Posting Issues

Dude, seriously... what's up with the pictures!? (That's me conversing with the computer) Sorry folks, bear with me here, It's hard enough to be a journalist, photographer and editor, I'm crappy at all of the above anyway. Some days it seems like a crap shoot to get things to line up, and it looks different on the preview compared to the actual post. Why can't the computer read my mind...never mind I said that. Just be patient and be glad I'm not using a Gutenburg press. I only have 9.8 finger as it is!

Wet Camera Blues

Ya know what sucks...cameras, wet cameras, wet cameras that don't work. The waterproof bag developed a pin-hole leak...I was out for hours. Nuff said. The paddle is coming along, all glassed and sanded smooth. It is currently hanging from the ceiling in the garage, drying after the first coat of varnish. I'll probably do 4 coats, the can says 6 coats, but I'm protecting the epoxy(and a couple of spot where I was heavy handed with the sanding) not bare wood, so we'll see... The last thing my camera ever saw...

Let's Make A Paddle ~ 3

It took about a day and a half to thin down the blade, round the shaft and get to about 90% complete before fiberglass and epoxy. I will fine tune the throat (where blade and shaft meet) grip, and give it the final once over the next two evenings. I am really stoked to get it all done, but don't want to rush anything and make a mistake. It's fun and a little scary at the same time, you put a lot of time in making something like this, you definately don't want to mess it up before it gets in the water. That being said, go get some wood and start making a paddle!

Let's Make A Paddle ~ 2

In the last few evenings, I've begun getting to grip to emerge from all the wood I glued together up there. I didn't take any photos , but last night it looked like a big fat bar of soap on a stick! I have a few more passed to make with a micro-plane rasp and lots good old fashioned hand sanding ahead of me, although I will probably cheat with my random orbit sander. The white markings are blackboard chalk. I like using it for wood working, especially with hand planes, so I can locate high/low spots on a project. It comes off easily, and It help me from working too deep into the wood most of the time. You can see a black section on the end of the grip, the epoxy didn't fill that, but it will either be sanded out or filled when I epoxy her all up later. I I did weight the paddle with the grip blocks, blade at full thickness, but cut to shape...5 lbs! The goal is less than 2 lbs, the closer 24-28 ounces the better! time to sharpen up some tools!

Mahalo to Wet Feet and C4

I picked up my brand spankin' new C4 paddle this weekend! I can't say thanks enough to the crew down at Wet Feet and the team at C4. It just goes to show you what a solid company and rep will do, to work with their retailers and customers. I really loved my original C4 paddle and look forward to putting it's replacement to work! Mahalo and Aloha.

Let's Make A Paddle!

If you have been checking out SUP stuff on the web, you already know about Stoneaxe, a New England blogger who is also a skilled paddle crafter. I met him at lumberjocks about a year or so ago and was inspired at what he was doing with a few of his paddles. I was able to hook up with both Bob and his brother (Pono Bill) who sponsored the Kenalu Big Board Showcase last summer. What a great time, those guys are a riot! I gotta say, if you don't know these two you should. After I got back home, I tried to make a couple of paddles, but they were all wrong. Stoneaxe gave me lots of good advice, but something wasn't working out. I stopped, regrouped and am having a go on paddle #3. The shaft is a five piece lamination, with an ash center strip and two strips of basswood on each side. Sounds easy enough, but it's a little tricky. Over-sizing the pieces is key. You don't want to go to big or you waste a lot, but you want to have enough here so you can square it all up and know it's a bit bigger than your final dimensions. I used a piece of koa I bought as scrap for the blades and grip pieces. I know koa as scrap!? Seriously, I'm in for about 7 bucks for the koa!! The blade also has an inlay of purple heart, for strength and so I know what side is what. I used the left over purple heart piece to build up the grip too. Important note, I glued up everything with W.S. Epoxy, it might be overkill, but I wanted it to be super strong. When I put the blades on, I just glued it up directly to the shaft. I wanted to use dowels or a spline, but let's see hoe this works out, maybe next time. I made the blade template out of Masonite, it's a slightly different curve than a C4 paddle, a little shorter, and wider. The grip has a thin strip of maple between the koa and purple heart. The koa and maple are the same thickness as the shaft, the purple heart is to as some meat that will fit into my hand, like my C4 paddle grip does. Here, you can see what a slab this thing is! The blades is about 1" thick...for now. I "built" in about a 4 degree angle on the blade/shaft, hopefully I won't mess it up. I don't think I needed to do that, but it was fun freaking out about it. Next time I'll take a lesson from the outrigger crew and do a proper job for the angle shaft. There is still lot of work to do, get the grip smooth and rounded, get the blade down to size, round and slightly taper the shaft. Hopefully, it won't be like the opening scene in The Patriot when Mel Gibson sits on that beauty of a chair, and then all of the sudden, it's a year supply of toothpicks! I plan on glassing the shaft and blade with S glass and epoxy to add some extra strength. I'll also use a few coats of high quality varnish on top for UV protection and we'll be ready to go. If it doesn't turn out, I guess I can fix it enough to hang it on the wall, flip huge banana pancakes, make some killer pizzas or use it to reach all the crap up in the top of the closet.

