The biggest myth going around is that stand-up paddle is an ancient Hawaiian ritual. Captain James Cook didn’t see it in the 18th century, Robert Louis Stevenson didn’t see it in the 19th century and Jack London didn’t see it at the beginning of the 20th century. Cook did report in his journal watching a canoeist catch a wave sitting down in Tahiti, and many of the early observers of Polynesian watermen may have seen canoe paddlers stand up to paddle across shallow reefs in search of fish to spear.

The first stand up paddle surfers emerged in Waikiki in the early 1950s, when the post-war tourism boom saw Matson cruise liners deposit thousands of thrill-hungry Americans on the beach under the shadow of Diamond Head. Naturally, they wanted to try their hand at the new sport of surfing, or at least take a canoe surf under the expert guidance of a Waikiki beachboy. And there were plenty of beachboys up for the job. Duke Kahanamoku and his brothers were a bit long in the tooth by this stage, but in their wake had come a whole new generation of beachboys who lurked under the banyan trees flirting with pretty heiresses until their bosses, the concierges of the luxury hotels on the beachfront, waved them into action for the benefit of another troop of newly-arrived thrill-seekers.

There being no point in risking life and limb in the pounding breakers unless you had a photo to prove it, the beachboys were called upon not only to teach the sport but to photograph it, and the box brownie cameras of the day made that rather difficult. No one can now remember who was the first – maybe it was one of the Ah Choy brothers, Leroy or Bobby – but one of the beachboys came up with an ingenious idea. He borrowed a paddle from an outrigger captain, hung a Kodak around his neck and paddled into the break standing on his redwood hot curl board.

To fall was to destroy an expensive camera, but put them on a board and beachboys can do anything, and soon full-frame photos of Cindy-Lou’s first wave, shot from right there on the same wave, on the next board if you can believe it, were de rigeur for the tourists. Inadvertently, the beachboys had invented a new style of surfing which, naturally enough, became known as “beachboy surfing”.

This went on at Waikiki right through the ‘60s and ‘70s, until even longboards got smaller and cameras became waterproof, yet no one really picked up on the fact that, with a few basic refinements of equipment, beachboy surfing could be big fun. Well, no one that is except a few beachboys like the incredible John Zabatocky, who started to surf with a paddle to take photos and soon adopted paddle surfing as his only surfing discipline. Still going strong in his 80s, John is a true pioneer of SUP, along with Bobby Ah Choy, who made the final of a SUP event in 2007, just weeks before his passing.

The renaissance of SUP can probably be tracked to a long summer flat spell in 2000, when serious watermen like Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama on Maui and Brian Keaulana, Mel Pu’u and Bruce De Soto at Makaha, seized on the idea of paddling their tandem boards as fitness workouts. It didn’t take them long to realize how much fun this aspect of surfing could be. In 2004 Brian Keaulana introduced SUP as a division at his father’s famous surf event and party, Buffalo’s Big Board Classic at Makaha. It was hugely popular, got major media coverage and the seal was broken. SUP was up and running.

Interestingly, in Matt Warshaw’s definitive Encyclopedia of Surfing, published in 2003, there is not one reference to stand up paddle surfing. Just four years later you can Google almost half a million references to it, and SUP cultures are emerging in every part of the known (and unknown) surfing world. With events like Australia’s famous Noosa Festival of Surfing and Malfunction following Brian Keaulana’s lead in creating SUP divisions, and barely-surfable locations like England’s Brighton Beach hanging their hats on SUP, the potential for growth in the sport is enormous.

So enormous, in fact, that SUP surfers can stand by for a backlash from board surfers at crowded breaks. But with world champion surfers like Hawaiian watermen Keaulana, Kalama, Hamilton and Kalepa, 80s shortboard star Tom Carroll, Pipe Master Rob Machado, longboard champions Joel Tudor and Josh Constable, and former tandem champion Chris de Aboitiz setting the standard and becoming role models for the new/old sport, it seems likely that a code of conduct will allow everyone to enjoy the waves.

