new years day paddle air: 50 water 45 (4 miles)
bsea
I built myself a flatwater SUP for the lake–it is 6-8 hours to the nearest decent surf, and I sold my sailboat, so this is a great way to get on the water and keep in shape. I don’t enjoy it as much as surfing, and suspect I won’t be building a wave catching SUP when we move back to the ocean. Also not nearly as much fun if it is windy…But I love the perspective over kayaks or canoes–being so high, it is easier to cut through the glare and see into clear water. It is a great way to watch fish here on the lake, and one of these days I’m going to do it over a coral reef on a glassy day–should be amazing.
Cycloxslug, that is a beautiful board and a beautiful paddle. Did you build the paddle too?
Thanks Tony! Yes I built the paddle too–sort of embarrassing, I made the paddle about 1.5 years before I ever got around to the board. And I barely finished the board before the lake was too cold to want to go out…
mike
Mike, Beautiful work, like your blog with some great shots showing the process. Thanks for sharing. Mahalo, Larry
After 41 years living at the beach, my girl and I decided to move and ended up in central oregon. It’s a great place to live during the snowboard season but during summer I do get that landlocked feeling. Canoes and kayaks are not the answer. I had always intended to make a board but I always thought it would be a surfboard. I have watched many boards being shaped some by true legends. I never got around to it mostly because I have a great quiver to chose from. But I finally decided to make a SUP board to use up here on the river. I figured I could make something that went straight and didn’t have to hit the lip. Turns out watching all those boards paid off. While my boards aren’t the finest out there, I can make something that works. Here is a pic of board #2. Basically a blown up 12 footer version of my favorite Al. I’ve done 4 so far and am just about to shape a 14’ race board. Swaylocks is a great tool and thanks to all that participate. I hope to relate my experiences in the future to help like the others have helped me. SUPing isn’t bad. If you you have a problem with it you’d better get used to it cuz it’s not going away. And there is a certain guy who showed EVERYBODY how to ride Pipe and he does it.
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It seems the answer to the original question depends upon individual preference and conditions. Like Artz, I surf the Gulf of Mexico (FL). I go when my schedule permits or when there is a front or tropical disturbance. In the latter situations a SUP probably isn't the best choice, but for those other times when there is no guarantee of breaking waves a SUP seems like a reasonable addition, along with sponge, handplane, and Churchills. As we used to say in the Guard, Semper paratus..... Cost is a different consideration as others have mentioned.
Curious to find out what a sup feels like and my shoulders are starting to make most surfs a painful experience.
Tried out an 11’ Kai mana demo sup today.
Had my wife and our 2 & 1/2 yr old with me and we went down to the local river.
My wife is from a small hilltribe in the mountains of Nthn Thailand and has only one good lung after contracting TB as a child.
For 13 years I’ve been trying to get her to come along with me for some kind of exercise.
Tried buying her bicycles, playing tennis, kayaking, and many other water borne activities all to very limited success and enthusiasm on her part.
If we go to the beach she rarely goes in the water and never more than waist deep although she can swim.
I don’t know if it was the fact that the Kai mana demo sup was pink or not but as soon as I put it in the water and had a quick and easy paddle around she acquiesed to giving it a try.
She had on a long denim skirt and t-shirt on at the time but no matter.
So off she went with an easy paddle stroke and good balance which was quite amazing.
We couldn’t coax our little guy on to it, although he loves riding on our 15’ kayak.
After a couple of paddle arounds my wife announced to me that she loved it.
Can’t believe it!
She went out for quite a few short paddles, fell flat on her back once, when she accelerated a bit too quickly. Didn’t dampen her enthusiasm but did soak her clothes.
Even had a small boat or two go past while she was paddling and she reckoned she really liked it paddling over the wakes (good sign here).
Collected our 9 and 11 year old daughters after school to take them for a try as well.
On the way my wife was saying we should buy 2 so we can race each other.
She doesn’t drive here (the way people drive in Australia scares her compared to Thailand) but said if she did she be off paddling by herself as well.
Anything that can bring this kind of stoke to a person who’s from such a unique background is good in my book.
I reckon we’ll look for a soft top like a Naish Mana to get her out there and she may even be tempted into paddling around in the little peelers in the rivermouth.
