Hobie/Hennessey's Dana Point Race Photos and Results

Andie Johnson sent me some great photos from the Hobie Hennessey's Race in Dana Point. I've been told the conditions were pretty brutal. In addition to the mixed seas rebounding off the jetty there was a nasty south wind blowing straight into the faces of the racers for about four miles of the course.

On the bright side this was a race with cash prizes for the top three finishers in each category. For a full breakdown of all of the finishers checkout the Hobie race results page.

Tim Stamps' race boards did well placing in three SUP divisions. Ernest Johnson (EJ) paddled one of the new Stamps Arrow designs and finished 3rd Overall in Stock SUP; EJ took home a few bucks for his efforts. Farmer Dave, riding the Arrow 1, finished in 1st place in the 30 - 39 year old Division of the Stock SUP category with Tim Stamps finishing 3rd in the 40 - 49 age group of the Stock SUP class.

A touch of south, a touch of wind swell

Check the new video Camera Grom shot this morning (his cut will be out tomorrow- he's shooting again on Sunday). The south that we've been waiting for was starting to serve up some peaks. Kiwi (blue Stu Kenson 10'x28" quad) snagged a couple of good ones. I surfed down the beach (green and yellow Stamps 10'x 29.5", 2+1) where it was considerably more bumpy but less crowded.

Paddle Surf Lessons here in San Diego are firing up. It's been really fun watching the excitement spread. If you're interested in learning be sure to click our lessons page.

I'd love to see your videos. If you've got a homegrown SUP video clip on Youtube or Vimeo (or hosted anywhere else - I suggest www.ipaddlesurf.com it's got the easiest upload protocol and best resolution I've come across) and would like for me to post it, send me the embed code and I'll put it up.


Find more videos like this on Stand Up Paddle Surfing

Farmer Dave's New Board: Stamps 9'0 - Are you kidding me?

Stamps is killing me with this board. Farmer Dave, you're a lucky man. Better keep that under wraps or I'll HAVE it!

Look at this thing. This one comes in at 9'0 x 29" x 4.25". You've paddle surfed for awhile now, can't you look at this board and mindsurf it? Check the clean outline- see how the hips pull so sweetly down into the round tail. If you want to flow, link turns and carry speed, in my opinion, the round tail is it. It's such a neutral design, you can fit it into almost any part of the wave. It'll drive through steep sections or turn out of flat spots.

The tail is pulled but not to a ridiculous extent. It's designed for what we're surfing here in Southern California. There's planing area to produce drive but enough taper to hold when you come hard off the bottom.

This really is a thoughtful design. Consider the width, even though the board is only 9'0 the gut is right at 29". Those are cool numbers, they get away from the sub 28" wide mindset that most of smaller molded boards are carrying. The result is a much more stable, short stand up board- not a wobble stick that you'll soon send down the road.

If you can, buy local and insist on custom made- same price, made to fit.

Go check 'em all at www.surfboardsbystamps.com

Hennessey's River Run Video

Just got back from Needles California and the Hennessey's River Run. Check out this video I threw together:



Photos: A few of you've been asking about the board Tim Stamps won the Stock Class on; here are some extra photos for you.

Check it Out: Stamps 9'0 x 28 3/4 x 4 1/4 For Sale

If you're looking to move down in size from your 12' starter SUB check this board out. It's the one I'd buy if I had an extra $1100 bucks on me- this thing is effing hot. Actually, I'm holding at 235 lbs so I might go a little bigger but for someone who's in the 175 - 215 range this board would be perfect.

A couple of things: I like the round tails on these boards- I'm finding that with the increased tail width, the round tail provides the best compromise between stability and bite. With the round tail you can bring the board all the way down into the flats, push it over and it'll hold- or you can pump a quick mid-face turn to clear a section and the board will squirt (you can see me doing both of these turns on the same wave in the last two videos posted- the Mahi 2 has a round tail and I'm stoked on it).

