Double D & Gerry Lopez SUP NYC

General Discussion
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Old news I know but only now had the time to write this post… On Aug 13th 2007, Darrick Doerner and Gerry Lopez along with a whole crew of SUP and paddle boarders showed up in New York City to raise awareness for Autism and the SEA orginization. http://www.seapaddlenyc.org/ (complete photos and info here) Very cool event!

I had the honor of building the boards that would keep Gerry and DD out of that mucky water! When Darrick first asked me to do the boards he wanted regular 10 foot SUP surfing boards. I asked him how far is the paddle around Mahattan Island and he said the course would be 28 miles… I thought 28 miles!!! I told him if I made them regular 10 footers they would be cursing my name within an hour! He really wanted something that looked like surfboards so I designed 11’-6" x 4-3/4" x 28-1/4" full railed, flat rockered gliders that looked like big SUP guns… Did them up swallow tails purely for looks! The stable boards went well and glided very nicely so Gerry and Darrick didn’t curse my name the entire event! Hahaha!! (all photos taken by Andrew Brusso)

One of the 11-6’s gets ready to paddle around Manhattan Island

Event Organizer Andrew, Gerry, Darrick, and Joel Tudor pre-paddle…

Mr Pipeline in NYC

What a site!

Darrick and Gerry mid paddle somewhere in New York… Classic!

All in all a great event!

Aloha,

Blane

www.paddlesurfhawaii.com

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Hi CarveNalu…

If Paris Hilton were around, I’m sure she’d agree. THAT’S HOT!

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Thanks Blaine, I always look forward to your posts. As always some great pictures.

4

as burnsie said, i always look forward to your posts too. congratulations on another achievement blaine.

5

sorry if this is old news…but Scott Anderson making paddleboards? in any large volume?

6

c_e,

Wow, that is incredibly off-topic (not that it is atypical, but still not a good thing).

Rules of swaylocks:

  1. Stick to the topics of the various forums.

Carve,

Them look like some fast flatwater boards! Very cool to be a part of that! What kind of skeg did you throw on those (seeing as they were built for paddle speed)? And I like the swallowtail! Looks faster.

–BCo

7

I do see the connection.

autism awareness

and stand up paddling and

the waters of manhattan.

and logos .

and photos of same.

Great bridges

make for accelerated

understanding

between the focused mind

and the mind untethered.

isnt every one making

off topic sup positions.

…ambrose…

my contribution

make an autistic

train of thought

become cognisant

and integrate it into

a tangible object

sculpt a form

to adapt to the

inshore where chaos

reigns supreme.

the photo op is well taken.

8

Hi Ambrose!

You are totally right, original post by Carve is perfect. Looks like a beautiful event, with well designed boards, and some really great people. Chocolate_elvis asking about anderson’s boards in this thread strikes me as a little off topic, that is all.

–BCo

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There’s always time for a little stretch

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great shots with unusual NYC surroundings. thanks for sharing the great pictures!

(sorry for the off topic above, new to these parts)

Saw the boards are from Paddlesurf Hawaii - at quick glance I confused the Paddlesurf logo for Scott Anderson Surfboards of Marina del Rey, CA. The boards in the pictures look great!! Nice work! I’ll shutup now and go away…sorry for the confusion.

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Aloha Carve:

From Craig’s List to NYC, you are “Da Man”. From a very short time you have gone from riding a 12’ SurfTech to making SUP boards that are internationally recognized. You are my muse and totally inspire me. I am so proud that I know you. It’s a blast watching you progess.

Local boy does good!

Keep up the excellent work!

D

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Quote:

From a very short time you have gone from riding a 12’ SurfTech to making SUP boards that are internationally recognized.

Hahaha! Ain’t no beeg ting bruddah!!! The above statement reminds me of that classic bumper sticker that went something like this… London - Paris - New York - Waimanalo In my case it would be Wahiawa… Thanks for the kind words Uncle D and everyone else too… Things are so crazy but so much more fun than other jobs I had in the past so I’m enjoying the ride for sure! Our expansion is taking up plenty time but part of it is still R&D so gotta go surf!! Winter is right around the corner… Real waves coming soon! As far as the fin question from 11ft, I don’t know what they ran. I think they ran singles but I made them 2+1’s for later on surfing if needed… The swallow tails at least LOOK fast! Hahaha!!

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C_E,

No worries. Anderson sure makes some sick boards. I have a friend who just picked up an evolver and is so psyched. That makes more sense, now.

Carve,

Thanks for fin info. I was thinking for paddling, prob just need something short. So, they are built to surf, too, eh? Why am I not surprised. Doesn’t look like much rocker on those bad boys…but length can be deceiving. Any guesstimates?

–BCo

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Quote:

Doesn’t look like much rocker on those bad boys…but length can be deceiving. Any guesstimates?

