Early SUP Days

We are stoked to have been amongst the early pioneers of modern standup paddling…really fun times…

Starting in 2003, we picked up on the sport of standup paddling (SUP) after seeing King Laird (Hamilton) do it at Malibu……using an Exocet Commando and modified kayak paddle…it was a 9’10” x 36″ Exocet Commando…RTM hybrid windsurf/sit-on-top with a cutoff aluminum kayak paddle…the standup fire really got lit in 2005 when we purchased www.standupaddlesports.com.

We worked with Sean Ordonez on Maui to design several custom standup paddleboards with mast tracks…Deb’s was 10’11” and mine was 11’4″…we also incorporated double leash plugs which became an industry standard. We used tandem surfboard blanks from Clark Foam. The center fin slots are very far forward to initiate early turning and they have a sidebiter option and also a mast track for light air windsurfing. First of their kind in production. The world’s original WindSUP.

Several iterations later, using big billets of EPS foam we were able to use a hotwire to increase the width of the boards to increase stability…and, subsequently ended up with the prototypes of what would become the very first epoxy production standup paddle boards to hit the market…10’10” Big Blue and the legendary 11’11” Big Red…
We also worked with Sean Ordonez here in Santa Barbara to build the first 13′ and 14′ SUP’s in California…beautiful custom Curly Koa wood inlays…carbon fiber…channels…etc…

A short time later, we opened the world’s first dedicated standup paddleboard store…as they say…the rest was history…;-)