Stand Up Paddle Surfing in Hawaii - StandUpPaddleSurf.net

[singlepic=3993,125,188] I got a chance to hang out with Joe Blair during his recent trip to Oahu's north shore. We surfed everyday and had a blast on this new 8'9" x 30" x 4.25" stand up board. I was shocked that at 220 lbs I could stand on it comfortably. In fact, once I got used to the 8'9" I couldn't go back to the 9'11". It just felt too big. So the 9'11" has been passed on to my buddy.The amazing thing about this board is that after riding it for a while, I'm sure we can go smaller. I let Nate S. ride this board at Ala Moana Courts the other day and he was pretty stoked on it. I think Nate is 230 lbs. I even heard him give out one of those laughs that express how stunned he was by the way the board turned. Nate almost pulled off a 360 degree off the lip also. Too bad I didn't video that.Check out this video with Joe talking about his new 8'9".(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=92]

[singlepic=2942,188,125]Doug Lock talks about the dimension and performance of the F-17'6", and shows the Active Steering System he attached on a 15' board.(click thumbnail to launch video)Doug Lock: This is a 17rsquo;6rdquo; shaped by Mark Raaphorst of Sandwich Isle Composites andhellip;Evan Leong: So would it be called F-17?Doug Lock: F-17rsquo;6rdquo;. Itrsquo;s just kind of last yearrsquo;s model when he was makinghellip;when he was prototyping the different big boards. This is just pre-F-16.Evan Leong: How does this compare to your F-16?Doug Lock: I like this better. This is heavier but I like the glide. This is more of a big water board. When it is really windy, over 20 knots, and the bumps are groomed, this thing ishellip;Evan Leong: Heavy, yeah?Doug Lock: Itrsquo;s heavy. Irsquo;m guessing it weighs probablyhellip;it has got to weigh 50 pounds, some where around there. It has quite a bit of material on it.Evan Leong: That steeringhellip; that rudder thing that you put on it is kind of cool.Doug Lock: Well, I went off the paddle boards because all the paddle boards have thathellip;some people I guess they call it the kelp rudder or what not. But what the theory ismdash;two theories actually. This leading edge here is supposed to be for kelp because what happens if your edge was a regular rudder it would get stuck on the rudder and wrap up and of course it will slow you down. But the theory behind this too is that the leading edge that does not turn theoretically is quicker because this is a break. If you have just a rudder, itrsquo;s more of a break. This is a just a leading edge that stays straight all the time. I also feel that it makes the board more stable. It tracks it more and it didnrsquo;t feel like it was tracking it to a point where you could not steer the board because this is still allowing you to go left to right. So this just feels more like a stabilizer fin and just seems to track you straighter.Evan Leong: And this is the new one you just got, right?Doug Lock: This is a new one. This is a 15-foot and if you see the rail differencehellip; on the 17rsquo;6rdquo;, this rail has got a slight chime down under here basically just forhellip; and I feel for the bigger board. This is kind of necessary because it is so big that if you get in a situation where you canrsquo;t correct the board this kind of has a neutral area where it kind of free you up a little bit where it is sticking. This is kind of low, softer point. If you look at the 15-footer it has an extreme edge almost all the way from the nose, pretty much all the way down to the tail. Itrsquo;s just sharper and sharper. Theoretically this is faster and of course you want to go faster, faster is better. But the control thing is different too. I donrsquo;t know with this since not riding this yet. I have to compare what this softened rail feels as opposed to a really sharperhellip; I donrsquo;t think itrsquo;s going to hinder the performance or speed much either. So I think it is going to be fine.Evan Leong: Ok, letrsquo;s take a closer look at the 15rsquo; then.Evan Leong: This is pretty sweet looking, huh?Doug Lock: Yeah. Different lineshellip; the steering system is different. Itrsquo;s solid. It has got a nice ASS on it.Evan Leong: Oh it changes up.Doug Lock: Yeah, now you can move the steering system forward or back depending on where you want to stand on the board. Maybe depending on conditions.Evan Leong: Oh really?Doug Lock: Yeah, you see you can slide this up. It has got the holes here so you can move it up farther and easier, not just so you can lock right in. It just slides right in so you have an option to move it up if you want.Evan Leong: Oh, so if you move it to this piece right here then the whole thing moves forward.Doug Lock: Correct.Evan Leong: But you put this kind of fly paper-ish stuff...

