A Subtle Curve

I took Kirsten's board out finally for a timed run last Tuesday. There was a lot of wind and that skewed to GPS results some.

Name:		4 Miles on Wife's Board
Date:		Sep 17, 2013 4:40 pm
Map: (valid until Mar 17, 2014)		View on Map
Distance:		4.36 miles
Elapsed Time:		1:23:34
Avg Speed:		3.1 mph
Max Speed:		5.1 mph
Avg Pace:		19' 10" per mile
Min Altitude:		0 ft
Max Altitude:		0 ft
Start Time:		2013-09-17T20:40:05Z
Start Location:
	Latitude:	41º 17' 06" N
	Longitude:	73º 55' 57" W
End Location:
	Latitude:	41º 17' 05" N
	Longitude:	73º 55' 57" W

This was a good trip to get acquainted with Kirsten's board again. It's an older model Amundsen 11'3" bought in 2009. What makes it interesting are a few things. First, It doesn't have a center handle like most SUPs. It does hand a windsurfer mast track, however. It was made during the primitive years when people thought the only time people would standup paddle was when there was no wind for windsurfing, thus the board's dual nature. The fin is probably too small for good windsurfing, but no matter. I've only put a sail on it once, and that was in really light winds. You can squeeze a couple of digits into the mast slot for carrying, but that's only good for short distances.

The board also has padded rails, which I've never seen before or since. After several years of paddling these have gotten a little beaten up, but I don't know why more manufacturers don't use these. They sure save the rails better than anything else.

I don't have any shots of the board from my last trip, but here's Kirsten sliding aboard on Mirror Lake.

The colors are also pretty bland, almost ugly. I wonder why. This board was sold under the “AquaGlide” brand, which is not a high-quality brand for water equipment and the blue/grey scheme is their colors, but I'd think Amundsen could have made it a little prettier.

The thing I noticed most of all with this board was the concave deck. I think this is a relic from windsurfing again, where a concave deck means you have something to push against when you're on one side of the board, especially one without footstraps. What this does for basic paddling is make the board really squirrelly. It moved turned and moved around very easily, but sacrificed a little stability in the process. It took a little getting used to, but it had advantages. Pivot turns were really easy. I could also “foot steer” the board while paddling. That was nice. I imagine this would make turning in the waves pretty easy. but I've yet to try that. (I did get the board on a wave once, but that was before I knew anything about surfing.)

One last thing I want to mention is that this board is relatively fast. I notice when I paddle my own eleven-footer with Kirsten that I have to push it a little to keep up. Even with my stronger stroke (not boasting — I just paddle a lot more) I need that extra effort. It's a pretty good board. Right now it's the fastest in our fleet.

You can see the concave shape of the board at Kirsten's feet.