April Fools: Tough conditions - still fun!

Just a little clip. This was a tough day to surf. I know it looks really clean and inviting but, truthfully, there weren't too many corners that day. Kelly and I had a good time anyways. Check it out:



Here's a cool, little blog that's just getting started. Check out Sheldon's Cubicle Surfer.

Charging the Wedge on a Stand Up Board

Tell me what you think about this:

The Wedge from SportShorts on Vimeo.

Stand Up Paddle Surf Video: Mainland 2009

Here's a little bit of the point, eats and friends. Check it out:


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All stand up boards were made by Tim Stamps, go check his site at www.surfboardsbystamps.com.

Farmer Dave's (light blue rashguard, yellow and black camo pad on all white board) is on one of Tim's new shapes- it's a 9.0', little bump in the tail, foiled and a bit wider- the thing looks fun, I regret not giving it a whirl.

Big Chad's on a blue railed 10' Viking model- Chad's at least 260lbs- so for all you big boys out there who think you're stuck on some 12' Starboard tanker, there's hope- get a real board. I'm on a 9'4 Viking (235lbs) and Mike's (orange railed SUB on top of the rental car) on a 9'2 Vike.

Here's a tip: order a new board.

Stand up paddle surf lessons in sunny San Diego. This is the summer of the paddle- get out and get up! This summer we are proudly featuring the full line of Isle Stand Up Boards. Now's your chance to paddle Isle's latest and greatest offerings. Stand up paddling is for everyone- come book a lesson with us. We're not a "cattle call" stand up machine- churning out SUP CLONES. We only teach private lessons! For more information click here. Be sure to read about your instructor! Email: john@paddlesurf.net or call 619.213.6622

Here's a new paddle surf clip I put together from hard drive leftovers...

Check it out:


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Odds and Ends: A correction, a video, board rumors.

Looks like I made a mistake about Yan's board that we featured a couple days ago in the little clip from La Jolla Shores. It was shaped by Jim Ellington and his boards are available at Mitch's Surf Shop. By the way, Mitch's shop is becoming somewhat of an epicenter of stand up paddling in the La Jolla area- stop by if you're in the area and check out what he's got going on. Thanks Gail for keeping me honest!

Some new boards in the works? Rumor has it there may be a newly designed and freshly shaped 7'11 stand up coming out of the Stamps board factory. I've seen the preliminary design work on it and all I can say is.... sign me up (I don't know 8'8" or so... maybe 8'6"?). This one's going to be a hot board. Just a rumor right now but as always we'll keep you posted.

Out of nowhere, Jim Brewer up at BlueLine Paddle Surf in Santa Barbara (now that's a cool shop- definitely check that one out if you're up north) sent me this clip of gnarly Hawaiian stand up paddlers getting legitimately barrelled at some North Shore name spots. Understand, a couple of those right hand barrels end in like two feet of water- heavy! If you can't get a full screen view of the clip, click here for the link.

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Stand up paddle surf lessons in sunny San Diego; you want 'em, we've got 'em! Get them while it's warm and sunny.... now's the time to develop your skills. Do it before summer so that when the warm days and warm waters of summer arrive, you'll be ready. Read more about lessons here. Email john@paddlesurf.net or call John at 619.213.6622.

Hot Clip: Luke Egan BLOWING MINDS on a stand up!

Whoa! Hold the press, I've got a new favorite. Check out Luke Egan absolutely ripping on a stand up board:



This may take the crown for the best SUP surfing I've seen this year. In an interview from a year ago, Joel Parkinson made the comment that he'd been doing stand up to stay in shape for surfing the upcoming contests of the ASP world tour. He also made the off hand statement that while he and the boys were having fun paddling around, Luke Egan was surfing his stand ups just like his regular boards.

I'd seen other footage of Luke surfing his short stand ups and remembered how hard off the bottom he was pushing his boards. The radical nature of his surfing and the clean crossover from high performance short board surfing to flat out killing it on a stand up board left a mark on my memory. Joel's statement is so much more valid now that I've seen this short vid. This clip definitely raises the bar for performance stand up paddling- I'm stoked and inspired by it!

Learn how to stand up paddle surf here in sunny San Diego! Click here for more information about our award winning stand up paddle lessons. SUP lessons are for everyone so get on out here and give it a shot! Call John at 619.213.6622 or email john@paddlesurf.net

San-O Follow Cam: Check it!

Here's a fun little clip:


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San-O Surfing: Cloudy, windy... FUN

Had a really fun day meeting up with some fellow 'Zoners today at the San-O Dog Patch. The day started out looking fairly sour with a nasty little south wind blowing the small surf to rags. It was chilly too. But, like always, if you just fire up enough to get your ass of the beach, things start getting better. It's always like that. Camera Grom accepted a bribe of a breakfast at Tommy's to come up and shoot some vid of us snagging a few. Yes, I know I look ridiculous in that helmet cam... but I did get some cool shots- you're just going to have to check back to see my clip!

Here's Camera Grom's cut of the day's adventures:


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Check this out: BeachSurf is back! If you haven't checked out this site yet- you should. Especially if you're an IB local or you just like beach weirdness. I'm stoked to announce that longtime beach lurker and IB local, Jeff Wallis will be running the show over there. If you like clean, homegrown, surf photography click on over and check out what he's got going on.

Meager Surf: Camera Grom's Vid

Thanks to Grom for editing this morning's blazing paddle surf action up for us. Happy we had anything at all to surf actually... it's been pretty dismal...


