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Stand Up Paddle Surfing in Hawaii - StandUpPaddleSurf.net
- 39 - Joe Blair 12-6 – Interview
[singlepic=5418,125,188]In follow up to my previous post, I was able to hook up with Joe Blair for an interview on his all new 12rsquo;6" race board. He shared his philosophies on why the board works, why it's so different than others and all in the normal Blair style. Check out the interview and hear more of his thoughts.#160;#160; Transcript:Evan Leong: Wersquo;re here with Joe Blair, wersquo;re going to talk about the new 12rsquo;6rdquo; race board that he just shaped up, something that wersquo;ve been talking about for probably 4 months and finally we got it.(0:00:13.8) Why donrsquo;t you explain a little bit of what yoursquo;re thinking when you made this board, because it looks way different than any of the other boards that Irsquo;ve ridden. The nose is different, the bottom looks different, and the whole thing is different.Joe Blair: (0:00:28.0)Well one of the things I put into it is, looking at the surfboards all the kids are riding today and they all have full concave bottoms. And then I used to make race boards and slalom race boards and the windsurfing for _______(0:00:40.2) And the concave worked very well, what I wanted to do was make it wider too, because all the boards have such a narrow nose and tail that sinks. You want glide, Irsquo;ve wanted to get the width? (0:00:54.6) and the concave in there to make the board glide faster as you paddle it.(0:00:59.3) And then the entry, that is really a tricky thing as your entry. You want to have a fast entry into your long black spot with the nose kick. And to me thatrsquo;s a very important thing to have on the board right there.Evan Leong: (0:01:12.0) You know on this board it almost feels like itrsquo;s more of a surfing kind of a board. I get more of a feel like Irsquo;m surfing a wave as opposed to kinda riding a longer, (I hate to say the word) lsquo;kayakrsquo; but thatrsquo;s kind of me what I feel on really long boards because itrsquo;s kind of these narrow and long things. This one almost feels like yoursquo;re surfing it for a lot of it. Then I would think, maybe that kinda detracts from the speed but it doesnrsquo;t seem to. Whatrsquo;s the scoop on that? (0:01:43.9)Joe Blair: Well I ran that concave way up to the nose plus made the nose wider. And I put really soft rails on that board all the way through to free it from many of the wave action which it might get, because the ocean has quite a different wave action, wind and chop and all kinds of different action. I wanted to free it up it could keep it going and not stick. I think in reference to the concave and the nose is super important. Otherwise you have a boat hull(0:02:17.7) principle and it plows.Evan Leong: (0:02:22.1) Why didnrsquo;t you go with a displacement hull type thinking, like some of the other ones wersquo;re seeing now?Joe Blair: (002:28.8) Well when I built the slalom boards I was wondering what the guys who have the concave running up front same with the same wave boards and the speed boards are really interesting that were made back then too. It was speed racing and windsurfing and it had the full concave all the way through going into the a double barrel(0:02:46.7) but I felt the single throughout the whole board is faster than having a double barrel most of them have double barrel. And thatrsquo;s more of a boat hole thing and that seems to push water in railroad.(0:02:57.3) And you were talking about the surfy feeling. I was trying to free it up instead of stick. Irsquo;ve got softer rails, the concave running all the way through and also having that clean fast entry going through. Itrsquo;s keep gonna your speed up and not stick. (0:03:12.6) I think the whole keyword will be sticking like a boat hole and plowing. Because water is not always flat. And Irsquo;m talking about a race board that might be longer for lakes and where you donrsquo;t have much wind, well I think the width in(0:0:30.5)nose and running that concave is go...
Mon, 08 Dec 2008 - 7min - 38 - Morgan Hoesterey: Female Stand Up Solo Unlimited Division of Quiksilver Edition Molokai Race
[singlepic=5115,188,125]After finishing 4th at the recently concluded Molokai Paddleboard race, I had a chance to talk to Morgan Hoesterey, the only female paddler for the SUP solo unlimited division. Morgan said that her stint in this race was just to step up to the challenge; she never expected anything from it. Using a 14rsquo; board without rudder, Morgan would definitely go for one with rudder in next yearrsquo;s race. In her first solo attempt in this event, she said it was an incredible feat but it was all worth it. The reason-ldquo;It was a goal I set for myself so I was just trying really hard to finish it.rdquo; I give Morgan a lot of credit. I lasted about 20 minutes in the Molokai Channel and 8 hours seems like torture. She also has overcome some pretty scary health challenges...a tumor in her leg while still in college. Check out the interview.#160;#160; [gallery=183]#160; Transcript:Evan Leong: This last downwinder, when you train normally?Morgan Hoesterey: Well kind of, for stuff like downwinder; I go with, or when, who ever will take me with them. Whoever will tolerate me I guess? (0:00:13.9) I don't like to do it by myself so before the Molokai thing I was training off with Jeff. He will call and he will let me call with him which is really nice. Whatever he does or wherever Jeff go he tolerates me, I'll go with him. (0:00:30.4)Evan Leong: That's cool.Morgan Hoesterey: Yes I like chasing after him. (0:00:32.6)Evan Leong: So before you did the Molokai race, when did you start stand up paddle surfing? (0:00:43.0)Morgan Hoesterey: The first time I was ever on a stand up paddle board was in like November of 2007, like around Thanksgiving time. (0:00:51.7)Evan Leong: Really, not even like half, maybe about half a year ago. (0:00:57.3)Morgan Hoesterey: Yes. I had this like: I'm going to do the Molokai races like around March and everyone thought I was crazy, and no one really took me very seriously. And finally like April, I've got upset for not being taken seriously, so I was like ok, "I will show everybody". And it was all like down hill spiral from there kind of thing. (0:01:18.9)Evan Leong: What kind of background do you have in sports?Morgan Hoesterey:I was a swimmer for UH (0:01:24.2) I did like the whole of the Olympic trial thing in all that no intention to win and stuff. But in 2004, I had like a big tumor pulled out of my leg and it kind of ended the swimming career for me. (0:01:40.1)Evan Leong: Did that affect you having a stand up for that long? (0:01:43.5)Morgan Hoesterey: No. It's fine now. It was just at that time like it was kind of a peak point in my whole swimming career thing, so the knee thing came at a really inconvenient time so that maybe was one of the reasons why I like stand ups so much, because I can do stand up. And it kind of replaced that whole thing. (0:02:03.3)Evan Leong: Did you surf too or not really? (0:02:06.2)Morgan Hoesterey: Yes, a longboard. (0:02:07.7)Evan Leong: What kind of training did you do to prepare for the Molokai?Morgan Hoesterey: Well I tried to go into downwind run like at least three times a week. And then finally went on two or three like really long ones. Like one time I went with Jeff and and that guy Kevin (Seid), who got 3rd, the guy from Everpaddle. (0:02:28.7)Evan Leong: How far did you go?Morgan Hoesterey: We went for a 20 mile run. We went from Backyard to Mokuleia? (0:02:34.8)Evan Leong: On the North shore.Morgan Hoesterey: Yes. That was first long one that I did and then the other one from Sandy's (Beach) to Ala Moana Bowls (0:02:43.9)Evan Leong: OkMorgan Hoesterey: And I did that only three times.Evan Leong: So you didn't train that much then?Morgan Hoesterey: I didn't do that many super distance things, but I tried to do a lot of endurance and stuff, like apply what I used to do for swimming. (0:02:59.0)Evan Leong: What kind...
Wed, 26 Nov 2008 - 10min - 37 - Dennis Pang Interview: Stand Up Paddleboard Tips and Techniques from the Pros
In my recent interview with Hawaii born international shaper/surfer, Dennis Pang, I got a chance to know the guy whorsquo;s more than just your average shaper. Dennis talks about his SUP race creation for Tropical Blends ndash; the 17rsquo;6rdquo; custom race board that Guy Pere won rode to win the 2009 Duke's Oceanfest.Dennis said he goes for these types of boards for distance and endurance because of its inertia. And this is why hersquo;s been doing a lot of custom boards lately. I personally agree with him because from my experience, the heavier boards have more momentum, though you have to put more muscle to initiate it. My take on this is that, since I started doing the distant runs, I notice that Irsquo;ve been burning a lot of calories. So, if yoursquo;re up to gaining something from doing cardio stuff and losing weight, take Dennisrsquo; advice: ldquo;go distance paddling, read the water and take advantage of Hawaiirsquo;s ocean.rdquo; For a preview of Dennisrsquo; 18 year-career of shaping high performance boards and other surfing tips, check out this phone interview.nbsp;
Fri, 21 Nov 2008 - 44min - 36 - Joe Bark Interview – Board Previews and Tips
I did this interview with Joe Bark last month over the phone. I just learned about Joe while getting more and more into the SUP distance paddling arena. Joe is famous for his paddleboards and is now expanding into stand ups. He's got a new 14' SUP racer coming out from Surftech in the future and we got the scoops in advance. I haven't gotten any date for the board release but it hopefully will be by Q1 2009.Transcript: (Scroll down to listen to the interview)Evan Leong: What's the Surftech one going to be in your words?Joe Bark: Just a really good all around board, whether it's dead flat or really good bumps in any direction and it's stable, and it seems to penetrate through the chop but it runs really good and just a really good board. (0:00:23.) I think we were just real lucky on it.Evan Leong: It's 14' by what?Joe Bark: It's 29frac12;" or 29"+ and has really responsive rocker on it and releases nice, with just tiny bumps, so tiny and you're catching them. Even xxxx (0:00:53.4). Just a really neat board, I'm really excited about it. I have had several people try it and the demo day [at Outdoor Retailer Expo] really went well. People look so excited about it. (0:01:06.9)Evan Leong: In California where you guys race, are there trade winds or a lot of bumps or not really?Joe Bark: It's usually flat. Some of the races have downwind but very few and even if you get them, when we do get a downwinder it can really be good, but it's usually a day late or a day early of the race, but there is really good downwind but on the race day, usually it's not happening. Usually it's just a flat California run.Evan Leong: How is the Surftech board gonna work in Hawaii especially like in this Hawaii Kai run or Maliko on Maui where there's a bit of bumps and wind and especially in xxxx (0:01:52.8) side shore with kind of cross winds?Joe Bark: It should work pretty good from the feedback we've sent some boards over and we've got some of those guys trying out now and they've been very happy with them. So the feedback is coming back from all over and it's really good (0:02:09.0) Well, the stand ups are changing by the day. When you shape by the time you put it on the water, it might not be what you really wanted at that time. Because you know the sport is growing so fast and it's changing. Your goal is (0:02:24.5) to have_____ speed and stability where as lay down water paddle, knee paddling paddle board (0:02:28.1) traditionally, you can handle that same board in most conditions, be it California board or Hawaiian board. Where as the stand up (paddle board), you almost see a quiver. If it's going to be a side chop this much you might give up a little speed to go on a little wider board. And some guys are really agile they can handle a narrow board and it doesn't bother them at all. The other guys can't get any direction or power unless they get a total stability, so it's really tough. It's a tough way to figure out who wants what, but as long as you got stability and speed that's going to do it. (0:03:03.9)Evan Leong: So the boards that are here in the island, are those customs (custom made) or is that Surftech's.?Joe Bark: No, they're customs like the one that Pete Johnson just bought, it's the one that run in that Shay (0:03:15.3) raced in that North shore race, the Hennessey's race (0:03:18.1) and then a friend of Mark Rushlow? (0:03:19.4) set me up with Kalai Fernandez (0:03:21.6) he just got one; I guess he put it in the water yesterday and that was a 14'. Jim Russi has a 14' as well. There's a 16' that Pete Johnson had is what won the xxxx race (0:03:37.1). With the same exact boards stretched to 16', I've started with that board at 12', tried at 13' it went good, tried it at 14' it went good, went 15, 17, 18 then 18-6 and they're all just stretched out and very stable. I'm not putting a rudder on those 14' because they seem to drive and control, be able to _____(0:04:04.2) with the glide wi...
