SurfingSports Standup Paddle Surf & Standup Paddling BLOG

A few snapshots and customer testimonials from THE STOKE FACTORY...

Anna is stoked with her new Starboard 9' Fish...



Ready to roll with the inflatable HandiRack...



Meanwhile...Doug in New Jersey is scoring a new Hobie 10'2" Chuck Patterson Stinger wave ripper...Mango with yellow gold camo pad...SWEEEEET!!!







Here's mine...nice rocker and volume distribution...



Getting ready to install the yellow gold camo pad on a client's Starboard 10'5" Drive in Classic construction...



Same board with a blue pad installed for Philip from Ventura...



Ship 'em in...ship 'em out...seems like everyday is Christmas at the Standup Paddle Sports stoke factory...







Lots of people drop into our store to buy their paddleboard direct from our paddleboard warehouse...we have well over 100 of the best standup paddleboards in stock, and more on the way daily...

Labels: Hobie SUP, paddleboard direct, paddleboard warehouse, PADDLESURF SANTA BARBARA, Santa Barbara standup paddle sports, Starboard Standup Paddleboards, SUP

We've paddled the new Naish Glide the last several days...click image below for gallery...



When Harold Iggy shaped this puppy, he definitely got the "glide" part right...it cuts right through the lurpy chop like a hot knife through butter...really smooth...stable...fast...comfy...not to mention extremely sexy...;-)

Come on down to Santa Barbara's West Beach this morning to demo...we'll be there until noon with the Naish Glide and a couple of vans full of the latest SUP's on the market...



Nice lines from the wood nose block...to the wood fin...sweeeeet!





You get quite a value ($1849) built into this 12' board...performance...aesthetics...durability...quality...

In addition to the handle that's perfectly placed...you also get a factory installed integrated pad...it also has a reinforced deck in the area that you standup paddle the most...and has a mast foot option that will accommodate a sail rig...

Harold Iggy grew up in Hawaii, surfing Oahu s infamous north and south
shores. He became a pioneer in professional shaping in the late 60s,
spending time in both California and Oahu creating boards for various
companies including Velzy surfboards. In the 70s, Harold set up shop on the
north shore of Oahu, shaping his own brand of boards. The 80s marked his
introduction to the Naish clan, and a long lasting professional and personal
relationship began.

In 1968, surfing motivated Rick Naish to move his family from
California to Hawaii. Rick soon became an integral part of the 60s
surf scene, making Makaha and Waimea his home breaks. In the
early 80s, he joined forces with Harold Iggy. The resulting
collaboration of these two surf legends has created some of the
most innovative board designs on the market.

Head Shaper:

Harold Iggy



Behind the Brand: Naish Hawaii was founded in 1979 in Kailua, Hawaii. Rick Naish first came to Oahu's North Shore to surf in 1956 together with the likes of Pat Curren and Butch Van Arsdalen. After several more trips from La Jolla to surf in Hawaii, Rick then moved his family there in 1968. While living in Kailua, Naish got into Hobie Cat sailing (multiple state champion and 1972 National champion) until the sport of windsurfing came along. Rick, his wife Carol, and sons Robby and Randy soon became the first family of the sport. Rick began shaping in 1976, the same year his son Robby won his first windsurfing title. The Naish brand became the world's most sought after windsurfing label, as Robby would go on to win 23 titles (Kelly who?). More than three decades after winning his first title, Robby continues to be a driving force in both windsurfing and kiteboarding. The Naish brand has continued to grow over the years, and now includes windsurfing, kiteboarding, surfing, and SUP product lines, all designed in Hawaii. Since 1981, the designer cementing much of that legacy has been Harold Iggy, a man who sits down near the trunk of the shaper's tree, next to peers like Dewey Weber and Dale Velzy. At 67, Iggy is still windsurfing, riding SUP, or surfing every day.

About his Most Popular Models: Iggy says the trend of SUP boards going shorter has had a dramatic effect on design. "Our 9'3" basically resembles a blown up shortboard, which is creating a whole new progressive direction for SUP surfing." While that's undoubtedly an area he and his team love exploring, their longboard-style SUP boards remain the most popular. "The 11'6" longboard works for beginners and advanced, in everything from no surf to medium surf." As for his racing boards, Iggy and his racers like Dave Kalama are pumped on their new non-rudder 14' class boards, and their Unlimited class.

Taking the Pulse: "Variety keeps things interesting," says Iggy. "If you look in my shaping room right now there is a 7'4" windsurfer, a 9'0" gun windsurfer, two performance longboards, and a 17' SUP race board. It's all fun and exciting. There isn't one thing that is more fun than the others, although the SUP in general has a lot of guys pretty excited at the moment."

Shop Talk
What's the most important thing to remember when ordering an SUP board?

"Don't go too progressive and order something that's too small when considering an SUP. A bigger board is better a lot of the time, especially for guys that don't ride all that often or that well…but even for good guys."

What are the three most important boards in your personal quiver?

"The first would be my 7' hybrid surfboard, which is fun in almost anything. That would be followed by my 9'6" SUP and my 12' Glide SUP, which is a flat-water board. That way I would have something for every kind of condition."