[singlepic=2957,125,188]Doug Lock of Wet Feet shows us the new Jim Terrell hybrid paddle from Quickblade and talks briefly about the blade's design.(click thumbnail to launch video)Evan Leong: What are we looking at?Doug Lock: Yes, these are Jim Terrellrsquo;s new hybrid paddlemdash;carbon shaft, carbon t-handle with a fiberglass blade. This particular blade, this orange one is actually a bigger blade than this normal stock. This one is a 9.8 as opposed to normally he makes a 9.0. And he just sent me two proto-types. These are them and I tried the big one first.Evan Leong: So these are not in the market yet?Doug Lock: No, they just came out. Well, they just came out. We just started selling them this week.Evan Leong: Are the blade designs different at all?Doug Lock: No, blade design is the same, the same shape. Itrsquo;s just that this one has a larger area, this, of course, a .8 difference from this.Evan Leong: So he still puts dihedral in the bottomhellip;Doug Lock: Same design yes. Dihedral still in the blade and I particularly like it because of the smoothness it goes through the water. After talking to Terrell, he was saying that Dave Kalama likes to paddle with a 10.0.Evan Leong: 10rsquo;0rdquo;?Doug Lock: 10rsquo;0rdquo;, yeah. So he made a 9.8rdquo; for me to try and I tried it and now this is a paddle I like to use.Evan Leong: So thatrsquo;s the one yoursquo;re using now? Even for surfing?Doug Lock: Especially for surfing.Evan Leong: Really?Doug Lock: Yeah. And a lot of people like to go with a smaller blade but Irsquo;ve been finding that I feel like this blade, since it fiberglass, it has more flex.Evan Leong: Letrsquo;s see that.Doug Lock: So if you look at the carbon you can see the flex in the blade itself. This is of course the shaft bending as well but there is definitely more width with the blade than there is in the shaft which almost is kind of like a swim fin theory. When yoursquo;re kicking, the end of the fin is flexing where the part of your foot is more stiff. It was kind of a theory I was thinking, it worked. I mean Jim wanted to make something kind of morehellip;Evan Leong: These handles are kind of cool.Doug Lock: Yeah, I just put EVA foam on them, comfortable. You donrsquo;t get those mean callus.Evan Leong: This is cool too, this Kialoa handle and shaft.Doug Lock: Yeah, I havenrsquo;t tried that paddle yet but this shaft and everything is just unreal, yeah. Beautifully done.Evan Leong: The shaft is nice on this thing.Doug Lock: No doubt. This to me is a very comfortable feel but itrsquo;s got ahellip;I like the way it is done, very nicely done.Evan Leong: The swing weight on this thing is pretty nice.Doug Lock: Yeah, yeah.Evan Leong: Irsquo;m wondering on this blade though. If you look at the blade itrsquo;s flat on the bottom.Doug Lock: Thatrsquo;s going to be interesting. Irsquo;m so used to a dihedral I got to bring it on and see what it does. But yeah, with the flat, a lot of people are liking the flat.Evan Leong: Interesting huh?Doug Lock: Interesting, everyone has got their own theory, which is pretty neat.Evan Leong: So the big blade is not throwing you off when yoursquo;re surfing?Doug Lock: No it doesnrsquo;t. I thought it would because it is such a big blade. I thought I was going to be better as a downwind blade and it probably will be but it seems like to me so far that it has been great for surfing. I have yet to bring it down the run and see how that feels too. Itrsquo;s easy on the shoulders. They didnrsquo;t feel so rigid. It felt it has a really nice flex to it. Not too flexy.[gallery=72]

[singlepic=571,188,125] Joe Blair shares a technique for spinning your board around quickly. It's not as easy as it sounds. I tried it and it takes some practice.(click thumbnail to launch video)

[singlepic=2856,125,188] Last month I spoke with Dave Chun, founder of Kialoa Paddles, about his paddles, which he has been manufacturing since 1990. Dave started with stand up paddles in 1999. I got him to answer some questions from our stand up paddle surf community at Wet Feet Hawaii's store. You gotta tune out the noise from the store because we shot this during business hours.In this four-part series, Dave, who has for a long time been a leading manufacturer of outrigger paddles, answers questions from the public about stand up paddles.(click thumbnail to launch video)Evan Leong: Next questions is, when are paddles going to come to mere mortal levels?Dave Chun: That is a tough question and in some sense I understand that. Sorry about that the pricing, they do seem a little steep. From our perspective, on our end, wersquo;re not getting rich. Wersquo;re doing the best we can. Wersquo;re small manufacturers in a niche market and that does not lend itself to high production techniques. The materials we work with are expensive, the tooling is expensive, and the technology changes rapidly so. I can hear you, it seems like it is expensive. Wersquo;re all working on less expensive paddles but yoursquo;re not going to get for a hundred bucks, a 300 hundred dollar paddle wersquo;re building now. Itrsquo;s just the way it is. The materials, carbon fiber is expensive. People assume that because you have a mold that it is really easy and fast to make these things. It is faster than forging something out of metal but itrsquo;s still handwork, therersquo;s still skilled labor having to put all the parts in there and get the resin in to the mixture. Long story short, I bet you prices will go down on the paddles when the sport increases in numbers, sales increase in numbers, to a point that I can support lower margins.Evan Leong: What is the difference between wood paddle and carbon paddle? In terms of feel, durability, or performance or any of that.Dave Chun: Honestly, I havenrsquo;t paddles the wood stand up paddle. But as far ashellip; you knowhellip; I came from a background of this wood versus synthetic materials and we got to work within the rules thathellip; wood is actually good a lot of us prefer, even when they can use full carbon paddles for racing, some of my guys prefer the wood shaft because they seem to absorb some shock. It seems easier on the body. Generally speaking, to get the same strength, a wood paddle is going to have to weight more than a carbon fiber paddle. Wood I donrsquo;t think is any more durable than carbon paddle but itrsquo;s easier to patch because most of us are more familiar with sanding and varnishing than we are with doing ding repair with carbon fiber paddle. I personally, obviously, I make composite paddles. Given a choice, I work with composites. And I feel I can execute better design-wise. I can make the paddles thinner. Like I said, I come from that outrigger background, so if you look at my paddles, my blades are really thin. Irsquo;ve actually fattened my blades up for this because they tell me they were (____) the boards and stuff so how do I make my edges a little thicker? But a thinner paddle goes in to the water cleaner. Itrsquo;s going to create less bubble as it goes in, therefore, a more traction because the bubbleshellip; have you ever tried swimming in the whitewash after you wipe out? Hard to swim, not like swimming inside the pool, right? So that is kind of the same idea with paddles. So I like them thin. I canrsquo;t do that with wood. It does not have the structural strength. The other thing is I prefer to have non-absorbent materials in my water sport stuff so this is good. We use a close-cell foam sohellip; I could actually draw holes on this paddle. It would not break and it would not absorb water. Does that answer your question? Maybe I am biased too. I have spent a long time as a woodworker and still...