Wed, 24 Sep 2008 - 22min - 35 - Mark Raaphorst Interview – F-14, F-16 and New SUP Race Boards
Last month I interviewed Maui based shaper and surfer Mark Raaphorst, and he discussed the differences between the F14 and F16's along with other boards being used for downwinder stand up paddling. I shared with him my experience using the F16 while doing a downwinder and how the board became faster when it filled with water. He also gave some really good insight into downwind racing. I learned a lot.Transcript: (Scroll down to listen to the interview)Evan Leong: You guys have a new F-14 coming out right?Mark Raaphorst: YesEvan Leong: You know I look it up in the internet, it said that it's 20 lbs. vs. the 28 lbs. for the 16'. Is that accurate?Mark Raaphorst: No. That's 16' is around 26-27 lbs. (17:20). So it's gonna be around 20 or 21 lbs. People can have it with or without steering. It's gonna be an optional steering kit in there, and so the hard board (00:27:6) is the pounds, so without the steering is probably be around 20-21 (lbs.) and with the steering 22 (lbs.).Evan Leong: What's the difference then between F-14, 15, 16, 18, like what would you recommend? (00:42.5)Mark Raaphorst: There is no 15; there is no mold at 18. There are custom boards. It's got to be a hollow mold boards for the F14. At this point, there's only a 10, a 12 and 16 hallow. In the future there will be one more board for the 14. (0:01:01.8)Evan Leong: What's the difference then between 14 and 16 or is it just because the 14 is going to the stock? That stock class?Mark Raaphorst: 14 is 14, 16 is for the 16' in length and the 16' has a different bottom contour. The 14 is gonna have a single concave versus the 16 has a bit of double concave with some V (0:01:26.9) in there. The 14' is gonna have a drop deck of about 2 inches deep, quite a different board, it's got a lower rocker for the 14'. (0:01:38.2)Evan Leong: What would you recommend? 14' vs. 16', are there several conditions?Mark Raaphorst: Yes. Different conditions apply: if you have to go longer distances I'd go with a longer length, the 16' is probably the stock out there, 14 is more manageable, it's gonna be a little lighter if you're a big gentleman or a lady then 16 foot is better because it has higher volume than the 14.Evan Leong: And the 16 now you can get a drop deck too I saw it on the website (0:02:7.3)Mark Raaphorst: Yes.Evan Leong: Is that a molded one?Mark Raaphorst: That's molded. I basically created a big insert into the mold that sits in there.Evan Leong: Are you finding that more people are getting the drop deck?Mark Raaphorst: If people are willing to take a bit of a new approach, yes, but it makes the board a lot more stable with the drop deck.Evan Leong: Yesterday I did a downwinder from Hawaii Kai to Kaimana on F-16 and then it was really bumpy out by black point (0:02:56.9) I flipped over and the plug fell out at the back and then it filled a bit with water, and it's just like the hardest part of the run and I got water, but it made it faster.Mark Raaphorst: Sometimes is does.Evan Leong: I was having so much momentum at that point, it would punch through everything in the front and I just kept going, like it was my fastest split [time] so I was tripping out (0:03:21.1). It doesn't make sense.Mark Raaphorst: Well you might have been lucky with three compartments inside the board it might have been stuck in the center part, a lot of it. But if you have it on the side it makes the board tippier. It has three strong decks, one center and two where you're standing and maybe the water is stuck in that middle compartment. (0:03:46:.6)Evan Leong: I was draining it for a while when I got out of the water but I was surprised, the weight makes a difference. (0:03:53.2)Mark Raaphorst: Yes.Even Leong: But I've been trying to figure, it's the lightness, this carbon lightness that's been helping, I don't know. This whole downwinder thing is a bit tricky for me. What kind of advice do you ha
Sun, 21 Sep 2008 - 30min - 34 - Surf Icon, Donald Takayama: The Talk Story
[singlepic=4854,188,125]I got a chance to interview the legendary Donald Takayama over the phone. At 65, Donald Takayama is still going strong. He started his career of making boards at age 11, became a shaper, surfer and still proves to be the master of style and technique. Takayama discusses his board designs, quality, and craftsmanship which led him to the aloha spirit of manufacturing. He muses over his innovations and high performance surfboards, and the reasons why he continues to create boards which he personally engineers from choice of wood on to the entire production process.Donald discusses the quality, style and design of his boards which led him to the surfboard manufacturing industry with Surftech. Initially using redwood to build his own, Takayama now has engineered all the boards using his 56 years of surfboard building experience, with genuine shapes and designs. Takayama also touched his life, near death experience and how he re-surfaced to being the surf icon that he is.Transcript: (Scroll down to listen to the interview)Evan Leong: Did you initially come up with a design for [your stand up board] like a 10rsquo;3rdquo;? (00:05)Donald Takayama: No, no as a whole I designed one and I felt based on the different lengths, theyrsquo;re very comparable to one another. When I did design these boards, I made them on just regular Styrofoam with the thought in mind as far as how theyrsquo;re going to work. The displacement, the width, the thickness has to be compatible with someone you know like 170 pounds and I scaled it up. What I also did in the designhellip;I built these two boardshellip;one for Noah [Shimabukuro] and one for Kai [Salas].Irsquo;ve been building the boards for a long time and at one point in my life I used to stand up on my board and ride it down the Ala Wai Canal and let the trade winds blow me and then I see it to the 2x2 or 1x2 and itrsquo;s a paddle down in the yacht harbor thatrsquo;s in between the boats and then Irsquo;d go out to Ala Moana and go surf. And with the design and the thought of standing up you know itrsquo;s probably displacement and first itrsquo;s based on your profile of the board with applying hydro dynamics to it you know how the boards and the floatation factor to where itrsquo;s going to pivot and where to put the width and everything so itrsquo;ll perform like a long board and surfboard. No pun intended, but Irsquo;ve seen these guys build these boards really super wide and thatrsquo;s great for catching waves but not really getting parallel with the wave. I tried to design the boards to perform, for hanging ten, for doing cut backs and just doing power turns off the bottom. Just like high performance but not going overboard, and something that you can actually really ride the surf with. The width, I scaled it up from the 9rsquo;3rdquo; and with that thought in mind, the taller, heavier people and lanky people, really tall people, how to accommodate the design, one particular design but in different levels. One design can accommodate all the different heights to weight ratios of people, aside from that, using the 2+1 fin design concept for turning in and for really holding in and waves and stuff. (03:13)Evan Leong: So you like that 2+1? Actually what I did recently is I changed out the 2+1 and I put 4 frac12;rdquo; True Ames [fins] on the side as well as the middle. And I kind of liked that better. 03:24Donald Takayama: Well it kind of works okay but when you really want to hit off the bottom it turns good. But when you really want to get to that tip and really hang ten, you need a deeper center fin or if the tail just comes sliding out. And these guys, Noah and Kai, theyrsquo;re coming off the bottom, blasting to the top getting air. 03:52Evan Leong: You mean on the stand ups? 03:55Donald Takayama: Well I chose the Surftech technology; it shows the lightness of the board and the durability. Itrsquo;s a ...
Fri, 19 Sep 2008 - 37min - 33 - Joe Blair Stand Up Board Touch Up Tips
Here's a short video clip of Joe Blair helping me touch up my board. The part with the spray paint is from a repair needed from hitting the reef and busting out my fin box. I got the board fixed but didn't get any color at their suggestion. Needless to say, it looked ugly on the bottom.When Joe was on Oahu in March he looked at it and his shaper instinct forced him to fix it. He went and found the matching color in spray paint and I shot a quick video of him doing the touch up.(click thumbnail to launch video)
Fri, 01 Aug 2008 - 7min - 32 - DaKine Downwind Paddle Leash
[singlepic=4465,188,125]DaKine came out with a coiled stand up paddle leash designed for downwind runs or touring. The coils have a larger diameter than others I've seen and used and the leash cord is thicker.This is a dedicated downwind or touring leash because it stays nicely out of the water but if you wiped out on a wave with it the chances of it balling up are pretty high.I've been trying out different leashes for downwinders lately after trying a really short (6 feet I think) leash on Todd Bradley's C4 Vortice XP. I really liked that because when I fell off it was easy to pull the board back.The downfall to a short leash is that if you don't fall away from the board there's a good chance of hitting it like I did before while surfing. I've also tried another coiled leash I got from Wet Feet and that was really good until I tried surfing with it and it became a huge ball. I was able to unravel it after but I haven't had good results with coiled leashed in the surf yet.What I really like about the DaKine leashes in general is that they are very well made. The cuff fits comfortably and the swivel works good after months of use. The rail saver is a wider one that seems to do no damage to the rail.I like the short leash option for downwinders although I'm liking the coiled option more each time I use it.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=121]
Fri, 20 Jun 2008 - 0min - 31 - Kialoa Shaka Puu Stand Up Paddle (Part 3)
[singlepic=2861,188,125] Dave Chun of Kialoa Paddles answers questions about paddling technique, paddle design and performance, his all-new Shaka Puu paddle, and general concerns about the stand up paddle surf culture. Dave also talks about choosing the right paddle, which all boils down to intuition that tells what type of paddle is best for the stand up paddle surfer.We get to learn more about paddles and why design and performance are always relative to individual surfers.The is the third and last installment of the Shaka Puu three-part series where Dave mentions that "paddle design is a compromise".(click thumbnail to launch video)Evan Leong: hellip;from the Shaka Puu, the bottom is really flat. You donrsquo;t put any dihedral whatsoever on that. Whatrsquo;s your thought on that? Does it still track straight?Dave Chun: I think dihedrals are good. I think paddles without dihedrals are good. I never try to make the ultimate paddle. All paddle designhellip; all design is a compromise. The paddle, the ones we sent to Mel, and all of our other products for guys like Blane Chambers and stuff, they like to paddle that way. Their reports were, ldquo;Donrsquo;t change a thingrdquo;. So thatrsquo;s why there is no dihedral on this paddle. Therersquo;s some paddles on our line that have a dihedral. Our Nalu paddle hasa dihedral. Generally speaking, the larger thehellip; I donrsquo;t know if it works, to be honest with you because if you look at the paddle, this doesnrsquo;t have a dihedral. This one has a dihedral but itrsquo;s way up here. Remember I said the paddle strokes start down here, so the paddle starts way down here and it gets way up here. Itrsquo;s supposed to stabilize the paddle. I donrsquo;t know if it works or not. Sometimes my racers tell me the dihedral works, I put it on the design. They tell me, ldquo;No needrdquo;, and it doesnrsquo;t have it, I leave it out. I take a pretty simplistic approach to this stuff.Evan Leong: So yoursquo;re doing a lot of custom paddles then. Itrsquo;s not production going out or you make them yourself?Dave Chun: The custom paddles, those are the R#38;D stuff. Thatrsquo;s what I do for a year, and what we do is a simpler tooling. Something I need to do fast and dirty. When I say fast and dirty thatrsquo;s probably a hundred hours or so to get the mold done. Irsquo;m pretty quick at this point because I have done a lot of tools. For about a year, we see how it goes, do a little market testing, do a lot of feedback from our guys. If it works, we bring it back in and we do our production tooling and that is a much more permanent... actually builds a better part for the customer.Evan Leong: These are the questions I got from the guys on the Internet. First guy is asking. He is just getting in to this sport. He is curious about the pros and cons on elbowed or bent paddles at the blade. Are they better for surfing and then what angles are people using and things about that?Dave Chun: The bent shaft paddle was originally designed by a guy named Eugene Jensen. He was a flat-runner marathon canoeist. Jensen was a brilliant manhellip; and also a fantastic canoe designer, open-canoes. A lot of innovations come from this guy ndash;got to give him credit. Is it better? Itrsquo;s up to the guy. No magic really comes from your paddle. Itrsquo;s really how it feels. I can see the pros and cons of both of the paddles. The angle of the paddle actually is for the mid to the back part of the stroke. Paddle works best for shorthellip; becausehellip;Evan Leong: That one right there is really shorthellip; with the green thing.Dave Chun: If you look at the angle of the paddle, itrsquo;s basically arched at 10 degrees. Why 10 degrees? Because we have tried five, seven, 10, 15 when we originally did this thing and a guy said, ldquo;Build it with a 10rdquo;. Ok, that was that. But the paddle has more tracti...
Tue, 17 Jun 2008 - 5min - 30 - Kialoa Shaka Puu Stand Up Paddle (Part 2)
[singlepic=2860,188,125] Dave Chun of Kialoa Paddles answers questions about paddling technique, paddle design and performance, his all-new Shaka Puu paddle, and general concerns about the stand up paddle surf culture. Dave also talks about choosing the right paddle, which all boils down to intuition that tells what type of paddle is best for the stand up paddle surfer.We get to learn more about paddles and why design and performance are always relative to individual surfers.In this video, Dave looks at the dimensions of the Shaka Puu paddle and talks briefly about the absence of data that could help in determining which paddle is right for the individual. Right now, he Dave says, the best way to find out what type of paddle is ideal for the surfer is to go out and try different designs and see what suits best.(click thumbnail to launch video)Evan Leong: Mel Puu is a big dude, so he is using, even this paddle at 8 and frac34;, it seems a little bit wide when you look at the normal dimensions in other onesmdash;8 frac12; or so on. But the shape of this is different. It only gets 8 and frac34; at the bottom, and it goes to 8 inches and lower pretty quickly. Does that help it move through across the water faster orhellip;?Dave Chun: It is easier on him. Now itrsquo;s probably good technique. He is a canoe paddler, and exceptional canoe paddler, so he already have that in place. The better technique, the more efficient you get in to the water. Wersquo;re not going in to paddle technique and stuff like that, it is enough said that he has got good technique. The other thing is you only need enough traction to get on the wave. (_____), another guy who uses my stuff, he is six- or seven-time world champion one-man guy and he told me something once that has always stuck with me. He said, ldquo;I only need enough speed to get on a swell.rdquo; So you trim the paddle as much as you can so itrsquo;s the smallest paddle you possibly can use. A big paddle fatigues you quite a bit. Thatrsquo;s the thing about paddles, the paddle that you are fastest with at a five-minute mark is not the paddle yoursquo;re going to be fastest with after an hour or two hours. Once again, that is one of the difficulties in obtaining data on what is the ultimate paddle because the duration of the vent dictates a lot of times what you need. Surfing tends to be soft start, but guys go off for really long sessions, right? Thatrsquo;s why theyrsquo;re gravitating towards really smaller paddle. Maybe it feels small on the first stroke but on the 10,000ths of the day itrsquo;s probably exactly right. No, probably earlier than that buthellip;Evan Leong: So with the new paddle, Melrsquo;s huge, what about smaller guys, 190, 170?Dave Chun: Itrsquo;ll be fine. This isnrsquo;thellip; I donrsquo;t get too much in to fine tuning of a paddle thinking that yoursquo;re really going to find the ultimate thing. Everybodyrsquo;s is different for one thing. I havenrsquo;t been able to find any kind of data to support big guy, small guy, fit guy, out of shape guy, for what people like. Really the only way to find out what paddle is right for you, is to go out and try it. Thatrsquo;s where we offer demo programs to shops. Shops can purchase demos from us and we like that. I like you to buy my paddles but ultimately we want people to be happy in the sport, to buy the right thing. If itrsquo;s one of my competitors and theyrsquo;re totally happy with it, thatrsquo;s good because the main thing is theyrsquo;re out there promoting the sport and thatrsquo;s good for all of us. If more surfershellip; well, if yoursquo;re a surfer, you donrsquo;t want tons of guys in the line up but itrsquo;s another issue.Evan Leong: So your shafts, I notice I mean I really like this shaft. I told you it reminded me of my high-end kayak paddle. And the weave, it looks super nice and itrsquo;s super light.Dave Chun: Yeah, itr...
