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The Paddle Surf Hawaii All Carbon 12' All-Around Summer Dream |
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By: Stand Up Paddle Surfing Magazine
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Wednesday, 07 May 2008 |
 12' of carbon fiber summer fun.
SUPSURMAG: The board is beautiful. What are the dimensions?
BLANE: 12' x 28 1/2" x 5 3/8"
SUPSURFMAG: Where did you go for the design?
BLANE: This board is 3rd generation. I designed this after building others similar to it that worked really well but felt like they were lacking a little of this or that. Aaron Napoleon and I talked at length about a few things and I went after the key points we both agreed made a good down winder. One thing is for sure. This board is only 12' and its a really good 12 footer but a really good 12 footer cannot go as fast as a really good 14 footer. Its just the way it is... This board was meant to be a really good 12' for bumping in on windy days and to be able to fish off of, etc... I watched Aaron on an open ocean run and it does some things well and others not so well. For what we made it for it goes awesome: a good fun, summer time, all around toy that you can hook into some bumps, go fishing and even ride waves on the reefs.
SUPSURFMAG: What can you tell us about the fin?
BLANE: Right now we are using typical 7 to 9" fins with some rake. The norm seems to be straight, huge fins but I don't agree with a lot of the common theories out there. I can go hours debating what makes for the right fin placement, size, etc with other shapers. I could actually go many hours debating everything from rocker to bottom contours... This is what's cool about building stuff... Everyone thinks different which keeps it interesting. I don't even like to look at other peoples stuff. That's their trip. We're into ours...
SUPSURFMAG: The deck pad looks outfitted for waves. Will we see this at Waimea or something next winter?
BLANE: No, no... I did the pads mainly for where you stand most. This is not a big wave gun at all. It is a down wind board that can be surfed in small waves. Its actually really fun in small waves. You need to step back to whip it around which is why we have pads back there...
SUPSURFMAG: What can we look forward to from PSH along the lines of this board?
BLANE: Well, 12' is to small for a distance racing board length so maybe we'll look more into it with our 14', 14'-6" and 15 footers. Right now we are still deciding if we will go to the next level with this direction of these products. The overall market for it is small so it may be a custom thing for a while more. Others have tried but the board designs are so quick to be out dated. If you're not winning races, your product is deemed slow and not worthy. Racing is the ultimate test but it raises the questions. Will your board win races consistently? If not, you could be stuck with a lot of product. Aarons feedback just makes our stuff get better. This is not the magic one because its so short, thin and wide but our longer ones coming soon will be in the hunt for sure. Enough to do full production? Probably not. If we nail a great board, maybe.
SUPSURFMAG: Are the plugs, that the bungees are attached to, the adhesive kind?
BLANE: This board is a prototype so all plugs are adhesive. We found the right placement for the fishing rig for sure. This board is unreal for fishing.
SUPSURFMAG: Any "yard sale" experiences yet, where it tips and everything ends up in the water?
BLANE: Not yet! I've been fishing off surfboards or kayaks for years. I try my best to not chance it near waves. It's just not worth losing all my stuff to get any fish...
SUPSURFMAG: Tell us about the fish.
BLANE: We like catching Papio. (Jack Crevally) We usually go after the pan fry sizes only because the meat is better and there is less chance of getting the toxin ciguatera which is common in that fish as they get bigger. Good fighting fish that you can eat.
SUPSURFMAG: Right on. Thanks for the insights. You guys never rest. We look forward to the next generation of summer dream boards.
For more information about Paddle Surf Hawaii visit: www.paddlesurfhawaii.com.
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GEAR INSIGHTS 
May 21, 2008
125.162.92.149