Vibe on Rail
I heard a few comments that the Coreban Vibe was too wide and to disci. I had the perfect opportunity this morning to take it out in some clean Open beach Surf.
Enough Said!
Enjoy the ride
Ma te wa
Woogie
Dedicated to making quality SUP
Monday, May 30, 2011
Coreban SUP Clinics Expo's
Sunshine Coast Demo
Set up
On Land Instruction
On water Try
Board line up
Coreban SUP teamed up with LSD & Sunshine Coast Kite Surfing Store to run a demo day at Cotton Tree, Maroochydore. The sun was out and there were a couple of small rideable waves at the Maroochydore River Mouth.
Stay tuned for our next Coreban Clinic / Expo
Stay Tuned for our next Coreban Clinic / Expo
Enjoy the ride
Ma te wa
Woogie
Sunday, May 29, 2011
River SUPing in remote Sumba
How I wish I had my Coreban Inflatable SUP with me. Ahead lies a stretch of shallow water on a remote river on the Indonesian island of Sumba and I’m on a 12ft epoxy SUP with the fins removed!
With my Coreban inflatable SUP, I’d be able to cruise down the river, taking on small rapids and shallow water with ease. But unfortunately to pass this section of shallow water and rapids, we have to jump off and gingerly walk overt the rocky river bottom steering our SUPs by hand.
Ah well, it’s a bit of an adventure and one that I know for sure has never been done before. We are exploring the Lamboya River for the very first time. It’s the tail end of the rainy season, so there’s still enough water in the river to paddle, but because the water is a muddy brown colour, we’ve taken the fins out because we’re not sure of the river depth.
But I know that next year we are coming back with our Coreban inflatables and going to do the river properly.
We’ve come to Sumba to surf, but after a week of solid swell, the waves are now small and because of low tide conditions during the day, we’ve been looking for something else to do.
So when Ernst Ludick, the manager at the world renowned eco resort of Nihiwatu suggested exploring the Lamboya River by SUP, who were we to say no. It would be fun to pioneer SUPing in Sumba, and who knows what we might see.
The Lamboya River is one of two major rivers in West Sumba, so we are going to set out from a spot up river and then paddle down to meet the ocean.
Sumba is one of the closest Indonesian islands to Australia, yet one that is rarely visited, despite being just a one hour flight from Bali. For those who are a little more adventurous, Sumba presents an island of unspoiled beauty and a distinctive megalithic tribal culture, as unique and vivid as any on earth.
The island was once forested with fine and aromatic sandalwood, but was largely stripped of this precious crop by Arab, Malay, Indian and Chinese traders long before the Portuguese and Dutch even thought about sailing to the East.
During World War Two, the Japanese built a road that stretches 100kms from Waikabubak in West Sumba, to Waingapu in East Sumba, but it takes nearly four hours to travel between the two. Often you’re stopping to give way to buffalo, chickens, pigs, horses and buses that are so overloaded, they can’t get up the steep hills!
Thankfully, the journey to our entry point on the Lamboya River will only take about 20 minutes.
On the way we pass herds of buffalo and lots of kids, the former on their way to wallow in river’s mudholes, the latter on their way to school.
As we crest the top of a hill we see the Lamboya River way below us and it looks like there’s plenty of water for our expedition.
The Lamboya River bisects a wide valley where rice is grown by irrigation and villagers make their living digging out sand and scree for buildings and road construction.
We soon find a likely entry point and very quickly a crowd of curious onlookers has gathered to see what we are doing.
Normally, the wet season would be well over in Sumba by now, but late rains have meant that the river is still running quite high.
There’s three of us on the expedition and we’re all keen to paddle the river for the very first time.
Some tourists do get to the Lamboya Valley, in particular to visit the hilltop village of Sodan, which overlooks the whole of the Lamboya River Valley.
Sodan Village is one of the dominant villages in the area and has been for many hundreds if not thousands of years. Visiting this village requires a slow walk up a 1500ft hill and when you get to the top all you can do is marvel at the construction of houses perched on this rocky hilltop and an eerie looking skull tree which stands in a central part of the village.
Stories of headhunting and tribal warfare abound up until the late 1980s. Claude Graves, who founded the Nihiwatu resort where we are staying, over 20 years ago and then spent the next nine years negotiation with many different tribes to lease the land, has some hair-raising tales of tribal and clan warfare, even as he was establishing and building the resort during the 1990s.
Thankfully, today we feel peaceful and relaxed and under no threat as we paddle down the river, in the shadow of Sodan Village.
We gently glide pass women doing their washing and children playing in the river who start yelling and waving as soon as they see us.
They chase us along the river bank but with the river current we soon leave them behind to laugh and talk amongst themselves about what they’ve seen.
As we round one bend in the river we see ahead of use the unmistakeable spires of Sumbanese houses with their alang alang grass roofs.
Dodging fallen coconut trees and submerged rocks, we pick up some of the faster moving currents.
We see white herons, goshawks, blue herons and what looks like a sea eagle gliding effortlessly overhead. We found out later it is a Brahminy kite – otherwise known as a Red-backed Sea Eagle!
Herds of buffalo are cooling off in waterholes by the riverbanks. They stare at us warily and we give them a wide berth, 700kilos (at least) of annoyed buffalo is no match for a paddle!
