A few photos from Emerald City's C4 Paddle Day

Okay I'm done with my ranting- I'm over it. Here's a couple of photos from yesterday's C4 Paddle Day with Emerald City.

If you're in any of these photos and would like them emailed to you- contact me through my email link and I'll forward them to you.

A couple of items of interest: Check out the custom checkerboard paint job on that C4- looking sweet! Reminds me of a Dennis Jarvis surboard I had in 1984.

Also take a look at the new deck pad from C4- it's got raised ridges along the rails presumably for bracing your feet when the boards tipping or up on rail. That's a good idea.

Check out the board fishing rig that was being demonstrated- that'd be a great Baja item.

And- There was this stubby little Hynson Fish Stand Up Board- I didn't get a chance to paddle it but it looked interesting.

Go here for more photos from the C4 Paddle Day.

Looking for stand up paddle surf lessons in San Diego? Contact us at paddlesurfbaja@gmail.com or (619) 213-6622. We can also set up stand up paddle board rentals with drop off and delivery. Click here for more information.

New Paddlesurf Video: Courtesy of FuzzNugget Productions

Video Highlights: Brennan Hovland's drifting floater on the 10'6" C4 has got to be hot by anybody's standard. We're all in trouble now that the rippers are getting stand up boards. Also, check out Pinky almost pulling in on his 12'0. And, no I didn't snake that guy behind me (I'm on the green and yellow Stamps), it's fun surfing behind somebody. How about Kraig Surplus getting a little floater on his new 10' Stamps? That shape (same as mine but add an 1/8" all around) is a real California solution, check out how much speed it makes on waves that haven't even broken yet. Not shown, Marla's first wave- pay your dues now and reap the rewards during the sweetness of summer! Killer session today people- glad we could share some waves.

Excellent job Camera Grom- look forward to working together again. Breakfast burritos on me next time.

And: I have no idea why Kiwi got the clown music.

8'0 Stand Up Board Spotted in Surf Mag!

The rain here in San Diego has been pretty heavy for the last couple of days. I don't like to hop in the water when the California State Beach Poppy is in bloom (see last photo). So I've been doing some lurking.

I spend time driving from spot to spot. Catch me sipping a cup of trucker's brew (7-11s finest Arabica) and checking the blown out mush in the morning. I'll chase that with a Stardust Donuts Cinnamon bomb at the Strand mid-morning and then grab an RBC (that's Rice Bean and Cheese burrito) for lunch at the Towers. I've also been logging hours at my favorite library, BookStar in Point Loma.

It's great, grab a stack of mags, snag a comfy spot of industrial carpet (I like to wedge in next to the Wedding Mags- limited interest, low traffic) and kill a couple of hours on a rainy afternoon. Finish it off with a root beer and an Old Smokey (OliveTree Deli) at the Cliffs and you've just capped a great day my friend. But back to the magazines, if you haven't noticed lately the surf mags have been paying a lot of attention to us. The first two pages of Longboard Magazine are full color spreads for Aviso and C4 StandUps. The coolest thing I found was a photo of one of the SUP heats in fall's Infinity Contest. Right there, wearing the jailbreak trunks and setting up for what would undoubtedly be a Chopes style barrel ride, is Tim Stamps on his 8'0 biscuit. A telling comment in the piece, "...there was just as many competitors in the SUP division as there were in the Open Longboard." Watch out world, the janitors are coming to clean up.
Middle Photo: Look familiar? Plenty-o-pudgey.
Last Photo: California State Beach Poppy, requires heavy loads of organic matter to survive, common after first rain, considered bad luck by California surf riders.
Top Photo: Poquito Poachito
Last Two Photos: El Tigre

New SUBs: Aipa Stand Up and... the Gemini (Part 2)!

This Photo: An Aipa Stand Up Board on the beach at Cardiff. Something old becomes new again; I remember looking through surf-mags in the late 70's and seeing Ben Aipa's little stingers. Seem like they've grown up- anybody ridden one yet? Give us some feedback.

Middle and Bottom Photos: You asked for it, you got it: The Gemini Part 2!

There's been some interest in checking out the rest of this board so I scoured the paddlesurf.net archives to bring you the best I've got. Check out the nose scoop on this thing, some serious foam irrigation going on there. Capt. Neg9 told me that this allows for air flowing up the wave face to get under the board and create lift.

Got some questions for Capt. Neg9? Hit the comments button at the bottom of the post and fire away- we'll see if we can pull some good info out of him.

Middle and Bottom Photos: El Tigre

New C4 9'6": Jamming it at Cardiff

You like to sink the rail, right?
Here's Emerald City's Kelly Kraus sticking it to the inside section at Cardiff Reef. The line drawn and obvious bite at the bottom is a testament to the effectiveness of both man and machine.

It's going to be interesting to see where these boards are going to take us. Parmenter's leaning them out, throwing on some wings and swallows and in the process making a soft Cardiff reef reform look like a Super Bank race track.




Middle Photo: Mash that go-peddle to the floor- the full rail approach to inside Cardiff.
All Photos: Phillip (Hi-Rez coming soon!)