[singlepic=2855,125,188] Early last month I spoke with Dave Chun, founder of Kialoa Paddles, about his paddles, which he has been manufacturing since 1990. Dave started with stand up paddles in 1999.nbsp; I got him to answer some questions from our stand up paddle surf community at Wet Feet Hawaii's store.nbsp; You gotta tune out the noise from the store because we shot this during business hours.In this four-part series, Dave, who has for a long time been a leading manufacturer of outrigger paddles, answers questions from the public about stand up paddles.(click thumbnail to launch video)Evan Leong: What makes your paddle different from other brands? There are so many brands to choose from now, why should people consider your brand?Dave Chun: I really donrsquo;t like to compare myself to other products. It just makes everybody upset. You know, Irsquo;ll say this, I have been building paddles for 17 years. Irsquo;ve had most of the bad things happen to me. I continue to have bad things happen to me, itrsquo;s just the nature of the beast. We back what we do. Our paddles have a one-year guarantee. Everything is proprietary. I design everything. All ideas. We build all the parts to our own specific. I donrsquo;t do the aluminum. I donrsquo;t have an aluminum tube yet. I probably wonrsquo;t do that. Wersquo;ve got to do rentals. But the other thing is I do have background in designing paddles. This is what I have done full-time since 1990. We have been very successful in the outrigger market. In all modesty, I guess we are the dominant paddle in that market in the USmdash;seven Molokai Hoi winners since 1995, Womenrsquo;s Molokai Race four times. Irsquo;d like to say, those guys would have one the race using a broom. Itrsquo;s not the paddle; itrsquo;s the athlete. However, the broom they choose to use is mine and that makes us very proud.Evan Leong: I have a two-piece paddle that is starting to develop some flay at the joint, whatrsquo;s the best way to get rid of the looseness and how much will that weaken the paddle shaft?Dave Chun: I donrsquo;t make two-piece paddles. The reason is I consider it kind of a different technology because the joint, if itrsquo;s going to be useful as a two-piece paddle, it would be in the middle of the paddle. Itrsquo;s a little tricky because that is a high stress point in the paddle when yoursquo;re introducing a joint. What I would do is go back to the manufacturer who built the paddle. Tell them what problem you are having. Irsquo;m certain they are going to take care of you. They probably know what is happening and they can guide you. If you think the paddle is going to break, and thatrsquo;s just the way it is, just wrap that thing with a bunch of fiberglass, a bunch of epoxy glue, Irsquo;m sure itrsquo;s going to be fine. Your hands probably not going to touch it because itrsquo;s probably lower than your bottom half. Should be ok.Evan Leong: Next question is, Irsquo;d like to know if there are any differences between a good paddle like skinny guy like me and one of your pipe charging, big bruisers. I think this guy is probably about 170. Sometimes I stick to my 9-inch wide blade in the water and it just wonrsquo;t move for enough of a split second that I notice it slows me off balance. Irsquo;m thinking a skinnier blade, but how skinny coupled with more flex in the shaft is the answer but I donrsquo;t know. Could you answer?Dave Chun: Once again, Irsquo;d say trust your judgment. If you feel you need a smaller paddle then you probably need a smaller paddle. How much smaller, I really canrsquo;t answer that. If yoursquo;re saying that you feel that the paddle is not sticking up, you got to remember too, once you get a body in motion, itrsquo;s easier to maintain that body in motion. Classic example is a racecar is going around the track at 200 miles an hour; it suddenly starts to slide in the turn. Even the...