The curves of the tail basically fit anywhere on the wave- you may not get the kick in the ass punch of a square or diamond tail but you make it up in versatility and flow... at least that's how I see it. Secondly, I'm sold on hand-made boards - I'll never go back to a molded board. The handmade boards feel like surfboards- try one you'll instantly notice the difference.

The board is used but in perfect condition- the deck in front of the pad has been sprayed with Hula Deck so you'll never have to wax it. It's got a sanded finish so it's light- I really like this board- snag it or I will and then I'll have some serious explaining to do! Contact Tim Stamps to buy this board.

Email: stampssurf@charter.net

Better Yet: Drive on up to the Stamps Board Works, meet Cowboy, talk stand up boards and order up a new one- go on, you know you deserve it.

Video: 8'0 Stand Up Board- with Big Boy on Board!

Short, curvy and fun... we're either talking about Salma Hayek or Stamps' 8'0 a.k.a "the biscuit". Check out this short clip of a short SUB... understand, the waves were horrible on this day- and that little chunk managed to get itself going!



>Amazing that at 235lbs it even floated me at all. I'm going to pester Stamps for the volume number on that board. I've seen other small boards but the owners of the boards have weighed much less than two bills. I've always thought that a 10' for a guy above 210' is proportional to an 8'0 for riders in the 100lb to 160' range. This board has made me think about how small I can go on my next board- I'm thinking I'd like to see something in the 9'4" or 9'6"length. Maybe even a 9'0 like Stamp's performance model but beefed up to 30" wide.

The board is ridiculously fun to surf. I'm dying for a head-high, glassy day where I can really get my back foot into the thing. It's a fast board and it's soooo much easier to throw it up into the lip than my big board. I can only imagine the speed I could generate on a lined up left hander, I'm also curious about how straight up into the lip I could put the thing and how it'll behave coming off the bottom at speed.

In the paddling department, you have to remember that as the board shrinks, the paddling sweet spot shrinks as well. Standing on this board was tough. I fell a lot, probably three times as often as when I'm on my ten footer. Dropping in on such a small board was also much different than on the bigger stand up, you get into the wave much later than you're used to, there's very little "glide in". Additionally, I'm going to have to figure out how to punch whitewater with this one- I was totally unsuccessful on it today. In fact, paddling this board makes you feel like you're learning all over again- which is cool with me because I love the process of figuring things out.

What's the point? This question crossed my mind a few times out there. After all, don't I have a hot 8'0 mini-longboard at home that surfs equally well when prone paddled into a wave? Uh yeah, but... who cares! It's just fun to paddle out on all kinds of crazy things and have fun- and having fun has always been the point to me.

A Little Bit of This and A Little bit of That (hopefully)

Keeping my fingers crossed that we'll score some fun surf tomorrow. I was able to steal a couple of hours out of the day today and hop in at the end of the street. Turned out to be a fun two hour paddle with mushy waist high lefts funneling into a new hole punched out by our recent storms. The beach is changing with the season, the sand's moving offshore and some of the slow, shoaling sand bars are starting to work. Perfect for our type of wave riding!

I'm keeping my hopes up that tomorrow will bring clear skies, clean water and fun little waves. A big part of this is the blue railed number you see here. It's a scaled down version of the Mahi and I really want to see how it goes. It's fun (and really important) to try different configurations of the same design. You start to rachet down the variables until you're where you need to be. I'll keep you posted.


Top Photo: 10'o and hot.

Middle Photo: Sweet rocker.

Bottom: Good clean fun.

All Photos: El Tigre

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

Let the Magic Begin, Part III: Off to Paint and Glass

Once the shaping side is done the board is off to paint and glass. I like to leave the creative side of this up to the painters- after all they've done a million boards and they know what looks good. I just like to specifiy colors and for me it's greens and yellows. This is part of the fun of the custom board process- some shapers will even let you come in and throw your own paint on it if you're feeling like you need to express yourself. A tip: Less is more (Yeah that Molly Hatchet album cover might've seemed easy when you were tracing it in 8th grade- but it becomes a nightmare when you've only got one shot at it on your hot new board- simple and clean is the way to go!)