Sat, 14 Jun 2008 - 5min - 29 - Kialoa Shaka Puu Stand Up Paddle (Part 1)
[singlepic=2857,125,188] Dave Chun of Kialoa Paddles answers questions about paddling technique, paddle design and performance, his all-new Shaka Pu'u paddle, and general concerns about the stand up paddle surf culture. Dave also talks about choosing the right paddle, which all boils down to intuition that tells what type of paddle is best for the stand up paddle surfer.We get to learn more about paddles and why design and performance are always relative to individual surfers.In the first of this three-part interview, Dave takes us through the process of building paddles and how they test the durability and strength of their products. He also compares the Shaka Pu'u to the Nalu.(click thumbnail to launch video)Evan Leong: I remembered we talked about this new paddle yoursquo;ve got, can you hold up the Shaka Puu, right?Dave Chun: This onersquo;s named to honor Mel for helping us so much with the design to check off on this thing. Because I live in Oregon, in flat water, I donrsquo;t have any way of really testing my product. Usually what we do in our shop, how we develop a product is we get an idea, we talk to the guys, they tell me things and then my job is to interpret what they are saying. Irsquo;ll build paddles and maybe sometimes (____). Irsquo;ll send them out to the guys and theyrsquo;ll tell me which ones they like. Right off the start, when Mel got this he was calling back the next day, ldquo;Holy smokes this one is a good one. I like it.rdquo; So what we did is we continue to test it because we have to make sure it is durable. We donrsquo;t like our stuff to snap, like I say, I donrsquo;t like that with a disclaimer on my product. We usually test for about a year. One time on the surf is not going to tell you anything about durability. Thatrsquo;s really something only over time you get to learn. We do have stuff that we do in house where we break the stuff. We call some of this the ldquo;Boeing Wing Testrdquo;, watched on Discovery Channel breaking a wing on a 747. Thatrsquo;s where we developed that test from. Theirs is littlehellip; not littlehellip; much more sophisticated than our method but basically we just hang a whole bunch of weight off the end of the paddle and see where it snaps. Because I have been doing this a long time, I have a lot of data on how much weight a paddle should be able to suspend, which I wonrsquo;t give you because I donrsquo;t want the other paddle makers to figure how much weight is enough put on a paddle.Evan Leong: So you guys are actually pretty high-tech then?Dave Chun: High-tech in a low-tech way. Paddle making, this isnrsquo;t big business, itrsquo;s not like wersquo;re making computers that everybody in the world has to have. We have a very small niche market so numbers are small. Even though people say stand up surf is exploding, itrsquo;s not like some of the other types of things. We try to be as sophisticated as we can. We understand also that there is a lot of errors involved in what we do.Evan Leong: How do you think that this stand up surf industry is comparing to the OC-1, one-man canoe industry?Dave Chun: I think it has a broader application. I think the surf culture is something more people know about and somewhat gravitate to. I think there is a lot of ex-surfers on the mainland, on land lock places like Iowa, have a beautiful broaden water on the lake and stand up might be a great way to reconnect with their surfing roots maybe even train a little bit for that trip they make to Hawaii once a year. I think it is a good thing.Evan Leong: So what is the difference this Shaka Puu and then your other paddle blades and then maybe whatever other people are using and so on?Dave Chun: I just give an example. Irsquo;ll just take probably the most popular paddle. This is the Nalu. By the way I was named after my dog. We no longer have that dog but that's how you get a paddle named after...
Wed, 11 Jun 2008 - 8min - 28 - DaKine SUP Board Bag
[singlepic=4490,188,125]I bought a DaKine board bag for a friend for Christmas which turned out to be the best present he got last year. The bag was for a 9' longboard but that gave me insight into the quality of these bags. For the first 3 months of 2008 we drove to the north shore quite a bit and this bag really came in handy.It was so handy that I had to get one for myself and here it is. The good thing for me is that I think the SUP Board Bag has more features than the one I got him for Christmas.I got the 10'4" version to hold my 8'9". It fits nice and snug and keeps my car from getting wet after a session. It's also not too heavy. I really like the reinforced handle on the bag. That extra support comes in handy from such a big board to carry.SUP Board Bag comes in 10'4", 11'0" and 12'3" and retails for $180-, $190- and $200-Available at Tropical Blends Surf and Wet Feet Hawaii.Features:Durable white tarpaulin to with heat reflective tarpaulin bottom3/8" Foam for maximum protectionHeavy duty corrosion proof wrap around zipper with internal protectionSidewall compression cinch strapsPaddle HandlePadded removable shoulder strap with stash pocketWax pocket(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=123]
Tue, 27 May 2008 - 2min - 27 - Pono Bill Big Board Test
[singlepic=4350,188,125]I donrsquo;t have any good excuse why this took so long to post. First off, a BIG Mahalo (Thank You) to Bill (Pono Bill), Diane, Bob (stoneaxe) and Sue for treating me like family. I had the best time and really enjoyed getting to know everyone. I hope I wasnrsquo;t too much of a hassle. Irsquo;m not a morning person and did my best.That said, the weekend was such a blast. I got to Maui pretty late and was hungry so I stopped off at Jacques to eat. After some sushi I got the Billrsquo;s Pono House around 10 pm. Bill and Diane were busy working to organize the rating forms for the board test. He had a couple vans, a jeep and a SUV already loaded up with tons of stand up paddle gear. I went to sleep around midnight and Bill and Diane stayed up to finish preparing.We got up at 4:45 am to drive an hour to Lahaina to setup. It was freezing cold which in Hawaii means somewhere below 70 degrees. I drove the jeep which had open windows and rear so I kept on the heater to help me out. We got to the beach and it was somewhere around 6 am and still pitch dark. You can see from the pictures that we started setting up in darkness.It seemed like forever before people arrived but when they did everything moved many times faster. I was amazed at how many boards there were. I think it was around 50 or so but not sure. We had a great time and I got to try 14 new boards. I was dead tired and looked at my watch to see that it was only 11 am. I got to meet a lot of cool people and even hung out a bit with Rand and Chan from www.StandUpZone.com. Rand is a good surfer but thatrsquo;s not what impressed me. Although hersquo;s skinny, Rand can eat like 3 adult men. I watched him eat kalua pig, rice, salad, chips, cookies and was totally amazed. I eat a lot but Rand can beat me with no problem. The difference is that I just look at food and my butt gains 10 lbs while Rand maintains his fit physique.The next day I joined Bill, Diane, Bob and Sue at Kanaha and was planning to go visit a friend later in Lahaina. My flight was scheduled to leave at 6 pm so I thought I had enough time. The surf at Kanaha looked pretty good from shore but it was a fairly decent paddle to the break. The wind was light and conditions were beautiful. The sky was blue. I was curious about the Surftech Takayama 10rsquo;7rdquo; that I rode the day before because on small waves I couldnrsquo;t tell if the board was special or not.I caught some head high waves and was instantly impressed by the Tak. It turned on a dime. I was able to nose ride it. It paddled good. The board is sweet. The Kanaha wave is a slow wave but it has juice. I had a blast. We even saw Jimmy Lewis out there on his stand up board and the guy from Lightning Bolt. Rand and Chan were also out there although Chan paddled in when we were coming out. Rand was on a small board that I managed to duck dive while standing on it the day before. Itrsquo;s an interesting experience to duck dive a stand up board.I ended up going out for 2 sessions that day and rushing to catch my flight with wet clothes in my bag. What a fun trip. I hope Bill and Diane continue to do this event and I hope to be able to make it again in the future.Check out Billrsquo;s board test results at www.kenalu.com. Bill also has a sweet blog at http://www.ponohouse.com/ponoblog. Check it out.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=111]
Sun, 18 May 2008 - 9min - 26 - DaKine Paddle Bag
[singlepic=4472,188,125]I got my hands on 2 DaKine paddle bags for stand up paddles. I'm glad DaKine came out with a padded travel bag because it was pretty hard to find a travel bag that offered enough protection to go through the airline baggage process for my Maui trip to Pono Bill's board test.The padded bag is made from heavy duty nylon and has a 1/4" foam padding. It can fit 2 paddles comfortably and has a nice big zipper. The SUP knit bag is pretty self explanatory. It's the same knit material as in the surf socks and has a drawstring closure on the paddle blade side.Both bags are $35 retail and can be bought at Tropical Blends Hawaii and Wet Feet Hawaii.Check out the video and pictures for a good view.Features for Padded Bag:Fits up to two paddlesDurable 600D polyester1/4" foam paddingHeavy duty corrosion proof zipperAdjustable shoulder strap/ handle.Adjustable 70-84"(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=122]
Thu, 15 May 2008 - 2min - 25 - DaKine Waterman Hydration Pack
[singlepic=4457,125,188]There's been some talk about hydration bags for stand up paddling and especially for long cruises or downwind runs. There are a number of choices out there although this is the first one I found that is water sports specific.This pack is very minimalist in that you have only what you need. There aren't a ton of mini pockets and material you won't use. The DaKine Waterman Hydration Pack is designed to be lightweight, unobtrusive and functional. That's exactly what you get.There's an ingenious device in the sternum clip on this pack. The clip has a built in high pitch whistle. This is great if when you're out at sea and the waves dampen any yelling or screaming you can produce.You bite on the nozzle and suck the water out like other packs. I have not used other hydration packs before so I have nothing to personally compare it to but I don't think I need to because I really like how the DaKine one works.I need to get in some water time with this pack and then post an update.Specs:70 oz. [ 2L ] Wide mouth reservoir Molded drain plug Lightweight nylon/mesh constructionAvailable at Wet Feet Hawaii www.wetfeethawaii.com(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=120]
Tue, 06 May 2008 - 1min - 24 - Joe Blair 8-9 Stand Up Paddle Board – Video
[singlepic=3993,125,188] I got a chance to hang out with Joe Blair during his recent trip to Oahu's north shore. We surfed everyday and had a blast on this new 8'9" x 30" x 4.25" stand up board. I was shocked that at 220 lbs I could stand on it comfortably. In fact, once I got used to the 8'9" I couldn't go back to the 9'11". It just felt too big. So the 9'11" has been passed on to my buddy.The amazing thing about this board is that after riding it for a while, I'm sure we can go smaller. I let Nate S. ride this board at Ala Moana Courts the other day and he was pretty stoked on it. I think Nate is 230 lbs. I even heard him give out one of those laughs that express how stunned he was by the way the board turned. Nate almost pulled off a 360 degree off the lip also. Too bad I didn't video that.Check out this video with Joe talking about his new 8'9".(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=92]
Thu, 10 Apr 2008 - 5min - 23 - F-17′6″ and the ASS
[singlepic=2942,188,125]Doug Lock talks about the dimension and performance of the F-17'6", and shows the Active Steering System he attached on a 15' board.(click thumbnail to launch video)Doug Lock: This is a 17rsquo;6rdquo; shaped by Mark Raaphorst of Sandwich Isle Composites andhellip;Evan Leong: So would it be called F-17?Doug Lock: F-17rsquo;6rdquo;. Itrsquo;s just kind of last yearrsquo;s model when he was makinghellip;when he was prototyping the different big boards. This is just pre-F-16.Evan Leong: How does this compare to your F-16?Doug Lock: I like this better. This is heavier but I like the glide. This is more of a big water board. When it is really windy, over 20 knots, and the bumps are groomed, this thing ishellip;Evan Leong: Heavy, yeah?Doug Lock: Itrsquo;s heavy. Irsquo;m guessing it weighs probablyhellip;it has got to weigh 50 pounds, some where around there. It has quite a bit of material on it.Evan Leong: That steeringhellip; that rudder thing that you put on it is kind of cool.Doug Lock: Well, I went off the paddle boards because all the paddle boards have thathellip;some people I guess they call it the kelp rudder or what not. But what the theory ismdash;two theories actually. This leading edge here is supposed to be for kelp because what happens if your edge was a regular rudder it would get stuck on the rudder and wrap up and of course it will slow you down. But the theory behind this too is that the leading edge that does not turn theoretically is quicker because this is a break. If you have just a rudder, itrsquo;s more of a break. This is a just a leading edge that stays straight all the time. I also feel that it makes the board more stable. It tracks it more and it didnrsquo;t feel like it was tracking it to a point where you could not steer the board because this is still allowing you to go left to right. So this just feels more like a stabilizer fin and just seems to track you straighter.Evan Leong: And this is the new one you just got, right?Doug Lock: This is a new one. This is a 15-foot and if you see the rail differencehellip; on the 17rsquo;6rdquo;, this rail has got a slight chime down under here basically just forhellip; and I feel for the bigger board. This is kind of necessary because it is so big that if you get in a situation where you canrsquo;t correct the board this kind of has a neutral area where it kind of free you up a little bit where it is sticking. This is kind of low, softer point. If you look at the 15-footer it has an extreme edge almost all the way from the nose, pretty much all the way down to the tail. Itrsquo;s just sharper and sharper. Theoretically this is faster and of course you want to go faster, faster is better. But the control thing is different too. I donrsquo;t know with this since not riding this yet. I have to compare what this softened rail feels as opposed to a really sharperhellip; I donrsquo;t think itrsquo;s going to hinder the performance or speed much either. So I think it is going to be fine.Evan Leong: Ok, letrsquo;s take a closer look at the 15rsquo; then.Evan Leong: This is pretty sweet looking, huh?Doug Lock: Yeah. Different lineshellip; the steering system is different. Itrsquo;s solid. It has got a nice ASS on it.Evan Leong: Oh it changes up.Doug Lock: Yeah, now you can move the steering system forward or back depending on where you want to stand on the board. Maybe depending on conditions.Evan Leong: Oh really?Doug Lock: Yeah, you see you can slide this up. It has got the holes here so you can move it up farther and easier, not just so you can lock right in. It just slides right in so you have an option to move it up if you want.Evan Leong: Oh, so if you move it to this piece right here then the whole thing moves forward.Doug Lock: Correct.Evan Leong: But you put this kind of fly paper-ish stuff...
