SurfingSports Standup Paddle Surf & Standup Paddling BLOG

All the leaves are brown...And the sky is grey...I've been for a walk...
On a winters day...I'd be safe and warm...If I was in LA...
California dreamin...On such a winters day...
-- Mamas & The Papas --

Wayulll...not quite...
Everything here on the Central Cali Coast is actually quite green...and the sky is quite blue...& the swells are real swell...nice, old school song, though...;-)

Here's a streaming Real Player Central Cali Coast vid clip I put together several years back that has a newer version from the original...segue is about halfway through...

Oh...but, I digressed...back to today...





One of LAFD's best...fireman Doug, came up for a Jimmy Lewis (10'4 & 10'8") demo today and scored...

Whatup with all these fireman surfers and all their time off?!?!
Yesterday, I went with my next door neighbor, fireman Brian...and seshed at a spot in the 805, that Patagonia's surfing ambassadors...the Malloy brothers learned to surf at...last week it was with fireman John...

Digressing again...back to today...

Sweet, hollow, and down the line...P&S H20 pics don't really do it justice...but, it's better than nuthin'...you get the idea, anyways...

Here's the rest of the gallery...

Labels: Jimmy Lewis SUP's, stand up paddle boards, standup paddle surfing

We've just added another line of vacuum bagged, sandwiched, epoxy boards into the lineup...these are geared towards high performance wave riding...from Oahu shaper Blane Chambers and Paddlesurf Hawaii...built with the same great construction, in the same factory, as our SOS & Bill Foote standup paddleboards...

Here's the 10'0"...from the same shaper (Blane Chambers) that made the 10'er that Aaron Napoleon rode to victory at the QUIKSILVEREDITION KU IKAIKA CHALLENGE...the world's first big wave standup paddlesurfing contest at Makaha...:



Here's a few more pics of the 10'0" & the 9'2":

We'll have more of Blane's cutting edge shapes soon...including the 9'0", 9'6", 10'0", & 10'6"...and other Paddlesurf Hawaii rippers...

Labels: Blane Chambers, Paddlesurf Hawaii SUPS, stand up paddle boards

Lots of water addicts had to go back to skul and woik today...pretty empty out on the water...conditions cleaned up and the swell dropped all day...still some kine kine coming through...




These gallery shots were at the end of the day...we're still trunkin' it in February...and tomorrow is supposed to warm up 10*F...N I C E !!!

Managed a couple of standup sessions...and a couple of the new Blane Chambers production epoxy standups got delivered (9'2" & 10')...along with a Kyle Bernhardt 10'6"...stay tuned for that report...

Labels: OC1 surfing, outrigger canoe surfing, standup paddle surfing Santa Barbara

The swell came up a little bit today in the 805...



The offshore buoys were pinging in deepwater at 27' @ 17secs...and our piers were getting a saltwater enema...;-)

You can stay on top of the conditions by visiting our comprehensive weather pages...



The swell was fairly warbly and ragged...but, considering the cold front had barely pushed out of here there were some decent rideables...should clean up considerably for tomorrow...we'll be on the DP (dawn patrol)...hopefully, it will be as good as Big Wednesday...





Most of the surfing shots in the following gallery are from spots that rarely break...this spot is just a stone's throw from our shop...



Here is the full gallery...

Labels: Santa Barbara Macking Waves

We now have the Kona Mini Tanker & Kona 10'5" in our demo fleet at our shop in Santa Barbara (gallery link)...should be some interesting head to head testing results from a wavesailing standpoint...bring on the waves and Spring winds...;-)



More H O T longboard wavesailing pics...



Click for full gallery of board pics...

Labels: Exocet Kona Mini Tanker and Kona 10'5", longboard wavesailing, longboard windsurfing

R E S P E C T...

The world's first big-wave standup paddle surfing contest went off at Makaha (Westside Oahu) on Valentine's Day...QUIKSILVEREDITION KU IKAIKA CHALLENGE


photo: Covered Images/Sarah Towner

Notable quote:"I'm addicted!" said Chuck Patterson. "This new sport is so exciting. It's as much fun as anything I've ever done and it's the most humbling. It has its glorified moments that leaving you feeling amazing, but then you can turn straight around and fall on a small little bump on the water. It's a humanizing experience - you've just got to get back on your feet and start over. You're always learning and it's never boring."


