Pono House

Sorry for not being very active with Ke Nalu this last week. I’m in San Diego helping the family of my closest friend, Barney Li, who died last Saturday in a motorcycle accident.

It’s just kind of taken the air out of me, but I really do feel a lot more like celebrating this remarkable man’s life than mourning his death. I could tell I was on the mend yesterday when I saw a SUP board on a van and immediately brightened up. I doubt I’ll have a chance to get in the water this week, but even the thought of it is cheering.

To all of you SUP friends, the most enjoyable quote I found when trying to find something wise to say about this tragedy is: “Never knock on death’s door, ring the bell and run away. Death hates that”.

My experiment with a paper-magazine style format is unsatisfying. I intended to update Ke Nalu (www.kenalu.com) on a monthly basis, but i found I was sitting on a lot of feature-quality stories that had a timeliness element. So from now on the only elements that will be monthly are the main two-column story and Stoneaxe’s videos. Everything else will update when the articles are ready. I’m also extending the number of articles shown in each category.

I think this format change will make Kenalu both more timely and more interesting.

A couple of weeks ago Diane got a new long lens for the Nikon–a 180 to 500MM. I just downloaded the pictures to my computer–some of them are pretty neat.

She put the long lens on our big tripod and this was the first shot she got:

Here’s the second:

Nice job, kid.

There’s a few more shots on ke Nalu in the Photos section: http://www.kenalu.com/category/sup-photos-from-around-the-world/

Paddling through the Blue Caverns at Catalina

I like this article a lot–plenty of great pictures. I have a few more to finish before I can call the second issue “complete” but it’s shaped up pretty well
Ernie Johnson (of Johnson Big Stick Paddles) and his wife Andie, along with friends Allan Cheateaux and Jamie Peterson, went to Catalina for four days of paddle-touring and camping. They carried all their gear strapped to their boards and spent four days camping and playing on Catalina. To see the rest of the article, click here:   http://www.kenalu.com/2008/03/25/sup-camping-catalina/#more-453

I’m feeling pretty good about this second issue. Yes, it’s staggering to it’s feet a little, I still have numerous articles and features to finish up and add to the mix, But it’s not April 1st yet–I’m about a week ahead of schedule in releasing this issue. I’ve decided that a staggered release over the course of a week is a good thing. Still to come is a visit to Malama’s paddle-making shop, a great photo essay by Ernie Johnson (of Johnson Big Stick Paddles) about the four-day camping trip he took with three friends to Catalina, articles on making an edge guard for your paddle, a photo essay about downwinders, and a article about preparing your board for long trips.

I owe a number of Ke Nalu rash guards to contributors of this issue. They are sitting in the garage–got to get them mailed off. This by way of reminder: Contribute to the next issue and we’ll send you a rash guard. Not only do you get all the fame you can eat, but you’ll also wear your rash guard with pride, knowing you’ve contributed to our sport.

You’ll notice we’re still not accepting advertising. Two reasons–we wanted to grow the readership to a size that would deliver value to advertisers before we started selling space. and second, we wanted to get the boards and paddle showcase behind us so there wouldn’t be any hint of bias (other than personal likes).

Diane and I went to Kihei this morning to paddle some. When we got to Kam 1 beach the horizon was lined with Paddlesurfers–janitors, in surfer parlance, because they all look like they’re sweeping up. And they are–when the surf is small like it was today it’s about the only game in town. The longboarders are starting to feel like they’re in the minority. One of them said to me this morning “EVERYONE is on standup boards these days–I feel like I’ve been left behind.”

My reply was that it’s more fun, why wouldn’t you do it?

The growth rate here in Maui is explosive. People used to stop me and ask what this strange thing I was doing is called. Now they’re stopping me to ask about technical details, or to get my opinion on where to place a mast track.  I counted twenty three SUP boards visible from Kam 1 at eight o’clock, and more people came and went all morning.

I had my doubts that people would really gravitate to flatwater stand up paddling, but that’s exactly what most people are doing. Sure, they wander over to the cove to catch a few little waves, but by and large a SUP board is a much more practical and fun alternative to a kayak. I saw literally a dozen people putting their board in the water at Kam 1, where there is no immediate opportunity to surf. There’s really only one reason why you would do that–you have no intention of surfing, you just want to paddle.