In the water: C4 Waterman 10'0"

Last week, I had an opportunity to test drive one of the long awaited, C4 Waterman, stand up boards manufactured by Boardworks. Evidently, the boards had been imprisoned in a shipping container in San Pedro and were just unleashed upon the mainland last week- look for them as they spread across the coast and into your local surf shop.

Kelly Kraus of Emerald City (619 435-6677), in Coronado, Ca was willing to let me hop on his brand new 10'0" version of the board (the board line also includes a 10'6" and an 11'6").

Setting the scene: I paddled this board in the ocean on a moderately choppy day, the surf was a small 2 - 3' wind swell. I'd call the conditions "semi-challenging" due to the pop-up nature of the wind swell peaks and the amount of south wind, cross chop. We surfed the board at a local beach break, no channel cheating here.

Paddling: I have to say, I was a bit apprehensive about the how I'd do on such a small stand up board. I'm currently riding a board that is just about 12' by 29.5"- the dimensions on this board put its width at 28" with a thickness of 4". I weigh about 210lbs and I honestly didn't think the board would float me.

I was completely wrong. The board handled me; the deck wasn't awash. In fact, I found the board surprisingly stable for it's size. I could paddle around, back paddle it and even pivot turn it with a foot on the tail. Undoubtably, paddling it did require considerably more thought then my other board but I have to say that my preconceived notions (see the article about the Craig paddleboards) regarding paddle-ability and board size have been put to rest. A guy my size can definitely paddle boards in the sub-11' range.

Surfing: Scott Bass wrote a great article ("Got Paddle? A Preliminary Look at StandUp Paddle Surfboard Design" at www.surfermag.com) about stand up boards that discusses the trade offs in a board's design. There is evidence of this in this board. The board does not possess the glide of the big 12' tankers and I'm reasonably sure it was never meant to compete with them in this area (however, the 11'6" C4 may have been designed for this purpose). What the board does do extremely well is surf. Form definitely follows function with this board- the thing surfs really, really well.

Taking off on this board is a different experience then gliding in on the 12 footer. The board has a snappy acceleration (think a twitch of the wrist on a rice burner) and an easy entry into the wave- there is some meat in the nose of the board allowing you to really lean into the paddle over the front of the board. Kelly Kraus goes from zero to ripping in about three strokes, I've seen him get into waves he had no business catching.

Another clue regarding the board's purpose? Check out the tailpad (the board comes stock with a deck pad and a cut-in tail pad). Like your favorite short board, the board was meant to be surfed off the tail. Get your foot back there and the board goes rail to rail down the line very nicely; it's "pump-able". The board makes speed easily and feels like a much smaller board then it is. I didn't get a chance to disfigure a fat reef break shoulder but I have no doubt that thing would carve a cutback very nicely.

Summary: This board would not be my choice for a long distance (10 mile or more) coastal cruise, it just doesn't have the waterline and weight to match the speed and glide of the big boys. I would use this board for a two or three spot go out; the kind of session where you roll up, see the peak you want to poach, surf it and then hit one or two adjacent spots. The board has an extremely "surfy" feel that will appeal to shortboarding cross-over surfers. At my weight, I could see myself eventually getting used to a board of its size, realizing that I'd have to climb the SUB learning curve again. I'd be interested in trying out the C4's bigger brother the 10'6", given my dimensions and experience I think this larger version would be a better fit . Overall, I can say that riding this board has expanded my paddle surfing world a little bit- and I've begun to realize that I may have to make room in my shed for more then one stand up board. Ouch.

Photo Day: Working on the new watercam setup

Well we're getting a little eclectic here with our photo collection but there's a reason for it.

MOFO (the guy on the right in the photo to the left and stand up paddling into the wave below) decided to merge his origami skills with his hidden Martha Stewart to create a camera neck "holster" for his waterproof Olympus point and shoot. He used scraps of wetsuit material, glue and hand stitching to put together a really functional and robust camera housing. The water photos were his first attempt with the new camera rig.


I'm going to talk him into letting me photograph his new camera holster and will post it soon. The other photos are of Kelly Kraus surfing Cliffs (photo to the left) on his new C4 Waterman 10'0 a board we'll be reviewing soon. I'm the screwfoot fading left to go right at the Cliffs. Conditions were pretty meager yesterday (7-15-07) but we were able to get into some fun waves once we paddled far enough south.

I'm excited to get into the water photography game. Last week I ordered a Sanyo Xacti waterproof camera that will allow me to videotape and photograph in the water. I think the MOFO housing will make it user friendly by keeping it close at hand but not allow it to dangle all over the place. The camera should arrive next week and I'll have it in the water as soon as possible. Be sure to check back for the shots and video.



Note: The other two gentlemen in the top photo are North kiter John Klinger (Klinky) on the left and Kinsley Wong of Xtreme Big Air in San Luis Obispo. Klinky is a Strand local and has been stand up paddling a Mistral Pacifico when he's not lofting himself over the Cay's overpass.

Also: Kelly Kraus is the owner of Emerald City surf shop in Coronado on Orange Avenue. If you're interested in checking out the new C4 Waterman boards you should go to Emerald City. Kelly's the only guy I know of that has the whole range of C4 boards and he rides one everyday so he knows what he's talking about. Go check'em out!