WakaWai.com has partnered again with American Whitewater to offer current members a discount off our retail pricing on specific items.

Discount Criteria:

10% Off of MSRP.

Discounts DO NOT apply to "Special Orders," sale items, kayaks, freight or used gear.

All memberships will be verified during order processing! Please have your membership # ready at check out.

To Receive Your Discount:

During the check out phase of your purchase you will be asked for your American Whitewater membership number. Please enter it into one of the boxes provided with the item that is purchased. If purchasing more than one item, you only have to enter it once.

WakaWai.com will verify your eligibility prior to fulfilling your order. If you are unable to provide us with a current AW membership #, your discount amount will be deleted from your order.

You can call or email WakaWai.com at anytime with any questions. 828.658.1318 or info@wakawai.com

Click to Join American Whitewater.

This is a pictures comparison, sent to us by Jason Bordwine, of the Specialist, Super RAD 180, Smoothy, and RAD 185. A friend of his asked him to take a couple of comparison photos of the RAD's & Smoothy.... and he did.

Jason is a Bliss-Stick agent based out of Abingdon, VA and these are pictures of some of his demos. So if you are in that area and have been wanting to Experience Bliss-Stick,, then he is your man. Make sure to give him a shout! He is stoked to be a part of Bliss-Stick Family!

Thanks Jason!

by Celliers Kruger

We get many emails from paddlers around the world who want more info on paddling here on our dark continent, and I keep telling them the same things. I will put some basic info in this article.

Southern Africa

Fluid is based in South Africa. All our rivers are rain dependent, we don't have snowmelt or glaciers to feed our rivers. Some of the major rivers are dam controlled, and these can normally be paddled right through the year. One of these major rivers is the Vaal, and Fluid is based in Parys, a little town right next to this river. We have a playful class 2-3 section right on our doorstep, with the infamous Gatsien wave about 10 minutes drive from the factory.

In our own country, we have the full variety from easy going class 1 to quite full on class 5. The rivers are mostly of a technical low to medium volume nature, but when we receive good rains some of them turn into real big volume monster runs. Most worthwhile whitewater sections are in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province. We also have some worthwhile creeks in Mpumalanga and Western Cape, but they don't run as often as the rivers in KZN. Logistics is fairly easy for most rivers, but sections tend to be long, and overnight and multi-day trips are very common. The lower sections of the Orange river is particularly popular for multi-day desert trips.

The major part of the region gets summer rain, with the exception of the Western Cape where the tough guys have to deal with cold, snow, hail, etc. when they want to paddle. If you want to travel all the way to South Africa to paddle (which is very worthwhile in a good rainy season), make sure you come between January and April. We're supposed to get rain from about September, but the weather is pretty confused at the moment like in many parts of the world. For the past few years the rain only really started in January.

The two major kayak schools in the country are www.whitewatertraining.co.za and www.gravity.co.za. If you plan to do some paddling in SA and don't know where to go, these guys will sort you out.

There are also a bunch of commercial rafting companies spread across the country. Most of them will always be willing to have a kayaker tag along on a trip in return for some safety kayaking. To get hold of rafting companies, contact one of the kayak schools mentioned below, who will point you in the right direction. Many of these commercial operators also offer a variety of other outdoor activities, making SA a worthwhile destination for people looking for an adventurous holiday.

Our neighboring countries, specifically Swaziland and Lesotho, have some really good runs that have been explored already. There are still a few first descents waiting though.

We obviously have a long coastline with many well-known surfspots. Most paddlers in SA spend some time on the ocean waves too.

For more info on the rivers in our part of the world, get a copy of my book "Run the Rivers of Southern Africa". About 140 different runs are described in the book. The introduction chapter is quite lengthy, with lots of additional information about paddling in SA. It's available at all kayak shops in South Africa as well as Exclusive Books. If you can't get hold of a copy, contact us at the factory and we'll sort you out.

