Pono House

I updated some of the content this morning…

This is a collaborative article, please either put your insight into the comments for inclusion or email them to me. Pictures can be either links for photos that are already on the web or email me the actual pictures at billb@xxxbnj.com (leave off the xxx, I’ve added that for our sleazy friends with the email scraping bots).

I think windsurfing on surfing longboards is going to be a big deal. Here’s an article on that topic, but in a nutshell, the reasons are that:

• You can do it anywhere
• It’s great for geezers like me and/or and surfers/windsurfers returning from injuries
• It’s versatile and cheap–one board covers standup paddling, windsurfing and surfing
• It’s a great workout, as standup, surfing and windsurfing
• It’s really fun–not as serious as windsurfing or short board surfing. AND
• You can do it when nothing else works, so you get good fast. Light wind, no wind, big waves, small waves, no waves. it’s all good.

The components of this article are:

Introduction: Cautions, precautions and why you should do this if you’re eighty.

Gear: What board, what sails, what paddle, what other stuff.

Getting started: we’ll assume you know NOTHING

Sailing waves: The small and the big.

I’ll add more sections as we go.

Introduction: Cautions, precautions and why you should do this if you’re eighty.

Yup, you can die doing this. If you can’t swim then learn to do that well first. You WILL get hurt, it comes with the territory. There are harnesses that include floatation and impact protection–getting stabbed in the chest by an out of control windsurfer is one of the hazards. I’ve got one of those harnesses and I use it when it’s crowded or I’m feeling a little uncomfortable about the prospect of a two mile swim.

From my perspective the best thing about longboard surfboard sailing is the geezer aspect. I sail regular windsurfers as well, but it’s a much more frantic and demanding sport. In good winds I can windsurf about four hours. In any wind at all I can longboard windsurf all day long. I really think this is something I can do as long as I’m sucking air and getting around without a walker.

Gear: What board, what sails, what paddle, what other stuff.

Boards: There’s an infinite array of choice here, but all of them require some customization right now. There are several manufacturers that are readying combination Stand Up Paddle/longboard surfing boards for this spring (Starboard for sure, and I hear Mistral is too), but right now you have to either order a custom board with a mast track or take a board you already own and get a track put in it. When I ordered my Ku Nalu board from the Ding King I had him put a mast track in it. I don’t know what Ku Nalu means, it’s probably similar to Ka Nalu, Hawaiian for “the wave”. the Hawaiian word for surfing with a paddle standing up is Ku Hoe He’e Nalu, so you can see where Mark is heading with this name.

Tomorrow I’m going to bring in my treasured Jimmy Lewis 11′ 7″ longboard and have Mark (the Ding King) stick a track in it. I’m really nervous about this–it’s an epoxy sandwich board and that might be bad because they rely on skin integrity for strength, but if anyone can make it work it’s Mark. He’s going to put a block below the track so it contacts the bottom of the board evenly, and reinforce the deck in the track area with carbon fibre. I’d ask Jimmy Lewis to do it but I think he’d bonk me on the head with a blank for being such a wanker. But I really want to sail this board–I think it will be a tremendous board for me. I love the way it surfs–it makes me look GOOD. (I got congratulated by some of the permanent crew at Puamana for a really spectacular ride a few weeks ago. Me! Wow!)

So that brings us to the question of what size is right for you, and the answer is kind of up to you. It’s a lot easier to uphaul a sail if the board you’re on has enough displacement to float when you stand on it. If you’re sailing in light winds you may have to uphaul. There’s a light wind version of waterstarting that works in light steady wind, I’ll explain how to do it later, but it’s not easy. Assuming you want a board this big, the size you need depends on your weight. I think beginners will want a wide, thick board that’s not too long. If you choose a shape that’s fun to surf on, this “beginner board” will still be a favorite when you get good. For example, my Ku Nalu board is fine for me though it’s a little narrow for beginner Stand Up for guys my size (sorry if that’s sounds sexist, and I directly apologize to all the 6′3″ 240 pound women reading this). I learned on it, so it can be done, and now that I’ve found my sea legs it’s my favorite board for going long distances.

But a few weeks ago Giampaolo Cammarota was standing around while I was getting ready to carry my gear back to the car and I asked him if he’d like to try the Ka Nalu board with a big Superfreak sail (I think it was my 8.0 but it might have been the 7.0). Giampaolo is better than I’m likely to ever get. He took it out for a little while and really loved it. He told me he’d sailed one of these boards recently in a board test he’d participated in (probably for a magazine) and it was everyone’s favorite all around board. I’m not surprised.

So that should reassure you that a big floaty Stand Up Paddle Longboard is not something you’re going to grow out of. In fact, it’s where all this verstility comes from.

Once the new Stardboard and Mistral boards come out I’ll review them for you. but until then, the plan is to find a standup paddle board you like to surf with, and have a mast track put into it. When you do that, make sure you have a couple of fingerholes routed in the back of the track. It will make it much easier to carry the board. Unless you’re an Orang Utan you probably can’t wrap your arm around a super thick 30″ board.

A deck pad is a good idea. You’re not going to have straps. Lots of wax, especially soft stuff like Quick Humps will do, but it’s even better to have a deck pad and then wax up the deck pad. I know that sounds stupid, and people will think you’re nuts, but you’ll stick to it like a gecko.

Sails–Really, you can use almost anything for a sail with this kind of sailing. After all, you’re not looking for ultimate sailing performance, you want to get out to the waves and play. Still, there are some characteristics of modern sails that make them particularly enjoyable. For example, I really like Hot Sails Maui Superfreak sails–in fact I don’t use anything else. They use kevlar reinforced dacron for the sail fabric, which means they are extremely light and they can give without losing their shape. The push is like a caddy with a big motor–no banging about, just a steady, powerful shove. For geezers like me that means you can handle a larger sail in gusty wind without turning your arms & shoulders to mush. As I’ve said elsewhere in this blog, before I started using superfreaks I’d sail for an hour and my shoulders would hurt so bad I’d have to quit. Now I can sail all day and I hurt everywhere.

You’ll want some big sails. You’ll be sailing in light air, when the strapped boards are sitting on the beach. That’s a wonderful thing for a heavy guy like me–I used to envy those flyweight “zen planers” as we call them who could go out in the weakest wind. Now I’m out sailing while they’re waiting for more wind. My biggest sail is eight meters, and it sees a lot of use partly because it makes ten knots feel like fifteen, and partly because I can waterstart it with virtually no wind.

Other gear–I wear a harness when the wind gets sprightly, but in really low wind when I’m likely to be uphauling it’s not worth bothering with–it gets in the way when you’re crawling back onto the board. Mast and booms can be anything that fits your sail. I use all carbon fibre but it’s expensive right now. You dont need the ultimate in sail performance, you just need big. But if you’re buying the stuff new and your budget allows, carbon fibre booms are mighty nice.

Getting started: we’ll assume you know NOTHING

I’m not going to teach you basic sailing technique, there’s good sources for that. The best free one I’ve found is Royn Barthodi’s site. If you find something you like better, please let me know. If you’re new to windsurfing it’s a really good idea to take basic lessons. I also like Alan Cadiz’s DVDs. If you’re in Maui or coming here, Alan’s HST windsurfing school is a fine choice for basics. If you’re here and want ot learn how to do lonboard sail/surfing then do what I do–get in touch with Giampaolo. I don’t think he claims to have invented this new/old sport, but he’s the first person I saw doing it, and he’s the master.

So, once you have the basics, here’s the specifics. You’re going to be sailing a board in some

Sailing waves: The small and the big.