it’s the cat’s meow. waves were lefts, good for me, a nice 3′+ and peeling. my first surprise was that the 12-6′s lateral stability didn’t seem that much different than the jimmy11′s. that said, it felt a lot more stable overall. it was high tide, with lots of backwash, and i didn’t fall off once while paddling. the glide on this thing is terrific, esp. coming from the doglike jimmy, and several times i just cruised into a wave. how does it ride? i gotta tell you, i find it much more maneuverable than the jimmy. it may be 1-1/2′ longer than the jimmy but it turns like a much shorter board. in fact, i was making turns, and cutbacks, that i hadn’t been able to do before. one thing i really like is going for a late take-off and feeling pretty rock steady switching to the surfer stance before I normally would. on the jimmy, i’d wobble a bit and hem and haw. not on the starboard.
maybe it’s just a first-day high but i love my starboard 12-6!!
it is kind of a beast to carry, though, even with the handle slot. bob, i’ve told you about the little rock cliffs at some spots around here: no way could i get down em with this board. so… i have another place to get in the water, about a ten minute paddle away. no biggie but as soon as i find some inserts, i’m going to drill into the board and epoxy them in; once you’ve tried a shoulder strap on a stand-up-paddle board, there ain’t no going back, and with that i should be able to get down the rocks.
oh yeah: third wave today, i found out the hard way that i hadn’t really secured my leash to my leg and the board popped loose and headed straight for a rock wall. fortunately, with the tide being high, there are a big washingmachine like pool out from the wall a bit. my sup pal paul paddled in to my board (and hauled me in too) and thus was the day saved.
all in all, i am stoked!
And what about you, Bob? How was your morning?
And for Bill (I think it’s Bill), a few questions about this blog. Am I even supposed to be posting in this section or should i stick to the great big main 101 page? Also: I’m just a little confused by the structure of the blog. For instance, until recently the only page here i looked at was the 101 page. Then I stumbled upon the Archives area and found a whole bunch more SUP things. I dunno, maybe I’m dense, but aren’t Archives old things, not new things, such as I’ve been posting recently? And, how do I decide what to post on 101 and what to post in, say, General Posts? I find myself unable to articulate my thoughts here, so bubbled am I by this morning’s sup session, so i’m going to retire now and do some work …
I was out on mine all weekend, a post to come soon. Went to the Oregon Coast, but it was like a washing machine. I flailed, but it was nasty. Wound up paddling in Nahalem Bay on flat water. On the good side, the new camera mount I built works well.
I know what you mean about the architecture, blogs are kind of odd. I tried making all the really relevant posts into pages, but that gets cumbersome too.
You are set up as an Author, you can post anywhere you want. Feel free to do it your way. Use your power only for good.
Bill
Hi Linter,
Glad to hear you’re so stoked with the 12-6. It pains me some though because I’m still struggling way more than you describe. I have seen brief moments of brilliance with it though so I’m sure its my lack of skills and not the board. It can certainly perform when I do get it right.
Unfortunately I didn’t get out this weekend. My head was doing it’s own thing and I didn’t feel comfortable to drive on Sunday. I did get the wood cut for some new paddles this weekend. I need a good one badly. I’m going out tomorrow before work. Good flatwater workout and practice and I’m thinking of taking off Thursay and hitting Nauset. We’ll see what the weather brings. I’m looking for only good conditions for waves. If it’s choppy I’ll head for the bay.
A carry strap will definitely help. Especially in high winds. I’m more interested in the inserts for lashing down gear. I’m thinking of a trip similar to Bill’s idea of a SUP surfari only I’m looking at doing the Cape from Cahoon Hollow to Chatham. I’m getting a 4WD beach sticker and can get some kayaks to load gear into. I figure 5-6 miles a day, make it on a 3 day weekend. Maybe even a week long trip from Provincetown to Chatham