Dave Chun of Kialoa Answers Questions About Paddles (Part 2)

[singlepic=2853,188,125] Early last month I spoke with Dave Chun, founder of Kialoa Paddles, about his paddles, which he has been manufacturing since 1990. Dave started with stand up paddles in 1999. I got him to answer some questions from our stand up paddle surf community at Wet Feet Hawaii's store. You gotta tune out the noise from the store because we shot this during business hours.In this four-part series, Dave, who has for a long time been a leading manufacturer of outrigger paddles, answers questions from the public about stand up paddles.(click thumbnail to launch video)Evan Leong: Ok, wersquo;re here with Dave Chun, founder of Kialoa paddles and husband to Meg. We always have to mention her. How did you get in to this whole paddle making career?Dave Chun: Itrsquo;s all a need. I started in 1990; 17 years ago. I was paddling outrigger. At the time it was hard for us to get gear. There were stuff around but wasnrsquo;t like right now. I saw things, I like the paddles I was using but I thought it could do good on them. And I just started building paddles, kind of on a loom. First two I actually built forhellip; as a wedding present for two friends of ours and it just kind of started from there.Evan Leong: So you started off with wood paddles or you started off with these carbon ones?Dave Chun: Wood paddles, yeah.Evan Leong: But you guys were the first ones to do carbon?Dave Chun: Other people have built carbon fibers for years. In outrigger, we are probably the first to popularize that, outrigger carbon paddles. You know, we were once acquainted in hybrid paddles, thatrsquo;s something we called it, and I guess I was pretty much the first guy to mold the wood paddle. I guess that was my claim to fame.Evan Leong: What do you mean you mold? Instead of shaping, you mold a wood paddle?Dave Chun: Yes, we were able to shapehellip; classic ways to actually build composite wood paddles, build them much like a surfboardmdash;shape the wood core paddle, glass over the top. We used to do that but itrsquo;s really labor intense. I really donrsquo;t like to sand the whole lot, not fiberglass at least. So what I did was I thought there has got to be a better way, I knew they make molded products. So what I did was I figured out a way to mold the paddle, well we know how to build the mold, and then build the tools, and then figure out how to fit the cores in it. It just kind of come from my own process because anybody who knew about it wasnrsquo;t actually going to share their information. They were actually other paddle makers, fantastic paddles but they were all foam core. I had to fit the rules about rivers so I had a little bit different challenge.Evan Leong: Hmmhellip; and then how did this whole stand up paddle for you guys come about?Dave Chun: I started out with (_____), probably a guy here anybody knows, all the surfer knows. Jerry Lopez is there toohellip; and because wersquo;re both from Hawaii we just become friends. About four years ago, Laird Hamilton was paddling in the waves with a paddle, on a surfboard. Hersquo;s breaking the paddle so he called. He was just talking to Jerry about something and Jerry said, ldquo;Hey therersquo;s this guy named David Chun who makes canoe paddles. Why donrsquo;t you call him?rdquo; So Laird called me and actually my response was, ldquo;Why donrsquo;t you just get another paddle from the guy you got the last one from?rdquo; He said, ldquo;No, Irsquo;ll break them.rdquo; So I said, ldquo;Ok.rdquo; I thought it was a fun thing so, ldquo;Ok, whatever, Irsquo;ll make the paddle.rdquo; I like challenges. I like to build things. So thatrsquo;s kind of what it was. The original paddle had an aluminum shaft. It was a quick easy thing for me to do. It kind ofhellip; the idea was I thought with spear guns with the same aluminum shaft and theyrsquo;re really strong, so we did that. Laird mo...

[singlepic=1891,125,188] Wet Feet's resident handyman takes us through the process of installing handle mounts on a stand up paddle surfboard. It's worth it once you have those handles installed on your board. It will be much easier to carry, plus, it can be used as a grip to grab on to while in the water.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=27]Clarke: This is a two-part epoxy.Evan: Five minute kind?Clarke: Five minute epoxy, yep.Evan: Did you mix it already?Clarke: Irsquo;m mixing it now. Two equal sized portions, and again wersquo;re using some highly technical instruments here. The chopsticks is required and as well as some cardboard. This is where it can get a little bit messy. Irsquo;m just going to dip the edges. What this does is provide a seal?Evan: Oh, yoursquo;re only putting the edges on?Clarke: Only the edges. Because the adhesive that is provided with the pad is quite adequate and what this does is seal the edges to prevent any sort ofhellip;Evan: You took off the sticker thing on the bottom already?Clarke: Yep, I took off the sticker thing.Evan: It doesnrsquo;t stick to your glove though, huh?Clarke: It does a little bit. But herersquo;s the trick, right there. And then in, boom. Now that bugger is not coming out, once you set it on there itrsquo;s not moving. Now, number 2. Peel off the back if you can get a grip on it. Hold it on the middle like that.Evan: So the epoxy holds it to the board or it just keeps so that no water goes underneath or something?Clarke: Yep, all of that. It serves both purposes.Evan: And thatrsquo;s all the epoxy put on?Clarke: Thatrsquo;s it. That is it right there. Just to seal the edge.Clark: Itrsquo;s kind of hard to see but you can se all the epoxy is along the middle of the pad here.Clarke: If you have any question, if you have enough epoxy there ndash; this here looks a little bit shy. Since it is five-minute epoxy, you have to work quickly. Irsquo;m going to do a second batch for that side. Irsquo;m not going to try and rush it because things might not come out very well if you do that. So what Irsquo;m going to do is press this right along the side like that. Irsquo;ll clean this up here with a towel.Evan: With acetone or no?Clarke: No. Right now the epoxy is still activating, itrsquo;s still wet so all you need to do is wide off any excess. Done.Clarke: Now, wersquo;re going to do the second set of handles. You can eyeball equal parts of the epoxy. Give it a good thorough mixing to activate the hardener of the resin. Ok, just like we did on the other side. Peel off the adhesive backing.Clarke: This is applying a clear paddle grip to the center of your paddle. And this is nice because it doesnrsquo;t add a whole lot of thickness to the diameter of the paddle shaft. First thing you want to do is measure around, because the differences in diameter vary somewhat. And wersquo;re looking at 3 and frac34; inches. Ok, 3 and frac34;. There.Evan: How do you make sure that thing goes on straight?Clarke: That is you pretty much have to eyeball.Evan: How low are you doing it or high?Clarke: Irsquo;m doing it ndash; I pretty much try and center it. And this is 18 inches long. Itrsquo;s long enough that you have some play because depending what sort of paddling yoursquo;re doing, yoursquo;re going to have your grip a little bit lower or a little bit higher. So this gives you options as to where yoursquo;re going to have your hand.Evan: So just eyeballing it.Clarke: Yep, just eyeballing it. Starting in the middle, wrapping around. Just like that. You can use something hard to help push out any air pockets in there.Evan: Are you just going to overlap it?Clarke: Irsquo;m going to overlap it. Irsquo;m just going to take a razor blade and cut off the excess, right along the seam.Evan: Some bu...