SUPAH Distance Paddling with Wet Feet

Back on April 18th, I was one of abut 15 or so folks who all joined up at Wet Feet, for a SUPAH down-wind clinic. We talked about paddles, boards, fins, technique, traction and other accessories too. Karen, Jeff, and Doug did most of the talking and demonstrating, but there were a ton of good questions from the attendees! We asked about carbon vs fiberglass, planing hulls vs displacement hulls, paddle length, fin size and materials, Kevlar in paddles, hollow vs foam core boards...you get the idea. Jeff had his Joe Bark 18 footer on display, and we were all drooling! That thing was awesome! I got a chance to paddle the C4 Vortice, and was all set to hit the water. I was on a loner paddle, I was still waiting to hear back from C4(next post I'll give ya the scoop). I wasn't sure how hard it was going to be out there with a longer paddle and toothpick of a board, but it was actually alot better than I thought. We met up in Hawaii Kai, and paddled out to sea. The Vortice is really well behaved in calm and low to moderate chop, but when we had lots of wind chop and the swells were rebounding of off the cliffs I started to have a hard time. I have never really done any down-wind paddling, so this was really fun and hard at the same time. I was a little to unbalanced on the Vortice, I'm used to my big wide 11'6, not the 14 foot narrow race board. Don't get me wrong, I do like the Vortice, but I think I would like it a little wider. I am weighing in at about 200 lbs now so it was that bad. A few months ago at 220 I would have had a really tough time! I think next time I want to try a Jimmy Lewis 12'6, that I'm going to try out next time. I really like JL board, the few I have ridden in the past were all very stable and fast. So after 5 miles and lots of paddling I was pretty tired and HUNGRY!!! I chowed down on some sushi rolls, a power bar, some Gatorade , water, coffee, red velvet cupcakes, and headed home for a well deserved nap...and another cupcake!

I Should Have Known Better

It was an amazing Saturday Morning...no wind, smooth water, 4-6 foot surf, 5 guys out, sunny and warm. I hit the water at about an hour after sunrise and headed for buoys 1 and 2 at the Pearl Harbor channel. The down-winder for today didn't pan out, so I was going to get some surfing in. I passed a paddler heading in at about the half way point, who warned me about going to far past the harbor entrance buoys. There was something dead in the water, and he saw some thrashing. He said that Harbor Patrol was out looking to keep everybody safe, but that there was plenty of good surf closer inside. Roger, stay inside, surf, survive thrashing sharks. Easy day right? Wrong, about an hour and a half later, this really nice set wave bowls up behind me, and jacks up to about 7 feet. I put the paddle in forward and left, sweeping out to turn to starboard...here's where the fun starts. The wave, pushed my board with me still on it somehow through my carbon paddle! It was like slow motion, I saw the blade catch, the shaft flex and heard it snap! I wish I could tell you I somehow caught that wave, but no, instead I went for a ride in the wash, got back to my board, then went shopping for parts. I did get my pieces back, and OC-1'd it 500 yds or so back to the beach. I guess I should have turned back and headed in when I heard about the sharks, but I would have missed the guy in the kayak out there, or the really nice rides the other few paddlers were getting. Anyways, go paddle, be sure to keep a spare paddle in close range, and stay safe out there!

Falling = Learning...

I got a chance to leave a few minutes early from work earlier in the week, and took the opportunity to gets some water time. I put a new deck pad on the 11-6 this last weekend, and was ready to get wet. The local break, was chop city. The wind was 10- 14 knots, super bumpy and I still haven't got the place wired. I struggled a lot, I fell all over the place, couldn't keep my balance, was a human sail, and was off the board more than on it. Another, lone paddler cruised by to wave, and see how I was doing. I said "slow". Honestly, I was a little embarrassed. He said "You learn something every-time you fall." He couldn't be more correct. He made some comments on feet positioning and told me to keep charging. He paddled of into the lineup and took a handful of amazing rides and headed in. I didn't ask his name, but I will remember his board, and will remember to say thanks for the stoke next time I paddle out . I sat a few minutes, watched the ocean as I thought about the advice I had just been given. I got up paddled hard cross wind, and caught a bump, and almost had the wave it turned into. I took that as a mini success and headed in playing on the inside on some calf biters before packing it up. It was not my best day in the water, I had been doing much better lately, but that's OK. I was stoked to watch a good paddler get some great rides, get some encouragement, free advice and play in the ocean. Now, I need to get some downwind time in, play in the waves, increase my balance, and strength, and just have fun. Maybe next time I'll rock my Red Sox cap out in the water. I wore it while I was out to sea in 2004, and in 2007. It's has good luck, I swear, and after today, I need a little luck.

Aloha and Mahalo for Visiting!

Well, here you are visiting SUP STANCE, my blog on Standup Paddle Surfing. Thanks! This is just a way for me to share my experiences in the sport and to share the stoke. Rent, borrow, or beg, but whatever you do give it a try. This is a great sport, you'll get a great workout, have a great view, and will be able to enjoy the ocean in a whole new way. There are tons of great blogs, online mags, and full-blown sites out there, so check them all out. Our fellow paddlers have done a tremendous amount of work, so make sure you give them a shout for doing such a great job. Keep coming back and see what I’m up to. I'll try to post something new each week, and have some great ideas for the summer and fall ahead. Feel free to leave me some feed back or a comment. Honestly, if you have a question, ask. I might not know the answer, but I’ll get back with an answer as soon as I can. I have definitely learned in my career, there are no stupid questions, and you’re never too old to learn!