scottb's blog

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 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.