[singlepic=1890,188,125] Wet Feet's resident handyman takes us through the process of installing handle mounts on a stand up paddle surfboard. It's worth it once you have those handles installed on your board. It will be much easier to carry, plus, it can be used as a grip to grab on to while in the water.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=27]Clarke: Ok, so you can take this off. So I have the, the utility knife is just barely coming out here. Irsquo;m just going to trace along my tape stencil as it were.Evan: You can see the rail protection stuff on the outside too.Clarke: Yeah, the rail protector really prolongs the life of the rail when people are learning to paddle because they tend to bang the rails quite a bit.Evan: Does that stuff come off pretty easily or no?Clarke: Yeah, you can take it off. It peels right off. Itrsquo;s a gradual process. Do too much in one shot. Ok.Evan: How do you clean off the excess stuff on there or it all comes off?Clarke: What we do is we actually have acetone, which will clean any residual adhesive off the surface of the board and then what Irsquo;m going to do is Irsquo;m going to take a little bit of sandpaper and just scour the surface here to help with the adhesion on the back of the pad.Evan: Ok.Clarke: Irsquo;ll clean this up a little bit, se how close we are. Make any adjustments necessary. Looks like a nice fit. So itrsquo;s nice. Itrsquo;s recessed into the pad.Evan: Ok, cool.Clarke: Yeah, just makes it pretty clean. And basically wersquo;re going to repeat that process three more times and then wersquo;ll prep the surface before we add the pads.Clarke: You can just roll it on to your finger. Itrsquo;ll come off.Evan: You just roll it off?Clarke: Yep, you just roll it off.Evan: But you need acetone for that?Clarke: Yeah, not for the big stuff. Not for the big chunks. The acetone is good just for cleaning any residual leftovers.Clarke: Herersquo;s a proper protective gear. Irsquo;m working with acetone. Nice thing is I run out of acetone I just go to the nail salon right here and I borrow some of theirs.Clarke: You can see the adhesive on the deck pad is so strong itrsquo;s actually taking some of the gel coat off the top of the board here. But wersquo;re going to sand this here anyways.Evan: So basically, yoursquo;re going to sand the clear coat off.Clarke: Irsquo;m going to scour it. Irsquo;m not actually going to remove it. Irsquo;m just going to scour it, which will make it easier for the adhesive to adhere to the board, give it something to grab on to.Evan: Whatrsquo;s the chance of the adhesive sticking so much to the gel coat and the gel coat just ripping off?Clarke: I suppose itrsquo;s possible.Evan: But you havenrsquo;t seen that yet?Clarke: I havenrsquo;t seen that yet, yeah. Ok.Clarke: Thatrsquo;s the first step of the surface preparation. Second step will be scouring the surface.Evan: What kind of sand paper? What grade?Clarke: This is 120, and its a wet/dry sand paper. But you can use pretty much anything. The basic idea is that you just want to scour inside the area where the pad is going to sit, just like this. Put the pad on the outside like this so we donrsquo;t scratch the surface where itrsquo;s visible.Clarke: So the pads are going to go in just like that.

