Gerry Lopez Demos How to Survive a Big Wave on an SUP

Renowned surf and SUP photographer Grant Myrdal took these recent photos of Gerry Lopez on his stand up paddle surf board in some big waves off of the Oregon Coast. Grant owns the copyrights to these photos, so please contact him if you'd like to use these images in any way. (Or have Grant take some photos of you!)

www.StandUpPaddleFlatwater.com
Thank you for buying your SUP gear from us, we appreciate your support.

Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard Race has a Bend, Oregon Connection

Jack Gillen sent us this photo and the note, (Here's) "The owner of rainbow sandals, my wife and some dude from Bend, Oregon." Of course, that "dude" is Gerry Lopez of Bend, Oregon. From left to right are Jay Longley (Sparky), the ever-gorgeous Terry Gillen and Gerry Lopez at the:

13th Annual
RAINBOW SANDALS - MOLOKAI to OAHU PADDLEBOARD RACE
Presented By Honolua.

Jack Gillen entered the race. Here's a photo of him paddling during his 8+ hour race. He was the only solo stand up paddler on a fixed-fin stand up paddleboard.

To get his stand up paddle board to the race venue on Molokai, Jack and his friend Ekolu Kalama paddled the boards from Maui to Molokai three days before the race. Then. . . they raced!

Because of the side-winds during the race, Jack had to paddle on one side the entire course. The other solo competitors were on SUP paddleboards with rudder fins. Rudder fins allow the paddler to paddle on both sides while steering with the rudder rather than using only the paddle stroke to steer. Jack feels that a fixed fin stand up board is pure and true to the sport of stand up. So he chose a fixed fin in homage to Stand up paddling's surfing roots.

Jack came in last in the solo category for his efforts and told Randall that he spent 80% of the race thinking how he would never do the race again.

Several days later, Jack was back training for next year. We love this guy!
Here's how the race shook out. Jamie Mitchell claimed the 8th consecutive Rainbow Sandals Molokai to Oahu Paddlebaord. Hawaii's Kanesa Duncan Claims the Women's race.
 Ekolu Kalama Takes Standup Honors . . . READ MORE at Rainbow Sandals;

Read more about Jack Gillen (Terry's husband)

www.StandUpPaddleFlatwater.com

Places to Paddle: 48 Miles from Bend, Oregon, Cultus Lake

Cultus Lake: On the Cascade Lake Highway, Elev. 4,668

Paddling Season: Late Spring, Summer, Early Fall

Forty eight miles from Bend, Cultus is a good size lake (792 surface acres) with a mix of watercraft. Eighty to over 200' in depth, the water is cool and clear. In the morning it is often mirror smooth. There is not a lot of beach, so you may have to crowd in, especially at the beginning of the summer when the water level is high due to snow melt.

Fishers in powerboats and wake boarders stay to the middle of the lake and paddlers hug the shoreline. Most afternoons the winds pickup and windsurfers rig up. There is a little lodge with a restaurant and cabins and lots of camping. This is a favorite lake to stand up paddle surf behind a boat.

Photos: Gerry Lopez and Dennis Oliphant catching the endless inland wave from Dennis' boat.

www.StandUpPaddleFlatwater.com

Gerry Lopez Interview on SUP Surf Mag

Hometown hero, Gerry Lopez is interviewed about his elite Stand up Paddle event, Rainbow Sandals Battle of the Paddle race. It's a great interview with Barrett Tester and Gerry Lopez on SUP Surf Mag.com Here's the link to the page with the interview.

Gerry has a lot to say about the resurgence of SUP as a exciting sport. He has a lot to say about standup paddling as well as mentioning our local Stand Up Paddle Bend group of river and lake paddlers. Thanks for the mention, Gerry! One thing Gerry said that was news to me was this bit about the history of surfing: "Surfing contests in the beginning were all paddle races and they evolved into what people see now with people riding waves. . ." Lopez explained that this SUP contest is not the average "surf" contest. "We could have a wave contest, but a race would be a lot more fun and easy for the people watching it to understand."

The Battle of the Paddle event includes a $25,000. purse. That's enough to motivate a fitness program! Maybe we'll see some of our local group at a race like this next year!