Remarkable. If growth in Maui is any indication, this summer should be wacky on the mainland. I hope the board manufacturers are ready for it.

I’m losing my marbles. The wind has been excellent for the last week, and the surf sucks, but I’m doggedly trying to Paddlesurf. Why I don’t just go windsurf is beyond me, normally I’d be happy as a clam about these conditions. I guess I’m an addict. Yesterday I took my addiction to new lows and went paddling on the south side while it was blowing like stink at Kanaha. Put in at Launiopoko (the translation of this westside beach park is “no waves, knucklehead–go windsurfing”), caught a few ankleslappers, and then paddled west. I stopped at every break along the way–like Puamana (translation: “no waves here either”) and wound up at the Pacific O grill for lunch.

I had sixteen soggy bucks in my boardshorts, which is chump change for a fancy beachside cafe, so I told the bartender how much I had, asked the price of a beer (five bucks–FIVE BUCKS!!), did some fast menu math and decided I could also have some Gyoza but would have to leave a crappy tip. After a brief consultation with the bartender (Melissa from Atlanta–nice kid) we decided it was better that I eat something than suitably reward her. Took forever for my Gyoza to arrive, so I relaxed and chatted with Melissa, and watched about a million people take surfing lessons at Lahina Breakwall. Every time Melissa made a blended drink she’d put the leftover foo-foo drink in a glass and give it to me. Nice of her, but after one very tasty IPA and the third pineapple-banana-mango tropical sunburst I decided I’d better get back in the water while I could still feel my legs.

I decided to paddle out of the lagoon at the breakwall instead of threading the needle at the secret channel. So I worked my way past the throngs of flailing surf students and found some remarkable surf on the outside edge. The breakwall seems to manufacture it’s own waves. How it makes head high waves out of kneeslapper swells is a mystery, but it’s likely a refraction thing. These were chest to head high and very fast. I paddled out to the lineup, stepped back on my board to turn it, slipped on the wet deck and fell unceremoniously next to a very competent-looking local surfer girl. As I hauled myself back to my feet she said “the waves are pretty rough here–you might want to go over there”, pointing to the throngs of beginners. I smiled and said I’d give it a try here first, caught a really nice head high wave and got a great ride out of it. I even popped out the back with a really clean backside turn that felt just right.

I paddled back out and the surfer girl smiled and said, “I’m embarrassed, you’re a better surfer than me” which wasn’t true, but was nice to hear. Of course the next wave I caught closed out on the nose of my board as I attempted a duplicate backside exit, and shoved me into the rock garden near the breakwall. I lost my treasured hat, so i had to wander around a bit to find it, and cut my feet to shreds on the razor sharp rocks. Surf booties are a must at the breakwall.

On the paddle back to Launipoko (about three miles) I noticed little trails of blood washing off the back of my board. Chumming for sharks. Surfed at all the breaks and at Launipoko, then caught a wave to the beach and headed home.

Nice day in all, but last night my shoulders were killing me, and my feet are covered with band-aids. It’s eight o’clock and there are already whitecaps.

Darn.

I joined Sol Morey and a few of his friends in their weekly WOW (walk on water) paddle this Sunday morning. They’ve been doing it for a while and generally have eight to twelve paddlers, leaving from the Canoe hut near Kenolio Park in West Kehei and finishing up at Kalama Park–a leisurely 3.5 mile paddle. A nice, easy distance and a very pleasant time. We were in the water by 8:30 or so, and the water was like a lake. Lots of fish, turtles, and reefs to be seen. I noticed at least five or six other SUP paddlers out for a cruise. What a fine way to spend Sunday morning.

I’ll do a longer writeup in the next issue, but here’s a few teaser photos:

Seven paddlers on this Sunday WOW

Next time I’m bringing my rod! This is Kayak fisherman Mel Ross with a nice Kagamy Popio (small Ulua). We saw lots of Ulua on the reefs. that coulda been my dinner.

How many skinny girls can you fit on one board? Four if you stick other boards under the nose and tail.

