Archive for the 'Gear Previews' Category

A Morning Session on Blue Planet Surf’s 9′8″ x 29″ ‘Rockit’ SUP Board

Here’s a video sent to us by Robert Stehlik. This was shot during a morning SUP surfing session. The board is from Blue Planet’s new stand up paddle board lineup.


(click thumbnail to launch video)

S.I.C. Custom Bullet 12′ SUP Race Board

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I recently took delivery on the new SIC Bullet 12 and I believe this is the first Bullet 12 with steering and the new handle. First thing I noticed was how light the board is. When I unloaded it out of the shipping container, even with the cardboard box it seemed way lighter than I expected. I was blown away when Mark told me he thought the board weighs 21 lbs.
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C4 Waterman SUBNine X-Wing Stand Up Racing Paddle

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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.
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Robert Stehlik Surfing the Blue Planet 10′6″ SUP Board

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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.
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New S.I.C. SUP Race Boards for 2012

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I caught up with Mark Raaphorst to show off some of the new SUP race boards for S.I.C.’s 2012 line.
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WaveJet Propulsion System

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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’

The C4 Waterman SUPZILLA

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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.
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Starboard SUP Surfing the Sternwheeler

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)

12′6″ SUP race board speed test by Robert Stehlik

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.
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New Blue Planet Surf SUP Products

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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.
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Blue Planet Surf 2011 SUP Stand Up Paddle Board Lineup

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Robert Stehlik presents the Fall 2011 lineup of Blue Planet Epoxy veneer vacuum sandwich SUP boards with sizes ranging from 8′2″ to 14′.
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Blair 2011 Stand Up Paddle Surfing Boards – Video Interview

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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.
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Blue Planet Surf Stand Up Paddle Boards and Surfboards

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)

S.I.C. X-12 SUP Stand Up Paddle Race Board

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)

Starboard 9′1″ x 29″ Pro SUP Stand Up Paddle Board

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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.
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