Outer Banks Storm Pictures Click Here

Check out these photos of Outer Banks.  Very nice swell and lots of property damage.

Fort Fisher Surfing

Fort Fisher Surfing

Carve Boards

Paddle Stroke with Dave Kalama

Dave Kalama - Stand Up Paddle Strokes from standupzone dotcom on Vimeo.

Ride with Dave Kalama on a downwinder!

Wanna Go For A Ride? Dave Kalama Downwinder Video from standupzone dotcom on Vimeo.

Holiday sessions

Hope all had a great Thanksgiving holiday. Stan, Zo and I got out late on Wednesday afternoon at local spot X that Zo has renamed the G spot. It was a solid waist to chest with off shore winds. The rides were awesome you could connect for a hundred to one hundred fifty yards. The best part of Wednesday afternoon it was only the three of us out! Thursday was a little more crowded and the swell had faded a little but still long rides and really fun. Hopefully the video footage that Zo shot can get uploaded to the blog. A little disappointed the wind blew it out on Friday. Saturday and Sunday flat as lake so back to a couple of laps around the beach. Hope everyone has an awesome week.

Pivot Turning

Turning from Standup Paddle Magazine on Vimeo.

Monday morn session

Met up with John at Star Bucks this morning around 5:30 for a Monday session. John introduced me to Bob and Betsy Risner from Utah. They are big Hobie fans so Ahwoooo to Bob and Betsy. They also are in process of developing a website call GOYA which means "Get Off Your Ass". It should be up around the first of the year check it out at www.goyaevents.com. Great folks to hook up with and do a little paddling. Banks channel was loads of fun with an east wind about 20 kts, (nice upwinder)! As I made the turn by the boat ramp I saw John, Betsy and Bob had hooked up with Jason so we made another loop only downwind this time, much easier! Great morn let's git on it early again tomorrow.

Dan Gavere at Punchbowl Falls (a must watch)

Rules of SUP

Slater Trout signs with Paddle Surf Hawaii

Paddle Surf Hawaii Picks Up Youngest SUP Pro, Slater Trout
By: Ben Cortez
Paddle Surf Hawaii has signed 14 year old waterman Slater Trout to their list of high caliber athletes. "We're stoked to have Slater surfing our boards, he is a great guy from a great family. He rips too!", says PSH owner and shaper Blane Chambers. Paddle Surf Hawaii is one of the premier stand up paddle surfboard makers in the industry.


Blessed with natural talent and ability, Slater is a great ambassador for SUP, the fastest growing water sport in the world. Not only a major force in SUP wave events, Slater has also proven himself to be a fierce competitor in open ocean racing. Slater recently took 2nd place in the Gerry Lopez Rainbow Sandals Battle of the Paddle, Elite men's division in Dana Point California. This invitation only event featured 96 of the world's top paddlers, Slater being the youngest. Those not familiar with his body of work in Hawaii, where he lives, took notice after this incredible performance. A few of Slater's other notable accomplishments include, three championship titles at the prestigious Duke's Oceanfest held each August on Waikiki Beach on Oahu.

Gables to Bay Regatta

Video review of a successful stand up paddle race event, The Gables to the Bay Regatta, to raise money and awareness for a local waterway. Reported and edited by Liane Morejon. The event was sponsored by Jimmy Lewis and the Waterway Renaissance Foundation. First place men's was Packet Casey, and women's Helga Goebel, both on new Jimmy Lewis Slice boards. The evert brought in over $20K for waterway cleanup.

