Clinic and Demos – Boardworks will be putting on a clinic with Black Dog Paddle @ Robius Landing on the James River form 5:30 pm – 7:30. (water level dependant) We will be bringing the Show Up & Blow Up Tour trailer with all the boards to test out.

SUP Demos friday evening from 5-7 at the Dominion Riverrock Browns Island event site, followed by some live music.

SUP Demos with Boardworks and Black Dog Paddle  from 12:30-7:30.

SUP CROSS – Saturday May 19^th – 4 p.m.- VEPCO Levy off of Brown’s Island - In this single elimination, head to head Stand Up Paddle Board race down the James, heats of 4-5 competitors will battle it out to advance to the next round.  Top two survivors move on until only four are left to compete in the championship heat.  Spectators can enjoy the carnage – err competition – from the bridge to nowhere. The downriver race starts at the Brown’s Island rapid above the old VEPCO dam and drops through several significant holes in the VEPCO Levy rapids.

Since we last competed at the Carolina Cup, we ignored our bodies state of exhaustion and continued traveling down the coast of NC looking for waves. Trying to make the most of our four days at the beach, I picked up the new Boardworks Mini Mod. We stopped to surf at Ocean Isle Beach for some windy conditions and small waves. Next stop was Huntington Beach State Park for a day of stretching out at the beach and surfing. We camped at Surf The Earth Surf Shop and woke up early for a surf session with the owner Scott at the South end of Pawleys Inlet, SC. The water was smooth with some small friendly waves and millions of jelly fish. After surfing we chowed down on some low country lunch at Quigley’s.

Mike is happy with his Chicken and Waffles

After lunch we headed to Isle of Palms near Charleston for our last full day on the coast. Due to the wind, the surf was small and choppy but still a good work out. Friday morning we woke up early to clean perfect 3-4ft waves, we were stoked to surf with out windy conditions. Basically having to drag ourselves out of the water, we drove to Atlanta for a Stand Up Event happening the next day. Shredder was super heart broken to leave the beach since he loved to chase the birds and run in the sand. Once we safely made it through Class V Atlanta traffic, we meet up with some friends for dinner to carb up for the six mile race. We camped in the REI parking lot which was close to the event location at Morgan Falls Overlook.  Race day was awesome with warm weather, great location, and tons of competitors.

I am still figuring out this whole endurance sport. I filled my camel back with water and Gatorade mix, and sucked down a GU before the race. I was racing the Boardworks 12’6 Ohana and Mike was on the Boardworks 12’6 M&M which are both awesome race boards. The 6 mile course was tough because of the heat and the current. At the start I felt great being in 3rd place for the ladies and still able to see Mike ahead of me. After the first buoy turn the feeling of passing out or loosing my GU came over me. Pushing through the rest was brutal, but seeing everyone come back around for the 2nd lap and cheer each other on was great. Mike placed 1st in the 12’6 division with a big lead and keeping up with the 14′ boards. I finished 4th for the ladies which was a huge improvement to my time at the Carolina Cup. For results http://supsplashrace.com/2012/05/stand-up-for-the-hooch-results/.

Once we felt somewhat recovered from the race we went to the after party to say good bye to everyone and we pushed north the the NOC that night. Since Sunday we have been switching gears training for freestyle on the feature dialing in my phonix monkeys and mcnasties. Its tough going from the mind set of a 6 mile race back to 60 second races. Trying to balance the life of competing in Stand Up, Freestyle, and training for downriver sprints is somewhat confusing on how to train sometimes. My training is not an exact science for me. I am my trainer and yes my training is weighted heavily on what activity I feel like partaking in that day. I feel that I am entering a whole new phase of becoming a true athlete. My mind is changing on how hard I train and what type of athlete I want to be. Though when I ask my self what I want to focus on more I can’t choose between Freestyle Kayaking, Down river, Whitewater Stand Up, Ocean Stand Up, Slalom, and I should stop before I think of another sport. For today I am going to have fun and work on freestyle. Our next tour stop is Richmond River Rocks in a few weekends. I will send out another post to remind all you east coasters to make it out for a fun filled event.

From what I hear, Shredder has a following and people want up dates about him. He is currently laying at my feet, growling and barking in his sleep dreaming that today was not raining and he was chasing butterflies and eating them.

Till next time
Haley the Nomad and Shred Dog

To read more from Haleys blog go to http://haleyemills.blogspot.com/

 

Here is a brief description of what we are going to be doing at the Shootout…..