Glassing is another area where the board can be customized. You'll pay more for it, but you can ask for extra layers of glass if you think you're going to be beating your poor new stick to death. I like to pay a little more for what's called a gloss and polish. This is a final coat of resin over the epoxy and glass lamination that gets buffed out giving the board a highly polished look. I kind of dig it so I always go for it. Many contest surfers like to go for a lighter glass job and skip the gloss and polish, the board will be lighter but more then likely, less durable (most of these guys get them for free so they beat 'em to death).

In the end, the goal is to find a shaper you can talk to. I'm a fan of the new digital shaping programs; using them ensures that both shaper and surfer are in the same frame of mind. A lot of errors can be caught early when you have something tangible to look at rather then a bunch of ideas swirling around in the dusty air of a busy shaping bay.

Once you've found a shaper that you can work with, stay loyal to them. As you build your CAD file you can begin to work on variables one at a time until you've hit the mark- and you've dialed in your magic board. And that, my friend, is just the beginning!

Top two photos: Adding the good stuff that'll hopefully stop me from kooking out! Whatever it is, keep it coming.

Bottom Photo: Ready for a trick paint job and some bad ass glass. The hardest part of the whole process is the waiting!


All Photos: Cowboy


Thanks to Tim Stamps and the boys at ProCam- still waiting for the underground, double secret, good stuff!

Let the Magic Begin, Part II: Clean and Fair

The shaper brings it all to life. Once a board arrives from the mill it's up to the shaper to make it work. This is where hard earned years of experience pay off. The best make it look easy- linking curves, eyeballing rocker lines and fairing rails all while cracking a joke (or a beer).

Above: Stamps, linking the numbers. A good view of my new board, mid-scrub. Too heavy of a hand and you've just destroyed the rail, too light of a touch and the foils all wrong. Think I could do this? Nope!




2nd Photo: A California solution to the surf we've got right here. Another view of my soon to be carve machine.







3rd Photo: How sweet is the rail line and foil on this thing? Still got some beef in it to float all 220lbs of me and at 29" wide isn't going to be skittish in the chop.




All Photos: Cowboy

Let the Magic Begin, Part I: Here Comes Something New

I love the new technology that's come to board building. The CAD programs, the cutting machines, the computers- they've brought a level of quantitative certainty to the design and build process. The advances are allowing shapers, and the surfers who go to them for custom boards, to track the evolution of a design idea and lock it down on the hard drive of a laptop. Work towards that magic shape and hit Save- that's cool!

This hasn't come without some due diligence on the side of the boardsmiths. Learning to effectively use a CAD program is a wee bit different then throwing in a brush rebuild kit on the ol' Skill 100. The programs are demanding- and the shapers that have retooled themselves to use them have worked hard to get there. The effort is one hundred percent worth it. The use of precision milling machines and the programs that drive them have changed the shaper-to-surfer dynamic. Ordering up a new ride just got really interesting.

For those of us who have ordered custom boards for decades, working with a CAD proficient shaper is a whole new ball game. Shapers may come to you with wire frame printouts (see graphic above) of ideas that you've communicated with them- files can be sent back and forth over the internet; a surfer in La Jolla could easily work with a shaper in Huntington exchanging ideas like email, refining a shape until it's ready to be cut. Take a look at the top graphic of a board designed for me by Tim Stamps, for this shape I was looking for a carve machine, something that'd handle a bit of speed and size. I didn't want to be submerged up to my ankles and I didn't want to worry about balancing too much on sloppy days. At my size, finding a board that'd come down a bit in each dimension while not getting ridiculously narrow, thin or lean is impossible. With a CAD build process you can see exactly what you're going to get. For example, I was really concerned with the volume number. If you check the new board design above you can see the overall volume will come in at just about 155L which is close to a 15L drop in volume from my previous board- an acceptable and predictable volume loss. I also like the width- I'm not afraid of a 29" belly, especially since I've got the gut to turn it (ah, the beauty of the custom board).
Shapers who will work with you through the CAD design process are the exception rather than the rule. The time required to work up your custom design, communicate changes and re-check for viability is considerable. I'm fortunate to work with a guy who loves this stuff. Tim Stamps sees where this is going and recognizes the benefit it brings to both shaper and rider- he's definitely worth contacting if you're considering a custom CAD stand up board. The guy knows his stuff.

