A Moment of Respite We weren’t sure what to expect. Motoring five hours to this spot could have led to what our boat captain (in the foreground) thought we would find—crossed-up peaks and unfavorable, gusty winds thrashing Anegada, the flattest and most exposed island in the BVIs. And after several days of rain and gray skies, I was anxious to see the sun and the scenes flaunted in Caribbean travel brochures. But then we got lucky. Once we arrived, there was plenty of swell, zero wind, no one in sight, and the sun finally made a cameo, allowing me to capture this image of standup paddler Laura Birse enjoying clean, over head surf. Completely alone. Read more about SUP magazine staff photographer Robert Zaleski’s BVI adventures starting on p. 30.
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Lake Effect I wanted to get out and get some winter SUP shots on Lake Tahoe. Jake Lambert, who helps organize the Ta-hoe Nalu, agreed to be my model. We got up at sunrise, he puts boardshorts and a wetsuit top on, and we got the fog lifting perfectly off the lake. — ryan salm
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Little Trouble in Big Falls The paddler is Luke Hopkins in the middle of Great Falls on the Potomac near Washington, D.C. It’s the crucible Class V whitewater in the region, and we went out one fall morning to experiment and see what he could run on his SUP. He put on in this eddy right in front of the camera and paddled above the drop to have a look. It’s pure chaos. He didn’t end up running the drop but he ran some pretty stout whitewater later in the day. — trevor clark
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the big steeze Dave Boehne is one of the most stylish standup surfers on the planet. Blowin’ the tail out, putting the board on rail, nose riding, it’s all in his bag, right down to the right top for the right day. And he makes it all look simple. Here, somewhere in the Mentawais, he finds a good place to stash his blade, and on p.50, lets us inside the Boehne circle in First Familes of SUP..
photograph by kevin voegtlin
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fitness guide Paddle Strong with Rob Rojas When getting ready to set the blade and pull, lock your shoulder in (don’t dip!) so it’s fully engaged and you eliminate any potential for injury and shoulder fatigue. I keep one foot in front of the other a little bit. I try to switch up my stance and move some to distribute my pressure differently, keeping my legs and feet alive so they’re not static on the board. I do six to 10 strokes per side in flat, glassy water. In side chop, could do 20 on one, four on the other. Cadence is also determined by conditions: into a headwind, set the paddle deeper; in the open ocean, have a faster cadence; just grinding on flats, use a calm, slow cadence and deeper strokes. To track straight, keep the blade as close to the board as possible. Also, when you’re setting the blade, you want to have the blade’s power face slightly angled in to the board. That will pull the board. Say the board’s pointed at 12 o’clock, you’d be paddling on the right side with the back of the blade pointed toward 1 o’clock.
leg work with suzie cooney As a professional fitness specialist, Maui’s Suzie Cooney trains people for a living. She loves to race. Loves to paddle downwind. Loves to surf. That’s why she knows those two limbs attached to your pelvis are key to balance and stamina in the chop, waves or flats. Known as neuromuscular reaction training, Cooney creates situations on land and in the gym that mimic on-water scenarios for improved efficiency, reaction time and power. Combining strength training with balance work prepares your body to perform and respond to ever-changing conditions. This exercise is easily adaptable to accommodate your fitness and comfort levels. Reference the progression variables, bottom right, and adjust your equipment accordingly.
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Slide one lightly inflated Gigante cushion under your SUP board. Standing on your board using a surf stance (one foot slightly behind the other) and holding the medicine ball, body bar or dumbbell, “paddle” two strokes per side with a fast tempo. Mimic proper stroke technique.
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Good posture is key: Look at the horizon, engage the muscles of your core (draw your navel into the front of your spine), and mimic the movement of your stroke. If you’re practicing for surfing, use a short stroke. For distance training, reach a little farther toward the nose of your board. Use the opportunity to hone your stroke technique as well, stopping the action and exiting the stroke at your feet.
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Between the movement of the board and your stroke, you should feel everything engage and maybe burn a little. This is good. But if you feel any lower back discomfort, or pinching at the top of your shoulder, reduce the weight of the medicine ball or body bar, and/or keep the weight closer to the center of your body (don’t hold weights too far out to your side). And don’t sacrifice good form.