If you’re in Maui and you’d like to come along, contact Sol at 808.875.4761

What an odd day. I spent most of it sewing new sleeves for all the rack pads on the funmobile. the surf looked big, and I bet it was going off in a reasonable size on the west side (ho’okipa was closed out and very windy), but I was home sewing. And I thought the last post made me out to be a sissy. Part of making new pad covers was cleaning out the funmobile, and in vacuuming out the tons of sand i found my iPhone. I had lost it a couple of weeks ago and bought a replacement. It was stuck in a crevice that I just didn’t find when i looked for it. I’ll have to see if I can return thet new one I bought–i still have the packaging.

Then this afternoon I got an email from Mark Raaphoorst. A fisherman found my camera and saw some pictures of the Ding King in the camera. They dropped it off at the shop and Mark sent me an email asking if I lost the camera. How wild is that. I need to buy some serious amounts of beer.

I know a fair number of people read Ponohouse that don’t read my new e-magazine: Ke Nalu. I’ve been writing a daily column in the magazine for about a week when I realized “this column is a ponohouse column!”–same style, same topic, which is basically the stuff I do to have fun in Maui.  So I’ve decided to write them here,  and then transfer them to Kenalu. I’m posting the four I’ve done to catch folks up.

Here’s the first, titled Big Sissy

I sure am glad the wind came up at Kanaha early this morning, it gave me an excuse to get off the water without admitting that I was scared. OK, I was. When I showed up Randy (from StandUpZone) and Frank (Lightning Bolt) were screwing around with Randy’s new gorgeous video camera. I asked how the surf was while I took my board off the funmobile, and they said in near unison “messy”.  It was indeed.  I paddled out with absolute confidence until I reached the channel and noticed that occasionally the waves were closing it out. Still, I punched through with no big problems, the rideable waves were overhead to one and a half, which didn’t concern me too much. There were three prone surfers out–that was it.

What bothered me was the angle–it was from the northeast, and it was making a bowl-shaped face that I remember all too well from the first few days I got back to Maui in January. They beat the crap out of me then. Closes out at both ends and smacks you in the middle unless you’re really fast down the line.

I’m not.

Still, I felt that my surfing had progressed enough so I could be comfortable with the waves so I watched a few to get my bearings and suddenly realized I couldn’t tell the big waves from the small. The swell was thick rather than tall, and the big waves leaped up very suddenly when they reached the reef. In fact, while I was messing around trying to figure things out I got caught inside and worked a little bit. I think it was then that I lost my camera. I had stuck my Xacti waterproof video cam in my back pocket. Normally having it pop out would be no big deal–I’d just paddle around and look for it. I have a red floating soft lanyard attached to it, and it’s easy to spot. But I didn’t notice it missing until later, and in the “victory-at-sea conditions it would be hard to spot. So if you find a blue Xacti with a red lanyard on it…  I suspect it will show up somewhere in Tahiti in a month or so.

Anyway, I got back out to the lineup and watched a few more waves. I was considering bailing on the whole idea when Chan paddled out.  I watched her catch a few waves and decided I could do it too. I moved way down to the left and tried to catch the edge of a face in the channel. Bad idea. The first wave I caught ran out of poop in twenty yards, and right behind it was a big guy that was crumbling as I caught it. I managed to stay up for a few yards and then got hit by the whitewater and pounded.

I went back out (why I did that escapes me) and watched Randy try to punch straight out through the middle of the reef. I didn’t see how that could work, and after a while, so did Randy. He caught a couple of good looking rides on the far inside and then I lost track of him.

The wind started picking up a little, then suddenly jumped right up to prime windsurfing force–probably 20-25 knots.  I was being blown down the lineup. I had to drop to my knees and paddle like mad to get back to the channel, then I caught a ride through to the lagoon and started paddling in. I got about halfway there and discovered the camera was gone, so I turned around and went looking for it. I resolved to go as far as the reef and then run along with the wind and see if I could spot it. Nada. Expensive day.

Paddled in, shot the breeze with Frank (still healing and looking pretty pained), Randy and Chan. What great folks, always interesting to talk to. Randy is always stoked about something, right now he’s very excited about his new camera, and it’s a pretty amazing piece of gear. Chan is simply a really smart lady with well-considered, informed opinions. Damned good surfer too. And Frank is an all around good guy, dying to get back in the water.