I’ll probably go soft top because the safety factor will really help with confidence.
Funny thing is my girls weren’t too impressed with the sup. Didn’t help one bit that the paddle was super long.
Finally got our little guy to sit with his oldest sister with mum paddling and he announced he loved it too.
I didn’t mind paddling it.
My wife’s stoke was what made my day.
Sweet mate!, if i had the cash to spare i'd get one for the lake here. I can see the excercise would be great.
Hey Mark,
the coolest thing for me was of course my wife’s enthusiasm to paddle.
I posted my experience as it may give others the thought to have a partner who doesn’t surf try it (just on flat water).
Lately the greediness for waves shown by other surfers has been eating away at me.
Paddling around in a quiet rivermouth should be good for the soul.
I've been SUPing for about five years now. I got turned on by Carvenalu (Blane Chambers) who shared his passion with me and a few of his pals in Haleiwa about 5 years ago. It was pretty amazing to see Blane take his passion and vision and turn it into a very sucessful business Paddle Surf Hawaii. Mahalo Blane, you are the SUP go to guy!
I will only surf my SUP in very uncrowded and small breaks. I prefer prone surfing on a longboard or fun egg now. However, I love to paddle my SUP in Kaneohe Bay and follow the reef line and look at the marine life. I see reef sharks, reef fish,manta and eagle rays, honus, etc. It is so peaceful and uncrowded. I remember surfing the noth shore in the 1970's to get away from the crowds. I can't do that any more. In fact the NS is just to crowded especially during contest season. My get away place in now Kaneohe Bay on a SUP board. The total body workout is incredible and I sleep very well after a good 5 mile SUP paddle session.
Anyway,the SUP surfers that I share the break with at Three's, Pops and Paradise are generally pretty cool. Most of them I prone surfed with before and they share the waves. Of course there are a few exceptions but they don't last to long at our breaks.
D
The one local who surfs his SUP is a great bloke to have in the lineup, share's waves, tells us when ( and where ) a set is headed, and usually takes the waves no one wants. Never hogs. Was a "normal" surfer, but now only surfs his SUP. Handy when its dead flat too, he still gets his workout. For a 50 yo bloke, he is super fit.
Would that be “Surfanimals” as he lives down your way I believe?
I have a couple of surfing friends who are into SUPing but it didn't appeal to me........until my wife dragged me off to a lesson with Justin Mitchell (Jaimie's brother). My wife loved it and I have to admit the glide is pretty cool. Now we have something that we can do together, bought two second hand boards and my water time has increased. My weekends are now up at 5am for a surf then home by 8am to go SUPing up the creeks through the mangroves. Not sure if riding waves will be my thing but I bought a second hand 12'6 for open ocean paddling. I am not that proficient yet as I have only been doing it for a month but I am hoping to get out there this winter.
Personally, it's not as fulfilling as a really good wave but it's great exercise and activates stabilizing muscles you never knew you had, gets you out in the water for an hour or 3 which you really feel in your quads the next day so it's got to be good for your surfing.
There is also the thrill of learning the finer points of a new water sport (and falling off like a kook when you encounter a 6 inch lump of slop!)
Even if your partner doesn't surf and isn't water orientated, flat water paddling is great fun and can be learnt in 10 to 15 minutes. I know two SUPs cost the equivalent of a shortboard quiver but can you put a price on quality time spent with your loved one and all that great exercise? Lol:)
“I don’t have a choice! Aloha,Kokua”
I hardly think anyone’s trying to wag a finger at you, Kokua. I know I’m not.
As a matter of fact, I think that if there’s going to be a happy ending (or at least an uneasy truce) in this situation, it will be because of SUP guys like you who have previously more than paid their dues on a surfboard and can see both sides of this picture.