41 year old Aaron Napolean won the event taking out 3 other twenty-somethings in the finals...


photo: Covered Images/Sarah Towner

Sarah Towner provides more images here...

and here is a rough cut vid clip...

Electrifying win for Napoleon


By Dayton Morinaga
Honolulu Advertiser Staff Writer

MAKAHA — Aaron Napoleon took a day off from his job with an electrical company yesterday to pull off a shocker at Makaha Beach.

Napoleon won the inaugural QuiksilverEdition Ku Ikaika Challenge — a big-wave contest for stand-up paddle surfing.

The one-day event was run in picturesque conditions, with wave-face heights ranging from 10 to 25 feet.

"I just went out there and said you gotta be kidding me — this is so much fun," said Napoleon, who resides in Pearl City. "Better than working.

"It wasn't super big, but it was beautiful. I said this is just epic."

Napoleon is 41, and twice competed in the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational surfing contest in the 1980s.

"When does a 41-year-old win a meet?" he said, laughing. "That never happens."

Yesterday, his big-wave experience played a key role. In the 30-minute final, Napoleon caught the two biggest waves of the heat and was rewarded with scores of 8.67 and 8.5 for a total of 17.17.

The other three finalists are 20-somethings in age, so Napoleon said his strategy was to wait for the bigger waves.

"I know they were turning better than me," he said. "But what helps with the bigger waves is you don't necessarily have to turn."

Napoleon's age was not the only surprising aspect of his victory. He said he rarely practices stand-up paddle surfing — which requires a combination of paddling and surfing skills.

He even tried to enter a contest last month, but did not make the cut because of his lack of practice time.

"Kind of ironic, yeah?" he said.

For yesterday's contest, Napoleon had to start from the trials round. By the end of the day, he competed in five heats.

His momentum started in the first round, when he received a perfect 10 for a barrel ride.

After the victory, Napoleon talked at length about the respect he has for all the top watermen in Hawai'i. Now, his name can be added to that list.

Napoleon's resume includes victorious stints in professional surfing, one-man canoe paddling, six-person canoe paddling, and paddleboarding. He is also an avid fisherman. His father is legendary canoe paddler Joseph "Nappy" Napoleon.

Keoni Keaulana, another member of a famous ocean sports family, placed second. He had a two-wave score of 14.0 in the final.

"You had the best of the best in this sport out here today, so I'm happy I got second," said Keaulana, 24.

He is the grandson of Buffalo Keaulana, and nephew of Brian and Rusty Keaulana. They all grew up surfing at Makaha.

Ikaika Kalama of the Big Island placed third, and Kamu Auwae of Wai'anae was fourth.

The contest was a benefit for the West Side Junior Lifeguard Foundation. Napoleon's winning check of $4,000 was donated to the foundation. Every competitor in the contest received $350.

FINAL RESULTS

1, Aaron Napoleon. 2, Keoni Keaulana. 3, Ikaika Kalama. 4, Kamu Auwae. 5 (tie), Brian Keaulana and Chuck Patterson. 7 (tie), Bonga Perkins and Kelii Mamala. 9 (tie), Raimana Van Bastolear, Duane DeSoto, Russ Keaulana and Dave Parmenter. 13 (tie), Noland Martin, Keone Downing, Garrett McNamara and Sam Pai.

Labels: KU IKAIKA CHALLENGE, standup paddle surfing, SUP

A few snapshots from one of today's sessions...



Swell is building...weather is as nice as it gets in the Winter...
Lots of folks dropping by the shop today trying to find out closeup what the standup buzz is all about...

Labels: stand up paddleboard, standup paddle surfing Santa Barbara, SUP

What a gorgeous "Chamber of Commerce" Santa Barbara day we had for our standup paddleboard demo at Leadbetter Beach yesterday...



These few pics fall way short of capturing the groove everyone had going on...perfect waves...dolphins...lots of shiny happy peeps...trunkin' it (bikinis too)
on such a Winter's day...California Dreamin'...you just need to be in the zen of the moment, and not miss many by being behind a lens...but, we know many of
you live vicariously through pages like this on the www while there's 5' of new snow in your driveways and you're back at the salt mine pretending to be
working...;-)

Not to fear...you're one day closer to Summer...and this Summer promises to be a life changing one for the many thousands of new standuppers being hatched
across the planet right now...





The rest of the picture gallery here...