Sat….Open demos all day down at the waterfront, Surf sessions @ mini wave, and SUP boardercross

Sun…Open demos all day, surf sessions, Final Boardercross rounds if needed, Whats you move contest @ waterfront

Click here for more info on the Nantahala Freestyle Shootout and Demo Days

Click here to view the embedded video.

First Look. 10’6″ Badfish MCIT, Tacoma not for sale.

Innovation and Background:
Well there has been a lot of excitement about the new Boardworks Surf Badfish line of standup paddle river boards and inflatables. Built by mountain-based watermen, located in Salida, Colorado at the foot of 14,000 foot peaks on the Arkansas River and after four years of brainstorming, prototyping, surfing, and stand up paddling rivers, a new type of SUP board was born. Mike Harvey and Zack Hughes, two whitewater experts have brought their incredible line of Badfish boards and have partnered with Boardworks Surf. These guys are leading the charge with very innovative and unique SUP boards designed specifically for challenging river conditions, river surfing and far reaching applications for their inflatables. With countless rivers, coastlines and lakes, it’s the type of line that will complement the Canadian paddler and the variable bodies of water we have in our backyards. The potential is very exciting.

Portable Backpack, Center fin fits in zippered pocket.

I was pretty stoked to pick up two of their inflatable 10 6″ MCIT’s (Multi Chambered Inflatable Technology) from Boardworks Surf Canada. I have been thinking a lot that the inflatable niche is going to be a growing market because there are so many applications. They are such a cool idea and the technology has been impressive and growing. I have only been on a couple of inflatables for a short time so i was pretty excited to try them out. The 10’6″ i tried is 35 inches wide and a 4 inch deck thickness. These boards also come in  9’6″ and 11’6″ models with colors blue, red, grey and yellow.

First Look:
I pumped up the board right in my garage to have a first look at it. I have been using the K-20 pump which has made my life a lot easier pumping up boards. The K-20 does not come with the board but once you use this pump you won’t use anything else, at least i haven’t. The board itself comes in a backpack carrying case, and with a stock pump and repair kit. The stock pump does a good job getting most of the air in but becomes pretty challenging when trying to get the last few PSI into it. The K-20 can be used by anyone and gets the board pumped up quick. The last few pounds on an inflatable make all the difference and allows the board to perform efficiently making it stiff and stable. It took me just under 13 minutes to have the board ready to go. The K-20 pump has a main pump that gets most of the air in and then you can switch to a smaller finishing pump to top the board off. Great design and very portable. They come in their own carrying case and i recommend getting the Kwik Check Gauge to make sure the correct amount of air is in an not over or under inflated. Both the K-20 pump and the gauge can be purchased through Boardworks Surf dealers. The Badfish MCIT has three chambers, a drop stitched central body that requires 14lbs and two tapered rails that require 7lbs. Blown up this board looks really good and is a real head turner. The board also comes with two plastic side fins and one large removable center fin.

The K-20 pump with Kwik Check Gauge

River Test:
My first test was a trip down the meandering lower Squamish river. The river levels were low but i knew i would get a pretty good feel for the board and its performance. Not only was i interested in how it paddled on the river but i wanted to see how the board paddled flatwater as well. I realized quickly that the board is very stable as i jumped onto the board off the shoreline. The board also comes with bungee attachements where i had a dry pack and throwbag attached to the front. Setting up a quick release leash attachment was pretty easy. I wore a neoprene pant, NRS drytop and booties, lifejacket, Spot Connect and helmut. I spent the next 2 hours traveling the river, doing ferries, eddy turns and testing the stability in minor wave trains. The board was a lot of fun and in comparison to other inflatable boards it has much better performance in moving water conditions. This is the only board that has separate inflatable rails and these rails are tapered which allow you more performance when you move to the back of the board to perform turns or to maneuver in the river. The other thing that i really like is the rockered “bumper bow” at the front which is a plastic cone that adds protection when you run into rocks or other hard surfaces. The board has a grab loop at the front, middle and back and makes it very easy to pull the board from the river onto the shoreline. Another feature it has is the rigid drop stitched recessed deck which lowers your center of gravity and makes you more stable which is pretty valuable in challenging river conditions. The one drawback i saw is that it seems to hold a bit more water on the deck when your on the river. Not sure if this would be the case in paddling flatwater. If the board is not pumped up properly then this would add to the chance of water sitting on the deck. I was able to stand on the back of the board to drain some of this water.

The put in with gear.