[singlepic=1889,188,125] Wet Feet's Clarke takes us through the process of installing handle mounts on a stand up paddle surfboard. It's worth it once you have those handles installed on your board. It will be much easier to carry, plus, it can be used as a grip to grab on to while in the water.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=27]Evan: So wersquo;re looking at a demo board, right?Clarke: This is a demo board and what wersquo;re going to do is wersquo;re gong to continue to set it up with all the various accessories that are available. So people we can demonstrate exactly whatrsquo;s available for stand ups. So, what wersquo;re going to do now next is wersquo;re to put the after-market handles on, which is a popular option. Handles are great both for just basically carrying and lifting of the board and also some people like to put their kids on the front of the board.Evan: Where are you going to put the handles then?Clarke: So what wersquo;re going to do today, for our purposes, is wersquo;re going to put the handles in the center point to carry the boards; to help in carrying this large object. So the first thing to do is we want to find the center point and we can do that very simply, the process of elimination ndash; right about here.Evan: So yoursquo;re just grabbing it and try to find where it balances?Clarke: Yeah, exactly. Ok, so itrsquo;s going to go basically just right pretty much in the thickest part of the deck pad.Evan: I like your professional level.Clarke: Yeah, this is a very technical instrument, hard to find ndash; you have to special order these.Evan: So what we have here is ndash; these are two inserts and then you have the handles, right?Clarke: Right, exactly. The threaded inserts originally developed for kite boarding. So they have an industrial adhesive on the backside, itrsquo;s super strong.Evan: And you havenrsquo;t had any problems with the thing falling off?Clarke: If you have an extra heavy board, the board is really big and you want handles, what we do also, in addition to the adhesive it comes with the pads, is we epoxy the outer area of the pad, which reallyhellip;Evan: But you can epoxy it later then?Clarke: You can epoxy it later. Itrsquo;s easier if you do it all in one shot, when yoursquo;re initially putting them on.Evan: Yoursquo;re not going to epoxy it right now though?Clarke: Irsquo;m not going to epoxy these because the board isnrsquo;t that heavy so itrsquo;s quite adequate just like this. The main thing with these pads too is that you want to put them on the part of the deck that is flat because they are very stiff; they donrsquo;t bend so you cannot put them out on a rail where they might come off. So what wersquo;re going to do is wersquo;re going to inset them right in to the deck pad and wersquo;re just going to cut out the deck pad here and then insert them.Evan Leong: Just putting tape to mark it?Clarke: Yeah. Ok, wersquo;re going to make sure we get this square with our precisehellip;Evan: Where did you put the center of balance? Was the center of balance in the middle of these two things orhellip;?Clarke: Right. Basically you want to have the center of balance right in the middle and yoursquo;re handles are going to go in here. Theyrsquo;re going about 7 frac12; to 8 inches apart.Evan: Ok.Clarke: Something like that. Another option you can do ishellip;Evan: The cool thing is that the handle is flexible, you can be off a little bit and it still works.Clarke: Yeah, sure.Evan: But the ideal width is going to be, is to give it how much play on the handle?Clarke: Basically, you donrsquo;t want the handle flappen around a lot. You donrsquo;t want your feet getting hung underneath it. You just want enough room so you can get your hand underneath comfortably. Another option with this is you can either set the h...

[singlepic=2785,188,125] Jim of Tropical Blends Surf talks about the different type of fin box that they have on their surfboards and why they use such. He also explains to us the importance of fins and how they affect performance on any watercraft.He says that you don't have to necessarily change the board if you're not satisfied with its performance, and that the fin is a really cheap way to change the board.Tropical Blends Surf puts a huge emphasis on fins and has on a display a variety from different manufacturers.(click thumbnail to launch video)Tropical Blends: Letrsquo;s talk about fins for a minute. The most important thing that I want to say about fins is that I have a lot of fins. Irsquo;m very very in to fins. Fins make a huge difference in to any kind of watercraft, any surfboards. And you can see by the variety of shapes that I maintain in the shop that every one of these have a sort of different purpose. Here you just grab anything, this is sort of the old school brewer, the single fin. Now in this particular shop, I actually sell single fin boards. A lot of people think you can just grab any fin and put it on a single fin board, itrsquo;s not true. If yoursquo;re going to ride a retro or old school surfboard, you need an old school fin to make the board perform like it was going to. I have a brand new (_____) over there that he just built for me and he sent me the fin, he gave me the fin with the board. And you look at it; itrsquo;s very similar to this. We got some Old Brewer templates for single fins. We got some cutaway fins. This fin would be very good because it has got very little base on it and kind of a cutaway neck here for pivoting the board. If you want to come down, I donrsquo;t know if you have this experience when yoursquo;re surfing long board especially, itrsquo;s not a real slow, itrsquo;s kind of a running wave with a little bit of wall on it, and itrsquo;s not very big ndash; you donrsquo;t have a lot of time to come down at the bottom, turn, and get the board lined up again. So what you do with you knees and ankles is actually pivot the board, and then immediately walk forward on it. And then it just letrsquo;s you run down the wall, right? And this fin will help you to do that because you have very little resistance over here. Then you get something else. This fin is way more like a pivot fin, more straight up. The more the rake, fins in general want to follow that break line. As you come out of your turn it wants to follow that. The more straight up and knocked down they are, the more they want to pivot the turn, and Irsquo;m exaggerating but thatrsquo;s the case. This is more of a pivot fin. Letrsquo;s find something with a little more rake in it. Even this, we got a little bit more tip so yoursquo;re wanting to have some release off the top, some push off the bottom. Usually yoursquo;re getting your push from the width of the base. But therersquo;s just a huge variety of fins. And even if you pan over this way and look at thehellip; I got more fins over here. These are all for short boards and thrusters or whatever but fins are absolutely critical. What I always say to people, the fin is a really cheap way to change the board. If the board isnrsquo;t working right, get a different fin. Donrsquo;t get rid of the board. I get people coming in here who want to sell their used board; their fins are rusted in place. ldquo;Oh I hate this boardrdquo; or ldquo;I never really liked this board.rdquo; I go, ldquo;Thatrsquo;s totally the wrong fin for that board.rdquo; ldquo;Yeah, well thatrsquo;s what they gave me at the shop.rdquo; So therersquo;s a mentality of the guy who gave it to you, well hopefully he did know what he was doing, but in that particular case or this particular case maybe, have an experiment ndash; see what suits your need better. But fins are cheap. Even a hundred dollar fin is cheap compared to a surfboard. I...