It is deceiving… The rocker at the tip of the nose is 5-1/2" Tail rocker is over 4" It looks almost flat because I thinned out the nose and tail so the thickness of 4-3/4" now makes for a very flat deck line. Its an illusion of almost zero rocker. Not what I would consider a pretty aspect but in that case I chose the function over the form.

The boards are pretty much one of a kinds. They were made specifically so Darrick and Gerry could go 28 miles gliding instead of struggling on something less than 12’. Another request was the boards needed to look kinda cool… The last part was, if someone really wanted to, they could surf them after the event. I put most of the focus into the 28 miles of glide part… Second the ability to surf it and last was the looks dept… I hope I don’t have to make a lot of these! Hahaha!!

15
Quote:

The above statement reminds me of that classic bumper sticker that went something like this… London - Paris - New York - Waimanalo In my case it would be Wahiawa… Things are so crazy but so much more fun than other jobs I had in the past so I’m enjoying the ride for sure! Our expansion is taking up plenty time but part of it is still R&D so gotta go surf!!

From my point of view, your timing was spot on. On my drive up the coast last weekend, every spot had SUP paddlers cruzing the points, multiple groups enjoying the conditions while getting in shape.

I don’t think there was anyone else in such a good position as you. The best part is that you’ve shared with us from the start of your journey. I hope the rewards are great.

Aloha~

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Carve Nalu

Was fortunate enough to check out your boards before, during and after the event in NYC.

I was really impressed by your boards, far superior to what others were riding/paddling, and with those

narrow swallow tails they looked like rockets.

They looked like they would surf really well but Darrick said, as you outlined above, they were made as

flat water boards.

Your boards seemed to be able to hold a straight line a lot better than the others which I attributed to

the overall design with emphasis on the narrow tail. (Though I’m sure that having these guys paddle

them would help)

As far as fins Double D was using one of those Proteck models with the soft urethane lead and trailing

edges and the side bights boxes were empty. One of your other boards, not sure if Gerry or Mark paddled

it, only had side bights in when I saw it just before the start but they probably added a center fin before

they paddled.

Also of interest was Joel Tudor Paddling a Munoz Surftech with ghetto spraypainted art work.

Paul

PS the pre race photos of DD, Gerry etc were taken directly infront of the old Ambrose Light Ship, which

whenever I see it or check the buoy report for ALSN6 makes me think of the esoteric wordsmith from Waipouli

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Great photos of a great paddle in a great city for a great cause. I’m so jealous - I would’ve loved to have made it back east but according to the wife I’ve done too many paddleboard events already this year. The water is still in the low 70’s so it’s hit-the-beach-with-the-kids-time from here on out. Maybe next year.

Paul - good to see you’re still hanging on the island. Anybody paddlesurfing that north jetty yet?

Chris Koerner

LBTBP from the beginning of time up till '91

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http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/gifs/LS_3.jpg

New York Harbor: AMBROSE LIGHTSHIP (WLV-613), last of the lightships to guide ships from all of the globe to busy New York Harbor, is pictured while still guarding her important post. The WLV-613 served as sentinel in Ambrose Channel at the entrance to Lower New York Bay from 1952 until August23, 1967 It was then that AMBROSE LIGHTSHIPS’s farewell signalled the end of a succession of red lightships that guarded the New York Harbor entrance since 1823."

by the way.

now at the south street seaport museum…?

…nice to be there in spirit light form…

…ambrose…

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Veering off topic

Chris,

Great to hear from you.

Hopefully you can make it out next year.

Monday was the NYC paddle.

The next day Ship Bottom put on a 5 mile race

on the bay for SUP, 10’ 6" paddleboards,

12’ paddleboards, Van Dynes and surf skis ( I got 2nd

and the cover shot of “The Sandpaper”)

On Saturday Mary T had a Luau in North Beach

and on Sunday Mark Temme and I SUP surfed

out on the shoals. Plus we had a long interval

ground swell all week.

So it would have been

a great week for you to be back.

Interestingly, Temme, who you can see in the

race photos wearing a green rash guard and sitting

right on Darricks wash, and I were talking about

you at the NYC paddle.

Ambrose,

Thats right, your eponymous navigation aid has

been retired to the South Street Sea Port,

and its ‘dirty’ red hull and super structure can be

seen in the back ground of some of the pre race

photos from the link that Blaine posted above.

I tried to get a direct photo with the paddlers

in front but of course my cameras battery were

dead. ( curse my wife for taking my camera on

vacation and not replacing the batteries).

Now we just have the Ambrose Light Tower,

ALSN6 to guide us into the worlds busiest port

and provide buoy reports.

Paul

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Aloha Carve:

A little off topic but are you surfing in the Duke Feast?

D