Author Topic: Lake Session: Blue Planet Duke  (Read 10281 times)

Night Wing

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Re: Lake Session: Blue Planet Duke
« Reply #15 on: July 01, 2019, 08:22:40 PM »
FYI - Knubsters are made by FCS.

WarDogs version is called the StubNub.

Futures has the TMF (The Middle Finger).

The "Nubster" fin has another name also. And that name is "guitar pick".

Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Badger

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Re: Lake Session: Blue Planet Duke
« Reply #16 on: July 02, 2019, 03:56:49 AM »
FYI - Knubsters are made by FCS.

WarDogs version is called the StubNub.

Futures has the TMF (The Middle Finger).

The "Nubster" fin has another name also. And that name is "guitar pick".




I think Von Sol coined the word Nubster. Guitar pick was a nickname. FCS no doubt added the K for legal reasons.

That was over seven ago. A lot has changed since then.

Kelly Slater helped to make tiny center fins popular and they sold a ton of them. I doubt Kelly uses one now.

.

« Last Edit: July 02, 2019, 04:37:32 AM by Badger »
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Night Wing

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Re: Lake Session: Blue Planet Duke
« Reply #17 on: July 02, 2019, 08:46:51 AM »
Another great day for paddling. Wind was dead calm at 6:45 am. But, it wasn't cloudy. The sun was rising and even at 6:45 am, I knew it was going to get hot fast.

But, before I got to the lake, I weighed my board with all 4 Gerry Lopez fins installed. The board weighed an even 25 pounds. With WarDog's little 2.25" StubNub and the other 4 fins, the board weighed 25 pounds, 2 ounces. Pretty light in weight for a 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 liters production made board.

Today, Tuesday, was the first day I paddled my Duke with the Gerry Lopez quad fin setup on the lake. The board tracked straight. The glide was definitely shorter than with the 9" single plastic fin, but that was expected because the 4 fins produced drag.

I didn't paddle my board with 5 fins though. My next paddle on the lake will be with 5 fins.

I also did some "cheating" on paddle length. I decided to look down as I was paddling along and when the blade of my paddle was vertical with me, I still had plenty of 75 blade below the waterline.

So I began shortening the paddle length. Long story short, I was able to paddle a straight line with a 68" paddle length with a semi surf stance and using supthecreek"s method of "leaning on the paddle side rail while dipping the rail slightly".

I left the lake 8:45 am when the sun was coming over the tops of the tall pine trees which line the lake.
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Dusk Patrol

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Re: Lake Session: Blue Planet Duke
« Reply #18 on: July 02, 2019, 11:20:49 AM »
Maybe I've missed this, but have you experimented with a single fin on the Duke, on flatwater?
RS 14x26; JL Destroyers 9'8 & 8'10; BluePlanet 9'4; JL Super Frank 8'6

Night Wing

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Re: Lake Session: Blue Planet Duke
« Reply #19 on: July 02, 2019, 01:53:40 PM »
Maybe I've missed this, but have you experimented with a single fin on the Duke, on flatwater?

I did state I was using a 9" single fin in my very "first" post in this topic thread. In the very first post, it is in the 5th paragraph. The exact quote is:

"The paddle I prefer to use is a Naish Alana 75 Vario RDS adjustable paddle. I like the small diameter shaft of this paddle with it's 75 square inch blade. Also for this comparison, both boards were using a single 9" fin."

Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Night Wing

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Re: Lake Session: Blue Planet Duke
« Reply #20 on: July 03, 2019, 07:12:07 AM »
Today, Wednesday, I tried out my 4 Gerry Lopez 4 fin quad fins with the 1 single 2.25" stubnub to test the tracking of my board in a straight line. Keep in mind, 2 of the GL front fins are 5.13"" and the other 2 GL rear fins are 4.75". BTW, you can read about the GL fins in the link below.

https://www.paddlesurfwarehouse.com/futures-fins-gerry-lopez-gl-5-fin-set.html

Even though a 5 setup is for sup surfing, I wanted to see how well I could paddle a straight line with them. Glide was not that good, but that was expected with 5 fins.

With my paddle length set to 68", I just couldn't paddle a straight line. I could get 10 strokes on the right side and then had to switch over to my left side. Since the 2.25" stubnub was all the way back in the long 10.5" middle fin box, I didn't want to move the fin forward.

So I decided to see if my paddling technique was to blame so I tried to "fine tune" my technique. Trying as best I could, I still could not paddle a straight line on my right side like I could with the big single 9" plastic fin in the middle fin box. I was close, but not close enough.

I decided to decrease the length of my paddle from 68" to 67". That did the trick and I could paddle a straight line with this 5 fin surfing configuration. When I go back to just using the GL 4 fin quad setup, I will see if the 67" paddle length will paddle a straight line when I had my paddle at 68" with quads.

BTW, I thought I would show you all 5 fins with the Futures GL@ SUP 5 Fin Setup. Of course, the 5.13" fin that installs in the long 10.5" middle fin box is not installed in this picture.



Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Night Wing

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Re: Lake Session: Blue Planet Duke
« Reply #21 on: July 22, 2019, 02:34:46 PM »
My wife had some company over the weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). Her sister, her sister's two daughters (my wife's nieces) and the adopted girl (now 2.5 years old) of my wife's eldest niece.

The youngest niece wanted to try her hand at flat water lake paddling. I knew she would have an easy time since she can snow ski so balance would not be a factor. She is 5'5" in height and weighs 135 pounds.

So Saturday me and the youngest niece went flat water paddling on the largest lake in our subdivision. We took my One World 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 liters sup and my newly acquired Duke 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 liters and she would paddle both. We were using my two Naish Alana 75 Vario RDS (adjustable) paddles. The "plan" was to paddle for 2 hours. We got down to the lake at 6:30 am to beat the heat and the high heat index (as the morning wore on). The air temperature at 6:30 am was 81 degrees F with a heat index of 97 degrees due to the high humidity and high dewpoint. Water temperature of the lake was 88 degrees F.

She had absolutely no trouble standing up on the first try without falling in the lake and I was expecting no trouble. Since she doesn't have any shoulder problems, she liked her adjustable length paddle set at 71" and she used this height for my One World and the Duke.

She could easily paddle both of my sups without any problems with the 75 paddle blade and with a parallel stance. When paddling a straight line, she had to paddle 6 strokes on the right side and then 6 strokes on the left side in order to paddle a straight line. Turning both boards right or left was not a problem for her since she is a fast learner using the paddle.

She liked how the deck pads on both boards were comfortable for her feet. Since she wasn't haven't any sore feet and her legs were not tired, we kept paddling. We did take some rest breaks on the water to take in some gatorade from our water bottles to keep hydrated. We also changed boards to let her decide which board she liked the most.

At 8:30 am I told her we had been paddling for 2 hours and I asked her if she wanted to keep paddling or go back to the house. She told me she was having a great time paddling and since she wasn't tired, could we keep paddling some more as long as I wasn't tired. I told her I wasn't tired so we paddled for 1 more hour.

After paddling three hours and with the heat index rising rapidly, we quit paddling and went back to the house" at 9:30 am. Once back at the house I cleaned up all the boards and paddles, I asked her what sup she preferred. She told me it was a tough call to make, but she preferred my One World over the Duke. I asked her why and she told me it was a little easier to paddle my One World with it's 30" width than the Duke's 32" width. Since she is short in height, she had to paddle with her arms out farther out from her body with my Duke than my One World so this is why she preferred my One World.

BTW, since she was having a great time on the water, she asked me if we could go paddling Sunday morning and I told her it was fine by me. So we paddled for 2 hours and she had another great time. But on Sunday morning, she padded the entire 2 hours using my One World while I paddled my Duke.

Now for an interesting quirk about me. Since this is my 8th and 9th time paddling my Duke, I like flat water paddling it with a 67" paddle length. But with my One World, I like flat water paddling it with a 68" paddle length. And with both of my eyes closed when paddling both sups, I can tell the difference if I'm paddling my Duke at 68" instead of 67" and the same is true if I'm paddling my One World at 67" instead of 68". And this is why I prefer an adjustable rate paddle over a fixed length paddle.

With both of my preferred paddle lengths for each sup, I can paddle a straight line while paddling on my right side if there is a calm (no) wind. And I don't have to "fudge" with my right foot closer to the right rail since I've been concentrating on better paddle stroke technique.



Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

TallDude

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Re: Lake Session: Blue Planet Duke
« Reply #22 on: July 22, 2019, 09:51:09 PM »
 Sounds like you're really dialing in your paddle sizing. Have two boards so you can paddle with friends and family is perfect. Now you're the favorite Uncle.....
It's not overhead to me!
8'8" L-41 ST and a whole pile of boards I rarely use.

Night Wing

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Re: Lake Session: Blue Planet Duke
« Reply #23 on: July 23, 2019, 06:19:09 AM »
@ TallDude

I have a neighbor who lives three houses down from me and he stopped me one morning a few weeks while I was going to the lake to ask me about my (at that  time) One World sup. He is from Florida and he knows how to surf. He wanted to know how much my One World cost and other generalities of supping. I talked with him for 5 minutues and offered him to try out my One World. He said he would think about it.

Fast forward to last Sunday and after the sup session with my youngest niece; he drove by and saw I was cleaning both boards, swung his truck into my driveway, got out of his truck and asked me more questions. I answered his questions and he noticed my new Duke sup. I again offered to let him demo my One World and also my Duke.

He told me he would "take me up on my offer". With a nice little cool front that just came through last night, this upcoming Wednesday and Thursday mornings, the low air temperature for us is going to be in the mid to upper 60's. This is quite rare since we hardly ever get a weather front come through in the month of July. The last time we had a high of 90 degrees F (or more) and then the next morning was in the upper 60's in the month of July was in the year 2002.