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Stand up paddle surf lessons in sunny (almost) San Diego. Let us teach you how to stand up paddle surf safely- we'll start you on a nice, stable, beginner board on flat calm, protected waters. You'll learn everything you need to know to get started in stand up paddling. You'll laugh, you'll smile, you'll paddle your heart out! Contact us today: 619.213.6622 or email john@paddlesurf.net also, be sure to check our lessons page for more information and some testimonials from satisfied students. Paddle- be happy!

The Big Chad Report

We just can't get enough video of ourselves! Isn't that true for us all? Maybe we are just camera sluts, but even when the surf isn't great we want to see the footage. Here is what we got from today. Not the best looking surf (it took about an hour of looking at it and waiting for the tide before we paddled out) but we ended up having a lot of fun and getting better surf than we expected.

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Big Chad Report: Surf Video 3-7-09

I did something to my knee last weekend and though I was drooling over the surf this morning, I am not ready to get out there yet. But thought it would be fun to show up early and get some video of the regulars. Hope you enjoy!

Bonus Day: What a beautiful day- hope you scored too!

A beautiful California day- here's a little clip I threw together. Enjoy:


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Video: Another Angle- Helmet Cam Go Pro

If you're more Go No than Go Pro, this one won't appeal to you. I dig the thing though. Here's a new angle on it. This one's an easy one to put together- I'll post details soon. Enjoy:


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New Stuff: Down the Line II Video, La Paz SUP Race, More Tahoe Madness

Great to be home again. I've got lots of new stuff and some unfinished business to take care of but to tell you the truth... I'm dead tired! Here's what's coming up this week:

1st: Check out the video clip I'm posting today. Down the Line II Rough Cut- I added some new footage from this last swell- some good stuff. Things to see include, Matt Wilson surfing in front of me- jiving and weaving inches from my rail and be sure to pause the clip at 2:17 that's a shot from inside of the wave looking at me in the pocket of the barrel- super cool!


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2nd: The La Ventana Kite Festival's 1st Annual Stand Up Paddle Race was super fun this weekend- perfect race conditions and a really fun and fired up group of racers made for a excellent morning of racing. Check back for photos, a video clip and the full results.

3rd: Tahoe Masochist Tour Part II coming at you in the next couple of days- the pain continues!

Go Pro Hero: Down the Line Video Part I

Mike convinced me to post this one now. This is getting closer and closer to what I'm trying to get with this little camera. Hopefully, I can pull into something this weekend and make it legit!


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Camera Grom's Cut: Sunday's Mushburgers

Here's Camera Grom's Cut of the footage he shot this Sunday:



Everybody's amping for the swell that's supposed to hit this weekend. I really don't like getting so worked up because each time I start anticipating it, I'm let down. Things are looking good though; we've got a good, solid swell that's been on the charts and forecast by more than one surf guru and the weatherman is calling for a big Santa Ana (which means offshore) blow. It could get really, really good.

I'm already visualizing the shots that I want to get. If it all works out I should be able to finish my third little Go Pro clip. This next one features better angles than the last two, let's just say I'm providing more context in the frame. Stay tuned!

Stand Up Paddle Surf Lessons in San Diego: Give us a call! 619.213.6622 or email john@paddlesurf.net Click here for more lesson information.

Video: Cold, offshore, San Diego morning, small surf/big fun

Here's another video clip. Three videos in two days of surfing, I guess when it rains it pours around here. Camera Grom is going to whip up his cut from the footage and I'm sure we'll see that in a couple of days. Here's a cool little bit of information: I surfed for almost exactly an hour with the crew that's in this little film. I had the Grom come over right after the session to upload the shots onto my hard drive. When analyzed on a waves per hour basis, the results of our little session were an eyeopener.

I was amazed at the amount of surfing we did in that time period. An hour of surfing yielded forty clips. Each clip has at least one wave on it so that's forty waves in an hour! And this was in pretty dismal, inconsistent conditions. That's a lot of wave riding for an hour. It gets you thinking about the advantage we've got over prone surfers, it's the type of edge that we definitely should keep under control if we're going to promote harmony out there.


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Paddle Cam: Video and Stills.... I'm HOOKED!

I'm going to lose sleep and valuable hours of my life with this thing! Check out this video I just edited up from footage I shot this morning:


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Here's a still photo:

Glassing with Stamps

Here's that video I promised of my brother Mike's stand up board getting glassed by Tim Stamps. Tim shaped out the board and likes to glass 'em up right. By the way, how good does that 9'2" look? And, did you get a peek at the 10'6" that's in the racks? How'd you like to take that one out for a spin?


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Johnson Big Stick Paddles: EJ talks us through a couple new blades from JBS

Just finished editing up this little interview I grabbed with EJ, owner/operator of Johnson Big Stick Paddles. I'm pretty blown away by the quality of the paddles EJ is building. The craftsmanship is, frankly, mind-blowing; the guy really knows how to work with wood.

I'm even more excited to get out and paddle the new blade that EJ sent home with me. Check back for a full review of the entry level JBS blade. Until then, check out this little clip I threw together and please forgive me for all the cliche, surfer talk- when I'm at the beach I revert back to my feral state of intrinsic stoke!


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Stand up paddle surf lessons in sunny, San Diego. Come paddle with us, we'll get you out and paddling with perfect form, a huge smile and happiness in your paddling heart. Really. Call or email: 619.213.6622 or john@paddlesurf.net Want more info? Click here for lesson details and some testimonials from satisfied paddle surf students.