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Gear Previews Archive for the 'Gear Previews' Category
December 15th, 2011 by evan
C4 Waterman just released their new X-Wing stand up racing paddle from C4 Waterman’s SUBNine line. This is probably the most unique paddle design I’ve seen in a while. For the most part, in the last few years the paddles have has similar blade shapes, widths ranging from 7″ to 9.5″ and dihedral or non dihedral. Weights have dropped to around a pound for the lighter racing versions and different carbon layups have been seen. There are even paddles with different textures on the surface of the blade like the dimples on a Quickblade Magic.
Continue reading ‘C4 Waterman SUBNine X-Wing Stand Up Racing Paddle’
December 13th, 2011 by evan
Blue Planet Surf just launched a signature line of SUP and surfboards. Here’s a few shots of Robert Stehlik SUP surfing the new Blue Planet 10′6″ SUP stand up paddle board at Turtle Bay. Waves that day were shoulder to overhead and it was fairly windy. The 10′6″ looked pretty stable and judging from Robert’s surfing, it turns pretty well for a wide board. I think most of these were sold already so check with Blue Planet to see when the next shipment arrives.
Continue reading ‘Robert Stehlik Surfing the Blue Planet 10′6″ SUP Board’
December 12th, 2011 by evan
I caught up with Mark Raaphorst to show off some of the new SUP race boards for S.I.C.’s 2012 line.
Continue reading ‘New S.I.C. SUP Race Boards for 2012′
December 9th, 2011 by evan
I recently met Mike Railey (CEO and inventor) of WaveJet and he showed me some of their prototype boards which uses the WaveJet Pod propulsion system. This is basically a small jet engine that attaches to the bottom of a water vehicle. Check out the video below where Mike explains the WaveJet Propulsion System in more detail. Also in the video are some clips of me and my friend Kekoa Mau test riding a couple of WaveJet SUP boards. Continue reading ‘WaveJet Propulsion System’
December 7th, 2011 by evan
C4 brought out their Supzilla in full force at the Duke’s Oceanfest here in Honolulu earlier this year. Here’s a video of the C4 Waterman crew as they try to set the record for most stand up paddlers on a wave. This was taken during the 2011 Duke’s OceanFest.
Continue reading ‘The C4 Waterman SUPZILLA’
November 15th, 2011 by evan
Dan Gavere surfs the wake of a sternwheeler traveling thru the Columbia Gorge in Oregon/Washington on a Starboard Big EZ and the 2012 prototype Ace 14′x25″. This goes to show you can find waves in very unique places.
(click thumbnail to launch video)
November 14th, 2011 by robert
This article was originally published at the Zen Waterman Blog.
It’s been a while since our unlimited board test, where I said we would soon organize a test of 12′6″ and 14′ boards.
My friend Scotty had two 12′6 Hobie race boards and a Bark that he wanted to comparison test. I brought four more 12′6’s for a total of 7 boards to test, which worked out perfectly as seven testers showed up bright and early on a Saturday morning (Nov. 6th, 2011) to go through the rigorous 14 laps needed to test all the boards. Photos and specs of the individual boards are shown below. Unfortunately there were some wind gusts that affected times of the individual runs but because each board was tested in each run, these variations in conditions should average out over the results. Also, some of us had to run 8 rounds as someone tested the same board twice somewhere along the way, which threw everything off a little but in the end everyone toughed it out and tested all seven boards.
Continue reading ‘12′6″ SUP race board speed test by Robert Stehlik’
November 1st, 2011 by evan
Robert Stehlik shows us some useful products developed by Blue Planet Surf. These include an epoxy ‘ding stick’, clear, smooth rail tape, and a couple of new fins for downwind racing.
Continue reading ‘New Blue Planet Surf SUP Products’
October 16th, 2011 by evan
Robert Stehlik presents the Fall 2011 lineup of Blue Planet Epoxy veneer vacuum sandwich SUP boards with sizes ranging from 8′2″ to 14′.
Continue reading ‘Blue Planet Surf 2011 SUP Stand Up Paddle Board Lineup’
October 16th, 2011 by evan
Here are some new SUP stand up paddle surfing boards from Joe Blair. He showed me 3 new models that are now in production. These are the latest generation of Joe’s signature easy to ride big boy short boards. Joe’s 8′11″ was the first “small” board I rode a few years ago and it definitely helped my SUP surfing learning curve. Hear from Joe about his new boards by clicking the video below.
Continue reading ‘Blair 2011 Stand Up Paddle Surfing Boards – Video Interview’
October 11th, 2011 by evan
Blue Planet just launched their very own line of SUP boards, paddles and surfboards. Check out the video as Robert runs us through the new line.
(click thumbnail to launch video)
October 10th, 2011 by evan
Mark just sent over this quick video of the new SIC X-12 which may debut very soon. More to come…
(click thumbnail to launch video)
October 3rd, 2011 by evan
Here’s a preview of another board from Starboard’s 2011 Pro Wave lineup, the 9′1″ x 29″ Pro SUP stand up paddle board.
Continue reading ‘Starboard 9′1″ x 29″ Pro SUP Stand Up Paddle Board’
September 6th, 2011 by evan
Mark Raaphorst was en route to New York with the latest version of the S-16 Catamaran SUP and was kind enough to let Robert Stehlik (owner of Blue Planet Surf and Zen Waterman Blog) try it out while it was on Oahu. The S-16 really excels in flat water conditions when going in a straight line. It gets up to speed really quick and doesn’t take much effort to keep it there. Robert did some flat water testing so I won’t go into that too much but the area the excited me the most about this board was going upwind.
Continue reading ‘SIC S-16 SUP Catamaran – Round 2′
August 23rd, 2011 by evan
Here’s another board from Starboard’s 2011 Pro Wave lineup, the 9′8″ x 29″ Pro SUP stand up paddle board. This board has a bit more nose rocker than the 10′3″ x 29″ Pro.
Continue reading ‘Starboard 9′8″ x 29″ Pro SUP Stand Up Paddle Board’
