Author Topic: What is the history of SUP downwinders?  (Read 2312 times)

corrego

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What is the history of SUP downwinders?
« on: November 26, 2015, 04:18:40 PM »
What is the history of SUP downwinders?
Who or whom did the first runs documented?
Where? Hawaii?
Does it come from OC1 or surf skis?

Who planted the seed? I am hooked!
Who do i blame?

DavidJohn

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Re: What is the history of SUP downwinders?
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2015, 10:29:34 PM »
Friends of mine who had oc1 and surfski experience suggested to me that we do one once and all we had back then was 11'6" and 12'6" surfboard shape sup boards.. It was great fun.. and the boards just keep getting better.

I think Laird and DK were the first that I know of that I saw on the original Laird dvd.. Maybe they should take the blame..  :)

PonoBill

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Re: What is the history of SUP downwinders?
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2015, 12:33:55 AM »
GP ( Giampaolo Cammarotta) claims to be the first to do downwinders  from Maliko on a surfboard. Of course canoes and surfskis have been doing it since the lava cooled.

First people I knew who were doing it were Admin and Chan. They dragged me out on a Maliko grad level day for my first run. I was on Gumby, which was a 12' X 28" Foote board--the first DW board he shaped. It looked like he glassed a blank and painted it turquoise, but it was actually a pretty good board.  I spent most of the run on my knees thinking that my friends were trying to kill me. Hooked me good, I've been doing it ever since.

Did my first Maliko race a week later. It was a really big, wild day so MCKC required experience at Maliko to sign up for the race. They said "have you done Maliko runs before and I said "I did four this week" not bothering to tell them they were the only four I'd ever done.
« Last Edit: November 27, 2015, 12:43:10 AM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

covesurfer

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Re: What is the history of SUP downwinders?
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2015, 12:53:26 AM »
The video, 'That First Glide', available on DVD, gives a pretty complete history of standup paddling. There's a segment on downwind in the film but it covers everything from flatwater to surfing to competition and it's very well done, IMHO.

The story I got was that Laird, DK and others, started doing runs on Maliko, here off of Maui and the early boards were, as DJ explains, big surfboard sups. There was a history of guys paddling prone paddleboards down Maliko and some of the guys that were doing that tried out standup. Some of those guys are still downwinding regularly.

In the film, Laird is interviewed about the evolution of standup downwind. He discusses how the idea came from experience with prone paddling, surfing, kiting and windsurfing. I know for myself, having done a lot of windsurfing, including downwinders, I saw the potential for downwind fun with standup paddling pretty quickly. Lucky for me, that was 2011 and the sport was really taking off with lots of events, tons of information and equipment available.

Those of us that came to the party later have benefited from greatly improved board and paddle designs and construction, that you could just walk into your local shop and buy. The guys that pioneered downwind paddling didn't have that luxury but they got hooked like the rest of us.

surf4food

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Re: What is the history of SUP downwinders?
« Reply #4 on: November 28, 2015, 07:15:49 PM »
The history of downwind SUP is probably as elusive as the history of SUP itself.

headmount

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Re: What is the history of SUP downwinders?
« Reply #5 on: November 28, 2015, 08:35:21 PM »
 I'd have to credit my good friend Gerry Lopez for getting a small gang of old surfing pals into it. His friend Craig Lockwood made some pop outs and those were our boards until Gerry made us a few.  We all got into prone paddling in the late 80's to keep in shape for surfing since we were getting 'old' (40 for me in 1990)  I also wanted to get my son into it and he did great, one year placing 9th overall in the Duke race on Oahu.  He went on to do well in swimming from the endurance he gained prone paddling distance.  Now his son is an ace swimmer and has joined his Dad and Grandpa in a few DWinders. 

This is from 1990.  BTW don't ever do prone paddling it ruins your neck.  But it did tune me into going DW from Maliko.

Off-Shore

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Re: What is the history of SUP downwinders?
« Reply #6 on: November 28, 2015, 11:55:22 PM »
I going to switch the question a little, to "What is the history of SUP downwinders IN YOUR AREA?" 

For us here in Hong Kong, it took two of us, one an experienced ex-pro windsurfer, and Surfskier and myself to get into SUP, and start watching Iron Phil's and Bill Boyum's downwind vids online. He had a Naish Glide V1 and I had a Starboard Coast Runner 14', and separately did our own downwinders. We then got together and both ordered SICS; he, a second hand Bullet 17-4 and myself a custom made F16v3 from Maui. My buddy had done a lot of downwinding in his Surfski. In fact the Dragon Run downwind OC and Surfski race was started here in 2001 so there is quite a long history of downwinding here. We did our first downwind together in 2012 and started mapping out where the best runs were. Now we probably have a community of 20 of us who downwind/ downbreeze, although being Hong Kong, it's a bit of a revolving door and people come and go.


Would be real interesting to hear how it started in your area.. I have to say without IronPhil and Bill's videos I'd have never known about downwinding, or pushed myself to buy the right gear and learn this awesome sport
« Last Edit: November 28, 2015, 11:58:14 PM by Off-Shore »
SB 9' x 33' x 4.1" - RPC 9'8" iSUP - SB All-Star 12'6" - Blue Planet Bump Rider 14 - SB Ace 14 x 27 - RedAir 14' Elite Race - SIC Bullet 14v1 TWC - SICMaui F16v3 Custom

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/HksupaHk_SUP_and_Downwinding

TallDude

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Re: What is the history of SUP downwinders?
« Reply #7 on: November 29, 2015, 12:35:54 AM »
When it starts in our area, I'll let you know. Don't hold your breath.
It's not overhead to me!
8'8" L-41 ST and a whole pile of boards I rarely use.

 


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