dad, so easy…
wax the handle with surf wax
you know
the one in your pocket,
…how easy
gotta be easy?
tape? cannot see the beautiful paddlle
wax? comes off easy…
…ambrose…
tape? friction tape?
Beautiful paddle UncleD.
I bought a long piece of redwood from homedepot a while back in preperation for a more angled SUP paddle. Going to do it in pieces this time like yours. Should save me a ton of time shaping.
I did some experiments cutting thin slices of interesting woods for the paddle blade but didn’t get farther than that yet.
Do you have any pictures showing how you got your 10-14 degree angle?
UncleD, would you advise some sort of exagerated dome deck to lessen feet arches pain?
UncleD thanks for posting those shots …balsa skinned boards look great , I reckon !
I have a standup paddle surfing question , for you guys …(it may sound like a silly question to some perhaps , but I have never stand up paddled , so I don’t know …)
when you are using the paddle , WHERE are you looking ?
straight ahead ?
down ?
[if alternating strokes ? yes?] side to side ?
I ask , because I’m thinknig the strain on the neck and shoulders must be tremendous / repetitive strain injury potential ? , if done regularly , yes ?
(I’m not meaning to sound like a wet blanket or a downer or anything here ) …I am just curious if there are many surfers who have done standup paddle surfing over a period of lots of years , and how / if it has taken a toll on their body more than conventional paddling lying down does ?
I ask , because I’d hate for any of you guys to not be surfing in say 10 years time , as a result of unknown injury factor from this activity , is all…
Do you know if any research has been done on the effects on the body of [long-term] stand up paddling by say sports health , physiotherapists [“physical therapists”] , occupational therapists and the like ?
… cheers guys !
ben
uncle d, would you care to give some rocker, rail and bottom contour info as well.the photo of the shaped blank looks to have a bit of vee in the tail. an info would be much appreciated. thanks
Sorry I have not responded sooner… I was enjoying the 4th of July weekend cleaning the yard, working on the fishing board and learning how to paddle the SUP.
Kai: I am going to build another paddle soon and will take pictures to document the process. To get the angle, I double up the wood on the shaft in the blade area (glue the wood in a stack) and drew the angle line with an angle finder. I used a jig saw to cut the angle, cleaned the cut with a planer and glued on the balsa blades one side at a time. (Read the book I mentioned earlier for tons of good instructions.)
Chip: I look straight ahead. Going into a head wind is the hardest. I have to squat down a bit and did the paddle a little deeper. I use to paddle for an outrigger canoe club so I understand what can cause stress on the joints and muscles. The wind will determine what side to paddle on. During ideal conditions, I like to paddle ten strokes on one side and switch to the other side. Head winds make this difficult. My feet and legs really do get the good work out. I can paddle for about 30 and then need to take a break. I think I am slowly getting better. CarveNalu is the expert on this subject. I am still very green here.
Lazymondo: The blank is a copy of the Clark 12’3" but just a bit thicker. Check out specs at www.clarkfoam.com. We took the PDF picture of the blank, blew it up to scale, printed it (at Kinkos), glued it to plywood, cut it out with a jigsaw to make our rocker templates. I have no additional pictures of the shaped blank but there is a nice pronouced Vee in the tail area. You want the middle of the board flat for paddling an better balance.
I hope this helps,
D
thanks for the info!
you can get the same results angleing the blade by building the shaft long , cuting through it at the desired blade angle ,say 10 deg. then just flip the lower cut off piece and glue back on with the flat side facing the cut side.then glue your blade sides on.
Actually that is how I did it. You explained it better than I could.
Thanks,
D
UncleD, would you advise some sort of exagerated dome deck to lessen feet arches pain?
Aloha Balsa:
I had to think about this one. I think a flat deck is better for the balance and will allow the rails to be fuller. I think it is just a matter of time for my feet to get use to SUP activities and the pain should go away. We should address this question to CarveNalu since he has been doing SUP the longest and putting his ideas in his prototypes. Like he said during the contest, he was the only in the finals that rode a board that he designed and built. I think he is a true innovator in the SUP world. I spoke to Mike Casey who is a great shaper and he is also getting on the SUP bandwagon. He has several orders from the island of Kauai for these boards. Carve’s and Dave Parmementer are the shapers that actually SUP. I am glad to be part of this Swaylocks community and actually see this sport grow and evolve into something great. Again mahalo Carve for your contribution. I guess it is like watching windsurfing take off in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I just hope that the SUP participants continue to practice the aloha that Carve has been preaching to us.