The lower Squamish

Once i got down to the lower reaches of the river, I experienced a pretty strong headwind coming off the ocean and i found that the board seemed to paddle pretty well and efficiently on the flatwater. The river was not flowing too strong so i even paddled back up river and was impressed with the ease of moving forward. The rockered nose allowed moving water to flow under the board instead of piling up against it.  I took a friend of mine who has been on a standup before but had not paddled a river on an SUP and he absolutely loved the board. Once i gave the board up to him i never got it back. He was very stable and did not have to swim at any point. I could see his mind racing with the potential of more trips. We did experience a couple of sections where it got pretty shallow and it was a simple task to get off the board lift the tail by the grab loop, or pick it up completely and walk the board through these sections. After finishing the afternoon tour, we had to scramble up a steep shoreline and the lightness of these boards and with three grab handle options made it very easy to carry the board back to the vehicle. The boards deflated really quickly and in minutes i had the board back in its bag. These inflatable seem to be very well built and the solid construction lessens the continual worries you would have if you were paddling a hard board. I have gone down this same stretch of river on an 11 6″ hard board and i found that the inflatables flex and conform to the variable water conditions making them much more safe and stable. We passed a few fisherman on the river and you could see how fishing off these boards would make a lot of sense. My buddies in Northern Ontario would love fishing for bass, pike and Walleye off these and portaging them into untouched lakes and rivers. Paddling a place like Killarney Provincial Park would be a blast. You could carry everything you need.

Darren testing the Badfish

The future and more applications:
I have been working on the coast for 12 years and my mind lights up with the applications for these inflatables on the coast. I have been running my Greatbear Rainforest SUP trips for three years now and I will be bringing a fleet of these boards up the coast with me to run my trips off of. Not having to transport 8 hardboards from Squamish to Prince Rupert, then onto a ferry off a ferry, on a support boat off a support boat makes so much sense and having 6-8 of these in a backpack makes me smile. I have no doubt the performance of these boards will allow the efficient movement and exploration of lakes, river and hard to reach places much more easy.  My friends on sailboats and motherships are really excited to see them and i have been talking with my fishing friends to try them out. With the stability and perspective you get from these boards i can see a whole niche of fisherman that would love the ease of use and the approachability in rivers. The 10 6″ would have no problem carrying a solid day pack of gear but i think for big multiday day trips and the ability to carry a large amount of the 11’6″ would be your choice. Multi day river trips on these boards seem to be a no brainer. Bottom line is that they are lot of fun. Being able to take one with me when i fly up the coast in floatplanes will give me the option to paddle anywhere anytime. Another product that Boardworks Surf Canada carries is a three piece SUP paddle which breaks down and can be transported with the board. In the carrying case provided I think you can carry your K20 pump, repair kits and 3 piece paddle all together. As i said i will be using these boards to teach First Nations kids to SUP on our coast and i will start using these on our multi day SUP expeditions to the Greatbear Rainforest. They will be fun at camps and cottages and will be ideal for families and will stand up to a lot of abuse. They take care of the storage problem that so many of us have. This is just one product in teh Badfish line. I am excited to visit my friends in the Smithers, Terrace and Hazelton areas so we can try out the incredible line of river surfing boards the boys at Badfish have shaped as well.

Boardworks 3 piece paddle.

My testing will continue throughout the season and more reports are sure to follow. A number of people have asked me my thoughts on these inflatables so i thought i should get my initial impressions out there. Thanks to Darren Ashby for helping me test them out and thanks to Jenni Chancey for the pick up. See you on the water. Any questions feel free to email me at n...@mountainsurfadventures.com

This year the Alabama Mountain Games will be hosting Boardworks for its Stand Up Paddling Vender.  Alabama Mountain Games will be hosting whitewater SUP, whitewater kayaking, Mountain Biking, disk golf, Live Music, a Vendor area, and more.  The games are held at Boogie Bottoms, near Cleveland Alabama which is a perfect setting for the mountains of Alabama.

Boardworks will be set up at the festival site for free demos on Saturday and Sunday March 17th and 18th and will also be hosting a series of fun SUP Races.  Look for the Boardwork’s tent and team riders Michael Tavares and Haley Mills. For anyone looking for a little more action, we will be hosting a SUP downriver and Boatercross Race at Kings Bend whitewater area if water levels cooperate.  For more info on the location and contact info for entering any events, check out the Alabama Mountain Games Website.  http://alabamamountaingames.com/wordpress/