I finally beat feet for the west side, tried S-Turns for a while, caught a few nice waves, but the wind came up and was blowing me all over the place. Wound up at Puamana mucking around in knee-high mushy waves. Puaman can serve up some tasty faces sometimes, but when it’s the only game in town it always feels like my old dating days, when you’d hit all the hot spots on Friday night until everything started closing, and then you’d wind up at Denny’s, grumpily eating a grand slam breakfast.

I’ve had a few folks asking when the showcase is going to be posted. It’s already up, but it’s on my magazine website–www.Kenalu.com. You can read all about the showcase in the lead story, and if you click on the Showcase button you’ll find the index to all the reviews. we’re still adding action photos and a few straggler boards, but it’s mostly complete.

This will be a permanent fixture on Kenalu, we’ll add to it as we get additional boards to evaluate.

The next issue of Kenalu is all about paddles and paddling. There’s a paddle showcase, some technical articles about paddle construction and theory, and a visit to a famous paddlemaker’s shop. There’s also a great article about exploring on your Stand up Board with some fabulous pictures of a SUP camping trip on Catalina Island. We’ll also have articles about Maui downwinders, both North side from Maliko Gulch and a friendly Southside Sunday tradition.

Our humor article in the next issue is twelve reasons NOT to start paddlesurfing. Number six has to do with challenges to your Surf Monk status. Until then…

Wow, we had it all. Blue skies, soft wind, waves (small, but fun) a great bunch of people, fifty boards, 35 testers (growing to 50 as the day wore on) and lots of aloha. On the downside, we got too much breakfast and not enough lunch. Our biggest tester, Casey Trout, got out of the water too late–all that was left was rice. Casey said “I know all these guys and I know better than to be late in the lunch line–they’re like piranhas”.  The video gear didn’t work that well, and it would have been nice to see an occasional set bigger than waist high. But really–it was near perfect.

Everyone chipped in at oh-dark-thirty to put on fins and leashes

We had a few boards and paddles to play with

Ashley manages to look gorgeous even when she’s soaking wet and feeling lousy–great surfer too! Super photogenic–we must have fifty shots of her and she looks wonderful even when her headache was at it’s worst.

Launiopoko was an ideal location

An 18 foot distance racer makes a fine surfboard–if you’re Mark Raaphoorst

Too bad these guys couldn’t figure out which end of the board to use. They went at it like this all day. They actually pulled off a tandem helicopter, though Zane got lost somewhere in the process.

The best part was the people. What a fine bunch of folks, fun to talk to, fun to surf with, just fun to be around.

We have thousands of great photos, some interesting video, a ton of data on the boards and paddles to put into the inaugural issue of Ke Nalu. We’ll be posting some juicy bits on Ke Nalu (www.kenalu.com) as we approach the official launch date of February 25th. Keep an eye on e Ke Nalu, some of the posts will only be up for a few days and then only available in the archives.

I had to clean the garage yesterday–just had to, and I washed the mud off Diane’s Xterra (but not my jeep–mud looks just fine on it). By 2:00 I was ready to hit the water, but we were having dinner with good friends in Wailea–Ed and Diane Lane, so I headed for Cove Park planning to shower there and meet Diane at the park to be at the Lane’s on time. I figured there would be no waves, but I could get in a good paddle.

Sure enough, no waves, so I headed out towards the east, into the wind. The wind was light but the water was choppy and confused, with pretty big short-period rollers coming from the southwest. I saw something out about a mile in the water, and paddled out to take a look. Turned out to be a spearfisherman on a longboard, out for his afternoon cruise. We chatted a while as we bounced around in the swells on our tiny “boats”. I’m sure any tourist that saw us thought we were suicidal, but surfboards are fine craft in heavy seas.

I continued east and made my way to the end of Kehei where the last of the el cheapo hotels/condos gives way to the upscale ones of Wailea, turned around and cruised back, discovering to my dismay that the wave angle made for tough going. I thought the wind would be the big factor and I’d be going back in the downwind direction. I didn’t have that long, so I paddled hard against the waves, figured out a good rhythm, and made it back to cove Park with plenty of time to spare. So I started poking around, looking for little waves.