Fri, 28 Mar 2008 - 7min - 22 - 9.8″ Jim Terrell Quickblade Hybrid Paddles at Wet Feet
[singlepic=2957,125,188]Doug Lock of Wet Feet shows us the new Jim Terrell hybrid paddle from Quickblade and talks briefly about the blade's design.(click thumbnail to launch video)Evan Leong: What are we looking at?Doug Lock: Yes, these are Jim Terrellrsquo;s new hybrid paddlemdash;carbon shaft, carbon t-handle with a fiberglass blade. This particular blade, this orange one is actually a bigger blade than this normal stock. This one is a 9.8 as opposed to normally he makes a 9.0. And he just sent me two proto-types. These are them and I tried the big one first.Evan Leong: So these are not in the market yet?Doug Lock: No, they just came out. Well, they just came out. We just started selling them this week.Evan Leong: Are the blade designs different at all?Doug Lock: No, blade design is the same, the same shape. Itrsquo;s just that this one has a larger area, this, of course, a .8 difference from this.Evan Leong: So he still puts dihedral in the bottomhellip;Doug Lock: Same design yes. Dihedral still in the blade and I particularly like it because of the smoothness it goes through the water. After talking to Terrell, he was saying that Dave Kalama likes to paddle with a 10.0.Evan Leong: 10rsquo;0rdquo;?Doug Lock: 10rsquo;0rdquo;, yeah. So he made a 9.8rdquo; for me to try and I tried it and now this is a paddle I like to use.Evan Leong: So thatrsquo;s the one yoursquo;re using now? Even for surfing?Doug Lock: Especially for surfing.Evan Leong: Really?Doug Lock: Yeah. And a lot of people like to go with a smaller blade but Irsquo;ve been finding that I feel like this blade, since it fiberglass, it has more flex.Evan Leong: Letrsquo;s see that.Doug Lock: So if you look at the carbon you can see the flex in the blade itself. This is of course the shaft bending as well but there is definitely more width with the blade than there is in the shaft which almost is kind of like a swim fin theory. When yoursquo;re kicking, the end of the fin is flexing where the part of your foot is more stiff. It was kind of a theory I was thinking, it worked. I mean Jim wanted to make something kind of morehellip;Evan Leong: These handles are kind of cool.Doug Lock: Yeah, I just put EVA foam on them, comfortable. You donrsquo;t get those mean callus.Evan Leong: This is cool too, this Kialoa handle and shaft.Doug Lock: Yeah, I havenrsquo;t tried that paddle yet but this shaft and everything is just unreal, yeah. Beautifully done.Evan Leong: The shaft is nice on this thing.Doug Lock: No doubt. This to me is a very comfortable feel but itrsquo;s got ahellip;I like the way it is done, very nicely done.Evan Leong: The swing weight on this thing is pretty nice.Doug Lock: Yeah, yeah.Evan Leong: Irsquo;m wondering on this blade though. If you look at the blade itrsquo;s flat on the bottom.Doug Lock: Thatrsquo;s going to be interesting. Irsquo;m so used to a dihedral I got to bring it on and see what it does. But yeah, with the flat, a lot of people are liking the flat.Evan Leong: Interesting huh?Doug Lock: Interesting, everyone has got their own theory, which is pretty neat.Evan Leong: So the big blade is not throwing you off when yoursquo;re surfing?Doug Lock: No it doesnrsquo;t. I thought it would because it is such a big blade. I thought I was going to be better as a downwind blade and it probably will be but it seems like to me so far that it has been great for surfing. I have yet to bring it down the run and see how that feels too. Itrsquo;s easy on the shoulders. They didnrsquo;t feel so rigid. It felt it has a really nice flex to it. Not too flexy.[gallery=72]
Tue, 04 Mar 2008 - 3min - 21 - Joe Blair gives his version of the nose kick turn for stand up paddle surfing – Video
[singlepic=571,188,125] Joe Blair shares a technique for spinning your board around quickly. It's not as easy as it sounds. I tried it and it takes some practice.(click thumbnail to launch video)
Wed, 06 Feb 2008 - 1min - 20 - Dave Chun of Kialoa Answers Questions About Paddles (Part 4)
[singlepic=2856,125,188] Last month I spoke with Dave Chun, founder of Kialoa Paddles, about his paddles, which he has been manufacturing since 1990. Dave started with stand up paddles in 1999. I got him to answer some questions from our stand up paddle surf community at Wet Feet Hawaii's store. You gotta tune out the noise from the store because we shot this during business hours.In this four-part series, Dave, who has for a long time been a leading manufacturer of outrigger paddles, answers questions from the public about stand up paddles.(click thumbnail to launch video)Evan Leong: Next questions is, when are paddles going to come to mere mortal levels?Dave Chun: That is a tough question and in some sense I understand that. Sorry about that the pricing, they do seem a little steep. From our perspective, on our end, wersquo;re not getting rich. Wersquo;re doing the best we can. Wersquo;re small manufacturers in a niche market and that does not lend itself to high production techniques. The materials we work with are expensive, the tooling is expensive, and the technology changes rapidly so. I can hear you, it seems like it is expensive. Wersquo;re all working on less expensive paddles but yoursquo;re not going to get for a hundred bucks, a 300 hundred dollar paddle wersquo;re building now. Itrsquo;s just the way it is. The materials, carbon fiber is expensive. People assume that because you have a mold that it is really easy and fast to make these things. It is faster than forging something out of metal but itrsquo;s still handwork, therersquo;s still skilled labor having to put all the parts in there and get the resin in to the mixture. Long story short, I bet you prices will go down on the paddles when the sport increases in numbers, sales increase in numbers, to a point that I can support lower margins.Evan Leong: What is the difference between wood paddle and carbon paddle? In terms of feel, durability, or performance or any of that.Dave Chun: Honestly, I havenrsquo;t paddles the wood stand up paddle. But as far ashellip; you knowhellip; I came from a background of this wood versus synthetic materials and we got to work within the rules thathellip; wood is actually good a lot of us prefer, even when they can use full carbon paddles for racing, some of my guys prefer the wood shaft because they seem to absorb some shock. It seems easier on the body. Generally speaking, to get the same strength, a wood paddle is going to have to weight more than a carbon fiber paddle. Wood I donrsquo;t think is any more durable than carbon paddle but itrsquo;s easier to patch because most of us are more familiar with sanding and varnishing than we are with doing ding repair with carbon fiber paddle. I personally, obviously, I make composite paddles. Given a choice, I work with composites. And I feel I can execute better design-wise. I can make the paddles thinner. Like I said, I come from that outrigger background, so if you look at my paddles, my blades are really thin. Irsquo;ve actually fattened my blades up for this because they tell me they were (____) the boards and stuff so how do I make my edges a little thicker? But a thinner paddle goes in to the water cleaner. Itrsquo;s going to create less bubble as it goes in, therefore, a more traction because the bubbleshellip; have you ever tried swimming in the whitewash after you wipe out? Hard to swim, not like swimming inside the pool, right? So that is kind of the same idea with paddles. So I like them thin. I canrsquo;t do that with wood. It does not have the structural strength. The other thing is I prefer to have non-absorbent materials in my water sport stuff so this is good. We use a close-cell foam sohellip; I could actually draw holes on this paddle. It would not break and it would not absorb water. Does that answer your question? Maybe I am biased too. I have spent a long time as a woodworker and still...
Wed, 16 Jan 2008 - 7min - 19 - Dave Chun of Kialoa Answers Questions About Paddles (Part 3)
[singlepic=2855,125,188] Early last month I spoke with Dave Chun, founder of Kialoa Paddles, about his paddles, which he has been manufacturing since 1990. Dave started with stand up paddles in 1999.nbsp; I got him to answer some questions from our stand up paddle surf community at Wet Feet Hawaii's store.nbsp; You gotta tune out the noise from the store because we shot this during business hours.In this four-part series, Dave, who has for a long time been a leading manufacturer of outrigger paddles, answers questions from the public about stand up paddles.(click thumbnail to launch video)Evan Leong: What makes your paddle different from other brands? There are so many brands to choose from now, why should people consider your brand?Dave Chun: I really donrsquo;t like to compare myself to other products. It just makes everybody upset. You know, Irsquo;ll say this, I have been building paddles for 17 years. Irsquo;ve had most of the bad things happen to me. I continue to have bad things happen to me, itrsquo;s just the nature of the beast. We back what we do. Our paddles have a one-year guarantee. Everything is proprietary. I design everything. All ideas. We build all the parts to our own specific. I donrsquo;t do the aluminum. I donrsquo;t have an aluminum tube yet. I probably wonrsquo;t do that. Wersquo;ve got to do rentals. But the other thing is I do have background in designing paddles. This is what I have done full-time since 1990. We have been very successful in the outrigger market. In all modesty, I guess we are the dominant paddle in that market in the USmdash;seven Molokai Hoi winners since 1995, Womenrsquo;s Molokai Race four times. Irsquo;d like to say, those guys would have one the race using a broom. Itrsquo;s not the paddle; itrsquo;s the athlete. However, the broom they choose to use is mine and that makes us very proud.Evan Leong: I have a two-piece paddle that is starting to develop some flay at the joint, whatrsquo;s the best way to get rid of the looseness and how much will that weaken the paddle shaft?Dave Chun: I donrsquo;t make two-piece paddles. The reason is I consider it kind of a different technology because the joint, if itrsquo;s going to be useful as a two-piece paddle, it would be in the middle of the paddle. Itrsquo;s a little tricky because that is a high stress point in the paddle when yoursquo;re introducing a joint. What I would do is go back to the manufacturer who built the paddle. Tell them what problem you are having. Irsquo;m certain they are going to take care of you. They probably know what is happening and they can guide you. If you think the paddle is going to break, and thatrsquo;s just the way it is, just wrap that thing with a bunch of fiberglass, a bunch of epoxy glue, Irsquo;m sure itrsquo;s going to be fine. Your hands probably not going to touch it because itrsquo;s probably lower than your bottom half. Should be ok.Evan Leong: Next question is, Irsquo;d like to know if there are any differences between a good paddle like skinny guy like me and one of your pipe charging, big bruisers. I think this guy is probably about 170. Sometimes I stick to my 9-inch wide blade in the water and it just wonrsquo;t move for enough of a split second that I notice it slows me off balance. Irsquo;m thinking a skinnier blade, but how skinny coupled with more flex in the shaft is the answer but I donrsquo;t know. Could you answer?Dave Chun: Once again, Irsquo;d say trust your judgment. If you feel you need a smaller paddle then you probably need a smaller paddle. How much smaller, I really canrsquo;t answer that. If yoursquo;re saying that you feel that the paddle is not sticking up, you got to remember too, once you get a body in motion, itrsquo;s easier to maintain that body in motion. Classic example is a racecar is going around the track at 200 miles an hour; it suddenly starts to slide in the turn. Even the...