I'm hoping he has one of these two days off so we could go paddling together. I will go down to his house about 2 hours from now, see if he is at home and if he is, offer to take him flat water paddling on these upcoming days. I saw his 2002 year model Chevy Silverado pickup truck was is in his driveway earlier this morning when I went outside to check on the weather. Hopefully, he'll be at home.

BTW, a little about him. He is 6'0" in height and weighs 150 pounds so my One World and Duke will be a good fit for him guest board wise since he has never been on a sup.
« Last Edit: July 23, 2019, 06:25:53 AM by Night Wing »
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Night Wing

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Re: Lake Session: Blue Planet Duke
« Reply #24 on: August 06, 2019, 05:40:21 AM »
For the last couple of weeks, we've been under a dome of high pressure which suppresses the wind so no beach waves. Finally, last Sunday the forecast was for waves down at Surfside so I made plans for a Sunday sup surfing session.

So Sunday morning arrives and as I am loading up my new Duke on my truck's roof racks at 4:00 am to take it sup surfing, I got careless and suffered a deep cut on the inside of my right thumb below the knuckle (going towards the tip of my nail on my thumb).

With the beach water temperature at 85 degrees F, I knew if I went down to Surfside, I had a better than a 50/50 chance of contracting the flesh eating bacteria in the very warm water.

After tending to my injured thumb, I unloaded my truck, but I got an idea and decide to load my Duke, with a quad fin setup already installed, in the bed of my truck and the Duke was resting on a 4'x4'x8' single piece of polyfoam.

When my wife awoke, she lent me one her waterproof right hand glove. I put it on and then she taped the end of the glove to my right wrist with some Gorilla tape. This made a water tight seal. I then headed on down to our private lake in our subdivision.

The reason I kept the quad fin setup was a simple one. All fin boxes are made of plastic. This means to install a fin in the fin box, the fin has to be fit snug in the fin box and the plastic threads is how this is down.

I've always felt the plastic threads in the fin box was the "weak link" so to speak because I have no idea how long those plastic threads will last before they fail.

Why was I thinking of this? When I was 15 years old and learning how to prone surf, I learned on a 11' surfboard with one long 11" single fin (if my memory serves me correctly) which was glassed in permanently into the board.

Since I prefer a quad fin setup which works well on the small waves I run into on the upper Texas coast, I figured I'd use the quad fin setup for flat water paddling as well. The only things I would give up with this setup for flat water paddling would be "glide and speed" which was the case. But I would never have to worry about those fin threads failing ever again as long as I surfed on the upper Texas coast.

To make sure if I fell off my Duke, which didn't happen, I paddled in water that was between 3'-4" in depth so my right hand would never be in the water. I figured if I fell off, I would just raise my right arm to the sky and this would keep my gloved right hand out of the water.

When I got back from the lake, to make a long story short, I uninstalled the lone single 9" fin in my 11'1" One World as well and installed a quad fin (2, 5") (2, 4") setup in my One World.

I don't always follow conventional wisdom and this is another case where I haven't. BTW, my injured cut thumb is starting to heal nicely.



Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Dusk Patrol

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Re: Lake Session: Blue Planet Duke
« Reply #25 on: August 06, 2019, 11:16:35 AM »
I'd be interested to know just how fragile the fin threads are. I've never looked at them closely, BUT I always treat them with kid gloves because I do not want the ordeal of stripped threads.   
RS 14x26; JL Destroyers 9'8 & 8'10; BluePlanet 9'4; JL Super Frank 8'6

Badger

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Re: Lake Session: Blue Planet Duke
« Reply #26 on: August 06, 2019, 11:36:57 AM »
Looks like BP is using Futures boxes. Stripped threads do happen but it's pretty rare. Any good surf shop should be able to do the repair. I know one guy who stripped one on a JL Super Frank and the local shop fixed it good as new.
Kalama E3 6'1 x 23" 105L
Axis HPS 980 / PNG 1300
Sunova Flow  8'10 X 31"  119L
Me - 6'0" - 165lbs - 66yo

Night Wing

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Re: Lake Session: Blue Planet Duke
« Reply #27 on: August 06, 2019, 05:02:14 PM »
Looks like BP is using Futures boxes. Stripped threads do happen but it's pretty rare. Any good surf shop should be able to do the repair. I know one guy who stripped one on a JL Super Frank and the local shop fixed it good as new.

Blue Planet is using Futures boxes. And I'm glad they do since I prefer a Futures fin box over an FCS fin box or the newer FCS-2 fin boxes.
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Badger

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Re: Lake Session: Blue Planet Duke
« Reply #28 on: August 06, 2019, 05:21:21 PM »
I'm loving the FCS-2 system on my Outer Reef.  No tools needed.   8)
Kalama E3 6'1 x 23" 105L
Axis HPS 980 / PNG 1300
Sunova Flow  8'10 X 31"  119L
Me - 6'0" - 165lbs - 66yo

 


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