Ocean Extreme Sports Blog

Starboard Riders Dave Muir and Tama Audibert wins 1st and 2nd place in the Tahitian Waterman League. Starboard receives 1st and 2nd place honors in the Tahitian Waterman League, the world premier paddle board event.

Dave Muir at Teahupoo

Starboard team rider Dave Muir ( Australia) and Tama Audibert ( Tahiti) indicates that Starboard shapes are not only working in “normal” conditions but also are the best in the most demanding conditions like Tahiti’s Teahupoo.

Tama Audibert Tahiti

Check out the article here on the Stand Up Paddle Surfing Magazine website

The Stand Up Paddle Surfing World Tour is in Anglet, France this week competing in the waves with the trials possibly finishing up today. The final event will see the top 8 competitors from the trials competing for top honors. Here are some videos from the first couple of days.

DAY 4

DAY 2

DAY 1

This week we received all the new boards from Ground Industries for 2010. They look sweet! Construction, graphics, attention to detail, quality… it’s all there!

After 2 years in development Ground Industries is proud to present the most technical board line on the market. Pick your style from the descriptions and Go Ride Hard!

2010 Underground Freewave

The genius FREEWAVE concept is unique to Underground.

There are now four great waveboard sizes and the boards have a softer flex, a recessed deck and are very tough. The full deck pad with a tail kick makes them a pleasure to jibe and ride strapless.

The FREEWAVE will be amazing fun in perfectly clean waves and epic in those not so good wave conditions, which most of us are used to.

It doubles as a great flat water freestyle board for those light wind days.
The sizes S, M and L are based on traditional 5’4”, 5’8” and 6’2” shapes, but with the new rounded nose are effectively 5′2″, 5′6″ and 6′0″ long.  They feature thruster fin setups. The Fish is based on a 5’10” shape and ends up to be a 5′8″ with the new nose shape. It features a twin fin setup.

All sizes are available in white and red.

Standup Paddle Surfing

Time Magazine recently did an article on the explosion of Standup Paddle Surfing (SUP). Here is an excerpt:

Stand-up paddle surfing may sound like a scene from a screwball comedy, but no one’s laughing in a sports and fitness industry that has hit the recession skids as hard as any other business.

SUP, as it’s called for short, looks exactly as it sounds: you stand on a large surfboard and propel yourself forward with a paddle. But, unlike traditional surfing, you don’t have to wait for the waves. In fact, SUP, which is wildly popular, can be done on lakes, rivers, pools or any sufficiently large body of water. “It’s completely blown up in the past five years and every spring it just blows up even more,” says Jim Brewer, 45, a painting contractor who, in October 2008 and in spite of everyone calling him nuts, opened Blueline Stand-Up Paddle Surf in Santa Barbara, Calif., the first fully dedicated SUP shop in the country. “We thought it was phasing out, but then we realized that it’s just beginning. It’s going mainstream.”

Check out the rest of the article here:

What’s SUP? A Surf Sport That Needs No Ocean

Best Kiteboarding is proud to announce the latest addition to its 2009 kite line up.

The new Kahoona is the perfect choice for every rider looking for a super stable, easy-to-rig, easy-to-fly kite. A reduced aspect-ratio and swept leading edge make the Kahoona Best’s quickest relaunching kite; it is the perfect kite choice for beginners and intermediate riders looking to maximize their progress every session.

A new Redline Safety System delivers instant safety-depower whenever you push the QR or drop the bar. With short bridles and only four flying lines, there is nothing to wrap around the kite should you roll it while relaunching. The Redline Safety System allows you to forget about the kite and concentrate on your riding.

Our Quad-Strut swept-tip design helps minimize drag for faster, easier turning helping to improve low wind ability. Responsive handling, great downwind drift, and auto-relaunch combine to help make the Kahoona the most evolved big-wave surf kite we’ve ever made.

A new VP2 mini-bridle provides the Kahoona with a large wind range and helps maximize stability in all riding conditions, especially when riding unhooked or overpowered. Single point connections for front and rear flying lines simplify your rigging options and make the Kahoona incredibly quick and simple to set-up even for novice riders.

The Kahoona’s auto-relaunch, ease of set-up, large wind range and reliable safety will help make you progress faster than you thought was possible. It comes loaded with ease of use and safety features that are out of this world, at a surprisingly down to earth price.

Kahoona: Progression in every session.

