Author Topic: Okinawa Intro  (Read 1525 times)

OkiWild

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Okinawa Intro
« on: March 18, 2019, 03:42:42 AM »
Hello all. Enjoyed a couple of hours out by myself yesterday afternoon at a break close to the house. Only about waist to shoulder high, but clean. All I have are "me" shots, as filming myself is all new. One shot with some backdrop. Only have a GoPro 7, and still trying to figure out the best way to use it. Don't really like the nose camera, but not real happy with how POV turns out, either.  All tips and tricks welcome.

About me. Turned 50 last January... Lived in Okinawa Japan for most of my life. Surfing here for almost 40 years, and a recent convert to SUP. Same old story...painful shoulder when prone paddling, old knee injuries, etc. Been pretty inactive for the last 5 years, as far as surfing goes. Injury plus tired of the growing crowds, hassling for every wave, and hostilities I see towards less experienced surfers. So I mostly left the lineup and hitting more remote breaks by sea kayak, and by myself.

I had NO IDEA that SUP surfing was even a thing. I knew there were people on super tankers here and there, but that was it. So July before last, a friend who knows I surf, starts telling me that he's taken up "downwind sup racing," how it's a great workout, and that i should try it... First thing out of my mouth was "SUP's are for kooks." LOL. After thinking about it for a week, I called a friend who owns a large surf shop I used to ride for, and ask him what he had for "race boards." He sells me a 12'6" Kazuma displacement board for about $1,500 off of local retail, a paddle, and it's on. Used it for daily 5-10km flat water paddles, and even tried to do a few down-winders on it.

One day while out on the big bay by my house, doing my daily work out paddle, there were some small, knee-high, rollers coming in, and I thought "I wonder if you can surf this thing?" Wave after wave of 200 meter glides, and I was absolutely hooked. Started surfing it in larger and larger surf, and had so much fun, it was nuts. 

But I sucked so bad at the downwind thing, I went to Youtube, and found all the Blue Planet downwind videos. Pretty quick, I ordered a 14' Bumprider from them, and the world of SUP surfing opened up to me.

A year and a half later, I've sold all of my surfboards, have the two race boards plus four surfing SUP's, four paddles, etc. Back to surfing 3-5 times a week without bad shoulder problems, and have a whole new respect for how hard it really is to paddle into waves while standing up. Especially the 99% reef break we have here. I've found the local Japanese SUP surfer community I never knew existed, and everyone is super cool.

Super stoked to have found this part of surfing, and this community. Wasn't easy getting access to this board...LOL

Cheers,
Matt

supsean

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Re: Okinawa Intro
« Reply #1 on: March 18, 2019, 08:04:48 AM »
About the same age and about the same feeling about it. Although I don't have nearly as many boards.
Fanatic Allwave 8'9"
Sunova Steeze 8'10"
Kenalu Ho'oloa

TallDude

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Re: Okinawa Intro
« Reply #2 on: March 18, 2019, 08:42:55 AM »
Sounds like a familiar story. I got into the distance paddling and then discovered SUP surfing. I grew up surfing but hadn't been surfing much in years. SUP surfing reignited the passion. As for the POV with the GoPro, lots of stuff on this site. I haven't tried the paddle mount, but I think that only worked well with the Sessions. I've used my chest mount for years, but watching my arms swing in front of the camera gets annoying. I would just slide it to my left on a wave so you could see down the line. It worked ok. I've also done nose and tail mounts. Again, kinda limited. The Creek Kook Hat has worked the best for me. I just have to remember to not look back and forth so quick while I'm filming something. I have an old Hero 2 and a Black 5. I'm thinking about using the Hero 2 on my nose mount, and the Black 5 on my Kook Hat to get two POV's to edit from. Sort of switch back and forth from camera to camera. Most of the time I don't film at all. Just surf.

https://youtu.be/QF8yg_2WGPM
« Last Edit: March 18, 2019, 08:47:13 AM by TallDude »
It's not overhead to me!
8'8" L-41 ST and a whole pile of boards I rarely use.

supthecreek

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Re: Okinawa Intro
« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2019, 01:37:18 PM »
Welcome Matt!
opps.... that didn't come out right  ;D ;D

Welcome to the Zone!!! .... that sounds better  ;D ;D

Wow, your water looks amazing! Great pics, thanks for posting.

You could easily make up a Kook Hat Cam for your GoPro 7.

In my video, I show a pic of an FCS hat, before I saw how weak the brim is on those hats.....
stick with the Da Kine, very solid brim.

Everything you need to know is in my video.... super simple, not much effort to film your adventures, or others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCiANANgGTQ

OkiWild

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Re: Okinawa Intro
« Reply #4 on: March 18, 2019, 07:59:04 PM »
Interesting on the hat. I have the GoPro bite mount. My problem with it is I find myself concentrating on camera angle, and not paying attention to the wave...LOL. Also almost busted out my teeth on a heavy wipeout. The GoPro Superview also makes a head-high wave look flat. Really good friend of mine, who shapes Korps surfboards on Oahu, told me that everyone knows that, so not to worry about it, but still... Ego, and all that LOL

Really hoping to find some good angle and editing info on here.

Thanks for the welcome!

 


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