There is one common theme when a new board is in the works. It's a gut feeling. Whether it's an emailed CAD workup or the first snap shots of the cut blank (see second photo) the new board magic has a visceral impact. Can you feel it? It's killing me!

Middle Photo: Fresh from the mill and ready to be finished out- lookin' really, really good!

Last Photo: Who da' guy? Stamps, taking a second away from scrubbin' one out to clown around- now get that thing done, I'm going nuts over here!

Grab this board!

Take it home.
Tim Stamps' personal Stand Up Board (and since he's got three others, used very little), 10'0 x 27.5" x 4".

I featured this board in an earlier piece, it's a sweet ride. Ten footers offer the perfect compromise between cruiseability and high performance surfing. The board was meant to be turned and driven down the line.

If I were a bit smaller I'd have already snagged this one. Stamps is looking for $1000 obo with pad and fins. An opportunity to get into a high-end, hand made board without hitting the 2k mark- save yourself at least $600. Normal wear and tear but in all honesty, as new condition. Don't drop the ball, jump on this one!

Make an offer!
Contact Tim Stamps here.


Board has been sold and will soon be prowling the lineups of North San Diego County!

Handmade: A new Sweep and an Open Ocean Racer

First of all: I need to thank everybody out there who is building this blog into a community. I really appreciate the input regarding the site and its content. I especially enjoy your submissions- the photos, ideas and suggestions that keep this blog fat and happy- Keep 'em coming!

Speaking of contributions: Check these two out. The top photo is the blade of a beautiful Koa paddle constructed by Beau Whitehead up in Bellingham, Washington. In my opinion, guys like Beau and Andy Gere in Santa Cruz are rekindling surfing's pioneer spirit. They're resurrecting surfing's ghosts (it is Halloween after all). In my eyes they're emulating surfing's forefathers, I'm talking about the guys who planed their own redwood boards and dawn patrolled it in trunks and wool sweaters. Keep it up gentlemen, you're honoring our past (and you thought you were just making a paddle).

Tim Stamps has got his own ideas: Didn't we last see him on an 8-nothing stand up biscuit? Well, here's where he went next- a big 'ol open ocean solution. We all know that fresh ideas are rare birds- time and time again the world shows us it's easier to poach from others then to walk point. Support shapers like T. Stamps who aren't afraid to risk a little- to move us forward a lot.

Stepping Down to 10'0

Wednesday ended up being a great day to run up the coast; there was still a little bump in the water, I had an open ended agenda and a full tank of gas to burn.

Leaving home by 5 am, I was able to pull into San Onofre, surf for three and a half hours, eat a ridiculous, million calorie breakfast (try Tommy's in San Clemente. My standard order? A chocolate and peanut butter malt with corned beef hash and eggs- I eat) and still make it to Tim Stamps' shop in Huntington by 1 pm. As if that weren't enough, we were also able to squeeze in a two hour session just before dark at the Seal Beach Jetty- obviously it was a full day.

If you've never been able to tuck into a corner of a shaping bay and watched a surfboard crawl out of a block of foam, you need to fire up your networking skills. Make calls, do lunches; whatever it takes to figure out a way to get yourself into one of those blue rooms, you'll never look at your surfboard the same again.