7.5m, 9.5m, 11.5m and 13.5m sizes will be available from March 1st 2009

Kahoona Product features:

		Auto-relaunch: The raked back wingtip design and reduced aspect-ratio of the Kahoona combine to deliver near automatic relaunch in any conditions. The Kahoona is the fastest relaunching Best kite making it perfect for beginners and big-wave surfers.
		Quad-strut design: The leading edge shape and highly swept back wingtips of the Kahoona allowed the R& D team to remove the centre strut from the airframe: with one less strut in the air the Kahoona is able to turn faster, with less drag and fly in less wind than would be possible with a 5 strut layout.
		Mini VP2 Bridle: A short leading edge bridle provides exceptional shape support and effective distribution of canopy loads across the entire kite: the Kahoona has stability that will encourage you to push your limits. VP2’s innovative pivoting design provides maximum depower from minimum bar travel making kite control simpler than ever.
		Redline Safety System: Dropping the bar onto the leash or firing off the chickenloop QR cuff both activate our new front line safety system, placing the kite at maximum depower with very limited residual pull in the kite. A simple and effective safety-depower system that ensures your kite is ready to be relaunched as soon as you are.
		Reduced Aspect Ratio: A reduced tip-to-tip length, highly swept tips and increased centre draft helps provide maximum projected area without flattening out the kite: combined with the raked back wingtips this allows the Kahoona to provide excellent low end power in every kite size.
		Hi-Lo Tuning: Because simplicity counts the Kahoona has only two rear flying line attachment settings, one for high wind and one for low wind: kite set up doesn’t get any easier.
		3D Kevlar Airframe: Our 3DK’ airframe joints are 3D shaped to ensure a precision fit. Kevlar reinforced webbing secures each seam to ensure maximum strength and absolute consistency. A more accurately built kite delivers greater performance wherever and however you ride it.
		Optimized Aspect Ratio: Every size of Kahoona we make is tuned to deliver a consistent feel when ridden against all the other sizes in that range. We modify the speed of our smallest kites to allow for easy handling, and maximize the speed and turning ability of our larger sizes to make lightwind riding more enjoyable.
		CFT: Canopy Framing Technology is the original canopy protection system; each section is cut on the curve to help reduce potential crash damage by dissipating impact energy away from the lightweight sections of canopy cloth.  Adding CFT to the leach line helps provide razor-sharp turning response and unmatched durability.

We will have demo kites available as early as mid-February. Check our forum for the latest info.

Give it a go on Land!

Progression Kite Landboarding Beginner is primarily aimed at people with some existing kite flying experience, whether that’s as a kitesurfer, power kiter or existing novice kite landboarder. We aim to give you all the background on the sport, safety, locations and conditions before getting up and riding on the board and slowing down and stopping. Then we’ll refine your stance, building your confidence so you can stay upwind consistently. Then its on to sliding, riding toeside and your first turns, before working on carving turns. Finally we take you through every aspect of jumping – from the absolute basics, small jumps, improved technique for those hugh boasting jumps, then a few grabs and finally aerial transitions.

Progression is all about helping you learn safer and quicker but with a deeper understanding of the core techniques, so you can continue to improve and have fun. A Progression DVD is not something to watch from start to finish, but a tool to dip in and out of as you improve, ready to give you the confidence to tackle the next step with ease.

For kitesurfers the sport of kite landboarding is a great cross over!

The 2009 Royal Eras showed up here this week. Last year’s Era was/is an amazing kite. Former RRD kite designer Simone Vannucci has never ceased to amaze us with his incredible talent for building incredibly fast, smooth turning, lightweight and lifty kites. The 2009 Royal Era appears to be even better with smoother turning, smoother depower, easy relaunch and incredible lift. Here’s what Royal has to say about their new Era:

“Carrying the heritage of the previous ERA, the 2009 model maintains great power with improved handling.
The ERA received a new and even more stable profile with increased LE diameter on the tips to support a direct rear line attachment. This gives the ERA an even faster turning speed and makes it more responsive even when depowered.
The more stable profile also helps depower, jumping and upwind performances.
A strong 5 attachment point bridle instead of 4 completes the list of kite improvements for this year.”

The bar now adopts a thinner diameter with anti-slide carved grip. A plastic molded quick release system replaces the heavier stainless steel for lighter weight and no corrosion. The bar is color coded and adopts a stopper ball rather than the microhook for locking power.