Zambezi in Zambia/Zimbabwe

Further north, we have the Batoka gorge of the Zambezi river, right below Victoria Falls. This is close enough for South African paddlers to drive to. It's about 14 hours drive from Johannesburg, with two borders to cross if you want to stay on the Zambian side. The town Vic Falls on the Zimbabwean side used to be the hub of activity around the Batoka gorge. The political turmoil in Zimbabwe has changed things though, and most people prefer to stay in Livingstone on the Zambian side, although it's definitely still a good option to stay in Vic Falls town. There are international airports in both Livingstone and Vic Falls. From other continents the flights to these destinations normally work out cheaper via Johannesburg in South Africa.

For accommodation I can highly recommend the Zambezi Waterfront, next to the Zambezi river, upstream of Vic Falls and just outside the town Livingstone. Their campsite is really good, and you can sit on the veranda at sunset, looking at the mist of the falls and spot some hippos playing around. Their website is www.zambezi.com. Fawlty Towers Lodge right inside Livingstone is also very popular with kayakers. There are a couple of nice restaurants to choose from, both at the lodges and in town. You have to do yourself a favour if you go up there and get some pizza at the Funky Monkey.

As for the paddling, who doesn't know about the mighty Zambezi? It is one of the original high profile big volume rivers that are often paddled, and the claim "best one day whitewater rafting in the world" is well justified. There are some really good rapids to run, and a couple of awesome playspots, especially at rapids #2, #3, and #12B at low water levels, which is basically from Sept to Jan. The most popular time for kayakers to visit the Zam is from Oct to Dec. During high water season most rapids wash out a bit and the super sized holes (no, McDonalds was not involved) disappear, but the water in general becomes more confusing and the flat water becomes quite dangerous, with massive boils and whirlpools. The barrel wave at #11, made famous by Steve Fisher, only works for a week or two every year at high water, so don't expect to see this wave if you don't plan your trip for that specifically.

Sitting down at the boiling pot and looking up at the waterfall before you paddle down to the first rapid is truly an amazing experience. There are also a variety of other activities on offer in the area, like bungee jumping, canoe trips and booze cruises upstream of the Falls, microlight flights, game drives, etc.

There are a bunch of rafting companies that might allow you to join them on a trip with your kayak, normally at a high fee, but your best bet is to get in contact with www.bunduadventures.com or www.thezambezi.com. They are fully jacked up with everything that you will need to make your trip worthwhile. They can arrange shuttles for you, accommodation, permits, and most importantly, guide you down the river. Contact them for sure if you plan to go paddle the Zambezi.

Nile in Uganda

The Nile river in Uganda has become one of the hotspots in the international paddling world. It doesn't have the deep gorge of the Zambezi, but what it does have is a bigger variety of rapids to run and more playspots, many of which can be accessed easily without paddling a long section of the river. The Nile is a really wide river and channels between a maze of islands. There is everything from easy class 3 big volume rapids to technical class 5 rapids, depending on which channels you take. The islands are thickly overgrown and scouting is very difficult. Definitely make use of a guide the first few times you run this river. The water on this popular section of the Nile is dam controlled, ensuring a good level for paddling right through the year.

The two best playspots are Nile Special and Malalu. The annual Nile Festival takes place at these spots, and the biggest air possible is thrown here by the local and international paddlers who attend this growing Fest. It is sure to become one of the premier events on the international calendar. Some of the local paddlers are extremely talented and a few have already made their mark as big air experts.

There is some major construction going on at the Nile right now, and when completed a couple of rapids will be drowned. But the majority of good stuff will still be there, so don't let the talks of dams put you off visiting the Nile.

If you plan to visit the Nile, definitely get in contact with Jamie Simpson of www.kayakthenile.com. He is your one stop shop for paddling in Uganda, and will make all arrangements necessary, as well as guide you down the river. As for accommodation, the most popular place to stay is at the camp of Nile River Explorers (www.raftafrica.com), who are very friendly towards kayakers. Fly to Entebbe, Kampala, if you want to visit this amazing country. Kayak the Nile is sponsored by Fluid, and a fleet of Fluid kayaks are available for demo or rent.