Sun, 13 Jan 2008 - 4min - 18 - Dave Chun of Kialoa Answers Questions About Paddles (Part 2)Wed, 09 Jan 2008 - 7min
- 17 - Dave Chun of Kialoa Answers Questions About Paddles (Part 1)
[singlepic=2853,188,125] Early last month I spoke with Dave Chun, founder of Kialoa Paddles, about his paddles, which he has been manufacturing since 1990. Dave started with stand up paddles in 1999. I got him to answer some questions from our stand up paddle surf community at Wet Feet Hawaii's store. You gotta tune out the noise from the store because we shot this during business hours.In this four-part series, Dave, who has for a long time been a leading manufacturer of outrigger paddles, answers questions from the public about stand up paddles.(click thumbnail to launch video)Evan Leong: Ok, wersquo;re here with Dave Chun, founder of Kialoa paddles and husband to Meg. We always have to mention her. How did you get in to this whole paddle making career?Dave Chun: Itrsquo;s all a need. I started in 1990; 17 years ago. I was paddling outrigger. At the time it was hard for us to get gear. There were stuff around but wasnrsquo;t like right now. I saw things, I like the paddles I was using but I thought it could do good on them. And I just started building paddles, kind of on a loom. First two I actually built forhellip; as a wedding present for two friends of ours and it just kind of started from there.Evan Leong: So you started off with wood paddles or you started off with these carbon ones?Dave Chun: Wood paddles, yeah.Evan Leong: But you guys were the first ones to do carbon?Dave Chun: Other people have built carbon fibers for years. In outrigger, we are probably the first to popularize that, outrigger carbon paddles. You know, we were once acquainted in hybrid paddles, thatrsquo;s something we called it, and I guess I was pretty much the first guy to mold the wood paddle. I guess that was my claim to fame.Evan Leong: What do you mean you mold? Instead of shaping, you mold a wood paddle?Dave Chun: Yes, we were able to shapehellip; classic ways to actually build composite wood paddles, build them much like a surfboardmdash;shape the wood core paddle, glass over the top. We used to do that but itrsquo;s really labor intense. I really donrsquo;t like to sand the whole lot, not fiberglass at least. So what I did was I thought there has got to be a better way, I knew they make molded products. So what I did was I figured out a way to mold the paddle, well we know how to build the mold, and then build the tools, and then figure out how to fit the cores in it. It just kind of come from my own process because anybody who knew about it wasnrsquo;t actually going to share their information. They were actually other paddle makers, fantastic paddles but they were all foam core. I had to fit the rules about rivers so I had a little bit different challenge.Evan Leong: Hmmhellip; and then how did this whole stand up paddle for you guys come about?Dave Chun: I started out with (_____), probably a guy here anybody knows, all the surfer knows. Jerry Lopez is there toohellip; and because wersquo;re both from Hawaii we just become friends. About four years ago, Laird Hamilton was paddling in the waves with a paddle, on a surfboard. Hersquo;s breaking the paddle so he called. He was just talking to Jerry about something and Jerry said, ldquo;Hey therersquo;s this guy named David Chun who makes canoe paddles. Why donrsquo;t you call him?rdquo; So Laird called me and actually my response was, ldquo;Why donrsquo;t you just get another paddle from the guy you got the last one from?rdquo; He said, ldquo;No, Irsquo;ll break them.rdquo; So I said, ldquo;Ok.rdquo; I thought it was a fun thing so, ldquo;Ok, whatever, Irsquo;ll make the paddle.rdquo; I like challenges. I like to build things. So thatrsquo;s kind of what it was. The original paddle had an aluminum shaft. It was a quick easy thing for me to do. It kind ofhellip; the idea was I thought with spear guns with the same aluminum shaft and theyrsquo;re really strong, so we did that. Laird mo...
Mon, 07 Jan 2008 - 7min - 16 - Installing Handle Mounts for a Stand Up Paddle Surfboard at Wet Feet Hawaii – Part 3 – Video
[singlepic=1891,125,188] Wet Feet's resident handyman takes us through the process of installing handle mounts on a stand up paddle surfboard. It's worth it once you have those handles installed on your board. It will be much easier to carry, plus, it can be used as a grip to grab on to while in the water.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=27]Clarke: This is a two-part epoxy.Evan: Five minute kind?Clarke: Five minute epoxy, yep.Evan: Did you mix it already?Clarke: Irsquo;m mixing it now. Two equal sized portions, and again wersquo;re using some highly technical instruments here. The chopsticks is required and as well as some cardboard. This is where it can get a little bit messy. Irsquo;m just going to dip the edges. What this does is provide a seal?Evan: Oh, yoursquo;re only putting the edges on?Clarke: Only the edges. Because the adhesive that is provided with the pad is quite adequate and what this does is seal the edges to prevent any sort ofhellip;Evan: You took off the sticker thing on the bottom already?Clarke: Yep, I took off the sticker thing.Evan: It doesnrsquo;t stick to your glove though, huh?Clarke: It does a little bit. But herersquo;s the trick, right there. And then in, boom. Now that bugger is not coming out, once you set it on there itrsquo;s not moving. Now, number 2. Peel off the back if you can get a grip on it. Hold it on the middle like that.Evan: So the epoxy holds it to the board or it just keeps so that no water goes underneath or something?Clarke: Yep, all of that. It serves both purposes.Evan: And thatrsquo;s all the epoxy put on?Clarke: Thatrsquo;s it. That is it right there. Just to seal the edge.Clark: Itrsquo;s kind of hard to see but you can se all the epoxy is along the middle of the pad here.Clarke: If you have any question, if you have enough epoxy there ndash; this here looks a little bit shy. Since it is five-minute epoxy, you have to work quickly. Irsquo;m going to do a second batch for that side. Irsquo;m not going to try and rush it because things might not come out very well if you do that. So what Irsquo;m going to do is press this right along the side like that. Irsquo;ll clean this up here with a towel.Evan: With acetone or no?Clarke: No. Right now the epoxy is still activating, itrsquo;s still wet so all you need to do is wide off any excess. Done.Clarke: Now, wersquo;re going to do the second set of handles. You can eyeball equal parts of the epoxy. Give it a good thorough mixing to activate the hardener of the resin. Ok, just like we did on the other side. Peel off the adhesive backing.Clarke: This is applying a clear paddle grip to the center of your paddle. And this is nice because it doesnrsquo;t add a whole lot of thickness to the diameter of the paddle shaft. First thing you want to do is measure around, because the differences in diameter vary somewhat. And wersquo;re looking at 3 and frac34; inches. Ok, 3 and frac34;. There.Evan: How do you make sure that thing goes on straight?Clarke: That is you pretty much have to eyeball.Evan: How low are you doing it or high?Clarke: Irsquo;m doing it ndash; I pretty much try and center it. And this is 18 inches long. Itrsquo;s long enough that you have some play because depending what sort of paddling yoursquo;re doing, yoursquo;re going to have your grip a little bit lower or a little bit higher. So this gives you options as to where yoursquo;re going to have your hand.Evan: So just eyeballing it.Clarke: Yep, just eyeballing it. Starting in the middle, wrapping around. Just like that. You can use something hard to help push out any air pockets in there.Evan: Are you just going to overlap it?Clarke: Irsquo;m going to overlap it. Irsquo;m just going to take a razor blade and cut off the excess, right along the seam.Evan: Some bu...
Thu, 03 Jan 2008 - 3min - 15 - Installing Handle Mounts for a Stand Up Paddle Surfboard at Wet Feet Hawaii – Part 2 – Video
[singlepic=1890,188,125] Wet Feet's resident handyman takes us through the process of installing handle mounts on a stand up paddle surfboard. It's worth it once you have those handles installed on your board. It will be much easier to carry, plus, it can be used as a grip to grab on to while in the water.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=27]Clarke: Ok, so you can take this off. So I have the, the utility knife is just barely coming out here. Irsquo;m just going to trace along my tape stencil as it were.Evan: You can see the rail protection stuff on the outside too.Clarke: Yeah, the rail protector really prolongs the life of the rail when people are learning to paddle because they tend to bang the rails quite a bit.Evan: Does that stuff come off pretty easily or no?Clarke: Yeah, you can take it off. It peels right off. Itrsquo;s a gradual process. Do too much in one shot. Ok.Evan: How do you clean off the excess stuff on there or it all comes off?Clarke: What we do is we actually have acetone, which will clean any residual adhesive off the surface of the board and then what Irsquo;m going to do is Irsquo;m going to take a little bit of sandpaper and just scour the surface here to help with the adhesion on the back of the pad.Evan: Ok.Clarke: Irsquo;ll clean this up a little bit, se how close we are. Make any adjustments necessary. Looks like a nice fit. So itrsquo;s nice. Itrsquo;s recessed into the pad.Evan: Ok, cool.Clarke: Yeah, just makes it pretty clean. And basically wersquo;re going to repeat that process three more times and then wersquo;ll prep the surface before we add the pads.Clarke: You can just roll it on to your finger. Itrsquo;ll come off.Evan: You just roll it off?Clarke: Yep, you just roll it off.Evan: But you need acetone for that?Clarke: Yeah, not for the big stuff. Not for the big chunks. The acetone is good just for cleaning any residual leftovers.Clarke: Herersquo;s a proper protective gear. Irsquo;m working with acetone. Nice thing is I run out of acetone I just go to the nail salon right here and I borrow some of theirs.Clarke: You can see the adhesive on the deck pad is so strong itrsquo;s actually taking some of the gel coat off the top of the board here. But wersquo;re going to sand this here anyways.Evan: So basically, yoursquo;re going to sand the clear coat off.Clarke: Irsquo;m going to scour it. Irsquo;m not actually going to remove it. Irsquo;m just going to scour it, which will make it easier for the adhesive to adhere to the board, give it something to grab on to.Evan: Whatrsquo;s the chance of the adhesive sticking so much to the gel coat and the gel coat just ripping off?Clarke: I suppose itrsquo;s possible.Evan: But you havenrsquo;t seen that yet?Clarke: I havenrsquo;t seen that yet, yeah. Ok.Clarke: Thatrsquo;s the first step of the surface preparation. Second step will be scouring the surface.Evan: What kind of sand paper? What grade?Clarke: This is 120, and its a wet/dry sand paper. But you can use pretty much anything. The basic idea is that you just want to scour inside the area where the pad is going to sit, just like this. Put the pad on the outside like this so we donrsquo;t scratch the surface where itrsquo;s visible.Clarke: So the pads are going to go in just like that.
Tue, 01 Jan 2008 - 7min - 14 - Installing Handle Mounts for a Stand Up Paddle Surfboard at Wet Feet Hawaii – Part 1 – Video
[singlepic=1889,188,125] Wet Feet's Clarke takes us through the process of installing handle mounts on a stand up paddle surfboard. It's worth it once you have those handles installed on your board. It will be much easier to carry, plus, it can be used as a grip to grab on to while in the water.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=27]Evan: So wersquo;re looking at a demo board, right?Clarke: This is a demo board and what wersquo;re going to do is wersquo;re gong to continue to set it up with all the various accessories that are available. So people we can demonstrate exactly whatrsquo;s available for stand ups. So, what wersquo;re going to do now next is wersquo;re to put the after-market handles on, which is a popular option. Handles are great both for just basically carrying and lifting of the board and also some people like to put their kids on the front of the board.Evan: Where are you going to put the handles then?Clarke: So what wersquo;re going to do today, for our purposes, is wersquo;re going to put the handles in the center point to carry the boards; to help in carrying this large object. So the first thing to do is we want to find the center point and we can do that very simply, the process of elimination ndash; right about here.Evan: So yoursquo;re just grabbing it and try to find where it balances?Clarke: Yeah, exactly. Ok, so itrsquo;s going to go basically just right pretty much in the thickest part of the deck pad.Evan: I like your professional level.Clarke: Yeah, this is a very technical instrument, hard to find ndash; you have to special order these.Evan: So what we have here is ndash; these are two inserts and then you have the handles, right?Clarke: Right, exactly. The threaded inserts originally developed for kite boarding. So they have an industrial adhesive on the backside, itrsquo;s super strong.Evan: And you havenrsquo;t had any problems with the thing falling off?Clarke: If you have an extra heavy board, the board is really big and you want handles, what we do also, in addition to the adhesive it comes with the pads, is we epoxy the outer area of the pad, which reallyhellip;Evan: But you can epoxy it later then?Clarke: You can epoxy it later. Itrsquo;s easier if you do it all in one shot, when yoursquo;re initially putting them on.Evan: Yoursquo;re not going to epoxy it right now though?Clarke: Irsquo;m not going to epoxy these because the board isnrsquo;t that heavy so itrsquo;s quite adequate just like this. The main thing with these pads too is that you want to put them on the part of the deck that is flat because they are very stiff; they donrsquo;t bend so you cannot put them out on a rail where they might come off. So what wersquo;re going to do is wersquo;re going to inset them right in to the deck pad and wersquo;re just going to cut out the deck pad here and then insert them.Evan Leong: Just putting tape to mark it?Clarke: Yeah. Ok, wersquo;re going to make sure we get this square with our precisehellip;Evan: Where did you put the center of balance? Was the center of balance in the middle of these two things orhellip;?Clarke: Right. Basically you want to have the center of balance right in the middle and yoursquo;re handles are going to go in here. Theyrsquo;re going about 7 frac12; to 8 inches apart.Evan: Ok.Clarke: Something like that. Another option you can do ishellip;Evan: The cool thing is that the handle is flexible, you can be off a little bit and it still works.Clarke: Yeah, sure.Evan: But the ideal width is going to be, is to give it how much play on the handle?Clarke: Basically, you donrsquo;t want the handle flappen around a lot. You donrsquo;t want your feet getting hung underneath it. You just want enough room so you can get your hand underneath comfortably. Another option with this is you can either set the h...