Great White off NC Coast

White sharks not rare off Wrightsville Beach

When a pair of Wilmington men spotted a shark cruising about one mile off the coast of Wrightsville Beach last Sunday, Nov. 8, they were flabbergasted.
But authorities say that a white shark, commonly referred to as a Great White Shark, so close to the coast may not be as rare of an occurrence as some may believe. What is rare, they say, is having the crystal clear water needed to spot one.
“It’s not unusual for those sharks to be around here, but it is unusual to actually see one like that,” said Frederick Scharf, associate professor of fisheries biology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. “They pass through here regularly.”
Scharf said white sharks are attracted by the cool water that tends to be an inshore characteristic this time of year. There’s less volume of water in the more shallow areas, so it tends to respond to air temperatures much faster than water farther offshore.
The water also tends to be clear during the winter time, due mostly to the fact that plant life like plankton and other microalgae are pulled away from the surface by wind and sediment. Aqua plant life thus has a tough time photosynthesizing and disappears.
Hap Fatzinger, curator at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher, said that while water temperatures may contribute to the shark’s attraction towards inshore waters, white sharks will follow and feed on fish whenever the opportunity exists.
“This is a good white shark temperature and there’s a lot of food associated with this temperature that the shark would feed on normally,” he said.
Scharf suspects that the shark spotted on Sunday was in migratory mode, possibly moving from the north. Studies show that white sharks can travel thousands of miles, often showing transoceanic migration.
“For all we know this shark could be on its way to Africa,” he said.
Wilmington men spot shark
Images of the now infamous white shark surfaced when Steve Boehling, a Wilmington native, posted his cell-phone pictures on Wblivesurf.com.
Boehling, 44, said he and a friend, Mike Ross, 41, were trolling through a school of false albacore in the clear blue water about one mile off Crystal Pier.
The fishermen weren’t having much luck, and they were about to head towards another spot to try again when suddenly Boehling spotted a fin sticking up out of the water closer to shore.
“I thought it was another dolphin,” he said, “but it stayed on the surface. Mike and I looked at each other and we said, ‘That’s a shark! Let’s go over there.’”
Boehling estimated that the shark, which authorities believe to be a white, was between 16-18 feet in length.
They pulled their boat up beside the enormous fish, watching intently as it continued skimming the surface. Boehling said it wasn’t feeding at that time, but he suspects it may have been feeding earlier.
“I was shocked to see the size of that fish,” he said. “It was amazing. It really was. I didn’t have time to be scared then—it was just overwhelming. It was so surprising that I didn’t react other than to stare at it and try to gauge how big it was.”
Wanting to document their find, Ross tried to snag a picture of the shark with a cell phone, but the sun was so bright he couldn’t see the LCD screen. Ross snapped a picture anyway, hoping for the best, Boehling said.
“At least we could prove it, because otherwise we figured it would a Big Foot story,” Boehling said.
At first, Boehling wasn’t sure whether the shark was a white or a tiger, but after noticing some of the distinguishing features, he was convinced they had found the ocean’s alpha predator.
Fatzinger, the aquarium curator, later confirmed their beliefs. An examination of the photo found the discriminating characteristics of a white shark, like the body shape, robust girth, pointed snout, size of the pectoral fins and white underbelly.
The shark disappeared, diving deeper into the water, about a half mile from shore, Boehling said.

Hobie.com -Saeman Bros. SUPn Across America: Canada Farmlands to Annapolis MD

Hobie.com -Saeman Bros. SUPn Across America: Canada Farmlands to Annapolis MD: "<< Hobie Surfboards on How it's Made TV Show Saeman Bros. SUPn Across America: Canada Farmlands to Annapolis MD
By tsaeman - 15. November 2009 20:34"

Monday morning session

Off shore winds big roller as it was high tide. Luchador and I took the boat out and anchored off shore of the break. Started with paddle boards had to work to get into the wave but chest to head sets coming thru. Great moring stopped by Mase on the way back in and caught a few lefts on the surf board. Time to get to work!

We were never alerted!

Wrightsville Past Weekend

What a great weekend.  Zo, after numerous text messages, decided to leave
 at 2:30am Saturday morning (didn't go to bed until after midnight) to meet
 us in Greensboro.  Tim and I were waiting at a truck stop.  Quickly loaded
 our gear into Zo's Tahoe and we were off.  We had excellent conditions both
 Saturday and Sunday.  Sunday was a little nicer because the wind mellowed.
  We had two sessions on Saturday and one Sunday morning.  I would say we
 were in the water a total of +/- 8 hours.  Nice offshore break at  Location X.  
Nice left peelers for plenty of "Ahwooooo!"  It was
 head high with occasional overhead if you were patient.  Pope was "so excited"
 he couldn't wait for us Saturday morning but joined us the other two sessions. 
   
This pic is what got Zo up at 2:30 am.  Best session I've had since San Onofre
 last month. Not that I've had many.  Oh well, take what your thrown. Zo had a
 head cam and should be posting some of his footage.

GoPro HD HERO®: Pre-Production Test Footage

Check out the test footage of the new HD GoPro Surf Hero camera. These are supposed to start shipping in the next couple of weeks. They will take your reservation now. Pretty slick. Once you click the link, choose the Surf Hero movie on the right side.

GoPro HD HERO®: Pre-Production Test Footage

Posted using ShareThis

Stand Up Paddle Lake Session

Timmy and I hit the lake this afternoon. A little cooler than yesterday but still very nice. Timmy was cooking on his Hobie race board. Dana and the kids showed up to witness our session. I didn't know they were there until I was getting back onto my board after falling off. All I could hear was laughter coming from the park. Oh well. We had a good paddle. Timmy set himself a new record of 57 minutes and some change. I was 6 minutes behind him. I believe the distance on the route we paddled is 4.8 miles.

Stan

Stand Up Paddle Lake Session

Hit the lake this afternoon. I was only able to squeeze in a 3 miler because of daylight savings time. They now want us out of the water at 4:45. Timmy wasn't able to make it so I focused on turns around the buoys. Very nice afternoon weather wise and perfect temperature around 70 degrees.