A group of several whales, including at least one baby, came to the edge of the shallow reef at the Cove, and just hung out. They stayed there until after I left, showing their backs and occasionally breaching in the shallow water. I don’t know how they can get so high out of the water in shallows like that, but they do. the baby was jumping like a porpoise.

Another Standup guy came out, headed for a paddle. I briefly considered going with him, but wasn’t sure of the time. After a while Sol Morey and his wife (sorry, didn’t get her name) paddled out on their boards and started picking up some little rides. Sol had a watch, and I was delighted to find I had at least a half hour before Diane showed up for our dinner engagement.

The waves actually picked up for a while, and the water glassed off, so we had a lot of nice little rides. For some reason my balance was way off, and I kept falling in. I think those little bouncy waves are kind of tricky to stand on. Caught a bunch of nice little rides. I kept trying to turn in the waves and ride the shoulder (what little there was) but the board wouldn’t turn very well. I’m blaming the thrusters I added the other day–they work fine in bigger waves, but I couldn’t swing the nose in the ankle-slappers.

Had a nice chat with Sol while were were surfing and standing around in the chop watching the whales. Good guy, and fun to talk to, but then had to beat feet for dinner with the Lanes.

So good to see those guys. Ed is a superb artist–we have several of his paintings at Ponohouse–and both he and Diane, who designs beautiful painted silk clothing, are extraordinarily interesting to talk to–they do so much with their lives, wonderful to see.

We had dinner at the Marriot hotel. I don’t think I’ve ever been there before, and it’s very pretty. they have a new Mala restaurant there, run by the folks that own Maui tacos–my favorite fish taco joint in Maui. There’s a Mala in Lahaina that Diane and I go to pretty often. Great food, nice location, great service. The new one at the Marriot is equally excellent. We had a great meal and a fine time.

All in all, a surprisingly fine day, especially considering that i spent most of it cleaning my garage.

Are here. Very cool We didn’t get the usual skin-tight ones–they aren’t really necessary for Stand Up, and they make me look like a walrus. these are super comfortable, fast-dry and darned good lookin’

I sat down with Diane this morning to plan out the editorial calendar for the first three issues of Ke Nalu (I told you folks she’d keep me focused on the tasks). The first issue is obviously the Showcase issue. That’s not all that will be in that issue, but it’s the overriding theme. The Gear section has an exhaustive article on Fins and Board Shapes that shows you how fins and boards work–both independently and together–how to choose and tune fins, and what to expect from various board shapes. It includes a handy tuning chart that will help you correct common faults by picking and placing the right fin.

The theme for the second issue is Downwinders, Open Ocean and Distance Paddling. We’ll have interviews with some of the great distance paddlers, we’ll do a how-to feature on how to plan and execute distance paddle, both offshore and in flatwater. That feature will include video from some classic Maui downwinders. The gear section will show how to outfit for distance paddling.

The places section is your playground, it will feature best places for distance paddling. Here’s where you come in. We’d love photos and commentary about your favorite place to do a paddle, whether it’s in the ocean, a river or a lake. As much as I love Maui, some of the nicest paddles I’ve done have been in the Willamette river–I bet you have favorites too.

The third issue is the Surfing issue. The feature section leads off with a photo-driven special of amazing Sup heros in heavy water. But the lead article covers stepping up to surf. Whether you’ve been learning in flatwater and you’re ready to take the lumpy water plunge, or you’re trying to perfect your cutback, you’ll find plenty of good info in this section.

Once again, the Places section is all about you, but this time it’s the all important issue of fuel–where’s the best place for breakfast before you hit the water (or right after if you’re a dawn patroller).

That’s as far as we got. Diane is a tough taskmaster, but I managed to wiggle away by pointing out that someone was pulling up in our driveway and she wasn’t exactly dressed to receive guests. I haven’t seen her move so fast since the jumping cane spider incident. Seriously though, Ke Nalu is only going to be as good as the contributions we get from folks like you. Nothing has to be perfect, I’ll clean up your writing, pictures just need to be interesting, not artwork. You get a byline, and every month we choose at least one contributor to receive a Ke Nalu rash guard.

Man it’s been cold in Maui. I had to put a sweatshirt on today for about ten minutes, then I got too hot and took it off. but it’s just hell being stuck somewhere between shorts/T-shirt and shorts/long sleeved shirt.