Sun, 30 Dec 2007 - 5min - 13 - Tropical Blends Surf Stand Up Paddle Board Fin Talk Video – Part 2
[singlepic=2785,188,125] Jim of Tropical Blends Surf talks about the different type of fin box that they have on their surfboards and why they use such. He also explains to us the importance of fins and how they affect performance on any watercraft.He says that you don't have to necessarily change the board if you're not satisfied with its performance, and that the fin is a really cheap way to change the board.Tropical Blends Surf puts a huge emphasis on fins and has on a display a variety from different manufacturers.(click thumbnail to launch video)Tropical Blends: Letrsquo;s talk about fins for a minute. The most important thing that I want to say about fins is that I have a lot of fins. Irsquo;m very very in to fins. Fins make a huge difference in to any kind of watercraft, any surfboards. And you can see by the variety of shapes that I maintain in the shop that every one of these have a sort of different purpose. Here you just grab anything, this is sort of the old school brewer, the single fin. Now in this particular shop, I actually sell single fin boards. A lot of people think you can just grab any fin and put it on a single fin board, itrsquo;s not true. If yoursquo;re going to ride a retro or old school surfboard, you need an old school fin to make the board perform like it was going to. I have a brand new (_____) over there that he just built for me and he sent me the fin, he gave me the fin with the board. And you look at it; itrsquo;s very similar to this. We got some Old Brewer templates for single fins. We got some cutaway fins. This fin would be very good because it has got very little base on it and kind of a cutaway neck here for pivoting the board. If you want to come down, I donrsquo;t know if you have this experience when yoursquo;re surfing long board especially, itrsquo;s not a real slow, itrsquo;s kind of a running wave with a little bit of wall on it, and itrsquo;s not very big ndash; you donrsquo;t have a lot of time to come down at the bottom, turn, and get the board lined up again. So what you do with you knees and ankles is actually pivot the board, and then immediately walk forward on it. And then it just letrsquo;s you run down the wall, right? And this fin will help you to do that because you have very little resistance over here. Then you get something else. This fin is way more like a pivot fin, more straight up. The more the rake, fins in general want to follow that break line. As you come out of your turn it wants to follow that. The more straight up and knocked down they are, the more they want to pivot the turn, and Irsquo;m exaggerating but thatrsquo;s the case. This is more of a pivot fin. Letrsquo;s find something with a little more rake in it. Even this, we got a little bit more tip so yoursquo;re wanting to have some release off the top, some push off the bottom. Usually yoursquo;re getting your push from the width of the base. But therersquo;s just a huge variety of fins. And even if you pan over this way and look at thehellip; I got more fins over here. These are all for short boards and thrusters or whatever but fins are absolutely critical. What I always say to people, the fin is a really cheap way to change the board. If the board isnrsquo;t working right, get a different fin. Donrsquo;t get rid of the board. I get people coming in here who want to sell their used board; their fins are rusted in place. ldquo;Oh I hate this boardrdquo; or ldquo;I never really liked this board.rdquo; I go, ldquo;Thatrsquo;s totally the wrong fin for that board.rdquo; ldquo;Yeah, well thatrsquo;s what they gave me at the shop.rdquo; So therersquo;s a mentality of the guy who gave it to you, well hopefully he did know what he was doing, but in that particular case or this particular case maybe, have an experiment ndash; see what suits your need better. But fins are cheap. Even a hundred dollar fin is cheap compared to a surfboard. I...
Fri, 28 Dec 2007 - 5min - 12 - Tropical Blends Surf Stand Up Paddle Board Fin Talk Video – Part 1
[singlepic=2784,188,125] Jim of Tropical Blends Surf talks about the different type of fin box that they have on their surfboards and why they use such. He also explains to us the importance of fins and how they affect performance on any watercraft.He says that you don't have to necessarily change the board if you're not satisfied with its performance, and that the fin is a really cheap way to change the board.Tropical Blends Surf puts a huge emphasis on fins and has on a display a variety from different manufacturers.(click thumbnail to launch video)Man: You mentioned before about the fins, therersquo;s a specific fin forhellip;?Tropical Blends: Thatrsquo;s a really good question. We had options when we had these boards built and I actually listened to the manufacturer and there was quite a bit of back and forth about it. The first batch of boards I got, I tried a regular surfboard fin in it and I found that the regular surfboard fin is not quite deep enough for this box. So if we just taker any fin of the rack here and we go to put it in the box, yoursquo;re going to see that it actually goes down below where it is supposed to. It does not sit in this box properly. That kind of threw me off when I saw it because I was really concerned that most surfers are going to have to use there surfboard fins on this board. So I went right back to the manufacturer and I asked whatrsquo;s the scoop here. And take a pause for a second and Irsquo;ll show you the reason herehellip;Tropical Blends: hellip;now this is a standard surfboard box. This is the way they are made and if you look at it, itrsquo;s actually two pieces. The frame goes around the edge here and you actually got a bottom ndash; you can see how it is welded on to the plastic. Itrsquo;s a plastic weld. So this bottom piece is actually welded on to the sides here. Now when you put a fin in this, and you lock this down in to a surface, right? It wants to work this way, right? It you got this all down, the place where yoursquo;re going to have the most potential for a problem is right along this seam. What we found was that the seam splits and you actually get water in to this board and you donrsquo;t even realize that itrsquo;s happening and then we start to see the lamination around here and whatrsquo;s the cause. The cause is the box. So basically, what the manufacturer convinced me of is that we use a windsurfing box, which is about an 1/8 of inch deeper than this. Itrsquo;s actually manufactured as one piece. Itrsquo;s one piece. Based on having a much larger fin in this board and having more stress on side to side, we actually decided that the windsurfing box would allow us to have fewer problems in the long run. Now what we did for that is we had custom fins made and windsurfers have a huge variety of fins to choose from as well. But we do have custom fins for these boards. The trade off was, for us, you either get a warranty with this box or you donrsquo;t get a warranty with this box. I go with the warranty every time.Tropical Blends: At first I was a little put off by this, a little bit confused. But once I actually looked at it and the manufacturer came and explained it to me, it makes good logical sense. This is an area where you need really solid components.Man: I think they have had problems with boxes on some of the epoxy, regular surfboards too.Tropical Blends: I think therersquo;s no doubt in that. No doubt. Thatrsquo;s why I said yoursquo;ll start seeing effects of water leakage that doesnrsquo;t show up necessarily right next to the fin. It could be right here somewhere that yoursquo;re seeing a delamination from the water getting under, heating up, causing gas.Man: And the foam in these and other epoxy board are especially absorbant too.Tropical Blends: This particular material, I want to say itrsquo;s a closed-cell EPS. It should nothellip; the water will get in but...
Wed, 26 Dec 2007 - 7min - 11 - Stand Up Paddle Boards at Wet Feet Hawaii Video
[singlepic=2357,188,125]Jeff of Wet Feet Hawaii takes me around their establishment and shows his inventory of stand up paddle surfboards. Wet Feet has a wide array of boards from different manufacturers and shapers like Blane Chambers, Kyle Bernhardt, C4 Waterman, Surftech Laird and a bunch more.Jeff also showcases his rental fleets for customers who want to get a feel of the boards and see what size and shape they prefer before actually buying one.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=42]Jeff: We got all kinds of production boards over here. We have Art #38; Surf, Angulos, Kyle Bernhardt, Stewarts, C4, Surftech Lairds, Blane Chambers, and thenhellip;Evan Leong: The Blane Chambers are they production orhellip;?Jeff: These are all production boards except for a couplehellip;Evan Leong: So the inflatable, people actually ride that thing or what?Jeff: Yeah, Irsquo;ve seen people ride them. We saw one of them. Itrsquo;s good when yoursquo;re traveling. So we have all kinds of boards here; we also have a rental fleet here. So what you can do is take thehellip;Evan Leong: So all of these right here are rentals?Jeff: Yeah, all from here down. So what you need is take the rental board out to get an idea if itrsquo;s the right size board you want and then ndash; you can actually try some of these boards before you buy them.Evan Leong: Letrsquo;s see whatrsquo;s on the rental then. This is the Stewart.Jeff: Yep this is the Stewart we have for rent. Itrsquo;s an 11rsquo;6rdquo;. We also have this ndash; this one is all decked out. When we sell a board, what we do is put that custom deck pad on and we also put the rails and see if the customer wants it.Evan Leong: So that if you bang it then doesnrsquo;t chip right?Jeff: Yup.Evan Leong: So then, it has this kind of a ndash; looks like a step deck or what do you call it?Jeff: Yeah, itrsquo;s a step deck. Thatrsquo;s what it is. So the volume is over here and then the rail over here is thinned out so when you turn, itrsquo;s a thinner rail that you actually having the wave bite ndash; have the board bite in to the wave.Evan Leong: It goes in to the back too and itrsquo;s kind of, itrsquo;s funky. What do you call this kind of tail?Jeff: Wing. Itrsquo;s a double-wing round pin.Evan Leong: Has quite a bit of V in the bottom, looks like huh?Jeff: Yeah. Actually, this one is pretty interesting too. It has got a bevel starting from here so the board is flat; and starting from here it bevels up. So when yoursquo;re on the wave planing, actually only the smaller area is touching the water surface so it feels like a shorter board.Evan Leong: Interesting.Jeff: So we have that as a demo. We have the (____) 10rsquo;10rdquo; as a demo, which is similar to the Art-In-Surf that is why we have it as a demo. And we have a custom 12-foot Coldwell as demo. And then we also have the Art-In-Surf as a demo, 10rsquo;10rdquo;. And then we have the soft top, boogie board kind type of board. Itrsquo;s good for kids and when you donrsquo;t want to be hurt when you fall down.Evan Leong: What is that? An 11?Jeff: Yeah, we have the 10 and 11.Evan Leong: Oh you have in 10 also?Jeff: Uh huh. Itrsquo;s a quad actually. That one is a quad. So what wersquo;re going to do is wersquo;re going to go outside and wersquo;re going to show you the custom boards, which is actually the owners choice. We can choose any board to ride but the owners choose the custom. So if you go outside and wersquo;ll show you the custom Coldwells we have.Jeff: Wersquo;re pulling out Dougrsquo;s custom board.Evan Leong: So this is ahellip;Jeff: If yoursquo;ve seen Doug out in the surf, hersquo;s unreal.Evan Leong: So you brought three of them. Letrsquo;s bring out yours out too then. Letrsquo;s check yours out. The thing is, this thing is fully checked out,...
Sat, 22 Dec 2007 - 3min - 10 - Installing a Clear Grip on a Stand Up Paddle at Wet Feet Hawaii Video
[singlepic=1898,188,125] This is a short, five-minute how-to clip on installing a clear grip on your stand up paddle. What's cool about this grip, which is available at Wet Feet, is that it doesn't add to the overall diameter thickness of the paddle shaft, as you will see on the video.Not much talking on this one, but it's a very useful demonstration.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=28]Wet Feet: This is applying a clear paddle grip to the center of your paddle. And this is nice because it doesnrsquo;t add a whole lot of thickness to the diameter of the paddle shaft. First thing you want to do is measure around, because the differences in diameter vary somewhat. And wersquo;re looking at 3 and frac34; inches. Ok, 3 and frac34;. There.Evan: How do you make sure that thing goes on straight?Wet Feet: That is you pretty much have to eyeball.Evan: How low are you doing it or high?Wet Feet: Irsquo;m doing it ndash; I pretty much try and center it. And this is 18 inches long. Itrsquo;s long enough that you have some play because depending what sort of paddling yoursquo;re doing, yoursquo;re going to have your grip a little bit lower or a little bit higher. So this gives you options as to where yoursquo;re going to have your hand.Evan: So just eyeballing it.Wet Feet: Yep, just eyeballing it. Starting in the middle, wrapping around. Just like that. You can use something hard to help push out any air pockets in there.Evan: Are you just going to overlap it?Wet Feet: Irsquo;m going to overlap it. Irsquo;m just going to take a razor blade and cut off the excess, right along the seam.Evan: Some bubbles.Wet Feet: Yep, some bubbles. Exactly.Evan: You want to just cut it straight from here.Wet Feet: Yeah, we can do that actually. We can just trim it like this. When wersquo;re done with this side wersquo;ll try that. You can just see a line right there.Evan: Just screwing the pieces in there.Wet Feet: Yeah.Wet Feet: Nicely balanced. You can carry it to the beach over your head, on the side. Also gives you something, when you fall in to the water, and in yoursquo;re in the water, you have a handle that you can grab and pull yourself up with ndash; just another feature about having a handles on here
Thu, 20 Dec 2007 - 5min - 9 - Leleo Kinimaka (Kinimaka Ku Iluna) Dove Tail Stand Up Paddle Video
[singlepic=1839,188,125] I think this is Evan's first wood paddle, the Leleo Kinimaka dove tail stand up paddle. As you may have seen on previous posts, wood paddles give that softer, gentler feel, and not to mention, they are just absolutely gorgeous. I'd say true works of art.Check out the video as Evan shows us his new stand up paddle.(click thumbnail to launch video)Evan Leong: My new Leleo Kinimaka paddle. Check out the nice wood, in lay pieces. The thing I like about this paddle is this handle, itrsquo;s just really nice. If you look at it ndash; I donrsquo;t know if you can see it but it just, it really fits in your hands. Itrsquo;s really comfortable right here in your hand like that. Irsquo;m not sure what kind of wood itrsquo;s actually made out of but if you look at it, itrsquo;s just absolutely gorgeous paddle. And the inlays that are here on the blade. If you look at that and put a little inlay of the big island and then therersquo;s something else -- different kind of inlay right there. Therersquo;s a slight dihedral if you look, you can see. And therersquo;s little bit of convex on the top part of it and this dove tail thing or whatever they call it. Anyway, itrsquo;s a super nice paddle and I got it at Tropical Blends.