[singlepic=2784,188,125] Jim of Tropical Blends Surf talks about the different type of fin box that they have on their surfboards and why they use such. He also explains to us the importance of fins and how they affect performance on any watercraft.He says that you don't have to necessarily change the board if you're not satisfied with its performance, and that the fin is a really cheap way to change the board.Tropical Blends Surf puts a huge emphasis on fins and has on a display a variety from different manufacturers.(click thumbnail to launch video)Man: You mentioned before about the fins, therersquo;s a specific fin forhellip;?Tropical Blends: Thatrsquo;s a really good question. We had options when we had these boards built and I actually listened to the manufacturer and there was quite a bit of back and forth about it. The first batch of boards I got, I tried a regular surfboard fin in it and I found that the regular surfboard fin is not quite deep enough for this box. So if we just taker any fin of the rack here and we go to put it in the box, yoursquo;re going to see that it actually goes down below where it is supposed to. It does not sit in this box properly. That kind of threw me off when I saw it because I was really concerned that most surfers are going to have to use there surfboard fins on this board. So I went right back to the manufacturer and I asked whatrsquo;s the scoop here. And take a pause for a second and Irsquo;ll show you the reason herehellip;Tropical Blends: hellip;now this is a standard surfboard box. This is the way they are made and if you look at it, itrsquo;s actually two pieces. The frame goes around the edge here and you actually got a bottom ndash; you can see how it is welded on to the plastic. Itrsquo;s a plastic weld. So this bottom piece is actually welded on to the sides here. Now when you put a fin in this, and you lock this down in to a surface, right? It wants to work this way, right? It you got this all down, the place where yoursquo;re going to have the most potential for a problem is right along this seam. What we found was that the seam splits and you actually get water in to this board and you donrsquo;t even realize that itrsquo;s happening and then we start to see the lamination around here and whatrsquo;s the cause. The cause is the box. So basically, what the manufacturer convinced me of is that we use a windsurfing box, which is about an 1/8 of inch deeper than this. Itrsquo;s actually manufactured as one piece. Itrsquo;s one piece. Based on having a much larger fin in this board and having more stress on side to side, we actually decided that the windsurfing box would allow us to have fewer problems in the long run. Now what we did for that is we had custom fins made and windsurfers have a huge variety of fins to choose from as well. But we do have custom fins for these boards. The trade off was, for us, you either get a warranty with this box or you donrsquo;t get a warranty with this box. I go with the warranty every time.Tropical Blends: At first I was a little put off by this, a little bit confused. But once I actually looked at it and the manufacturer came and explained it to me, it makes good logical sense. This is an area where you need really solid components.Man: I think they have had problems with boxes on some of the epoxy, regular surfboards too.Tropical Blends: I think therersquo;s no doubt in that. No doubt. Thatrsquo;s why I said yoursquo;ll start seeing effects of water leakage that doesnrsquo;t show up necessarily right next to the fin. It could be right here somewhere that yoursquo;re seeing a delamination from the water getting under, heating up, causing gas.Man: And the foam in these and other epoxy board are especially absorbant too.Tropical Blends: This particular material, I want to say itrsquo;s a closed-cell EPS. It should nothellip; the water will get in but...