We’re even got snow. Here’s the proof:

My little Xacti waterproof camera has a pretty amazing electronic zoom system. Here’s a picture with no zoom. Note the peak with a little snow

And here’s a shot from the same spot with zoom

I picked up a whole bandoleer of Jimmy Lewis boards for the showcase on Tuesday. Most of them are for much smaller or much better Sup surfers than I, but there are two in the edge of my range. I took them out in lousy conditions yesterday–windy, lots of chop, and dinky waves.

Holy buckets were they FUN!!

One is a scaled down version of the 11er. Same shape, just smaller in every dimension: 10′6″ X 28 3/4″. Diane said it looks like a “Jesus Board” with me paddling, because it looks like I’m walking on water. All that clears the water is the nose and tail, but it’s stable, extremely maneuverable, catches waves on autopilot, and here’s the really weird part–it coasts better than the JL11er. I have no idea why, it seems completely counter-intuitive. I had a blast with it. It seems so tiny, even carrying it is really easy. With my weight the sweet spot is tiny, I had to be way forward on the board to keep the tail from sinking. But it was very easy to keep it from pearling. Just dropping into a surfing stance picked the nose up. Bottom turns were effortless, the board seems to zip around under my feet.

Then I went back and took out the 10′8″ X 29 pintail. I assumed I was going to be flailing and falling with this board because it doesn’t have the big stable square tail of the 10′6″. But it was almost as stable, and even more responsive. Again, I don’t understand how a board with 80 percent of the volume under water can coast so well, but it’s even better than the 10′6″. At least I understand why the shape would help.

I was laughing out loud turning this board. It feels like there’s nothing in front of your feet, you just lean back and shove your rear foot in the direction you want the back end to go and it JUMPs around. It looks like most of the volume is under your feet in the paddling position, so as soon as you lean back even a trifle the nose comes up. It felt like a skateboard.

I know if I surfed these boards regularly my surfing skills would take a quantum leap in no time.

I posted pictures on Ke Nalu (www.kenalu.com)– don’t look if you’re an 11er fan. It will cost you.  I’ll post video as soon as I get it edited. I don’t think you want to watch 40 minutes of me goofing around. There’s some nice shots of both boards, paddling, handling chop, and catching waves. I’m serious in saying that these boards catch waves on autopilot–in a couple of hours of playing  I missed perhaps four waves that I paddled after, in nasty conditions. The equipment for this sport of ours just gets better every day.

I told Diane that if I lose twenty pounds I’m going to reward myself and buy both of these from Jimmy. She immediately made a reservation for Mamma’s Fish House tonight. Wow, she’s sneaky.

I fear that the entire Board and Paddle showcase is going to be like this–I can’t afford to fall in love with 30 boards.

Strange day today on Maui–windy as heck with an odd swell from the northeast. I thought about going windsurfing, but my arms are still killing me from yesterday, so I decided to go over to the south side to see if I could find a protected break. I got a real late start–did a bunch of work around the house plus some organizational work on the board and paddle showcase.

Thousand peaks was totally blown out so I would up at Puamana which was windy, but the wind circles the island from both directions, so it sometimes cancels out around Puamana. The wind was alternately blowing from the east, from the west, onshore from the south and offshore from the north. It changed about every twenty minutes or so.

Very challenging, but there were some decent swells coming in so I went for it. Wound up doing two long sessions–about 90 minutes each. Caught some decent rides, but I was wobbling around a bit, the board felt like it had no fin much of the time because the wind was making it slew.

On the way back when we got to thousand Peaks the wind was blowing the ocean into froth. There was spindrift everywhere, and coconuts falling like pine cones. Time to wear a helmet.

Freestyle video

Freestyle sail handling by a pro in Bonaire named Ceasar. Unbelievable.  Even if you care absolutely nothing about windsurfing, this is jawdropping.

I may try my hand at building a hollow wooden board this summer. I like this design even if it does look like Flash Gordon meets a vintage lake speedboat. I’d make the outriggers removable and have plenty of hardpoints for gear. The brass compass looks kinda cool too IMNSHO. This is 14′6″ x 32″ x 4″