Tue, 18 Dec 2007 - 1min - 8 - Doug Lock Quiver – Custom 10 Ft Wood Veneer Stand Up Paddle Surfboard
[singlepic=1997,125,188] Doug shows us his custom 10' wood veneer stand up paddle surfboard made by Ted Spencer from Australia. The board as you can see doesn't have an air vent compared to Doug's other custom-made ones. He explains that the wood veneer has a solid, sandwich-like construction so that the air expanding is the last of his worries on this type of board.Doug claims that Ted has done something unusual with the board, which he says gives the board bite and make it feel like you're riding on an edge.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=31]Evan: Little woodie, huh?Doug: Little woodie, woodhellip; actually it is foam core. Itrsquo;s is Styrofoam core.Evan: This is more of a classic kind of look.Doug: Yeah kind of a classic look.Evan: Kind of got a lot of concave going on. Thatrsquo;s what it looks like, huh?Doug: A lot of concave going on. Therersquo;s a pretty pronounced V back here. This board is probably the first stand up surfing board that Ted Spencer made. Ted Spencer is from Australia; former professional surfer and a very talented shaper.Evan: What do you use this board for then?Doug: This board is just like ndash; when I feel like really getting in to a good feel, a nice rhythm and a different feel because thehellip;Evan: More cruising or something or what?Doug: Actually, yoursquo;d be surprised. This board is not a cruiser. It may look like a cruiser but the way Ted made this board, itrsquo;s so very free flowing board that just glides. You can do pretty much anything. It has a pretty nice pivot turn, it nose rides really well, it has got a very soft rail. But the funny thing is, and I canrsquo;t figure it outhellip;Evan: This rail is really soft.Doug: Itrsquo;s very soft but for some strange reason, and only Ted knows this, is for some weird reason it has bite; it feels like yoursquo;re riding on an edge. And I canrsquo;t understand and he canrsquo;t tell you.Evan: Maybe itrsquo;s this concave.Doug: Itrsquo;s something. Itrsquo;s some transition back here and he is a master craftsman.Evan: You know what this concave looks like? It looks like a concave on a Jimmy Lewis kiteboard. You know what I mean? Itrsquo;s like the water skis have it, have this flat, this area that goes flat and then concaves in and flattens out with a softer rail so it sucks water to hold you inhellip; thatrsquo;s what it looks like.Jeff: Yeah.Doug: It has got this reallyhellip;Evan: Got kind of a lot of V going on in the back, huh?Doug: Yeah a lot of V. The turn on it is really interesting. Itrsquo;s morehellip;Evan: More smoothy, smooth kind of really wide turnshellip;Doug: Yeah itrsquo;s very smooth but it does this really nice pivot turn that just ndash; I canrsquo;t explain. When I first saw the board before I rode it, I looked at it and said, ldquo;Oh this rail is too soft and this and that.rdquo; When I actually rode it, it blew my mind out.Evan: What does the top look like?Doug: Actually all he did was basically, he kind of (____) the deck a little bit buthellip;Evan: It really looks like wood when you look at it.Doug: Yeah, itrsquo;s justhellip;Evan: The thing really looks like wood.Doug: He is the guy for wood veneering here in Hawaii. Hersquo;s really good at what he does.Evan: So this one you just left the pad normal. You didnrsquo;t cut it out.Doug: I didnrsquo;t yet. But now that I am feeling this board more I think Irsquo;m going to put a deck pad in there.Evan: Oh you want to figure where it was at.Doug: Right, right. But I know right back here on the tail it will be fine. But itrsquo;s a good reference point. But itrsquo;s really different kind of from everything else.Evan: This is a custom board?Doug: This is a custom board, yeah.Evan: So how come on this custom board therersquo;s no more air valve ...
Wed, 12 Dec 2007 - 3min - 7 - Boardworks Stewart 11-6 Step Deck Stand Up Paddle Surfboard – Video Preview
We get to see another board design at Wet Feet, a Bill Stewart 11'6" step deck manufactured by Boardworks. One standing feature of this board is the step deck, which you'll see on the video.It has a double-wing pin tail, which can handle fast and steep waves like a long board. The board is typically designed for big guys -- a thick 5 and 16th inch thick middle plus a tapered nose and tail.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=30]Wet Feet: Now this is a Bill Stewart board, which is being produced by Boardworks. Wersquo;re also to bring out the C4 stand up board. Very interesting outline and lay up on this board ndash; the most dramatic thing and obvious is the step deck, which you see here. It has got some really interesting rails on the tail. It has got a double wing pin tail, which is basically do handle faster waves, steeper waves. So even though itrsquo;s a big board, itrsquo;s got the long board. This board can actually handle some speed and some decent surf.Evan: Is it fast?Wet Feet: Yes, it is. You can also nose ride it with a full nose like this and if you get a center, middle perspective, you can see that the board is about five and a sixteenth thick in the middle, right here. And then itrsquo;s very tapered in the nose and the tail. It can float a larger guy.Evan: How does the bottom look?Wet Feet: The bottom is also rather interesting. It has got a double concave and a tail here. Some V brought forward and then it flattens out in the mid-section.Evan: Itrsquo;s pretty common for that.Wet Feet: Yeah, it is. But what is unusual is Bill Stewart has done a really subtle bevel along the edges. It starts about two inches from inside the rails. So thatrsquo;s a performance feature. Thatrsquo;s help the board release on turns.Evan: And then yoursquo;re riding two plus one? Itrsquo;s kind of a big fin they put on this, huh?Wet Feet: Yeah, thatrsquo;s actually not the stock fin. Thatrsquo;s a little more fin than they provided.Evan: What does it come with stock?Wet Feet: It comes with an 8-inch fin stock, and two-side bites.Evan: Three-inch side bites?Wet Feet: Yeah.Evan: Ok, cool.
Sat, 08 Dec 2007 - 2min - 6 - Makai Softop 11 Ft Stand Up Paddle Surfboard at Wet Feet Hawaii – Video Preview
[singlepic=1994,188,125] We get a short preview of the Makai Softop 11 Ft Stand Up Paddle Surfboard from the guys at Wet Feet. As we see on the video, the board has a soft deck ideally for people who are concerned about landing on the board hard or want something that is family and user-friendly.The performance is manageable for a board of this type. I think this is good as an entry-level board.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=30]Wet Feet: This board is an 11-foot soft top, designed by Craig Hollingsworth in California. Itrsquo;s called the Makai stand up, soft-top board; very user-friendly, good for folks who arenrsquo;t used to dealing with surfboards perhaps concerned about landing on the board hard or they want a board that is family and user-friendly.Evan: Whatrsquo;s the response on something like this?Wet Feet: More forgiving. It has been great. Itrsquo;s a really good entry-level board. Craig Hollingsworth has done something interesting too with his finset up and then itrsquo;s a quad, which will help loosen it up. Itrsquo;s not really a performance board but that will help in the performance.Evan: Is it pretty stable?Wet Feet: Yes, it is. The width really gives it some good stability.Evan: So itrsquo;s just kind of a sheet ndash; like a body board-type, not really a hard foam.Wet Feet: Right. Sleek bottom like a body board. It actually has four stringers in it. Four PVC stringers so that addshellip;Evan: Try to keep it from getting mushy.Wet Feet: Right.Evan: Kind of got a lot of nose rocker.Wet Feet: Yeah, it has got some good kick in the nose.Evan: Kind of cool.
Wed, 05 Dec 2007 - 1min - 5 - Kyle Bernhardt 10′6″ Stand Up Paddle Surfboard Video
[singlepic=1751,125,188] This board surfs well as we learn from Jim of Tropical Blends Surf. He adds that he has had one of his longest nose rides on the Bernhardt 10'6". The rocker is pretty much accentuated on this one to make it perform well on the waves.There's a double barrel on both sides but the board is relatively flat all the way. This board maintains a hard edge which Jim says is unusual for mass-produced boards.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=24]Jim: The white definitely makes sense. So anyway, thatrsquo;s the 10rsquo;8rdquo;. Letrsquo;s look at another one, slightly smaller. I think we started talking about how to carry the boards. Well, itrsquo;s part of the conversation here. This one actually represents another way that wersquo;ve thought, a way wersquo;ve come up with to how to carry the board. Once you put the pad on, this particular string is only here for a visual but we put a much shorter piece of string on here and this ndash; your pad will be right on either side of this. But basically, this is a thing that just comes out from a box right? And basically, what you do is you just pull this out a little bit and that becomes your handle so it makes it very easy to carry and get down to the beach. Itrsquo;s handy, unobtrusive; itrsquo;s pretty much gone. So this was just another way we tried to figure out how to do a handle. Wersquo;re continuing to experiment with this and develop other options as well. This particular board is a 10rsquo;6rdquo; and itrsquo;s a little bit more oriented towards surfing and almost specifically nose riding. I beg your pardon?Evan Leong: Looks like a nose rider.Jim: Yeah. Itrsquo;s pretty much a performance board almost ndash; letrsquo;s call it a Waikiki board or a little softer point breaks, that kind of thing. Irsquo;ve actually ridden this board quite a bit and this board surfs very very well. Itrsquo;s kind of amazing how well its surfs and I swear you can come up here and stand on this nose and eat your lunch up here; sandwich, picnic, put a chair, sit down. Irsquo;ve had one of the longest nose rides ever on this board. And you can kind of see the rocker thatrsquo;s in it. A little bit more rocker than what wersquo;ve shown in the boards in the past. The two that we have seen so far have a little less rocker, and a little bit flatter and more towards paddling. This one is a little bit more towards surfing and in surfing you need a little more rocker to make the board loose and make it want to go and perform in the waves.Man: Will this be a hard board to learn on?Jim: It would be a little more difficult. But look at your stature, look at your size. Yoursquo;re not an overly large person.Man: Thatrsquo;s right.Jim: Everything is relative. The other thing is too ndash; keep in mind I have demos of every board. Of every model, we have demos here. We also have a rental fleet. So you can take a demo out for the afternoon, try it out, see how you like it. Itrsquo;s enough of an investment that you kind of want to follow through on that.Evan Leong: Show us the rail design and stuff like that. Let's take a look at that.Jim: This particular board is designed by Kyle Bernhardt ndash; by the way the two previous boards were made, I call him Ed Angulo or ldquo;Masterrdquo; at his trade. Ed Angulo made the first two designs that we saw. This particular one has a little more foil through the tail ndash; not quite as much volume through the tail. Hersquo;s also got a nice soft rail on it. Hersquo;s got some edge if you notice; therersquo;s some edge along here, which is unusual in mass-produced boards. If you feel, most of them will have a softer, rounder feel here. These guys have the ability to keep the edge.Evan Leong: Is that rail tucked? Does it tuck in at the bottom?Jim: Yeah, this is actually, I would call this a soft surfing rail. What am I trying to say md...