Randall is ordering 14 foot Joe Bark SUP race boards and getting them in stock. Let him know if you want to order one. 541-389-4547

www.StandUpPaddleBend.com

Stand up Journal - The Fire Inside Gerry Lopez

Standup Surf & Sail Journal is a must to add to your coffee table quiver of magazines. Each issue is a Photo journal rich with images and articles that are sure to add to the buzz that's building SUP into the next big worldwide sport.

Published by Clay Feeter, Standup Surf & Sail Journal features our local surf icon, Gerry Lopez. Gerry wrote the article, The Fire Within, on page 94. It's beautifully illustrated with photos including a portrait of Gerry with Kialoa paddle maker, Dave Chun (also from Bend, Oregon). Some of the local Paddlesurf Bend crew have their picture in a group shot with Gerry taken by Meg Chun on the shore of the Deschutes River near the Healy Bridge.

Gerry's article will whet your appetite for his new book, Surf is Where You Find It. We highly recommend this book.

SUP Bend Group (photo Meg Chun): L to R - Gerry Lopez, Isabella Barna, Mike McComb, Randall Barna, Dave Chun (red shirt), Dennis Oliphant, Jeremy McKelvey (farthest back), Peter Miller, Susie Miller

New Lopez Stand up Paddle Board

Gerry Lopez surfboards are pure art. The shapes are no-nonsense function and derived from an heritage of experience thats unprecedented. It's rare that an athlete, performing at the pinnacle of their sport, also has the mastery to design and hand shape the equipment.

Gerry has stacks of surfboard orders from around the world and it takes months of planning to get one. I've teased about him ever getting around to make us some standup paddle boards. I think we're very fortunate to have Gerry share with us what he rides, that's aloha!

I talked with Gerry about the new standup paddle surf boards, here's the interview:
___________________________________________________________

• The two standup paddle boards you shaped are a 9'6" and a 10'2", why the two sizes?

Gerry- The two are exactly the same design, meant to do the same thing. The 10'2" is for bigger surfers. (I usually split light/heavy at 170#, I think this applies here too)

• What type of standup paddle surfing are these boards meant for, they don't look like the noseriders in your longboard shapes?

Gerry- They're not noseriders, these boards are rippers!

The Gerry Lopez standup paddle surfboards are the highest performance SUP boards available.



Lopez's new Standup board is here! standuppaddlebend.com

Breaking Away from the Flatwater: More Gerry Lopez and Oliphant in Baja

Gerry and Dennis had a great spring break in Baja.

We're still waiting for more spring weather here in Bend, so I'm showing a tropical break. Dennis said the surf kept getting bigger, and bigger, and gnarly to the point that the only one out was Lopez. The last photo is a testimony.

Photos courtesy of Dennis Oliphant.

Gerry Lopez & Dennis "the Duke" Oliphant in Baja

The last week of March (Oregon Spring Break) has shown no signs of spring in Central Oregon. There's been a skiff of snow every morning and night temperatures in the teens. Just to make us jealous Gerry and Dennis have sent these photos of the fun they're having in Baja on their spring break!

Gerry, whats the story on those rocks?

www.StandUpPaddleFlatwater.com

Recent Articles by Gerry Lopez and Dave Chun

Our local friends and industry SUP dignitaries Gerry and Dave have some great articles up on the internet magazines and blogs recently. I'd like to point this out with some links so they don't fade into the archives.

Gerry's is a very personal and wonderful story about his fire for surfing and how it was kindled, burned, smoldered and flamed again with standup paddle surfing. Find it at: http://kialoapaddles.blogspot.com/ Thanks Gerry for writing this and providing a preview for your book that's coming out in March. Now all we ask is for you to make us some SUP boards!

Dave has been interviewed and filmed so much lately that I don't know where to start. You'll need to navigate a bit to find all these articles, (two four-part interviews). Start with http://www.supsurfmag.com/ then go to page three of "articles." Part four of Dave Chuns interview on paddles will come up and at the bottom of the page will be listed the first three articles as well. Next, go to http://standuppaddlesurf.net/ click on articles for December and scroll all the way to the bottom of the page. Click on Entries(rss) and the whole list will come up. Scroll down till you find the four interview articles with Dave Chun.

These articles are super informative and Dave is very generous with his knowledge on paddle design, materials, paddling technique, and the industry. It shows why we all love our Kialoa paddles!

http://standuppaddlebend.com/