Other rivers

There are some big rivers in a few countries waiting for first descents, and also a good couple that have only been paddled once or twice. Paddling in most African countries is guaranteed to provide epics in some form or another, and it can start the moment you land at the airport. Remember that most of Africa is third world territory, although some of the major cities are very modern. Public transport is not reliable and can be somewhat dangerous, but if you have patience and a good sense of humour you might just enjoy the ride.

Kenya is a new whitewater mecca that is starting to be opened up now. Check out Savage Wilderness Safaris at www.whitewaterkenya.com. The White and Blue Nile have both been paddled from source to sea fairly recently. These expeditions are well documented, but nothing stops you from following in their footsteps if you have the guts. Ethiopia has some amazing rivers, and a few of them are well described by Richard Bangs in his books. The Kafue in Zambia will scare you if you're not competent enough. Angola is a paddlers paradise waiting to be discovered, according to the guys who've flown over it. Madagascar, a big island off Africa's east coast, has creeks to write home about. Some of these have been paddled, but not many.

Many countries with world class whitewater have only recently recovered from civil wars. As a result, very little info is available on the rivers. All we know is that countries with mountains and high rainfall is bound to have good whitewater, and teams of expedition paddlers are slowly penetrating these places. Just be careful of landmines, hippos, crocodiles, malaria and men with AK47's.

Sorry if it seems like I want to scare paddlers off from coming here. The truth is, we want to do those first descents ourselves!

Cheers, Celliers

The 4WFS fin system is to other systems what the digital cell phone is to the land line rotary phone. A quantum leap forward in taking your shapers best work, and making it that much better for your surfing to be 100% dialed in every day regardless of conditions.

This is the fin system that is used with the Fluid Element. We have posted before on installing and the proper fin selection, but sometimes it can be hard to get the gist with just pictures. Now there is a video that covers it all the information and has some sweet footage. Enjoy!

This is the sickest air ramp show I have seen.

To be held at 6PM this Saturday, November 15, in Seaside, Florida.   It is sure to be a great event with live music and free admission.  Surf videos from the 2008 Hurricane Season will be shown, with prizes being awarded to the top films in 6 categories.  The categories are:  Biggest Hairiest Wipeout; Best Wave 18 & under; Best Wave 19 & up; Best Barrel, and Best Wave-Pro .

A film by TGR that is bringing light on endangered surf spots around the world.

Whether you surf kayak, SUP, sea kayak, or surf, do your part and become of member of the Surfrider Foundation.

By: Yolo Board

Saturday, 08 November 2008

Walton Fire District Beach Safety Director finishes first in the 14’ division for Team YOLO Board in the 22 mile Causeway to Causeway Stand-up Paddleboard Race

Santa Rosa Beach, FL (November 3, 2008) – Team YOLO announces that locally-adopted Australian-born waterman, Gary Wise, placed first in the 14’ division in the Cocoa Beach Surf Museum’s 2nd Annual Causeway to Causeway (C2C) Challenge Saturday, October 18, 2008 at Lee Werner Park in Cocoa Beach, Fla. Wise was defending his title from last year’s race and finished in 5:04:24. Team YOLO Board is a division of YOLO Boards, a Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.-based stand-up paddleboard manufacturer.

Gary serves as the South Walton Fire District Beach Safety Director, and competes in multiple annual standup paddleboard races, including the internationally-celebrated long distance paddleboarding competition QuiksilverEdition Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard Race in Hawaii. The C2C Challenge covered 22 miles and began at Lee Werner Park in Cocoa Beach. The course paralleled the Intracoastal Waterway in the Indian River. Gary’s finish time for the C2C Challenge is his personal best for a 22 mile race.

“The C2C is a very challenging event. Any time you have a course that is 11 miles one direction and 11 miles back you know that one way is going to be tough,” said Wise. “My hats off to all the other Team YOLO guys for entering their first distance paddle and as we say in Australia “having a go.” Special mention must go to Jeff, Tom and Mitzi for supporting Team YOLO. Without them our newly formed travelling paddleboard team would not exist!”

