SportHaus Northwest has SUPs

I just met a couple of nice girls that had just finished a paddle at the Mud Hole. They were on a couple of matching SURFTECH boards. I knew that SportHaus NW had just started selling SURFTECHS and asked if that was where they bought them. They said they were just renting them but now they are in the market for a couple of boards.

SportHaus rents a package that includes the board, leash, paddle, PFD and straps for $40 a day or $25 for 4 hours. If you buy the board from them they will credit 1 rental towards the purchase price. Kinda like letting you try for free? Kinda. Anyway, if you decide you don't like having fun paddling around enjoying the sun and scenery, your only out 40 bucks.

I took some teenagers paddling last week. One of them asked, "What if I fall in?". My reply. "You'll get wet!" But..... I don't want to get wet! OMG! I told her that she probably shouldn't go on the board because you will fall in and you will get wet. The wake boarders seem to think the Mud Hole makes a really nice place to make large wakes. (25 mph, the boats are designed to make a large wake and at times only 20 or 30 feet from people in kayaks and on SUPs.) What a predicament. She finally realized she was being silly and ended up having a lot of fun. The first wake boarding boat that went by wiped her out! It's not so much the wakes they make, it's how close they come to people on the water. Wakes help you develop better balance. That's my positive spin on this, anyway.

I'm fairly sure the boaters are trying to be safe, but in my opinion they are being reckless. Today I took some photos of the occupants of one of the wake boats taking a break, having a few beers. I didn't see the driver drinking, but... I'm going to add a post in the next couple of days about the powered watercraft in the Mud Hole issue, after I hear back from Tom Lampson, the City Attorney for the city of Richland. He sent me some references last week to some city codes and RCWs that relate to reckless operation of watercraft along the shores of Richland.

Stand up for something and paddle!

Dominik's New Naish Glide - 14' of SUPing fun

Pros = Lighter, Faster

Cons = Fragile, Tippy (You'll fall in the water more often.)

When I first got my Glide I fell in more often than with my Starboard. I thought I had pretty good balance until I got on the Glide. After a few trips on the Glide my fast twitch muscles got faster and stronger (more endurance). Now my balance is good enough to start practicing pivot turns. Ya, right! Practice makes perfect. Or at least not as cold and wet. Bust out those wet suits and dry suits.

Stand up and paddle!

http://www.bigwinds.com/sup/category/63/product/2083

Check out the new lines of boards at BigWinds, Hoodriver, OR

Hi New SUPpers,

Here's some info that might help you get SUPing.

It's easy to get started. It's deciding how far you want to get into SUPing that is a little more difficult. Downwinders, surf SUPing etc...) A lot of people start off buying a big, heavy "Costco" board and very quickly learn that their skills and activities don't match the performance level of that beginner board.

If you just want to see if you can stand on a SUP board and paddle around and then decide if you should continue, one rental session should be plenty. Greenie's http://www.greenielife.com/greenies/Home/Home.htm has big, heavy (stable) boards you can rent. I think they charge like $40 a day or something. No lessons though.

I think the best way to get started is to meet up with/hang out with SUPpers, borrow their old boards for an hour or so, paddle around with them and learn from people that have been there, done that. I want to support the SUPing industry but at the very beginning of your learning curve lessons are an unnecessary expense. Developing the task specific muscles and balance are the first things to do. Later on, when you want to learn advanced skills, lessons are the best way to go, if you can't find a local SUPper with those advanced skills to teach you.

If you join the http://mudholesup.blogspot.com/ FOLLOWERS we can help you make contact with other SUPpers. HoeKuWahine is a local gal. Her name is Vanessa. You can message her through Google Friend Connect. In the summer she hits the water once or twice a week around 4:30 or 5 pm.

My tennis coaching season starts on Monday and goes for another 2 1/2 months. My afternoons are full and some of my Saturdays. I'm a high school teacher and will have spring break coming up in a little while and some half days. The water will still be really cold but the air temperature might be good. Hypothermia is always a concern, even in the summer.

Hypothermia and stuff ! Equipment !

Being safe is very important. In Washington the law requires an approved PFD. Several of the local SUPpers use an inflatable waist PFD. The Sheriff's boats have pulled up next to me while SUPing to check my PFD status on several occasions. I love it when their big wake hits me while I'm trying to show them my waist PFD. My brother is a Deputy with Benton County, so he hears me complain. Law enforcement keeps people safe that aren't willing to keep themselves safe. I was on Columbia Basin Dive Rescue for a while and got to see up close and personal what happens when you're not safe. In Oregon they have more stringent laws. You must wear a PFD and a whistle. You must also purchase an Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention Permit. https://or.outdoorcentral.us/or/license   If you park and launch from the Oregon side of the Columbia you'll need the permit.

This early in the season I would definitely recommend at least a full wetsuit. There are several ways to go for hypothermia protection.

