Looking For A Deck Bag

My Amundson with the four measly tie-downs needs a deck bag. These seem to be the boards on the market:

This first one has a nice streamlined shape. It's small, but it has a lot of attachment points.

This one can become a shoulder bag. I like that part of it, but the adjustment points don't seem to have tighteners.


I'm leaning towards this one. The shape isn't very aerodynamic, but it holds a lot and has good pockets. It also becomes a backpack.


NRS also has a line of deck bags, all variations on a single theme.


This one is interesting too, the Seattle Sports Profile Deck Bag. I couldn't find a video for it, but the design is waterproof as opposed the the other “water resistant” designs.

These photos are courtesy of Seattle Sports.

Amundson 12'6": Land Review

So, I finally replaced my Exocet Eggshell with a recommendation from Jim Karabasz, an Amundson 12'6" TR. I'm going to give my first impressions of the board, then get it out on the water in the next few days. The water is still about 40ºF and the days have been pretty windy, so getting out is kind of dicey.

The construction — something I was very concerned about — looks solid. Jim has assured me that this is a very solid boar that can take a couple of knocks. The sales material calls it “Rhino-Lite” construction. What made me choose this one over the Bic Wing was the fact that he described this is much more repairable than the Bic. I'm still going to baby the hell out of it, but it's also good that it can be repaired. It feels relatively solid, although time and the Hudson River will tell. The bag hadn't arrived yet, so before transporting the board, I slid it inside the big board sock which was shipped with my Eggshell. (I still don't know it's purpose. It's too short for a fourteen-footer and doesn't fit well around anything.)

It's strange going from a 14 footer to a 12'6". This board is obviously smaller than that Marlin but it's also thinner. At 239 liters, this model is over 100 liters smaller than what I'm used to. I'm not terribly upset about this. A fourteen-footer can be a whale of a board, and it's nice to have something smaller to shlep around.

The board is relatively flat with a vertical nose. It seems kind of “surfboardy”. The rails are rounded hear the nose but get pretty sharp about halfway back. If I wasn't looking at the nose, from the bottom it looks a lot like a big wave board. The rear is square. My guess is this will be a very good flat water board with some ability in chop.

The top is a nice bright yellow. This is a good color for a place with a lot of board traffic. Yellow is a really easy color to spot, unlike red or blue, and I'm glad about that. The styling isn't too bad. Like most Amundsons I've seen (my wife has an old 11'3"), the styling is kind of modest but tasteful.

There's a ridge extending from the nose almost to the deck pad, which I assume is to put a little extra volume in the nose. The deck is slightly recessed with a plain grey pad. In front of the deck are four attachment points for bungies or a bag. I wish it had more, but four is probably enough for 95% of what I do. There's a threaded point for a windsurf mast or GoPro right in front of the handle and a vent plug behind it. There's a sight concave to the decks which goes back to the tail, letting water drain easily.

The handle is that new style which goes into the board an extends underneath the board a little. I like that a lot. What a difference that small thing makes with carrying a board! All SUPs need to have this.

This seems like a solid, medium-sized board. I'm looking forwards to taking it out.

Take-Apartable SUP: Corran's At It Again!

Corran Addison is one of the most innovative and creative designers of standup paddleboards right now. Now he has a new board, the Hydra, which is another awesome idea.


Some of us go on vacations with our families. I can say from experience that bringing along a standup paddleboard can be a logistical problem when you've got a few kids with you. Yes, you can put the paddleboard on the roof, but that can be an issue too. My wife complains about not being able to open the hatch of her VW Routan once the board is on the roof. She's right about this.

This may be the perfect vacation board. It can take one or two sections between the two ends, making either a 9' surfboard or a 12' cruiser. The whole thing packs up into a 3'x3' cube.

Corran is doing a Kickstarter to get the Hydra going. You can donate any amount you want, but $300 and up gets you a board. The Kickstarter ends December 12.

All pictures are taken by and owned by Corran Addison.

Exocet Marlin 14" AST for Sale

Yes, I'm selling the Marlin. Here's the Craigslist entry. It comes with an almost-new Epic board bag. The total price is $1,050. This is $450 less than what I paid for the board and bag. The board is available in Peekskill, NY.

You can see the points of repair on this underside shot.

Here are pictures of the repairs. All were done professionally at East Coast Surf Products.

This is the main point of damage.

This repair is the second location from the event that caused the above repair.

This damage happened during shipping. It was repaired last June.

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.

Great Board(s) Idea!

This is the new Corran Infiltrator. It's two boards in one. What a cool idea! I only wish the larger board was plastic.

Exocet Cruiser: Sold

Yup. I sold my “sailboat” to a guy named Ismail. Go figure.

Goodbye Cruiser.

I might have a paddleboard for sale soon.

Maybe A Bic Wing?

This is a guy named Mike Simpson who paddled 400 miles on the Connecticut River on the Wing. He's got a lot of stuff on that board! He also used it to paddle the Hudson.

Nikki Greg on a Wing

A Bic One-Design race in Hong Kong

All photos courtesy of and owned by Bic SUP.

These boards are only 12'6", and I'm used to a 14 footer, but apparently the construction is very strong.

Distressed Mullet review.

The Paddler review.

A Move With the Current review.

This is the official Bic Wing sales video. It's actually more informative than most, especially when you see how it's constructed.