Mahalo,
D
Howzit guys… Thanks for the kind words Uncle D! As far as the dome deck goes, we found out it actually makes your feet hurt more. It makes it tougher to stand when the board starts to roll over. It makes your feet slant steeper the farther you roll over… A flat or even slightly concave deck is the way to go. The easier it is to stand the less your feet hurt. That is why everyone goes thru that painful beginning. In the beginning we all struggle to stay standing putting all this weird pressures on our poor tootsies! The better you get the less your feet hurt. The less your feet hurt the better you get!
As far as other shapers doing SUP… Well, Merrick, Hobie, and plenty others are already on the band wagon trying to figure this out. I have no doubt even though they never done it they will end up with good stuff eventually… Dave Parmenter, Terry Chung and myself are the only shapers I know who put in as many hours as we have doing SUP in the variety of waves we are fortunate to have… The difference is, Terry and Dave are craftsman who can translate what works into their handshaped boards and still have that unreal quality. I can only get kinda close at best to what is in my mind… I’ve only shaped around 20 something boards… Enter the APS3000 Hahaha!! I make no claim to being a good shaper! However, I do know a little bit about what works and what doesn’t based on full commitment to surfing with a paddle day in and day out… The APS3000 brings to life what my hands and ability as a shaper cannot… I just got a couple boards off the machine and they are in the excellent quality range.
I’ll make this my official coming out post… I’m starting a business designing and selling high performance SUP boards. Our focus is on 10’-6" and shorter boards meant to turn and carve. Mainly for those who went thru the beginning stages and want to get into more performance type surfing… Its not that I don’t want to do big boards but I feel there will be tons of guys making huge logs available to the masses but I’m more interested in those who stick to it and want to go to the next level…
Surfing with Aloha… Man this is gonna be a tough one with the way this thing is blowing up but its really important the leaders in this form of surfing to at least try to educate the newcomers. I found out recently the current rate this is growing and just how much this is growing world wide and sh*t… Like it or not, its gonna be huge. Even if you don’t do SUP, don’t hesitate to remind those who do to mind their manners… I’m willing to bet that a huge amount of surfers will take it up, find out how hard it is to do and then say forget it. Or, someone who is a jerk wave grabber will get harrased so much and get his butt kicked it won’t be worth it… You will see tons of big SUP boards in the paper for sale… Those who fall in love with it, stick to it, have manners and want to progress at it will be searching for the types of boards we have to offer.
Aloha
Quote:
I’ll make this my official coming out post… I’m starting a business designing and selling high performance SUP boards. Our focus is on 10’-6" and shorter boards meant to turn and carve. Mainly for those who went thru the beginning stages and want to get into more performance type surfing… Its not that I don’t want to do big boards but I feel there will be tons of guys making huge logs available to the masses but I’m more interested in those who stick to it and want to go to the next level…
I am excited for you and the sport. I think you have identified a really good niche and let’s see where you guys will push the limits to. I have a few ideas on making wood / carbon hybrid paddles that I want to focus on. I am still very much in the learning stages but I toss and turn each night with new paddle ideas. It’s like being a kid with brand new toys again. I love it and hope that I can share this passion too. Manoa is experiencing the same excitement too. He took the role of being Mike Casey’s apprentice. He sends his free days watching Mike shape and build these great hand shaped master pieces. Manoa takes notes and even sweeps out the shaping bay. He is totally excited about learning how to build great surfboards and his wife fully supports his efforts.
Living with passion and sharing it is what it’s all about!
Aloha,
D
Unc:
I second chip’s inquiry on the injury component and am interested in any knowledge you can drop on paddling safety in light of your outrigger experience.
I agree that looking straight ahead is the ticket–improves my balance.
This past weekend I paddled my board from my property on a tidal creek out to the ocean. It was a couple of miles I guess and took around 45 minutes each way. I was going against the wind on the way out and against the tide on the way in. Super strenuous.
The next day I was regular surfing and my shoulders really hurt in the rotator cuff area. Not a "man I’m sore from my workout hurt’ but more of an ‘oowww,what did I do to my shoulder hurt.’ It kind of worried me.
I agree with what Carve said about the worldwide thing. I’ve heard some other guys around here talk about it, but I’m the only guy I’ve ever seen in the water doing it around here so far. I have a feeling its going to take off though considering as follows:
When I was paddling out to sea there were alot of people out and about chilling on their boats. They were freaking out when they saw me, cheering, taking pictures, offering me beers, etc. I think an often underplayed component of this new sport is the fact that chicks really appear to dig it. hehe.
hunter
Quote:
I think an often underplayed component of this new sport is the fact that chicks really appear to dig it. hehe.
hunter
Buwahahahahahahahahahaha!!! Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Hehe!
