2009 Stand Up Paddle Race, Distance, and Downwinder Board Showcase–Part 2
Mar 14th, 2009 by Kenalu Cross post
In the last segment we revealed our high-tech weighing and measuring processes aided by a $39 scale, some home-made calipers, and a tape measure sacrificed to rapid corrosion after being submerged in the saltwater pool at Ponohouse. So now it’s on to the beach.
We had a few people who had conflicts arise and had to cancel–that was particularly unfortunate because we lost some boards to evaluate in the process. specifically, a C4 Vortice, a Starboard point, and an SIC F18. We also had one shop on Oahu pull out for economic reasons, leaving us short the Bark and Infinity boards.
I’ll explain why that is all perfectly OK due to Mark (Kiwi) Jackson’s brilliant idea in part 3, but for now, we’ll tell you a bit about the boards we tested and the people who tested them. People first:
Our morning session was intended as a BOP-style four leg around the buoys test, but with the prevailing wind we modified that to an up-and-back run between the canoe club flag buoys at Kihei Pier. Our testers were:
Jennifer Konohia, 142 pounds, 5′6″, age 37. Jennifer is a skilled paddler with both canoe and SUP experience. She races a SIC Ku Nalu and generally beats me. I was surprised at her weight, she looks much lighter, must be a lot of muscle on that slender frame.
Jack Dyson, 177 pounds, 5′10″, 50+. Jack is a very experienced paddler with many Maliko races and channel crossings under his belt on all kinds of paddle craft, including SUP.
Dave Schultz, 230 pounds, 6′5″, age 30. Dave is a relative newbie, but he paddles well (and hard) and has excellent balance.
Alan Sidlo, 180 pounds, 5′6″, age 48. Alan is a very experienced flatwater paddler from Chicago. He has extraordinary balance and flexibility, probably a result of his mis-spent youth as a pro skateboarder.
Bob Babcock, 279 pounds, 6′ 4″, ag [...]