Whenever I’ve engaged in conversation with an SUP-er who is willing to acknowledge that surfers have a legitimate beef with the surf-zone antics of many other SUP-ers, I suggest to them that they would be wise to start policing THEMSELVES before things get any more out of hand than they already are. If you’re out there ripping on your SUP, your fellow oarsmen of lesser ability (and there are plenty of those) are probably going to be less defensive and more receptive towards criticism/suggestions coming from YOU as opposed to vitriole spewing from some irate surfer who’s fed up with their taking all the best waves. And because of the respect generated in them by your skill as a rider, you’ll probably be able to scold them into cleaning up their act rather than having to threaten them. Just as when the SUP-ers mentioned in posts above alert surfers to coming set waves, etc., such attempts to improve the behavior of the worst offenders could help to reduce the overall level of hostility and show surfers that not all SUP-ers are uneasonable jerks.
Once, years ago, I was surfing a break on Kauai with a burly, Hawaiian local. I was sitting outside of him when a set wave approached. But it was his spot, so I showed deference anyway and asked “you going?” He smiled and said, “Nah, you take dis one brah: be plenny more coming”. This bruiser probably could’ve beat the haole boy to a pulp with one hand, but he chose to take the high road and give a fellow surfer a good wave. I’ve never forgotten his generosity or his friendly smile. We need more people like him in the line-up.
Yes a good kayak is faster through the water. However the kayking stroke is a long way from a prone surfing stroke so kayaking isn’t as effecient for keeping paddling fitness as paddling a sup.
I sold my 14’9" kayak partly for that reason. The sup was also much easier to lug around and get on and off the car.
I’m paddling the sup when I don’t want to surf. When it’s small and or messy. Then I’ll head to a protected water way and paddle.
My left shoulder also causes me a lot of pain from an old snowboarding injury and whenever I ride sub 7’6" boards (which has been 90% of my quiver) the craning of my neck when paddling has continually put my upper verterbae out.
The expense of chiropractic and deep massage to re-align things has become an un-welcome but continual expense.
Also taken a huge chunk of fun out of actually surfing. Paddling a sup doesn’t cause my shoulders any pain at all and the stroke replicates a surfing paddle stroke better than a kayaking stroke so I’m still keeping fit for surfing.
Seems like there’s droves of women now taking up flatwater sup’ing because of the “core” workout.
Now there’s a new fad workout with a pricey piece of workout gear.
I’m only paddling around in flat water and being so aware of the negative imagery of sups forged by greedy sup riders in surf spots I’ll be looking for empty spots if I ever try to ride it in the surf.
Hard to have an open mind about them when the tarnishing has occured but if you’re not a greedy kook then you won’t be a problem on one.
I’m with you.
My wife loves it and I’m really enjoying myself.
My earliest experience with sup’ers was when a local numbskull who was a greedy wave hog on a shortboard turned up at the local point I surf with a sup…and proceeded to learn on it in the lineup.
It was a gigantic crutch for said numbskull and he ploughed through the line up with no care whatsoever.
This went on for quite some time.
Goes without saying it really put me off them.
Still just learning the ropes in the river but paddled over towards the rivermouth the other day and remarkable how such small lumps of swell and chop created such a challenge to my balance.
The sup is allowing me to keep fit for surfing on the days when surfing is looking less than inviting due to small wave size or low quality.
Amazed how the vast majority of sups are pop outs from Asia.
Also expensive secondhand.
Ended up buying a new hand shaped Laguna Bay 11’4 by Tully St John at Noosa. Eps/epoxy. Got a great deal so the price was around the same as the second hand popular brand name pop outs like Naishs.
The wife’s got a 10’4 M8 (shape by Cutch) but a pop out unfortunately. Brand new (but for $700) though a few hundred cheaper than the second hand boards in fair condition the shops were trying to sell me.
I had a go of a mates. My thoughts were if I want to paddle, a kayak is more efficient and if want to surf I’d rather surf.
Have never set foot on one. Years ago, when I first became aware of them, I thought about getting one to paddle on flat days but was put off by the cost. Since then, I’ve had so many bad experiences with them at surf breaks that I’ve completely soured on the idea of ever getting one. When 5 or 6 of those things show up at a spot, you can forget about anyone else ever getting a set wave. The majority of the people who ride them around here act like total asshats (hogging all the waves, weaseling, dropping in on people and generally just getting in the way) and few of them can really surf well on the things. Surf schools and SUPs have had a huge, negative impact on the already-overcrowded conditions in this area.
Too true
Greedy kooks ride all types of surfcraft, not just SUP.
Cheers