SurfingSports Standup Paddle & Windsurf BLOG

Curtis Wathne enjoying his parent's Naish 10'6"...in some smooth and silky point waves near Santa Barbara...the family now has the new Naish 9'6" Quadfin in it's SUP quiver...



Stay tuned for the Naish kid's SUP...with hot rippers like Kai Lenny and Tucker Ingalls on their team, it's gonna be a good one...we will have some shots of Tucker's new Naish custom soon...





Grom sightings on SUP's in the waves, are becoming more and more commonplace around Santa Barbara, and elsewhere, these days...wahines are ripping, too...

Labels: Naish kids, Naish SUP, standup paddle kids

Cap'n Mike Cooke dropped by the shop the other day on his battery op'd sk8board...
He flies on that puppy!!!
Coincidentally, as he does on his 9'0" & 9'8" Starboard Fish's...



The fab facility across the street from our shop put the Wienermobiles together...

Here's Cap'n Mike 'splaining the mechanics of the throttle to our shop grom, Tucker Ingalls...



We flew through the first round of our new tshirt graphic...

Here's Tucker sorting sizes to prepare for shipping...







We've got another round due in shortly...along with a couple more hot new standup paddling graphics...our artist, Rob Heeley, is going off!!!

Speaking of surf wear...someone sent this pic from 30 years ago of C4 Waterman founder, Todd Bradley, L@@King quite dapper in his Hang Tens...the original surf brand that's making a comeback...



Lastly, Central Coast standupper, Tom Reily, brings our attention to a good fund raising cause...

SAN LUIS OBISPO JUNIOR LIFEGUARD FUNDRAISER

TheEvent:

15th Annual Ken Harmount Pier to Pier paddle September 13th 2008. This 6 mile paddle from Old Port Beach in Avila to the south side of Pismo Pier raises money for the Junior lifeguard program in San Luis Obispo. This is Surfrider sponsored event and cost $20 for members and $30 for non members at the event. Registration is at 7am with a paddler's meeting at 8am and then a group start directly following. Last year there were over 12 SUP and many of them paddled back from the pier to Avila.

Ken Harmount was an advocate for the ocean and was a lifguard in Morro Bay, helped start the Surfrider chapter in San Luis as well as the Junior lifeguard program. He was injured in a snowboarding accident and is now a partial quadriplegic living in San Jose with his family. His friends started this event 15 years ago to keep his energy going and to help kids learn about the ocean and the stoke it can provide.

Please join us this year and all paddle craft are welcome from surf skis, paddle boards, SUP, kayaks. surfboards etc. We hope to have over 75 people in the event and will have a swag raffle at the end of the course. There will also be a junior paddle board race at the end of the event at 10 am from the Park street parking lot. I hope to get a few kids on SUPs also if there are a few folks who will lend them out to the kids.

Thanks again and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly at 805-234-1227 or call Central Coast Kayaks to register. 805-773-3500

-Tom Reily

Labels: Hang Ten, Pier to Pier paddle, stand up paddle, stand up paddle surfing tshirt

This Summer was a blur...except for the time that slowed down while we were on our standup paddleboards...we sincerely hope that the hundreds and hundreds of standup paddleboards that we helped you guys adopt into your quivers this Summer, have allowed you guys to slow things down a bit as well...;-)

A paddling trip that went down a 2 lane road through the Avenue of the Giants, behind the Redwood Curtain, allowed Deb to slow things down a bit...click hyperlinks for more Redwoods pics...









You may have noticed that our blog and website is fairly photo intensive...;-)
Really, what you see are just snapshots of bits and pieces that we barely have time to throw out there...kinda reminds me of that Jimmy Buffett song...

"Takin’ polaroid pictures that are never in focus
Just to look at when they finally slow down
Full moon, so soon
Wishin’ every month of the year could be June"

Cliches - Jimmy Buffett

Hopefully, we have enough time with the new digital camera technology to get one in focus ever now and again...;-)

Nothing like skinny dipping in a river to make a couple of Labs happy...

Annie Mae and Molly Claire getting some quality water time...







Nothing like a happy Labrador in water...

Parting shot was sent to us from Steven Ford...

He got this image of our Utah standup paddling rep, John Becker, with his dog Kamiah at the Ogden Paddlefest...



Here is Kamiah about to shove off...



You can see more of Steven's pics here...

Labels: dog on SUP, dog paddleboarding, Redwoods

Here at Standup Paddle Sports, we almost need a blog inside a blog...so much goes on inside a day here at the shop, that daily blogging can't keep up with it...so sometimes what you get are bits and pieces of trickle down SUP shizzle...;-)

As promised, here are a couple of shots of the new Werner SUP paddles...these are 1 piece...

The blue "Advantage" and the orange "Carve"...MSRP $219...





One of our Central Coast riders , Ken Krall, came down to pick up a new Naish 9'6" quadfin...we installed the pad and customized it with a clear stomp pad...



These Naish quadfins have been hot...Lori Rafferty, known as the "Speed Queen"...she held the North American women's speedsailing record at one time, has just picked one up to complement her 10'6"...we're going on a SUP boat trip with her and her husband, Kail...so we'll try and get some shots of her, or her sons Reese and Curtis, shralpping in the waves...

So...back to Kenny...he pulls up in a kewl new Sprinter...the ultimate funhogmobile...;-)

We almost bought Ken's previous Sprinter van...here's his new one...pretty amazing toy mobile/camper...









Lastly, we've had several requests for a few more pics of the new Naish 11'4" SUP...