1. Very cold water (36.5 degrees, now), very cold air (now). Drysuit with insulating undergarments ($800-$1000) I got my drysuit at REI, full wetsuit or farmer john with long sleeve wetsuit jacket ($300-$500). Insulated head covering (wetsuit hood).
2. Cold water (2 months from now, 48 degrees). Full wetsuit or farmer john with long sleeve wetsuit jacket.
3. Cold water (59 degrees), 80-90 degree air temp (4 months from now). Shorty wetsuit
4. 70 degree water, hot air temp (July, August and September) Swimsuit, if you get injured and can't pull yourself back up on the board, hypothermia is still an issue. Hypothermia onset at 95 degrees body temperature. It doesn't take very long in 70 degree water to drop 3.6 degrees in body temp.

As far as boards and accessories, I'd wait a little bit. It's a bit of a trip but demoing boards before you buy is the best way to make sure you get a board that will meet your long-term needs. Hood River has several demo shops right on the river. Seattle and Portland have many shops to choose from. I prefer Big Winds in Hood River, OR. http://www.bigwinds.com/sup They have a great selection of SUP boards and a demo shop at the Hood River Event Site right on the river.

A couple of my buddies and I are trying to figure out a way of starting a board shop here in the Tri Cities. Hey! If you know someone with a bunch of money that doesn't mind a high risk investment, send them my way! I need to do something during my summers and when I retire from teaching to keep from going crazy.
OK! I'll shut up. Geeeeeze!

If you would like to contact me:

lanewinsor@gmail.com

 Hope to hear from you,

Lane Winsor

Hey everybody!

It's been a while since the last post. Winter, teaching teenagers how to take great photographs and short days put a strain on the SUPing, that's for sure.

I'm really looking forward to getting on the water more often. Again, it's going to be a struggle what with tennis coaching season starting on Monday. It's looking like weekends are going to be the extent of my paddling for now.

The wind is blowing from the SW at about 35 mph right now. I would love to do a downwinder but I can’t get anybody to go with me. (I guess I could try hitchhiking back to my start point. Hey, buddy! You mind if I strap this 14’ board to your roof and scratch the crap out of your beautiful paintjob?) Or…. I just do it Dominik style and throw my board in the back of somebody's pickup and hope it doesn’t blow out cruisin' down the freeway. Just kidding buddy.

Hey, big news! Dominik got a rack for the truck. Half custom, half store-bought. Hey, more big news! Dominik bought a Naish Glide during the winter. Got a great price on it too. Steve and the guys (that includes gals but saying guys and gals makes me sound like I’m from the 50’s. Oh, wait, I am. Crap!) at Big Winds in Hood River are great to work with! That was a great sentence! Welcome to my ADD brain. Dominik is going to be hard to catch/keep up with this summer! I have a Glide too but Dominik’s Glide is lighter. (and he's younger and he's stronger and he's... oh never mind!

Hey, even more big news! I got a dry suit for Christmas! Saying I got a dry suit for Christmas sounds like somebody loves me enough to spend a crap load of money on me. Nope! I spoiled myself. Christmas isn’t fun until you hear the buzzer in your brain go off as you max out several credit cards. The good news is, if you scrimp and don’t do anything fun or go on any trips for the next 11 months you might pay off the cards so you can do it again next Christmas. Actually, the dry suit is the only thing I bought. The rest of the gifts were hand made by me using some of the great technology we have at the high school.

We have computer controlled lasers, computer controlled routers, computer controlled 3D printers and computer controlled milling machines. Ok, I didn’t make the gifts. The computers did. I helped though. I teach computer aided design also. I love my job! Taking pictures, playing with computers and cool technology all day. Yes, even with 125 teenagers mixed in. 125, that’s just my kids. 1900 total in the school. It’s like a small city with the entire population experiencing massive hormonal ebbs and surges. Never a dull moment.

Looking forward to seeing more people standing on expensive foam floaty things this summer.

See you on the water.

Stand proud! (No sitting)

Dominik, his friends and family, Vanessa and her husband and family and I went to the Naish Columbia Gorge Paddle Challenge in Hood River. It was great fun.

The first day (Saturday) was perfect for the course race. Flat water, no wind and hot. Lots of Camelbaks and water bottles out on the course. The surf class did 2 x 1.5 mile laps, the 12'6" class did 3 x 1.5 mile laps and the 14' class did 4 x 1.5 mile laps. 6 miles of paddling as hard as you can. Better stay hydrated.

Dominik placed 3rd in the Open Surf class, 17 to 49 year old division. Great job Dominik!

This was a great family event. Lots of vendors. Great food.

At 3:05 into the video watch Conner Baxter get an awesome hole shot at the start of the Elite class race. Baxter ended up winning with a narrow margin over Kai Lenny. There was only 10 seconds between first and fourth place. These paddlers, male and female, are definitely world class athletes.