Sat, 01 Dec 2007 - 4min - 4 - Custom Brian Caldwell 10 ft Stand Up Paddle Surfboard Video
[singlepic=1947,125,188] Doug Lock talks about the Brian Caldwell 10' stand up paddle surfboard and shows us around its shape and explains its dimensions. He says that the board is good at riding four to five foot waves, and mentions the new concept on its nose shape called the bottleneck concave. The all-around shape of the board helps it perform well as a long board for nose-riding and short board for tail-riding. Interesting.This board is pretty light even though it's hand-shaped, as you'll see on the video.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=29]Jeff: Itrsquo;s Dougrsquo;s custom board. Let Doug explain the design on this.Doug: Well this is Brianrsquo;s new creation and itrsquo;s hand-shaped EPS foam.Evan Leong: How heavy is this thing?Doug: Right around maybe 20 pounds around there -- pretty light.Evan Leong: Oh so even though itrsquo;s hand-shaped itrsquo;s pretty light then?Doug: Fairly light, yes. It has got ndash; with the blend of materials, it has got a blend ofhellip; the layup is different from any other lay up that I canrsquo;t say. Itrsquo;s top secret.Evan Leong: Kind of cool, this pad thing, huh?Doug: Yeah, the stop pad. Basically what it is is our stop pad that we get manufactured, basically we just get the deck pad, trace it out, cut out all the pad, put the stop pad. That way you know where yoursquo;re foot is.Evan Leong: So whatrsquo;s going on with this tail?Doug: Well, the wing swallow. Theoretically you want to be a short board when yoursquo;re riding the tail, and you want to perform more as long board when yoursquo;re up on the nose. And Irsquo;ll explain that a little bit once we flip the board over.Evan Leong: So this will make it ndash; on the tail it turns faster.Doug: Turns faster, more responsive; it can handle bigger waves so the tail is pulled in. But itrsquo;s really stable. The board tracks really nice, it tracks really straight and the fin set uphellip;Evan Leong: How long is this thing again?Doug: 10 feet.Evan Leong: 10 feet, ok.Doug: So if I flip it over. Irsquo;ll try to show you this interesting bottomhellip;Evan Leong: When you guys make these customs, do you always make a certain design or you guys make it where itrsquo;s always design changes per person kind of thing? I mean if you want to surf, do you recommend this kind of tail set up and this shape for people who want to surf.Doug: This seems to be, to me, the most ndash; the free-est surfing as far ashellip; it looks like a lot of fins; it looks kind of staggered because therersquo;s a lot of fin going on. But with this four-fin set up and this keel in the middle, this keel makes all the difference.Evan Leong: It just keeps it straight or what?Doug: To keep the tracking straight but also at the same time it gives it bite. So the board has that, since itrsquo;s so wide, you need this center fin to keep it tracking.Evan: It looks like not too much V on this board either, yeah?Doug: Just mostly back, slight here, but major on the end here.Evan: Oh so behind the fins.Doug: Behind the fin, right.Evan: Interesting.Doug: Itrsquo;s mostly flat in here but as you can see this chime, right here therersquo;s a slight chime that rolls off from the edge here.Evan: What does it mean chime? Seems like a little bit of a ridge almost.Doug: Right. Itrsquo;s a ridge that comes down before the rail.Evan: I donrsquo;t know if you can see that. Kind of right here.Doug: Right there, right. And if you look down the board you can actually see the outline from the chime. This is where yoursquo;re riding on a lot of times when yoursquo;re planing but when yoursquo;re sitting in the water, this is all in the water for stability. When yoursquo;re up planing, this is the surface that is actuallyhellip;Evan: What width is this board?Doug: 28rdquo;.Evan: I...
Wed, 28 Nov 2007 - 7min - 3 - Stand Up Paddle Discussion with Pro Surfer and Jim from Tropical Blends Surf – Video Part 2
[singlepic=1812,188,125] We hear from this two-part video a discussion between Jim of Tropical Blends Surf and a Pro Surfer about stand up paddles. They talk about the different aspects of the paddle -- from the grip to the blade -- and even the history and global influence put into the stand up paddle.I think the bottom line here is that stand up paddle surfing is still in its early stages and it's good that people are out to try new stuff for the sake of the development of the sport.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=26]Jim: So itrsquo;s all good. Itrsquo;s all good stuff and I carry them all. And I try tohellip;Man: This stuff is impressive. Thatrsquo;s good forward-thought. I always believe in reducing the blade size. Because look at this, itrsquo;s way bigger than this still. You know what I mean? Look at this, itrsquo;s way bigger than this.Jim: And look at how efficient we are with just our hands. But now you do have a part of your forearm thatrsquo;s working too right. Thatrsquo;s exactly what the thought process was there. ldquo;Letrsquo;s stretch it out a little bit. Letrsquo;shellip;rdquo; I tried the Infinity one, the one that is upside down, and I like that one to a certain degree too. But I felt like I needed to be a little more consistent with what I get in the water.Man: Itrsquo;s weird, like, itrsquo;s all these paddle influences from different paddles around the world. Because if you look at Infinityrsquo;s paddle, thatrsquo;s like a very African river paddle.Jim: Itrsquo;s like thehellip;Man: The Amazon River paddle, thatrsquo;s what it is.Jim: Yeah, yeah. And when you look at it, itrsquo;s like a shape of a leaf, right? Itrsquo;s so cool. And you know, they have been paddling like that for forever. Tens of thousands of years.Man: And I think another thing with those things, the African river paddles, I think theyrsquo;re shaped like that too to push off the bottom, like, to (_____).Jim: That makes sense too, doesnrsquo;t it? Itrsquo;s just cool that there are that many different things. But anywayhellip;Evan Leong: What equipment are you riding now?Man: I ride Dave Parmeterrsquo;s shapes. C4 paddles, but I have been trying a bunch of different stuff, a bunch of different paddles. But Irsquo;ve always been riding Daversquo;s boards.Jim: Yeah, Dave is a really really talented guy ndash; very very talented guy.Man: Hersquo;s just my friend ndash; and like started with him and just keep on going. We have like, ldquo;Thatrsquo;s my crew.rdquo; And we have development coming there then we have all of our little brain tank then we go show up at places then we see what other people are doing and then we see what Dennis is doing, and then we see maybe when Leo comes over, see what his trip is. And now that there is more flair, there are more guys coming out of wood work too, different shapers taking all there own interpretations.Jim: I think thatrsquo;s the beauty of the sport right now too. Wersquo;re such in an infancy stages that wersquo;re just going through all these things. Take surfing back 50, 60 years thatrsquo;s where we are.Man: For sure. Thatrsquo;s why itrsquo;s so exciting. And itrsquo;s even way more adaptable than surfing because if you think about it, I surfed this morning on pure swell over shallow reef. And it was flat. It was like nothing. It was just like a bump but you could still do it. And then you get the whole downwind aspect, like once you get downwind stuff; you know you expand into downwind. Thatrsquo;s almost as fun as surfing if not more fun.Jim: I live in (____)hellip;Man: Yeah, you know the grounds are right out there.Jim: So I just go right out behind my house, about three times a week I paddle out to the (____). And everyone ask me, ldquo;Do you paddle back?rdquo; You got to be kidding me I paddle back.Man: You drive back. ...
Tue, 27 Nov 2007 - 4min - 2 - Deals on Stand Up Paddle Gear at Wet Feet Hawaii – Value Pack Video
[singlepic=1976,188,125] Here's a deal from Wet Feet...deck pad, fin, leash and $50 off a paddle for only $125. This is something worth considering especially for beginners.What's better is that the board can be customized through a wide choice of their deck pads, fins and leashes.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=30]Wet Feet: Things that we really take pride is that we have what we call a value pack in the store for all of our stand up boards. You can either buy the boards as the board itself or we have a value pack where it includes deck pad, fin and leash and itrsquo;s only 125 dollars more for deck pad, fin, and leash ndash; and that is a 250 dollar value. So itrsquo;s kind of cool because when they buy the board they can pick whatever deck pad they want to customize it to their look. They can pick whatever fin they want from our huge fin selection. They can pick performance fin, classic fin, squirrel fin. So they can pick any fin that they want. They can pick their leash. We have your standard leashes and we also have these new, these are 12 and 14-foot coil leashes and itrsquo;s interesting because wersquo;re just giving these a try and theyrsquo;re stretched to 12 and 14 feet but they donrsquo;t have all the drag that a really long 12-foot leach would have. So these are kind of cool. Itrsquo;s a new thing that wersquo;re giving a whirl to. The other thing that we do to get your board customized is with the deck pad, you can pick any deck pad you want, Wet Feet. We got a lot of other deck pads and then we will custom cut out the deck pad so that you can select your kick pad and inset it.Evan: Do you have an example?Wet Feet: We have an example. Itrsquo;s not here. No, we donrsquo;t have an example. But it would be likehellip;Evan: I saw Dougrsquo;s one.Wet Feet: Yeah, like Dougrsquo;s would be the example. So we have a huge selection of deck pads that you can choose from. You can pick whatever deck pad that you want off the wall. Wersquo;ll inset that into your stand up deck pad so that that way you can customize it that way. Some of the other things, a lot of people, some of the boards are big and heavy or theyrsquo;ve got family, theyrsquo;ve got kids, we have these custom handles. Wersquo;re the only ones who carry these. These are custom made for us and we put these on your boards. So we got the handles that we put on to the boards. You donrsquo;t have to have handle holes in your boards. Some of the boards have already handle holes where you just screw this down. Thatrsquo;s cool. But we have these handle insets where you stick them on your board and then from there you can screw your handles on. So thatrsquo;s really cool. That has been a really popular ndash; people put them up on tops so their kids can hang on or they put them anywhere they want to tie stuff down for fishing, or for carrying their board wherever they case may be. The other thing we do, which is great, when you get a paddle, as part of our value package, you get deck pad, fin, leash for $125 plus we take 50 dollars off of a paddle ndash; the price of a paddle when you buy a paddle at the time you buy a board. And with the paddle, we have this paddle guard that we put on to protect your paddle and it also helps protect your board so that that way you donrsquo;t ding up your board. In addition to the paddle blade guard, we use a very thing, clear grip kind of a deck and what we use with this is two things; we use this either to put on your paddle as a paddle grip, which is nice because it is not fixed so it doesnrsquo;t undermine the dimension of your hold. Some paddle grips are a little bit thick so you donrsquo;t have. It gets a little too fit. But this, we put on, and its actually clear, and put it on as a paddle and what we also do is on the boards like this one for example, we put the clear protection on the side of the boards so you canrsquo;t see it, itrsquo;s ...
Mon, 26 Nov 2007 - 4min - 1 - Stand Up Paddle Discussion with Pro Surfer and Jim from Tropical Blends Surf – Video Part 1
[singlepic=1802,188,125] We hear from this two-part video a discussion between Jim of Tropical Blends Surf and a Pro Surfer about stand up paddles. They talk about the different aspects of the paddle -- from the grip to the blade -- and even the history and global influence put into the stand up paddle.I think the bottom line here is that stand up paddle surfing is still in its early stages and it's good that people are out to try new stuff for the sake of the development of the sport.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=26]Jim: You know what, off the top of my head I say 8rsquo;6rdquo; and 7rsquo;8rdquo; or something like that. Definitely smaller 80-pound, 90-pound kids. Thatrsquo;s sort of a result of many conversations and some experiments that wersquo;re doing.Man: I like the concept ndash; just how much pull you get just because you have long deeper blade so you can go deeper or just tap on the surface for shallow. Then you donrsquo;t get like yaw, you know what I mean, like for big blades. Unless you got a 14-foot, 15, 16-foot board, yoursquo;re just going to go across the channel then big blade is good, because all that rail, the board is just going straight anyway. But the shorter you get the more yaw you get and the less blade you can ndash; itrsquo;s weird huh? I think that has to do with how big this is. Like how much blade you got on there is dependent how big a board yoursquo;re riding here ndash; because for smaller boards you need smaller blades.Jim: Whatrsquo;s interesting about what yoursquo;re saying is, if you take a regular blade, letrsquo;s just look at our friends here for a second. If you look at where this is placed when you dig it in the water, right? Now I dig this through the water and I got all of my surface area basically at one place and if I want to take this a little, itrsquo;s very difficult just tohellip;Man: hellip;tap on top.Jim: hellip;just to get a little bit of this paddle especially when the board is like this. And as I was saying to these guys earlier, ldquo;How many times are you ever parallel to the water like you are in a canoe? Yoursquo;re always something, up, one way or the other.rdquo; You take this paddle and if you want half or you donrsquo;t need that much of a dig, you can take that much of a dig. You want the whole thing you got the whole thing.Man: The only good thing about like a shorter fuller paddle for different applications is as a cane, like Irsquo;m falling over, ldquo;Whoa!rdquo;, or Irsquo;m turning, ldquo;Whoa!rdquo;Jim: But you got the same area, almost the same if we were to measure the actual area of the paddle on that one, itrsquo;s almost the same. Wersquo;re actually going to do another one. The newest one I have coming take a quarter inch all the way up on this. Like I was saying to these guys earlier, Irsquo;ve got a customer who is helping me on this project. He is the director of hydrology at Pearl Harbor, so hersquo;s literally a rocket scientist for water.Man: Right, hydrodynamics, yeah.Jim: Yeah, and hersquo;s telling me that we have a direct relation to the efficiency of the paddle and ndash; X equals work, right? If we pull this stroke through, what is the efficient area of this to actually give us the work we want? So we both we went out and paddle a few times with this and we decided that this experiment is going to go with the next, a little bit smaller size.Man: Check it outhellip;Jim: Bigger shaft ndash; the shaft is too narrow.Man: And you know, itrsquo;s weird because wersquo;re so in like the development and like every season we lsquo;re going to keep on seeing new stuff thatrsquo;s why itrsquo;s exciting you know, because then you got the guys, the fans of Keo loa, and those guys like those paddles because the shaft is small. And then so some people go, ldquo;Oh, I can wrap my whole hand around it.rdquo; But then other people go, ldq...
Sun, 25 Nov 2007 - 8min
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