We padded this board up for a Malibu client who wanted to maximize the wood veneer and tribal graphics showing...we've applied texture to the nose area for nose riding...and he will apply surf wax in the center section and use the pad for surfing off of the tail...if he gets tired of dealing with surfwax, he can simply clean it off and apply the rest of the pad that comes with the '09 Naish SUP products...

Labels: Naish 11'4", Naish 9'6" quad, stand up paddle boards, up paddle boards, Werner SUP paddles

Every year the Santa Barbara Triathlon partners with event participants, volunteers and sponsors to raise awareness and money for a local non-profit organization.

This year, the presenting sponsor Village Properties, continued to show their dedication to improving community education by creating a fund raising opportunity to support two remarkable local organizations working to ensure that children have the supplies and support they need to thrive academically:

The Teacher's Fund is a non-profit organization established in 2002 to assist local teachers with the purchase of critical educational materials frequently missing from classrooms. The Computers for Families Project provides students from low-income families with refurbished computers, Internet access and subsequent computer-skills training.

Incentive fund raising packages were offered, including a Naish standup paddle board, paddle, and lesson to participating athletes who raised the most money...

Here is a pic of winner, Tara Haaland-Ford, with her new 10'6" Naish standup paddleboard and paddle...



We're stoked for Tara...serendipitously, it turns out that her husband, Santa Barbara County fireman John Ford, is a standup wave ripper...no doubt their two children will be following in mom and dad's footsteps soon...

Special thanks to Thomas Dabney, John McGowan, & Chris Salvetti of Village Properties for their generous donation of time and money to make this year's fund raising efforts a success...

There will be another opportunity to win a 10'6" Naish standup paddleboard, and a paddle, at the 4th Annual Heal The Ocean benefit dinner...

Jack Johnson played a benefit concert for HTO last night at UCSB...

Jack Johnson's new charity, Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation, will match every dollar donated at the concert or online to All At Once non-profit partners up to US$2,500 or foreign equivalent per group.

Labels: Heal the Ocean, Santa Barbara Triathlon, standup paddle sports santa barbara

Werner Paddles has added a few new standup paddles for 2009...we'll have them in a few days and we'll post up a gallery of new paddle images...

You can see our images of the Werner Adjustable Spanker and images of fixed length Werner Spanker SUP paddles...

Press Release:
Werner Expands Stand Up Paddle Offerings

Werner Paddles has announced the introduction of two new Stand Up Paddles: The Werner Advantage and the Werner Carve.

As participation explodes in the Stand Up Paddle category, Werner is responding with new paddle designs that focus on the two aspects of the sport, touring and surfing.

The Advantage is a Premium fiberglass laminate construction blade with a modified tear drop shape designed to optimize straight ahead efficiency for touring. The Carve consists of the same construction as the Advantage but the shape is smaller, longer and more slender, specifically designed for dynamic surfing and turning.

Both the Advantage and the Carve come with a fiberglass oval indexed shaft and ABS Palm-grip. Werner offers three shaft configurations. The 1-piece is the lightest weight option and is least expensive ($219). The 2–piece is perfect for paddlers who travel with their paddle ($234). The Adjustable length telescopes with four settings, each 1.5 inches apart; perfect for those individuals who move between touring and surfing ($259).

“Stand Up Paddling is a real growth opportunity for surf and paddle sports dealers. We are excited to expand our Stand Up Paddle offerings to respond to the specific demands of the market,” says Jim Miller, Werner’s Marketing Manger.





"The Advantage is 9.25 inch wide, 111 sq in, and has a modified teardrop design, large blade for cruising and recreational paddling. I love it for paddling rivers and down winders because it provides a huge brace if I am about to fall off. It will come with a Blue blade.

The Carve is a more rectangular shape at 7 inches wide, 100 square inches, substantially smaller, this paddle accelerates faster making it easier to catch waves and low end speed off the line. Also the smaller blade will be great for juniors and women. Weight is 28 OZ approx. This paddle will come in an Orange blade for better visibility in the surf.

The addition of this new line up is so we can create a family of paddles to support SUP at a variety of performance and price levels.

The new T-Grip/palmy is a Wide palm shaped t-grip that has a large area for the palm of your hand but is still wide so sliding your hand up to the grip on a switch doesn't get missed, and the wider the grip the better blade control you will have. It made out of a blow molded ABS material and you can drop it on the concrete and it won't break. Same weight as Carbon but indestructible.

The Spanker will be the only paddle we offer in Carbon for Fall 08. We have lots of stuff in the hopper and are always looking for ways to make our paddles perform the best."

Dan Gevere - Werner Southwest Sales Rep. and Lead on Stand Up Paddles

Labels: stand up paddles, SUP paddles, Werner SUP paddles

As you've seen previously on this blog, Naish has really stepped up their SUP program going into 2009...view 2009 Naish SUP brochure here...

We've already highlighted the slashy new 9'6" quadfin...

Now, we'll give you a L@@K at the new Naish 11'4" x 30"...
Thinned out tail and nose...progressive pin tail...very lightweight...this board will cover a broad spectrum of conditions...definitely hitting the most area under the SUP bell curve...glide...stability...surfability...this puppy is going to be a huge hit across the globe...

It comes complete with the new "Eco bag"...which provides adequate protection for day trips...and minimizes packaging...pad with side ramps...and a beautiful wood veneer center fin...I'll try and get some picks of it later today if board shipping slows down a bit...





You can find more pics of the new Naish 11'4" in this gallery...

Labels: Naish 11'4" SUP, Naish SUP, standup paddle boards