Paddle/Surf
PSV | SUP Surfboard | SUP Raceboard
In Hawaii, where the waterman ethos was born, most serious surfers practice some sort of alternative paddle sport during the offseason. Outrigger canoes, prone paddleboards and, now, stand-up paddleboards – all round out the Island ocean sports diet for the seasoned waterman. Conventional board surfing is terrific for overall conditioning and maintaining fast-twitch reactions, but with leashes and jet skis and mostly submerged surfboards, it’s not possible to build the classic surfer physique of the 50s and 60s unless one cross-trains on other paddle or surf craft.
Paddle/Surf Vehicle (PSV)
12’0”
Designed as a racing paddleboard that could be surfed in ordinary waves, the PSV occupies a different niche than other ‘super-tanker’ or ‘cross country’ long knives. Back in 1998 I began building these low-rockered javelins to compete in summer paddleboard races on Oahu, and even used one to cross the Kaiwi Channel in 2001. What makes this design unique is that it is not only very competitive in either the surfboard class or stock class paddleboard races, but it also handles very nicely in thick, slopey offshore reef breaks. The design can be scaled up or down on to accommodate any ratio of surf vs. paddle. This is an escape pod – it gets you away from crowds and lets you thoroughly enjoy waves that no one else wants. And you will get your pects back…..
Active ingredients:
- Narrow, parallel rails for the utmost speed and straight-down arm propulsion.
- Convex bottom for the optimum in displacement hull efficiency.
- Chine/bevel along bottom of rail. Combined with convex hull bottom, this double edge not only creates sizzling fast release but more importantly helps provide acute heel-to-toe sensitivity when surfing.
- Sharp panel vee around fin and off tail is speedy for prone paddling and a powerful fulcrum for your back foot when carving into sweeping full-face turns when surfing.
Standard Dimensions:
- 12.5 Nose
- 20.75” to 21’0” Widepoint
- 10.75” to 13.0" Tail
- 5.5” Thickness
Single-fin, center box
12' 0" Makaha Point Doomsday Machine made in 1997 for that one huge Greg Noll day ... but Doomsday never came and this board became a 3-prong dive board and surfboard-class paddleboard racer -- and stepping stone to the first PSV.
12'6" x 21" x 5.5" PSV tailored for Central California cloudbreaks with displacement hull and chine rails to outrun patrolling white pointers.
The Big Red One (first 12'6" PSV made in 1998) far offshore at a central California cloudbreak. The PSV motto: You can't see the waves that we surf; you can't surf the waves that we see......
Kailua paddleboard veteran Jon Piper's Oahu toybox, left to right: 12'0" X 22.0" X 5.5" Schlongboard; 12'0" X 21.0" X 5.5" Wasabi PSV; 12'0" X 20.0" X 6.5" 1-lb EPS foam stock-class racing paddleboard.
Stand Up Paddle Surfboard
Makaha on Oahu’s west shore was the epicenter back in 2002 for Brian Keaulana’s revitalization and modernizing of the old-time Waikiki pastime of beachboy-style surfing —what the eventual newcomers came to call stand-up paddle surfing or SUP.
Designs run the gamut from absurdly-short 7’10”s all the way up to 11’0” big-wave rhino chasers. Background checks mandatory before orders taken. If you are one of those nefarious SUP abusers who terrorize conventional surf breaks – no SoUP for you!
10'0" X 26.0" X 3.75" V8 (8-channel) 2.5-lb EPS foam single fin somewhere west of Kong's Island
Custom 9'4" X 28.5" X 4.125" 1.5-lb EPS foam Beachboy Model for Mark Richards, glassed ultra light to MR's Rip, Tear & Lacerate specs with minimal 4-oz schedule by Kimo Kauihou at Kepuhi Point Glassworks in Makaha. Concaved deck, scooped tail footwells, inverted spiral vee, and fluted wings ... Geevum, MR!
Stand Up Paddle Raceboard
Regatta Class racing on stand-up paddleboards began in 2003 on Oahu and grew out of a core group of SUP pioneers’ desire to establish both inshore and cross-channel races alongside the paddleboard and OC1 races in the Islands.
Raceboards are available in 12’6” and 14’ class lengths. Due to the complicated and labor intensive construction involved in this class of board please allow 6 month’s lead time for all custom orders.
14.0" open-ocean downhill racers, team prototypes built in 2009 and 2010 in 1.-lb EPS foam. Yellow board is 25.0" wide and the orange/black one is 26.0"
Gentlemen, start your hot-wires! Makaha waterman and paddlesport expert Greg Pavao with a cast-off block of construction foam circa 2009. Greg and I spent the whole day in tropical west side heat hot-wiring a totally new deck and bottom rock profile, then sawing out this template shown pencilled here -- hours of work just to get to the planer stuff. Pavao and his partner Noland Keaulana ended up winning the stock relay division that year in the Molokai Channel race on this board.