I got my chance that Wednesday- I was able to hang out, ask all the stupid questions and learn as much as possible from a guy who's obviously logged thousands of hours shaping boards. Tim's been involved in all phases of surfboard manufacturing since he was a twelve year old apprentice at the Harbour shop in Seal Beach- so when he talks about surfboard design, I listen (and when you don't know anything it's easy to shut your mouth and pay attention).

It was funny, then, when Tim pulled out the board that he thought I'd like (it's the yellow board with the black quickblade deck pad on it), I took one look at it and totally disagreed with him. I told him that I'd ridden some ten footers and that in general I kind of preferred the stability, glide and paddleability of the larger (11'6" to 12') stand up boards. Tim's a tactful guy and in his easy manner said, "I really think this is the one you'll like, it's got all that twelve footer pushed into ten feet". So basically, the stage was set- the boards loaded into the trucks and off to the Seal Beach Jetty we went.

I have to say that I was intrigued by the width of the 10'0, most smaller boards that I'd ridden up to that point had been proportionally reduced in width as well as length. Tim had kept a lot of width in the board and the thing had a fat tail- think J-lo not Gwyneth. Who knows maybe the guy's right- there was only one thing left to do.

Well, you knew this was coming: It only took me one wave to know that I will be ordering one of those boards for myself. And, Mitchell, if you're reading this, you know which wave I'm talking about. But, I'm getting ahead of myself, let me first set the stage.

The conditions were technically difficult: we paddled out through the warm water river which was running out to sea against the swell and wind chop creating short interval cross chop- to add to that, the wind was blowing 15 to 20 miles directly on shore (guys were flying 11 and 12m kites outside of us). The surf was knee to maybe waist high and not pretty- some lefts had a little push and some make-able sections but it was otherwise pretty weak.

Tim, Mitchell (a Seal Beach local getting into the "dark side") and I paddled straight into the teeth of that wind. I was really impressed with the paddleability of that board. The board paddled very well. And the thing was stable even for a bigger guy like me- I didn't fall until I had gotten out into the surf and was paddling through waves to the outside. Most boards of this size have been a handful for me when their width is dropped into the 28" and below range. The board was as comfortable to paddle as my 11'11" Big Red- I was liking the thing more and more.

The surf was pretty poor that day, but for what was there and how the board performed, I was blown away. The board didn't have the "point and shoot" feel of the 10'10" Big Blue, this is not necessarily a walk the nose, drop knee cut back type of ride. On The Wave, I dropped into a doubling up waist high left, cranked off the bottom, power banked into the oncoming wall and repeated that drop and pump for about twenty yards ending right in front of the rocks of the jetty. Talk about making something out of nothing! The board felt light, fast and loose- which was odd to me because it was rigged with a 9.5" single fin- and I didn't think single fin boards could feel like that.

Here's my conclusion: If you're thinking about moving down in size from the board you started on, get yourself to a shaper who's made a few boards and has the experience to know how to build a board that's customized to your shape, size and weight. For me, some of the production boards in the 10'0" range are too narrow- the board Tim's built here seems to be just perfectly proportioned for its size. It's for this reason that I know that there will always be a place for the full custom, hand shaped, paddle board- one size definitely can't fit all, especially if you're eating million calorie breakfasts like me.

I can tell you with 100% certainty, one of these boards is in my future- check one out if you get the chance!

Contact Tim Stamps through his website: www.surfboardsbystamps.com

Also: You may have noticed the flowered stand up board (top right photo)- that's a custom stand up board for Tim's wife Linda who's become a paddling junkie too! Go Linda!


And: Tim's glassing a green stand up board (top left photo) that is a refinement of the yellow board I liked so much- who knows I may be driving back up to Tim's shop soon to test another board. Bummer.

Finally: Maui shaper Jimmy Lewis will be here in San Diego at Cardiff Reef with some of his new boards Friday, August 3rd- go check 'em out!

Check Back: Tim Stamps full custom Stand Up Boards

I know what I want in a 10'0": it's yellow, hand made and will change the way you surf a stand up board. Check back for a full review of the best board I've been on this summer.