Tuesday, January 29, 2008

My new 10'0 Paddle Surf Hawaii Custom



Here is my newest ride.
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It was an adventure getting this one. This board was ordered through www.gopaddlesurf.com , the local shop here. I told Hunter, the owner, to get me a 10' PSH ASAP, after riding my wife's 9'6 production PSH. I'd take custom if they had one on the rack in the PSH warehouse. The production boards are due in March. I couldn't wait that long! Word came back via Austin they had several different width and thickness 10 footers to choose from. Yipee!
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Next came word Blane would personally select a board to send me! Wow, the man himself was picking my board. We had met at Surf Expo, so he already knew I was 6'2, 200 pounds. Blane picked a 29 wide x 4 1/8 thick board.
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Shipping would be via United only, because this is the only airline they are approved with. If you don't know, the TSA has new rules about shipping on passenger planes. You must request the airline come to your place of business or home to ensure you are not a terrorist. The fee for this is $50, any airline. The fee has probably been regulated. Once approved, you get on their approved list of shippers. Easy after that, but until you do this, they ain't taken anything from you. The bad news for me, United charged me $216 shipping. Delta charged me $126-$132 on other boards I purchased from Hawaii.
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More bad news at check in. United wouldn't ship to my preferred airport in Raleigh. They would only allow it to be sent to Charlotte. Drive time to Charlotte, 4 hours each way! Yikes!
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I blew off work again and made the 8 hour round trip run to the airport. I was home in time to catch one hour of surfing with the new board. I was not disappointed. The board is sweet.
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I'm one happy SOB now. In fact, I feel a little guilty for being such a SUP buying hog. But its all been worth it. I'm having the time of my life. I'm having soooo much fun surfing now I can hardly keep my mind on work when at the office.
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I need to retire. I don't have enough time for work anymore. I need to surf more.

3 comments:

John Ashley said...

That board looks GOOD!!! I'm a fan of the 10' range- I'm riding a board that's 10' x 29" x 4.4" and at 220lbs it's the minimum as far as volume that I want to go to- when you're on your board where does the water come up to on the rail?

Also- now that you're set up for boards go spend some money on a video camera and lets see some clips! I want to see what you're surfing over there!!!

John Ashley (paddlesurf.net on the SUPzone)

NC Paddle Surfer said...

Hard to judge where the water line is when we rarely get surf like CA. Your everyday glassy, dreamy waves, are our once a month to die for waves.

I do have a video camera, only problem is the camera women SUPs too. I am planning to shoot video soon though. I want to use it to improve my surfing.

Anonymous said...

That board looks sweet. I think I saw it at PSH last week if I'm not mistaken. It looks like a scaled down version of the 10'6" that I have.

I didn't know the 10'ers had a 29" wide version...should be pretty stable. Let us know how it rides.