Labels: 2009 Naish, Naish Glide, Santa Barbara standup paddle sports, SUP

Highly respected North Shore shaper Bill Foote (1971), personally delivered a couple dozen of his extremely popular 11' x 28" and 11' x 30" SUP's to our shop
yesterday...

















In addition to having over 80 SUP's currently in stock, and 90 more on the way in the next couple of weeks...of course, paddles are never in short supply
at our shop...even, the extremely popular new Werner Carve and Advantage ($219)...details here...





If you prefer a lighter paddle, then we have the carbon Werner "Spanker" ($299) and the carbon QuickBlade "Kanaha" ($320)...

Labels: Bill Foote SUP's, Santa Barbara standup paddle, standup paddle boards, SUP

Sawyer spices thangs up with the new Zephyr standup paddlesurf paddle...





Stay tuned as thangs are starting to get real colorful 'round these parts...;-)

Labels: Sawyer, stand up paddles, standup paddle surfing, SUP, zephyr paddle

L@@K what just arrived...more SUP boards...imagine that!...;-)

Labels: California paddleboards, paddle board store, stand up paddle boards, standup paddle boards, SUP

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

Introducing several new standup paddleboard models for 2008...
The Jimmy Lewis 2008 SUP Catalog is now online...click on index image for more pages...

In addition to the standup paddleboards that we've recently highlighted on this blog, notably the 10'4" & 10'8" in the "Surf Series"...and a 9'10 & 10'6" in the classic "All Around Series"...

There will be a killer big wave gun for those standuppers with cajones...this is a serious weapon for big wave hunting...

Also, a distance board for point to point crossings...this board will be available as a charter so you won't have to lug your distance paddler to competitions...

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

For the browser navigation impaired, we've added some clickable visual cues for our extensive standup paddle content...just click on the thumbnail indexed standup paddle surfing picture galleries...

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

New Jimmy Lewis Classic SUP's are here now...
The red SUP is 9'10"...next to it, in gorgeous blue, is the 10'6"...
the forest green SUP is the all time classic 11'er...most stability and best glide of any 11' SUP on the market...and it surfs great...




The two new Jimmy Lewis "Classics" offer a bit more nose and tail rocker...
They are still very stable because of the width in the nose and tail...which also helps them to nose ride like no tomorrow...

Click for more pics of the new Jimmy Lewis Classic SUP's...

Labels: Jimmy Lewis, stand up paddleboard, standup paddle boards, SUP

Check out two of the four new 2008 Jimmy Lewis standup paddleboards...

We are the first shop in the world to receive them...and have already put them to the test...

10'4" x 28.5" and 10'8" x 29"...MSRP $1299...

Top quality epoxy sandwich construction...gorgeous finish work...
Long lasting durability and performance...

Be unique...

More colors available...gray, red, mint green, & yellow...also, pad & logo color options..

Labels: Jimmy Lewis, stand up paddleboard, standup paddle boards, SUP

Bill Foote Standup Paddleboards are here now...

Picture Gallery 1
Picture Gallery 2

Beautiful finish work and construction quality...

These puppies are great wave riders with heaps of glide and stability for folks
190lbs and under...gorgeous nose rides are possible if you cross step on up there and
hang it on out...

standup paddle surfing

stand up paddle surfing

Labels: Bill Foote, stand up paddleboard, standup paddleboard, SUP

Tired of hoofing your SUP on your head or shoulder?
Your board doesn't have an integrated handle like our Starboard SUP's or inserts for assembling a webbing handle like on our SOS SUP's?
Here's a cheap and easy way to transport your SUP (and/or your SO's SUP) across the sand to the beach...with paddle(s)!!!
Just stick it on the nose when entering the water...or leave on the beach...
MSRP $5 - $10...

Labels: standup paddle boards, standup paddleboard carry, SUP

The Starboard 12'2" & 12'6" SUP's are here...
Nice finish work...integrated handles...side-biter option...pads...
double leash plugs...and gorgeous wood veneer version available...






Click for video clip of Starboard SUP's in action.

Does this L@@K like fun or what?!?!
Antoine Albeau (and friend) tandem wavesailing on the 12'6" Starboard SUP.

Labels: Longboard sailboard, standup paddle boards, Starboard, SUP

Here's a first L@@K at the production model of the 10' SOS Big Green SUP...



Our models will have a mast track for windsurfing option...reinforced mid-section...and side-biter fin option...

Labels: Sean Ordonez Shapes, SOS Big Red, standup paddle boards, SUP

Alrighty then...are we having fun yet?...;-)

The Jimmy Lewis 11' x 30" SUP's are available now...at $1299 they are going fast...


Pics of a red one here and more pics of the gold one here.

The new Jimmy Lewis 10' x 28" SUP's will be available soon. There is a waiting list for these puppies. We have one now that you can check out...



Of course, we'll show you some more views here.

Our die-cut SUP pads are L@@King good...and working even better.
They come in 2 easy to handle pieces, (3 including the small center piece) with top of the line 3M adhesive peel & stick...84" x 22" of coverage for $120.
They come in five colors...