[singlepic=2357,188,125]Jeff of Wet Feet Hawaii takes me around their establishment and shows his inventory of stand up paddle surfboards. Wet Feet has a wide array of boards from different manufacturers and shapers like Blane Chambers, Kyle Bernhardt, C4 Waterman, Surftech Laird and a bunch more.Jeff also showcases his rental fleets for customers who want to get a feel of the boards and see what size and shape they prefer before actually buying one.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=42]Jeff: We got all kinds of production boards over here. We have Art #38; Surf, Angulos, Kyle Bernhardt, Stewarts, C4, Surftech Lairds, Blane Chambers, and thenhellip;Evan Leong: The Blane Chambers are they production orhellip;?Jeff: These are all production boards except for a couplehellip;Evan Leong: So the inflatable, people actually ride that thing or what?Jeff: Yeah, Irsquo;ve seen people ride them. We saw one of them. Itrsquo;s good when yoursquo;re traveling. So we have all kinds of boards here; we also have a rental fleet here. So what you can do is take thehellip;Evan Leong: So all of these right here are rentals?Jeff: Yeah, all from here down. So what you need is take the rental board out to get an idea if itrsquo;s the right size board you want and then ndash; you can actually try some of these boards before you buy them.Evan Leong: Letrsquo;s see whatrsquo;s on the rental then. This is the Stewart.Jeff: Yep this is the Stewart we have for rent. Itrsquo;s an 11rsquo;6rdquo;. We also have this ndash; this one is all decked out. When we sell a board, what we do is put that custom deck pad on and we also put the rails and see if the customer wants it.Evan Leong: So that if you bang it then doesnrsquo;t chip right?Jeff: Yup.Evan Leong: So then, it has this kind of a ndash; looks like a step deck or what do you call it?Jeff: Yeah, itrsquo;s a step deck. Thatrsquo;s what it is. So the volume is over here and then the rail over here is thinned out so when you turn, itrsquo;s a thinner rail that you actually having the wave bite ndash; have the board bite in to the wave.Evan Leong: It goes in to the back too and itrsquo;s kind of, itrsquo;s funky. What do you call this kind of tail?Jeff: Wing. Itrsquo;s a double-wing round pin.Evan Leong: Has quite a bit of V in the bottom, looks like huh?Jeff: Yeah. Actually, this one is pretty interesting too. It has got a bevel starting from here so the board is flat; and starting from here it bevels up. So when yoursquo;re on the wave planing, actually only the smaller area is touching the water surface so it feels like a shorter board.Evan Leong: Interesting.Jeff: So we have that as a demo. We have the (____) 10rsquo;10rdquo; as a demo, which is similar to the Art-In-Surf that is why we have it as a demo. And we have a custom 12-foot Coldwell as demo. And then we also have the Art-In-Surf as a demo, 10rsquo;10rdquo;. And then we have the soft top, boogie board kind type of board. Itrsquo;s good for kids and when you donrsquo;t want to be hurt when you fall down.Evan Leong: What is that? An 11?Jeff: Yeah, we have the 10 and 11.Evan Leong: Oh you have in 10 also?Jeff: Uh huh. Itrsquo;s a quad actually. That one is a quad. So what wersquo;re going to do is wersquo;re going to go outside and wersquo;re going to show you the custom boards, which is actually the owners choice. We can choose any board to ride but the owners choose the custom. So if you go outside and wersquo;ll show you the custom Coldwells we have.Jeff: Wersquo;re pulling out Dougrsquo;s custom board.Evan Leong: So this is ahellip;Jeff: If yoursquo;ve seen Doug out in the surf, hersquo;s unreal.Evan Leong: So you brought three of them. Letrsquo;s bring out yours out too then. Letrsquo;s check yours out. The thing is, this thing is fully checked out,...

[singlepic=1898,188,125] This is a short, five-minute how-to clip on installing a clear grip on your stand up paddle. What's cool about this grip, which is available at Wet Feet, is that it doesn't add to the overall diameter thickness of the paddle shaft, as you will see on the video.Not much talking on this one, but it's a very useful demonstration.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=28]Wet Feet: This is applying a clear paddle grip to the center of your paddle. And this is nice because it doesnrsquo;t add a whole lot of thickness to the diameter of the paddle shaft. First thing you want to do is measure around, because the differences in diameter vary somewhat. And wersquo;re looking at 3 and frac34; inches. Ok, 3 and frac34;. There.Evan: How do you make sure that thing goes on straight?Wet Feet: That is you pretty much have to eyeball.Evan: How low are you doing it or high?Wet Feet: Irsquo;m doing it ndash; I pretty much try and center it. And this is 18 inches long. Itrsquo;s long enough that you have some play because depending what sort of paddling yoursquo;re doing, yoursquo;re going to have your grip a little bit lower or a little bit higher. So this gives you options as to where yoursquo;re going to have your hand.Evan: So just eyeballing it.Wet Feet: Yep, just eyeballing it. Starting in the middle, wrapping around. Just like that. You can use something hard to help push out any air pockets in there.Evan: Are you just going to overlap it?Wet Feet: Irsquo;m going to overlap it. Irsquo;m just going to take a razor blade and cut off the excess, right along the seam.Evan: Some bubbles.Wet Feet: Yep, some bubbles. Exactly.Evan: You want to just cut it straight from here.Wet Feet: Yeah, we can do that actually. We can just trim it like this. When wersquo;re done with this side wersquo;ll try that. You can just see a line right there.Evan: Just screwing the pieces in there.Wet Feet: Yeah.Wet Feet: Nicely balanced. You can carry it to the beach over your head, on the side. Also gives you something, when you fall in to the water, and in yoursquo;re in the water, you have a handle that you can grab and pull yourself up with ndash; just another feature about having a handles on here