Ever hear about people who can't chew gum and walk at the same time? Well maybe I'm one of those. I've been putting Dakine tail pads on my SUPs in a failed attempt to get better feel for the tail of the board. It just wasn't working for me. I'd surf a wave and still wouldn't know "exactly" where my rear foot had been when it was over. I think the paddle caused enough of a mental distraction, that I was not aware of where my rear foot was. Other that what I'd feel in the way the board performed on the wave. I wanted more.
So I built my own tail pad with a double height arch bump. A bump so high, it feels slightly uncomfortable testing it on the beach.
But on the water, WOW. The pad felt fantastic and I was "fully" aware of my exact foot position on every wave. I felt empowered and my surfing felt better than ever. Maybe SUPs need bigger arch bumps.
Jacky loves it too!
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| 7'3 Hokua |
8 comments:
That's cool! I always wonder where my back foot is and have really been working on getting it back as far as possible. How did you make the "double arch"?
Glued 2 layers of foam, then shaped them into the bump. You could take a Dakine pad and glue a single layer of scrap foam under the bump.
I buy 16" skim board arch bars and a pad with tail kick cut a slot out of the pad with a band saw to fit the arch bar and put it on. I always use a different color arch bar than the pad for a visual reference as well as feel. I also cut slots and strips in my pads to have a decent visual and seem to develope a foot feel from memory where I am by the way the slots feel on my foot. I use a 2nd arch bar in the front foot area on my shorter SUP's really makes a difference. I do not like solid pads. Its all about the leverage. I also set up the kick tail on teh pad to where my back foot is 90% of the time then add a 2nd kick right in front of the leash plug. Keeps me from getting racked when I throw my back foot all the way back on a tail slide or hard top turn. The things you learn the hard way.
Looks really good DW,
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.128848537163039.18104.122560101125216
Here is a good example of the mechanics of my pad in action. Note the back foot right on top of the kicker. Cool Gopro shots from hurricane Earl last year I aimed the camera at my feet.
Nice photos Ron. Cool to know I'm not the only one searching for the ultimate SUP tail pad setup.
I moved some gopro video chest view to my Absolute page on FB. The 8'4 is working pretty good. Let me know if you can view them.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Absolute-Trip-Standup-Paddle-Surfboards/122560101125216?sk=wall
Peace,
Ron
"fully" aware means:
1. foot doesn't touch the pad
2. foot just touches the pad
3. foot halfway on the pad
4. foot all the way on the pad...
right? its like a gauge...
this is really a scientific approach!
cool
You got it alap
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