Aloha Hunter:
I never had the chick thing happen to me yet while I was SUPing. You must be some good looking guy. I did have tourist take pictures of me and the kids paddling.
There is a bunch of websites that provide some great tips on proper outrigger canoe paddling. I try to relax my stroke, keep my head straight, looking forward, breath, not bend my arms too much and try to use as much as my whole body in each stroke. This is a little tricky with SUP because you are standing with flat footed with no leg in front. I still try to push off with the lead leg (side I am paddling on). I found myself squating a bit more when paddling into the wind. A super critical point is having the right length paddle. There is really no set rule. In the past for outrigger canoe, the old timers said to get a paddle about nipple height. For SUP the word is to get a paddle one hand span above your height. I think the best bet is to try different lengths. You might also want to try different blade widths too. There are so many factors. It took me about 5 different paddles to find my the perfect OC-6 paddle. I love that paddle. I know that my next SUP paddle will have to be lighter especially when my distances increase. There is just too many factors. My OC-6 paddling really improved when my canoe coach watched me paddle for a few practice runs, took me to the side and gave me a two hour session on stroke technique. Breathing properly, relaxing, blade placement, using the whole boady, stroke length all came into play. I am very grateful for that lesson. He was also stoke because normally, older guys don’t take to instructions too well. I am like a sponge and love to learn new stuff that will improve me.
CarveNalu is still the subject mater expert here. I am still a want-to-be SUP dude. (Perhaps those chicks will dig me when I get good!)
Here are some sites that might help with the outrigger style paddling: http://www.performancepaddling.com/training_resources.php
www.y2kanu.com (good links).
Mahalo,
D
Aloha Carve Nalu – I’m sure this has been thought up already… you can title one of your instruction buttons on your web-site “what’s SUP”
Aloha ka’ako,
From what I saw last sunday at Kilauea Bay, there’s a decent market for you to tap into. ABout 15 - 18 paddlers in a race around the point to Kalihiwai Bay, 90% of which were on standard longboards with a few racers holding paddles I thought were a bit short for them. There is definite interest and rejuvenation going on. Oh and, mahalo to Uncle D for the inspiration for paddle making. Aloha, M
Hey I am getting the hang of paddling this thing. The trade-winds have calmed down quite a bit and that made paddling very easy. My arches of feet don’t get as sore as the first couple of times. I can go for about 45 minutes before without resting my feet. My balance is getting better and I feel a lot more relaxed paddling. I am doing a better job of burying my blade and starting to put more power in each stroke. I am getting very stoked with the potential of this activity. I am like a kid excited about his new toy.
Yesterday my wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary and we celebrated by going out to dinner and today I taught her how to paddle the SUP board. It was hilarious to watch her struggle with it, take a few spills but she was a good sport and finally got up and paddled well. She has been a great partner and she lets me surf and build surfboards. In fact she encourages me to surf and have passion for ocean related activities. Wow, what a woman! We aren’t as young as we use to be but we still look at life with young eyes. She is a great wife, mother and grandmother. I think soon I better build her a SUP too!
Uncle D and his sexy (grandma) wife, Auntie C celebrate 25 years of bliss. She can SUP too!
YEAH UNCLE D!!! Congrats to all of the above!!! I’m stoked for you!! Way to go!!! Ahwoooooooooooo!!!
Uncle D,
Well I think I’m finally getting the proper balance for SUP on my 12’ Soft Top. I think that some of the hints and techniques that CarveNalu gave me last week really helped. I stayed mostly in the channel between the Hilton dock and the outside channel marker next to Kaiser’s. I still need to work on turning the monster, (180 degree turns) without falling, or maintaining balance when the bumps hit the board on the sides.
I was thinking about your sore arches while I was out there. Are you unconsiously trying to grip the board with your toes? This would seem to cause your feet to tense up, including your arch muscles. I try to stay as relaxed as possible, looking ahead, but at the same time watching the waves and board position.
As for the chicks digging this, well I haven’t seen any yet although I do get curious looks from the tourists on the Hilton beach.
mokulele
Aloha Mokulele:
You are right and I was trying to grip the board with my toes. I have learned how to relax and that is making paddling so much easier. I too need to learn how to make those quick 180 degree turns. I want to get that flip turn down by the end of summer. I am really burying my blade and board is starting to fly. I am also keeping the blade really close to board which is keeping the board moving straighter.
I got a few request from tourist to take pictures of me or my daughters paddling the board. We launch right of Kamehameha Hwy. on the mid-north section of Kaneohe Bay. I also let all my neighbors who launch their kayaks at the same place try SUP. They love it too.
Thanks,
D