In the 12' division, Team YOLO member Lindsey Whittaker of Orlando finished first with a time of 5:32:07. Other paddlers to participate for Team YOLO Board were Justin Cook, Ross Carter, Andy Scheid and Joe Serrato. “We are so proud of Gary and all of the other Team YOLO members who competed in the race,” said Jeff Archer, co-founder of YOLO Board LLC. “Gary is a celebrated waterman and so committed to the South Walton community. I can’t imagine a better representative for Team YOLO Board.”

OUTFITTING

First of all, please note that two different types of bolts are used on Fluid kayaks:

• The one type is an allen cap bolt, using a 4mm allen key. Under normal circumstances, these should never be adjusted. All allen cap bolts that are screwed into moulded-in inserts are fixed with medium strength loctite. The rest of the allen cap bolts are screwed into nylock nuts to prevent them from loosening.

•The other type of bolt used are slotted bolts, which means they are screwed in and out with a flat screwdriver. These bolts are used for everything that need to be adjusted. The slots in these bolts are wide enough to allow a variety of flat objects, even coins, to be used.

The outfitting is like all things Fluid: simple to use, effective, lightweight. No gimmicks.

Outfitting used in all kayaks

All our kayaks use the same rotomoulded seat system, which is strong and relatively light. These seats offer a huge area of hull support, complete with foam padding underneath the seat. Different sized seats are used for the different size kayaks. The backrest can be adjusted with ratchets mounted on the seat.

The seat is attached to the kayak with plastic wedges, as shown here. The seat has 5 possible positions. We set the seat in the middle position at the factory, which should work fine for most paddlers. It is important to get the trim of the kayak right though. The ideal trim for most paddlers is with the bow about 2cm higher out of the water than the stern.

To move the seat, first loosen the hip pads covering the bolts that hold the seat in place. There are two bolts on each side, so four in total. Then loosen the bolts. For the not-so-technical minded, that means turn them anti-clockwise. Undo each bolt about 15mm. Then use a bit of force to move the seat forward or backward. It is easiest to move one side of the seat first (after all four bolts have been loosened), and then the other side. If the seat is really difficult to move for some reason, put the boat vertical on end, which will make it easier to apply some force. If you want to move the seat backward, put the boat on its stern, and vice versa. Once the seat is moved to the desired location, make sure that the little markers moulded into the top of the seat lines up with the notches on the wedge. Tighten all four bolts properly.

The backrest is kept in place by bungee cords. The rope that attaches the backrest to the ratchets is one long loop, with the two ends joined by a double fisherman’s knot on the backside of the backrest. To make bigger adjustments than what the ratchets allow, simply undo this knot and make a new knot. As can be seen here, all seats are also fitted with two loops at the back, one on each side, to which any loose items like throw bags, dry bags and buoyancy bags can be attached.

The thigh braces are solid, comfortable, and easy to adjust. Simply undo the two bolts shown here, and take the bolts out completely. Do not loosen the third bolt situated in the cockpit groove. Once the two bolts shown are removed, slide the thigh brace forwards or backwards to the desired position. Line up the holes in the cockpit with the threaded holes in the brass inserts, which are moulded into the thigh braces, and screw the bolts back in.

The powder-coated die-forged aluminium handles are strong, durable and easy on the hands.

All our kayaks come standard with a drain plug.

Nemesis, Element, Spice and Flirt specific outfitting

All our kayaks, except for the Solo series, have closed cell foam pillars in the bow and stern.

The footblock system consist of closed cell foam blocks, cut to size, which are supplied in the goodie bag. The foam blocks fit together like shown below. Use as many blocks as you need to get your feet comfortable. The idea is to get as much pressure off your toes by supporting the heels. If necessary, cut the foam blocks to get the perfect fit. Once the setup is worked out, simply glue these pieces of foam together with contact adhesive. It takes a bit of effort to get it perfect, but if done properly, your feet will thank you.