Martin Lenny from Maui stopped in to say aloha...you'll be seeing lots of pics of his son Kai in future mags...if you haven't already...he freakin' rips on whatever
board he's on, including tiny standups...

Some of Da Boyz (Gerry "Kahuna" Shalhoob, Martin Lenny, Jim Brewer, Ryan, & Steve) are seen here checkin' out the new Standup Surf & Sail Journal...
Kai is in it, as well as Martin's lovely wife Paula...playing in the water outside their home on Maui's North Shore...


Check it out soon...Clay Feeter and crew have put out a very nice magazine...Surfer's Journal quality...at least a two (or three beer) issue...;-)

Speaking of tiny standups, Steve Marsh was one of many to take a paddle on the new Starboard 7'2" standup paddleboard yesterday...he's 190lbs!
I rode it also at 200lbs...it's doable...I'm going to be lobbying for an 8'2" production model...;-)


Here it is if you haven't found it in our galleries...


Next to the 9'8" Fish...which BTW, was a huge hit yesterday...



Here is an 8'8" that we've been brainstorming with our custom shaper Joe Blair...
It's floated a 250lb guy!







There were a bunch of peeps that couldn't make the demo yesterday...we'll prolly schedule another one for early March...however, if you can get a group
together like Andrea did, (with 6 of her friends) we could schedule a private demo/lesson...

Anyways...lots of fun stuff is going down in SUP right now...you've just seen boards here on the last few posts of this blog from 7'2" to 14'8"...and everything
in between...better sign off now before I start sounding like all of the other blah, blah, dullard blahggers on the net...at least I didn't bore you with what we
had for breakfast, including coffee brand (Peets "Major Dickasons" if you wanna know...;-) and where to get the best breakfast burrito
(right here in Deb's cocina with leftover organic bife from Cafe Buenos Aires)...alrighty then...;-)

Peace out from Club Paradise...

Labels: paddleboard demo, stand up paddle boards, standup paddle surfing Santa Barbara, standup paddleboard lessons

The surf backed off yesterday so I got out on the new Starboard 14'8" "Point to Point" Distance standup paddleboard...



This is a spacecraft of a board...it took me a few minutes to figure out the steering...there is a carbon rod tensioner that adjusts the integrated rudder...
Once I got that set for the conditions, I figured out that the best way to control it was by big toe pressure rather than the side of the foot...
This really works...you can paddle on one side going straight as you want...and can practically turn around as fast as a sub-10' SUP...
I learned to turn the board around without even paddling...

There is a gallery of pics here...

Additionally, I edited up a tail mounted vid clip (QT 7 .m4v)...vid clip (Windows Media .wmv)...

Labels: stand up paddleboard, standup paddle boards, Starboard distance SUP

Getting more impressed with the new "SuperFish" from Starboard...

Bennett Williams took it out after I was done and had some light air wavesailing fun...






Click here for more pics...

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power then the world will know peace"
Jimi Hendrix

Labels: longboard windsurfing, standup paddle surfing, Starboard 9'8" SUP Fish

Snapped a few shots of our custom surfboard and standup paddleboard shaper, Joe Blair's
latest shapes...he's freakin' going off right now!!!

We just shipped a pair of guns (8' & 8'6") up to a longtime client in Portland, OR (sorry, no pics...:-()

Anyways, if you're in the market for a custom ride, we can hook you up...

Click on image for dozens of tasty pics...

Labels: Blair standup paddleboards, J. Blair SUP's, J. Blair surfboards

The 9'8" Fish is one really fun board...definitely a keeper...
Did a double standup sesh a few days ago in head high, clean, reef waves...pumping it down the line going faster and faster...floaters, roller coasters,
cutbacks...smooth and easy...

Also, sailed it for a couple of hours in light offshore winds and small surf with a 5.0m2...decided that I liked the back setting for the mastfoot...
still tweaking footstrap placement...may remove the back one altogether when I sail it, I personally don't feel the need to be hooked in and planing when I ride
this kind of board...but, the fronts enable you to harness a little bit more wind without getting hucked in a gust...and makes it easier to get in/out of the water
with a sail rig...can still manage without them as I've done for the last several years, though...

Here's a shot of our buddy Randy, (225lbs) demoing my board/sail rig after I was done...click image for more pics...

Labels: standup paddle boards, Starboard, Starboard 9'8" SUP Fish