Blogs

Scott Bucknell

Scott Bucknell started Race Hawaii in 1984 on Oahu’s North Shore.

He has surfed and shaped surfboards since 1971 in this extreme sport location. While involved with design and manufacturing in surfing, he came upon the idea of using "RACE" for surfboards, events and products while watching the Indianapolis 500 on TV. He quickly realized the name stood for action and speed and should be applied to all sports.

When I think about getting older, soon I start to think about being younger. The beautiful women, perfect waves, good times, good friends, some good golf shots, my favorite dogs, and my children, as they have grown from infants to young men,  are episodes in my life that show me just where I am now.

This is a story about a bit of that.

CHAPTER ONE -MY WORLD

A beautiful Gold rooster ran across the front lawn of my Hawaiian plantation home, situated on Oahu’s North Shore.

SURF’S  UP - JOCKO’S

I knew there was a West swell hitting .  I had checked it at dawn. It wasn’t quite big enough yet, still inconsistent, but the lines were there and the direction showing with indication that it was just a matter of an hour or so.
 

This page has been replaced by the RACE Hawai'i Store Page.
Go to the store now.

This page has been replaced by the RACE Hawai'i Store Page.
Go to the store now.

 Race Hawaii has developed a high tech double bladed standup paddle.

It is to be produced and promoted as an exercise tool.

While testing the paddle , it became obvious that equal and balanced use of the torso and arms, not to mention the back were achieved as we shot down the beach.

CLick on the picture for more shots of me experimenting .
While paddling around in Haleiwa Harbor two summers ago, My son David and I decided to splice two paddles together and make a double kayak sort of paddle.It was taped together and simple, the result was obvious. This paddle was propelling the board through the water quicker, at a more consistent rate.
I made several double bladed paddles to experiment with. I paddled in the wind, not so good. I paddled in chop, not so good. I surfed, ok but unwieldy. I paddled in smooth conditions for exercise, a lot of fun, and fast.
 

There is a relatively new sport. It is called "Standup" surfing. Standup became a sought after, growing sport maybe 10 years ago. It is done on larger surfboards of various lengths, usually 9 feet to up to 16 feet. The rider stands up on the board with a single bladed paddle. The single bladed paddles are approximately 6' 6'' long. There are lots of blade shapes. The actual paddle template, and ergonomic shaft shapes improve the basic function of a paddler's stroke. The rider will paddle to tour, paddle to race, long and short distances, and paddle to surf on waves.

I started standup surfing in October 2007. Soon after I started to realize people I knew, even friends I had surfed with for years, were not too glad to see me when I went out into the water with my new sport. Startling to me and from there I began to figure out why.

The same thing happened in the water when long boards came back in and short boards were no longer able to compete. Meaning, long boards float so much better, a short boarder had no chance of positioning and catching any waves when the long boards were out.. Hence, surfers got sick of the long boarders.