PaddleBoy Goes Big

A few years ago Laird Hamilton, the God of all things on the waves and water, got bored with waiting for Jaws to break so he could tow in to what looks to any human like five hundred feet of crashing, munging, absolute life and death wall o water. So he started standing up on a big longboard and paddling into waves with a canoe paddle. Big, big waves, of course, being Laird.

Apparently he wasn’t the first to do this, the beachboys on waikiki used to do it when they were in a hurry to deliver a mai tai to some puffy red tourist bobbing offshore. But Laird made it look like a lot of fun, so I figured I needed one of those…
…someday.

Someday came last year, when I was dropping off one of my abused windsurfing boards at the Ding King for repair. The Ding King is a very talented guy who builds all kinds of cool stuff. His shop out near the Costco in Kahalui is a must visit spot–if I were shooting a dramatic movie about Maui this shop would be front and center. Whackiness abounds. I’ll get some pictures someday, you’ll dig it. anyway, Da King (EuroMan to his old friends) is making 12 foot hollow monster boards expressly for stand up paddling, so I whacked my deposit down and joined a huge backlog–he only has one mold and each board takes more than a week. Finally last spring my board was done, just in time for me to try it about two times before I returned to Portland.

This is the board EuroMan made for me–about 12 feet long, 26″ wide and about 5″ thick. Nice and light (about 26 pounds) because it’s hollow.

Now it’s November and I’m back, so today I took the board, the wife (Diane) and the dog (Sam) to Laniopouko park near Lahina and tried my hand at stand up paddling. I spent most of the day falling abruptly into the water, but I had some good moments and I caught a few waves for VERY long rides. Once this baby is slotted in you can just go and go.

There were a bunch (gaggle?) of extremely attractive french surfer girls all over the place. some kind of photo shoot for a magazine. Not the best audience for my painful flailing, but they were fun to watch. A few of them could really surf too, though the majority were slinking around in various bathing suits and tight wet suits carrying dinky boards that would need a lot more wave than anything I was seeing to carry more than a damp poodle.

Not all the stand up paddle surfers are fat and bald

Anyway, very fun day. My arms feel like they’re going to fall off, my belly hurts from scraping on the deck and my legs are shaky. Can’t wait to go do it again tomorrow.Here’s some shots. Diane did the photography. Sometimes she can be very cruel.

Photos:

Here’s the world famous paddle surfer looking pensive about the vastness of the ocean

First attempt: there’s a wave back there somewhere

Alas, it comes to naught. did this a lot

Still trying. Using a kneeling technique

Progress–sort of

PaddleBoy goes big

Nice one, Lumpy, but quit choking up on that paddle

The board trims nicely

I told you Diane could be cruel