The SOS Big Red, Big Blue, and the new 10' Big Green will be available for shipping around the first part of June...

Sean Ordonez shredding on Big Green...


The eagerly anticipated Starboard 12'2" & 12'6" SUP/longboards will be shipping by the end of the month...there are some pics here.

We have paddles, leashes, pads, bags, wheeled transport systems, and lots of other kewl things on the horizon for this incredible sport...

Lastly, it appears that our friends down under have been bit by the standup paddleboarding "bug"...including, two time surfing World Champ Tom Carroll...
You can read the interview here.

Labels: Jimmy Lewis, standup paddle boards, standup paddleboard pads, SUP

Stand Up Paddling - a royal Hawaiian sport, is now becoming the
new craze and the world's quickest growing watersport.

Starboard is preparing a line of Stand Up Paddle boards, guiding
watersports into a whole new dimension.

Starboard is bringing back their line of gorgeous wood veneer
boards updated for standup paddle surfing and light air
windsurfing.

Wavesailing
Attaching a sail to the brass inserts positioned in the middle converts the board to a whole new world of
amazing light wind wave sailing. The feeling of riding these long boards in the waves using the aft brass
insert uncovers a new dimension...

No need to use a harness in the light winds, one can easily get onto a wave with a pump or 2 and walk the
board from the tail to nose without loosing speed while riding the waves full length. Getting over the wave breaks is way easy due to the volume and length of the board. Wavesailing is suddenly possible in 2-10 knots of wind and fun even in small waves.

Freestyle
An optional TT box for a mid fin and usage of the front brass insert creates a fantastic light wind freestyle
board for never ending rail rides and a forgiving platform to learn classic freestyle tricks.

Stand Up Paddling

The boards:

Starboard 12’2” X 26 5/8” by Mark Raaphorst ( top Maui based SUP rider and shaper).

-The outline template is wide in the middle for stability with a pulled in tail for carving on the wave.
-The extra rail volume further provides stability while paddling.
-The longboard rocker with extra tail kick offers an agile board feel compared to its size while on a wave.
-The flat nose rocker section is a good platform for nose riding.
-The long water line and curved tail rocker promotes a pleasant glide for longer distance Stand Up paddling.
-The thin 2 mm 3/4 deck EVA with indications for your foot placing provides great traction.

-The carry handle for easy transport.
-The leash inserts in the tail is accompanied by a tow eye in the front.
-A storage net can be used with the 6 inserts situated on the deck.

Starboard 12’6” x 30” by Svein Rasmussen/Jim Drake.

-A whole new world of amazing light wind wave sailing to be enjoyed by attaching a rig to the brass insert.
-No need to use a harness as the wind is light.

-One can easily get onto a wave with a pump or 2 and walk the board from the tail to nose, without loosing speed while riding the wave’s full length.

-Getting over the wave breaks is way easy due to the volume and length of the board.

-Wavesailing is suddenly possible in 2-10 knots of wind and is fun even in waves as small as a foot

-For the windsurfing market we will integrate a TT box for a mid fin creating a fantastic light wind freestyle board for never ending rail rides.

-The mid fin also creates a great deal of balance, thus will be a tool for learning SUP.

-Light wind freestyle is back with great rail riding and a forgiving platform to learn classic freestyle tricks and simply goofing around.

The difference between the 2 sizes:
The 12’2” x 26 5/8” more towards SUP surfing ,better suited for light wind wave sailing and more
athletic/experienced riders. The 12’6” x 30” more stability for SUP and light wind freestyle due to extra
stability through added width.

The sensation
Standing up on top of the ocean, leaning your body weight on the paddle that drives you over the sea.
Listen to the sound of the board cutting through the water and enjoy the sparkle from the water’s reflection ahead. A grand new way to appreciate a fabulous core work-out and take any wave for a ride.

Stand Up paddling can be learned in 5 minutes, be enjoyed on any lake ,river or ocean and is great fun
cross training/core work out. The Stand Up paddle board is easy to put onto the roof of a car, comfortable to carry to the beach and convenient to store. The advantage of SUP boards over a basic surf board is the added width allowing you to stand up and use a paddle thus get more power and speed. When you take off on the wave, you are already standing up surfing. The paddle further acts like a balancing pole, making it easier to turn and keep your balance.

Popular sit down kayaking and canoeing has 40 times more participation in the USA than windsurfing,
indicating the limitless potential of the more accessible SUP. Dave Kalama and Laird Hamilton are currently the best known SUP athletes, Mark Raaphorst the most progressive shaper and Jeff Henderson recognised for bridging SUP with wavesailing.

We are taking deposits now to secure boards for May delivery time frame.

Pricing: SUP 370 and 380 Sportec Retail: $1499.00

(U.S. $) SUP 370 and 380 Wood Retail: $1999.00

Continuously pushing boundaries through innovation and quality, Starboard challenges all to

“ DO IT STANDING UP!”

Labels: standup paddle boards, Starboard, SUP