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Reps aren’t as important here as time and form. Start at 15 seconds, then 30, 45, and all the way up to one minute. Rest appropriately between sets or timed bouts. Be sure, though, to always mix it up. Change your stance, switch to a weighted body bar, switch to opposite side, or alternate side-to-side continuously in a parallel stance. The possibilities are up to you.
eat well A healthy performance diet is a balance of quality carbs (think “healthy” and “whole grain”) and protein. To help determine the amount of protein you need divide your current weight by 2.2 and multiply that number by 1.4 for the grams of protein you should consume. Equipment
to 10-pound medicine ball, * 49* to 12-pound body bar or regular dumbbell * Indo Board Gigante cushion or BOSU balance trainer * Standup board Progression Variables
photograph by Darrell Wong
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to sand * Floor Two legs to one * Discs to SUP * Less air to moreboard air in discs * Light to heavy medicine * Slower to faster tempo balls * More repetitions * 59
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Before any boat trip in the Mentawais, you’ll find yourself in Pedang Harbor awaiting departure. As with most harbors around the globe, it isn’t all that clean. Standup paddling allows you to see the sights and sounds without actually having to put any part of your body in the bacteria-ridden water. Here, Jamie Mitchell, Chuck Patterson and Dave Boehne glide between ships parked in Pedang Harbor while a boat crew curiously checks their form. Their Indonesian adventure goes live on page 40.
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commentary photographs by andrew shield
k e ahi d e ab o iti z 18, Noosa, Australia
What’s the story behind your name? I was born in Australia, but my mum is from Hawaii originally. My dad is Australian, but he spent lots of time in Hawaii. Keahi means ‘the fire’ in Hawaiian. My last name is a different story, though. I think it’s actually Spanish. How did you get into standup paddling? Through my dad. He saw it in Hawaii and was one of the first people to start doing it here. Being an old tandem surfer, he started mucking around with some old boards and a wooden paddle. It took me a while after that to get into it, but once the boards started getting smaller and the sport started progressing, I was stoked on it. Are a lot of kiteboarders, like yourself, crossing over? It’s all about maximizing water time in all conditions, so I guess that’s one of the reasons a lot of guys pick it up. It allows you to have fun on those smaller, fatter days when riding a normal short board just isn’t that much fun. Jamie Mitchell raves about your style, where did you pick that up? I guess it comes from a whole different background of sports. From a young age, I’ve always been into anything to do with water, and I started surfing when I was about 5. Living in Noosa, I’ve grown up longboarding, so I guess my style comes from that. My kiting helps too. Are there a lot of kids your age paddling in Noosa? We’re definitely seeing a younger crew coming into the sport now, but I’d say there’s a bit of a gap. With the boards getting smaller and more progressive, though, I guess we’ll keep seeing more and more young people getting into it. What’s the vibe like in the water for standups there? Just like most places, you’re going to cop a little bit of shit for it. It’s all about trying to be respectful and not be the guy out there snaking everyone and taking all the waves. I guess that’s the whole problem with it. I try to do the right thing, so most of the guys are okay with me. Are you competing in standup? I had some pretty good results in a lot of the national comps around here. I had a second in the Noosa Festival of Surfing a couple years ago and a third at the Aussies the last two years in a row. I’m pretty keen to start doing some of the Standup World Tour events, but it’s hard to find time as I’m also focusing on the world tour comps in kiting. I want to win a national title at the Aussies. I just had a win at the state titles and with the Aussies coming up, I’d be pretty stoked if I could take it. — as told to Joe Carberry 30
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Standup paddling can be an adventure. It takes you out there, away from all the normality of land to explore new places, surf new waves or see new stretches of river. That’s why we love it. But when you’re out there, weird things can happen. We love that too. It’s just part of paddling. So when one of those beautiful, unorthodox—or even scary—moments comes along, here’s What to Do If ...
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chuck patterson defines the term with a powerful, rail-to-rail style. here, he goes new school, airing it out on an anonymous mentawais bomb. during a trip there last spring, he took “charging� to new heights, destroying three standup boards (including this one) as part of a gamechanging boat trip (14 days, sup fall 2011). check out patterson in the indo chronicles at supthemag.com/videos.
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photos by jim brewer
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iceland offers one of the few spots on earth where, if so inclined, you could ski right down to the surf. sam george, carving first tracks.
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Axel got a phone call from his wife at approximately 6 p.m. on Monday. “You must go down to the harbor next to the outer jetty,” she told him. “There are men in the sea doing something strange.” Axel pondered this statement. Strange? If there were any men actually in the sea—this sea—it would be strange, indeed. Here in Ólafsfjörður, a tiny, tidy fishing settlement hidden away on the remote northern coast of Iceland, men may work on the sea, but in it they die. With temperatures teetering on the edge of freezing, the Arctic Ocean here at 66 degrees north latitude is as inhospitable to human life as the stratosphere. Since the time of the first Viking settlers, more than 1,000 years ago, industrious, ingenious men have adapted to life on this frigid ocean. Generations of explorers and fishermen held their collective breath as they put to sea between fierce, lashing gales, ice storms and swirling maelstroms; cursing the gods for their cold indifference while praying for a safe return to shore. But nobody goes in this ocean, Axel thought. Not unless they’ve fallen off something. Nobody except …
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