The conditions finally tampered down after days on overhead surf and 20-30 knot onshore winds from a stationary mid-Atlantic coast storm. 3-4’ swells coming through on a light fog. Didnt mind the fog as much as the 10 mph diagonal onshore wind. Really mushed the waves. Rideable but lacking in the zip factor.
Only able to surf around one on the waveski before my hip flexors cramped up. I’m on the 25th day of a “30 day squat challenge”. For sure my legs and core got stronger. But hips also got much tighter. Jeeze… i need to do a 30 day stretch challenge now…
Testing Gopro on the waveski. Waveski is a tad bit too short to allow for a longer and fuller shot. The Gopro is situated about 2.5’ behind me, with the video set at “superview” mode (allowing the widest view possible).
Last year I put flooring in the whole top floor and hardwood stairs in our house using a traditional hammer while I was stuck home. My elbows, knees and calves are still complaining.
We have had winds like crazy for weeks, I finally got out this morning to try out my freshly carved greenland paddle , but used my Cobra Strike. Was hoping for a flat day sometime but it doesn’t seem to happen. 4ft @ 5 seconds and 9 kts onshores, probably a lovely day on the east coast but it was a little much for my Greenland skills in a SOT surf boat ( probably Greenland sacrilege too) Funny thing I can go right and stay upright just fine, if I go left , my bottom turn and bracing just didn’t work. After about ten windowshades, I decided to try on a day with less surf or at least not 5 second period. I think the paddle will be fine for coastal paddleswhen the summer doldrums arrive.
Good gosh… I clearly lack your drive for home projects. I too have a list of things but a hardly a dent in completing them.
Great with finishing the GP. Give several more go’s with the SOT. Might be a case of getting used to the tool. One advantage of the GP for the SOT is the extended paddle roll. Can roll the wider SOT a tad bit easier that a shorter Euro.
Yes, definitely the case. I’m used to watching the waves and doing a quick 180 on the wave ski with my dear old Onno paddle, but I had to do a lot of quick extended paddle sweeps with the GP, to get in position, and then back centered to paddle into the wave, then extended in the opposite direction to crank the turn, and I’m just not used to moving hand positions on the paddle fast enough for surfing and survival bracing, and it felt really clumsy on my left side. I also took the back band off the boat so i could layback roll, and that really threw my balancing tricks off. GPs are very interesting though, paddling hard I feel like I’m going no where but there I am outside the breakers.
It is 79 " long (I’m short) and 3 and 3/8" wide at the blade tips the loom is about 18" wide to use with surf boat and whitewater boat. Before when i made my first GP, I followed a lot of warnings not to make the paddle shorter than 82" , but it seemed too long and awkward after using shorter surf and whitewater paddles so much. It feels like I can rotate this paddle quicker, which is what I was going for.
Those dimensions would be similar to what I would go for, except for leaving the full 3.5" at the blade tip for more purchase. The carbon GP (Gearlab Aukunack) I have for surf is 200 cm long and a full 4" wide at the blade tip. I can’t wrap my grip around 4" of inch for blade to allow for a full paddle extension. But, I don’t need a full extended paddle to effect a roll either. So, I am cool with it. I actually need/look forward to taking this paddle out again on the next swell with the Sterling.
I made this one from reclaimed lumber, and when I started working it I found one edge of the board that had been in the weather was splitting, so I decided to just thin it down a bit to 3 and 3/8, that fits my hand pretty well. I was pretty lucky to avoid some screw holes, but there are a couple I filled with epoxy. I did almost all of the shaping with a hatchet, drawknife and rasp so it’s not a work of art, but the grain is actually quite nice. It’s pretty surprising how much such a narrow paddle will do for rolling or bracing when it’s swept across the water or sculled.
I got out again this morning in much cleaner conditions and had a really good time. I put the backband back on and only had two wipeouts. Wind was a bit offshore and the waves were 2- 4 ft at about 9 seconds, long peeling waves held up by the wind. Perfect beginners conditions. I got the hang of not trying to do aggressive bottom turns and just long sweeping turns. Also I start paddling down wave a lot sooner and kind of lift the boat to drop in by digging the paddle really deep at the just the right instant. Easier to do with regular period, and not washing machine condiitons. I also discovered it works well for paddle out take offs, I climb the wave and crank the boat around on the lip and bury the paddle back behind me and the boat just turns around the paddle and drops down the wave. Definitely had a good time with the new challenge,
Pretty cool move! Will have to try that one. Would have been useful in my last session. In the video, you can see I was paddling diagonal to the wave line when I got hit with the break and capsized. Bottom line, I was not expecting the wave to break (on shore wind really mushed the waves down making it harder to judge). Anyway, when I saw the sign of the wave cresting, I was trying to decide whether to get perpendicular and climb over, or to pivot around and try to catch the wave. Adopting your move might have been good. Alas… not deciding fast enough, the wave decided for me.
Will have to try that one. Would have been useful in my last session. In the video, you can see I was paddling diagonal to the wave line when I got hit with the break and capsized. Bottom line, I was not expecting the wave to break (on shore wind really mushed the waves down making it harder to judge). Anyway, when I saw the sign of the wave cresting, I was trying to decide whether to get perpendicular and climb over, or to pivot around and try to catch the wave. Adopting your move might have been good. Alas… not deciding fast enough, the wave decided for me. 