Author Topic: rented Joe Blair+C4 paddles: review  (Read 2384 times)

alap

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rented Joe Blair+C4 paddles: review
« on: January 29, 2009, 09:33:45 PM »
Just came from Puerta Vallarta. Rented a board and two paddles from David Sinclair from Coral Reef Surf Shop. BTW David was outstanding - always answered emails, and always fast. delivered and picked up the equipment, and both times absolutely on time. Shared local knowledge too. Great service, great guy!

The board I rented was Joe Blair 9'10" and 30" wide.  Any review is first of all only as good as a reviewer. And second of all there is no good or bad. Even when we say "good", we implicitly mean better than what we otherwise know.

So my experience is limited, I do SUP for two years, no surfing experience, a lot of windsurfing, dowhnhill, was doing kiting for 6 years but happy that I quit it now. I am still a newbie. But I catch wave consistently and go into bottom turn right away and can do down the line with simple (not aggressive) turns.My board at home is Starboard Fish 9'8" with pretty much the same dimensions.

Also the break at home (Vancouver Island) is a beach brake, and the break in Mexico was a point brake. Breaking right and I am goofy, so my initial inability to takeoff right (backsided) was some impedement.

Also I wasn't surfing for 3 months (skiing instead :))

With all those restrictions and limitations  here what I think.

First of all despite same dimensions as Starboard, Blair's is way tippier. However it took me couple sessions to adjust and I was absolutely comfortable. Still sometimes I missed a bit of stability: e.g. crossing the breaking wave going out or in those difficult takeoffs where one has to paddle hard, you paddle hard and its easy to loose the balance (however this may be rectified by better techniq and smaller paddle blade, I am pretty sure.

The kicked nose makes it very difficult to pearl. In whole week I pearled it only once, and believe me I was trying hard.

Takeoff is effortless. In fact many times I was able to takeoff with just one single stroke, if positioned right.

Also, necessity is a mother of ingenuity, or whatever they say... I once found myself on the wave at the right section with three surfers left to me already taking off (in hindsight I realised its natural that they were ahead of me in time - its a right break.). The guy closest to me looks at me, and he is taking off right... I just had no time to think, to get scared ... and effortlessly I made a right takeoff, the first backsided in my life. I am sure the board helped!

Also there was a ride I never forget. I takeoff left, frontside, lean hard as I can and make 90 degree turn and I look up and I see the headhigh wave is about to crash on my board. Again instinctively I just make a one single stroke with my paddle in the left. What happened after that was beautiful. The board started slide down sideways and simultaneously it turned 90 degrees positioning itself direction to the shore. Was amazing ride, amazing feeling.

Summary: surfs really good, coulda be more stable. One drawback: paint job. A lot of scuffs (may be its because it is rental? I didn't add a single one, but I have a habbit of paddling very carefully)

Now paddle. David provided me with two C4 paddles. One was 78" long, exactly like mine (10" above my height), and another one was adjustable - I wanted to try a shorter paddle.

First of all those paddle they dont compare with my Quickblade. The craftmanship, weight, handle, everything. C4 looks like an axe and Quickblade like a piece of art.

The adjustable mechanism is nice to try, but I wouldn't use it as my own paddle. First of all this length is hard to fix. You push it a bit more and its a different length suddenly. Secondly the adjustment ring is in a way when you paddle. Nevertheless was happy I tried it because I realised I can go down couple inches easily.

And finally, the picture says more than 1000 of words. Me on the Blair:



Tom

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Re: rented Joe Blair+C4 paddles: review
« Reply #1 on: January 30, 2009, 06:52:56 AM »
Thanks for the report & review. One question though.....How were the crowds?
(and please do not name the spots)

supstoked

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Re: rented Joe Blair+C4 paddles: review
« Reply #2 on: January 30, 2009, 11:16:06 AM »
I can answer that as I live in Punta Mita.  The crowds can be pretty brutal and the local boys are no longer really tolerant of SUP.  However, if you show respect and restraint, things work out.    I can usually manage at least one session a day with less than 5 people out.  That is not at a prime break on the optimum tide.  That is working around the prime times, but still managing to get  great waves.
Lots of foil boards 6’7”-7’4”, L41 TVD’s and Jimmy Lewis Strikers..

 


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