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.

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!