.  As long as the motor is less than 750 Watts and the assisted speed limited to 20 mph the only legal requirement is to wear a helmet.  You gain all the advantages of a bicycle but travel at 2X the speed.  You can zip up and down bike paths, bend a few rules (e.g. go the wrong way on the highway because crossing US-1 on a bike is near death sentence) and lock your bike at the beach steps.   As with SUP these advantages will bring out the haters.  Southern California has already bred E-Bike free zones and E-Bike Nazis to enforce said laws.  The arbitrage only exists until the masses realize its value.  

[Beasho]

I add, what used to be an 8 minute drive, 2 minute unload and 8 minute walk (18 total minutes) has been reduced to 11 minutes on this bike saving 7 minutes each way.  Historically a 2 hour window diminished to just 60 minutes of water time when I added the time to get dressed, load, commute and unload.  The ~15 additional minutes, +25%, on a SUP can easily translate to 4 more waves per session.   4 more waves 100X per year equates to 400 incremental waves that would otherwise have gone un-ridden while I was driving and then walking to the beach.

On efficiency:  A human on a bicycle expends 40 calories to travel 1 mile.  A gallon of gasoline has the energy equivalent of 30,000 calories.   This equates to 750 miles per effective gallon on a human powered bicycle.   To pedal the 6.5 mile round trip shown in the video would have cost me 260 calories.  Alternately the bike consumed 250 Watt hours.  In California this cost 7.5 cents of electricity.   Driving my car would have cost $1.30 in gasoline and I could double this expense for the depreciation on the vehicle.

In summary the electric bike reduces commute time, reduces cost, leverages the most efficient form of transportation known to exist and keeps my car sand free.  Win-Win-Win-Win.  The bike hustled me to a spot that others considered too difficult to access or marginal to bother surfing.  I put a premium on having fun catching waves.  This footage was all filmed in less than 50 minutes, 1 man’s solo session on a beautiful day that wasn’t perfect but pretty darn close and this IMHO is why we SUP.  We saw an opportunity to convert the time sitting in the water to the time standing, paddling and getting exercise.   We can spot waves at a distance paddle over and catch what used to slip by out of reach.  We ride waves too small, too big, too mushy or too sloppy to catch with conventional boards.  This is arbitrage.  Taking the mundane and making it magical.  Creating something from nothing and converting free time to pure stoke.

[Beasho]

I am not selling these items but I should be.  The electric bike was purchase from Len Rogers 660 Bryant Street in San Francisco.  I came to him with a request.  He let me test drive several bikes.  I still thought I wanted an iZip Zuma and he managed to get one shipped up from LA the next day.  SOLD!  Great Service . . . found here: ElectricBicycleOutlet@yahoo.com

The SUP board was not a vintage windsurfer rather a custom Jeff Clark 10’.  I asked him to put a mast track in the board because I thought I would windsurf it in light air.  I have only sailed the board twice.   Once I learned to SUP, and discovered all the waves I could catch out my back door, I lost my appetite for driving, rigging and chasing the wind.  This board has been broken in half (repaired), buckled once (repaired) and buckled again (repaired).  It is still my go to board when its glassy, choppy, 2 feet or 20 feet.  This board is great but it was one of his first generation boards and they keep getting better. 
Jeff Clark’s website here:  http://jeffclarkmavericks.com/   

[Menlo SUPr]

I was pretty sure that was Pillar Point/Half Moon Bay. I haven't been to Jeff's place since he moved from the warehouse area closer to the marina, but I'll stop by soon. On of the local greats for sure.

[andygere]

Cool video and I dig the message.  No fair giving away the spot, some things should remain unsaid...

[surfinJ]

I get it now, thanks for the expanded text. 
Due family matters and work matters, I miss more surf than I get.  The arbitrage point is so true.

[H2OSweeper]

Nice work Beasho! You inspired me to grab my kid's favorite xmas present and head for surf!

[PaddleCrazy]

Outstanding on all accounts and points.  Some very excellent thoughts and ideas, I only wish that I was closer to my preferred spot than I am, so I too could commute the way you are.

BTW, the camera angles and footage were some of the best and funniest (loved the "lone" paddle flying/spinning off in the air) I've watched.

And yes, as has been said here before, "Thanks for the Stoke".   Friday can't get here soon enough . . . putting a new board in the water for the first time, so now I'm really STOKED!!! 

[PonoBill]

Okay, I watched the video again and now I need to do some work--I built a 1200 watt electric bike here on Maui last year but I shipped the monster batteries (40AH 48V) to Hood River for my trike. So I need a decent sized LiFe 48V battery to stick on my bike. But I built a half-assed battery box by riveting aluminum angle together, that's not going to cut it, so I need a spool gun for my welder so I can weld up something proper.

If I'm going to build a better battery box then I should build a bike with a lot more style. I've been drawing a kind of cruiser/chopper thing with a lower rail that would hold batteries and a feet-forward recumbent/chopper style (easier on the butt). I'll have to build a jig to weld it up. And probably buy a K-Mart bike as a donor. Then integrate a board rack, and probably add a touchdown wheel to it for stopping and parking. Hmmm, maybe a sidehack!?!

Then I need to build a better rack to hold it on the jeep so I can drop it off for downwinder shuttles.

That means I need to clean the garage to make room for all this.

Damn, what a troublemaker you are, Beasho