Million Dollar paddle with South County Surf

Saturday, 31 May 2008 16:44

John from South County Designs On our Stand Up Paddle Surfing Forums SouthCounty, or John, as he is in real life put up a post about an SUP board that he had shaped, when I checked this out it turned out that he was based in Irvine, the first stop on my California adventure. A few PM's later and we were meeting up a Newport Aquatic Centre and heading out for a paddle around Balboa Island.

John has been designing and shaping Stand Up Paddle Boards under the name South County Surf and his shapes are definately unconventional, they feature a quad fin set up with a centre fin, to allow you maximun flexibility and they are all wide, which means they are really stable, perfect for beginners and intermediates, but he also has a short 8' 6" that is great for more advanced riders. I had a paddle on this board and it was really stable but turned on a dime. Anyway, back to the paddle.

John and Hiro ready to go

We started out on a cloudy day from the Newport Aqautic Centre with myself, John and Hiro. John and Hiro's background is in outrigger canoe paddling and the interest in SUP has come from there, as with most Californian's there is a waterman culture and rarely do they do just one water based sport. This is very much a breath of fresh air as all the paddlers I have meet love learning a new sport and the challenges that this presents, alot of people mentioned that it has revitalized their love of the ocean. By definition this has meant that SUPers tend to be more open minded and embracing than people who just practice one sport.

Checking out the SUP boards

As soon as we rounded the corner we were in the middle of multi million dollar properties with yacht's and gin palace's moored up right out side. Balboa Island is one of the most expensive real estate markets in North America and it is also one of the densest communities in Orange County. Approximately 3,000 residents live on just 0.2 square miles giving it a population density of 17,621 person per square mile, a two-bedroom house with a water view will set you back about $4 million. Some of the houses are enormous, so you can only guess at the value. Two in particular belonged to the Gillette brothers (of the razor company), origonally one plot was split in half by the feuding Gillette brothers with one getting the better bargain, sporting the finest views of the channel. When the other brother built onto his half, he blocked his angry brother's views of the channel. Such are the dramas of the rich and famous !

The sun the decided to make an appearance, and although we were paddling against the tide and with the wind in our faces, it was a very pleasant way to spend a Sunday morning. There we a lot of small fishing boats out and as we neared the bridge under the Pacific Coast Highway and we saw one boat catch a really decent sized flat fish, that the locals called Haddock, but not the sort of Haddock that we would recogise in the UK.

Paddling the 11ft

Here is a link to the route that we took : http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1946660 Sadly I was short of time, but given more time I would recommend a paddle right around Balboa Island, as, in the words of John, its a bit like Disney Land, with perfect houses, clean cars and beautiful streets. If you want to see John's boards check out : http://www.southcountysurf.com/ if you want to get in touch with John head over to the Stand Up Paddle Surfing Forums and PM the user SouthCounty.

Setting off to Balboa Island

Thanks to John and Hiro for showing me around.

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Jeff

September 15, 2009

Votes: +0

South County SUP

I am new to SUP'ing, but have surfed since a youth. An illness has kept me out of the water surfing for the better part of 15 years. My first SUP experience was roughly a month ago. I rented a Hobie 11'6"x29.5" along with my 13 year old daughter. It was a very windy day but I didn't think much of that. I was able to get up and paddle the Hobie first try and never fell off.

Fast forward two weeks. Rented another SUP, this time a 12'x31"x4.75" Sunset. Fairly stable board, paddles very straight. I liked it better than the Hobie by some magnitude. Still a big board though and hard to turn (the tradeoff for good tracking).

To the present: Met John from South County Surf (fortuitously) last weekend in Dana Point Harbor. Saw some folks paddling South County boards while I was on my kayak with my daughter. John and his friends are extremely nice and gracious folks. Got to talking with them and the next thing I know I'm on a 10'x34"x4.5" South County called the "Turtle", which is one of John's newer designs. His boards are biased toward shorter and wider/thicker. He is moving in the right direction because the 10' Turtle was incredibly stable, to the point that I could stand and relax while stationary and carry on a lengthy conversation with John and his friends. Unbelievable. The board paddles extremely well and turns on a dime. I have seen videos of John's 9'x34"x5.5" board in performance surf and it absolutely rips. super loose but with all the float gets on plane and moves very quick and fast.

On a side note, my daughter was offered a ride by one of John's friends who was on a 8'x33"x5.5". She was doing 360s, one footed airplanes etc and the board wasn't even drawing any water - the deck was completely dry. (My turn on the Turtle produced the same results - dry deck that is, no one footed airplanes for me!).

From my somewhat limited experience John is really on to something with these designs. Maximum float and stability but with maximum maneuverability. With the wide beam and thick deck but pulled in tail shape the boards simply can't be beat for quickness. Just imagine the new snow skis with their radical side cut and shorter length compared to an older race ski with long length, narrow waist and much lower side cut. This I believe is an adequate comparison to what John is doing in SUP design.

If you haven't tried a South County SUP yet you really owe it to yourself to do so before making a purchasing decision. Test a couple of the more traditional shaped SUPs then try a South County. I think you will be quite surprised, whether you surf at a competitive level or if you are just an old duffer like me.