Day 2 started out a little sketchy. The 8 mile downwind race was scheduled to start at 10 am. No wind! The weather report said the wind should start to blow a little later, so the race was pushed back until 12 noon. Fortunately the wind started blowing and the race was on. Eightyfive SUPers paddling like crazy, trying to catch "a glide from a bump". Downwind chop was on most of the course with a few sections of small swells. There were a couple of good glides on the small swells. More wind and bigger swells would have been great. Maybe next year. Same time, same place.

Next year Scott, Dominik,Vanessa, myself and anybody else we can drag along are going to compete. I plan on paddling all winter and developing a workout routine for the gym that will help my paddle conditioning.


Stand Up and Paddle!

Maiden Voyages

Scott and Kelly put there SUPs on the water for the first time Tuesday night. They really liked their new boards. Kelly gave each of the grandkids a ride on the deck and then let their daughter try it. Everybody liked the new boards.

Vanessa (HoeHe'eNaluWahine), a SUPer I had met a couple of weeks ago, was at Wade Park in Pasco paddling too. I had caught up to Vanessa while she was on an upstream paddle from Wade park to the anchor buoy just down stream of Chiawana Park. I caught my breath and drank some Powerade (very important to take something to drink on long conditioning paddles) then we had a nice talk on the downstream cruise. She mentioned that she has not seen very many SUPers out on the river and was hoping people in the area would get their boards and get paddling. I know there are a few people in town with some nice SUPs. The last time I was in Hood River at Big Winds, the sales guy said he has sold several boards to people in this area.

Come on people, lets get SUPing!

New Mud Hole SUPers

My buddy Scott and I went to Hood River last week to get edumicated on SUP technology. We stopped at Big Winds first to see what they had. Wow! We had struck SUP gold. They had several different product lines, sizes and shapes. I had purchased a SUP there a couple of weeks ago so I knew what to expect for pricing and design considerations. Scott had been online looking at different manufacturers, models and technology. I thought that if we started at Big Winds we would have a good reference for shopping at the other stores. We went to a couple of shops there in town. Some of the shops had pricey light weight boards and some had durable heavier boards that were less expensive.

Scott and I did a long distance paddle about 5 days before the trip (about 9 miles, from Leslie Groves Park in north Richland to Wade Park in Pasco). Scott had used my board previously and decided SUPing was fun and would be a good workout. The true test of fun and exercise was the 9 miler. We got Scott set up with a rental board from a shop in Richland called Greenie's (they don’t have any SUPs for sale, yet). It was a typical durable, stable rental board with a basic paddle. We headed for the river, shlopped on some spf40 and hit the water. We were bucking a little bit of a headwind but not too bad (except for a few gusts). A couple of hours later and a few unexpected, yet welcome, falls into the river we arrived at our destination. We had just burned over 1000 calories and had a blast doing it. Scott’s wife was waiting for us at Wade Park. She wasn’t gonna let us have all the fun. She had never been on a SUP before but wanted to give it a try. We gave her the down and dirty version of SUPing 101 and turned her loose. Scott and I needed to get the rental SUP back to Greenie’s before they closed so we loaded the rental into the back of Scott’s truck (no racks) and left his wife to fend for herself on my board. When we got back about 45 minutes later she had a big grin on her face and was hooked on SUPing.

Scott and I hit a couple of shops got some lunch at Bette’s Place (we both had the Barge Burger, awesome) and headed back to Big Winds. Scott found a board that might fit his needs. It was the Amundson TR 12’6”. It looked like what he wanted but looks aren’t everything. Big Winds has a windsurfing and SUP rental shop at the Event Site on the Columbia River that just happened to have an Amundson TR 12’6”  that they said Scott could try. We drove to the river. The rental guy was busy but he got Scott set up in a flash. Scott paddled around for a while and came back with a grin on his face. He liked it.

Back at Big Winds Scott began putting together 2 equipment packages (a 2012 Amundson TR 11’4” for his wife) and the TR 12’6”. A little wheeling and dealing later, Scott had taken the plunge. Now we just needed to figure out how to get the newly purchased SUPs back to the Tri Cities. Big Winds doesn’t sell roof racks but they pointed us towards Mountain View bicycle shop just down the street.

Mountain View got Scott set up with a Yakima system (Thule showed a NO FIT for Scott’s 2001 Ford F150).  Mountain View didn’t have one of the brackets required but made a phone call to another shop down the street and found it. While we were making sure we had everything right one of the guys from Mountain View ran down the street to the other shop and got the missing bracket. Great customer service! We went a little past closing time and the people that were helping us needed to get to a soccer game but they made sure we had everything we needed before closing up shop. Thanks guys!

Scott and I were going to install the track roof mount system on his canopy there in Hood River so he could take the boards home that evening. It was getting late, we would need to scrounge up a drill and some tools… Ok, maybe it would be better to go home, do a professional install, then come back to Hood River and get the boards. A little over four hours, round trip.

The roof racks are installed and Scott’s ready to head back to Hood River to get the SUPs, paddles, board bags and leashes.

http://www.bigwinds.com/sup/category/63

http://www.mtviewcycles.com/

Can't wait to see these on the water!