Solo specific outfitting

The Solos have a unique plastic rib cage in the bow and stern, with a step-out platform in the bow. The rib cage gives ultimate support to make sure your Solo keeps its shape, even in extreme conditions like pins under water.

The plastic footblocks are easily adjusted by means of aluminium rails and plastic knob nuts.

The plastic footblocks have a dual layer foam system to give the feet firm support but still absorb impact.

The Solos are supplied with an extra, bigger footblock to be used by shorter paddlers. The bow of a kayak is tapered, which means that if a short paddler would pull back the standard footblock too far, a gap will be formed around the footblock that can trap one’s foot in the case of a pin. It is therefore advised that short paddlers take the standard footblock out, undo the bolts and nuts by which the aluminium rails are attached to the footblock, and fix the bigger footblock to the rails as shown here.

Goodie bag

All our kayaks are supplied with a mesh goodie bag, as shown below. Inside the goodie bag a variety of items will be found, which are listed below together with their applications.

A sponge in the shape of Africa.

A Fluid water bottle.

Hip pad shims together with double-side velcro pieces. Add these shims underneath the hip pads if needed. The ideal is to be as tight as possible in your kayak, without creating pressure points that hurts. To add a shim, simply loosen the webbing that holds the hip pad in place, stick a piece of velcro to the shim, and then slide the shim into the gap between the hip pad and seat.

Extra thigh brace pads. The thigh braces are already fitted with exactly the same pads, but some paddlers prefer to lower the thigh brace surface to create a tighter fit. Use contact adhesive to glue the pads to the braces.

Patella pads. If you are one of those paddlers with sensitive knees, use contact adhesive to glue these pads to the inside of the sidewall of the kayak, underneath and slightly forward of the thigh braces. Make sure the pads are in the correct position by climbing into your kayak first to check, before gluing the pads.

Extra seat pad, for paddlers who prefer to raise the seat for extra leverage. A tip: the seat will look neater if you glue this underneath the nice looking thermo-formed pad that is already on your seat, instead of on top. The thermo-formed pad is glued to the seat, but with care it can be removed. Glue the extra seat pad onto the seat with contact adhesive, and then re-glue the thermo-formed pad on top of it.

Warranty registration card. Fill it in and post it to Fluid. But you can also register online on our website if you prefer.

Some Fluid stickers. You know what to do with them.

WakaWai.com

Stand Up Paddling (aka.SUP) is the fastest growing watersport/recreationalist activity. Using a canoe-like paddle and standing atop a larger version of a traditional longboard surfboard, paddlers push themselves through the water with perfectly choreographed side to side paddle strokes. Stand Up Paddling has 3 parts which are focused on. These 3 parts are paddling, balancing, and surfing. As opposed to spending days on end learning to just stand up on your surfboard, with SUP's, you can easily paddle into and ride waves, essentially cutting out a step. And it is not just restricted to beach dwellers.

The beauty is that it works great on flatwater as well! Take it to any body of flatwater and one is transported to another world that offers a completely new perspective and appreciation. You can take advantage of viewing aquatic wildlife like never before due to the exposure given while stand up paddling. It is quite easy and involves a very small learning curve. (As noted in our other SUP installment, my 65 year old father did it once and is now hooked.) SUP Boards give lots of opportunities to anyone one who likes to be on the water.

Along with its ease of learning, SUP provides a great core workout. Takers to this sport are making stand up paddling their first priority for recreation due to the benefits of the sport . Whether you are grandparents, parents or have children, they will all love it and you are bound to become obsessive compulsive about it!

WakaWai.com will be offering YOLO Board SUP's, as well as a full line of watersport/stand-up paddle accessories, including a variety of paddles, leashes, straps, waterproof backpacks, and a system for stand up paddle fishing.

Also in the next few months, watch WakaWai.com take Stand Up Paddling to whitewater! Stay Tuned!

Here is a sample of what is in the line up now...

A variety of paddles from Kialoa...

YOLO Board SUP's in lots of different colors...

and many more accessories...