Gradually the overhanging jungle gives way to irrigated rice fields, as we near the lower reaches of the river.
But the river has a few twists and turns left for us before we get to the tidal mud flats. We’ve probably only gone 500 metres in one stretch as the crow flies, but zig-zagged nearly two to three kilometres.
Finally up ahead we spot our driver, patiently waiting for us. Unfortunately, the last 50 metres involves carrying the boards and paddles through sticky tidal mud, but our reward is a well-earned swim in the ocean.
What an adventure - we’ve paddled probably 10 kilometres or more, passed villages and areas that have probably never seen a white tourist, let along one paddling a Stand Up Paddle Board.
I wonder what they’ll be talking about in their villages tonight?
By Lynda Lim – © 2011
Lynda is a keen SUP paddler and co-founder of the Peninsula Stand Up Paddle School, one of our Victorian distributors. Check out more of their expedition photos at www.facebook.com/psups or drop in to PSUPS headquarters and get a first hand account of their adventure. Check out our Coreban boards while you’re there.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Coreban SUP Demo - Cotton Tree
Coreban SUP Cotton Tree Demo Day
View Cotton Tree Demo in a larger map
Shop - Sunshine Coast Kite Shop
Cotton Tree - Maroochydore
Behind the Boat Shed Restaurant
Sunday 29th May
9:00 - 11:00 am
Full Range of Coreban SUP Boards
ASI Instructors for Coreban Quick Tips
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Paddle for the Planet
Get Involved
What would be great if we have the SUP, OUtrigger & Ski Paddle Community paddle for Paddle for the Planet, I need each country/city/ club to paddle a distance of 10km or what ever they do at 8:00 their local time, to record some footage take some photographs and print a banner/ Shirt [logos provided by us] ask people to join you and pledge an amount which can then be transferred to an account or received by you in support of our Marine Reserve initiative.
Looking for each ambassador to then drive the participation in each region this is just a media stint for the first year, so massive numbers and money are not the key drivers - we just want to say we did it.
The video footage will be uploaded as footage for a music video with a musician with a clear message about doing something for the ocean
We also have the support Global Ocean, and the End of the Line Producers, Stephanie Dickens BSc.
Global Ocean: +44 (0)20 7586 0567 (www.globalocean.org.uk <http://www.globalocean.org.uk> )
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GlobalOcean1 <http://www.twitter.com/GlobalOcean1> & Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/globalocean
Well we are launching on 5th June which is world environment day !!!….. please see a little info have a look at the Platform… last night hooking up with the End of the Line Team in Dubai on their Global awareness evening World Tour with the Global Ocean and Green Prophet Organizations was special for Paddle for the Planet Initiative that was inspired by The Movie. http://endoftheline.com/ocean/index.php
By the way Powerful Movie !!!!!
Wayne Randle the Founder has grown a club and initiated a series of paddling events around the world Shamaal International with races in a. Dubai [www.dubaishamaal.com <http://www.dubaishamaal.com> ] b. Mauritius [Island Shamaal] and c. South Africa [Southern Shamaal] included on this email are a few select screenshots from our new website about to go live, just to give you an idea about the sport and what it encompasses - "A band of watermen passionate about the ocean and all it embodies"
From this platform we have initiated a global initiative Paddle for The Planet, refer attached proposal, and our website link under development
http://demo.paddlefortheplanet.org/ and landing page http://designstate.co.uk/clients/p4p/main_site/homepage.html you can also follow us on the social network platforms facebook and twitter …..
Hayden Winter Longboard Classic
June 2011 will be the twenty-ninth year of the Winter Longboard Classic hosted by the Alexandra Headland Malibu Club. Entries will close on June 4th.
This year there are 9 divisions from Junior Boys through to Over 60s, and also three specialty events, Old Mal (pre 1967), Retro Single Fin and Stand Up Paddle.
The Alex Mal Club invites you to be part of this great event by offering you the opportunity to be a competitor in the 2011 Hayden Winter Longboard Classic. If you would like to compete, please complete the Entry Form and return it to AHMC, PO Box 794, Mooloolaba 4557, by 4th June.
We look forward to welcoming everyone to a great weekend of surf and celebration. If you require additional information, please contact one of our committee members;
Gary Foster 0419 028 638 (President)
Cam Davidson 0437 727 981 (vice Pres)
Peter Stock 0411 171 349 (Secretary)
Daryl Potter 0411 750 695 (Contest Director)
The Hayden Winter Weekend Schedule
| Friday 10th June: | Duporth Tavern 6:30pm - Meet and greet over a cold beer, dinner or both, with competition heat draws on display and competitor bags for collection. |
| Saturday 11th June: | The Bluff (Alexandra Headland) 7am - Competition begins, first heats hit the water at 7am. Duporth Tavern 7pm – Sat Night Fancy Dress Party, Theme: Anything Goes!! |
| Sunday 12th June: | The Bluff (Alexandra Headland) 7am - Competition continues, heats start at 7am. Duporth Tavern 7pm - Surfboard Auction; in the past many a bargain has been made on this night and this year again we will have some fine Hayden masterpieces that will have you drooling. So to avoid disappointment, make sure you bring your cash or cheque book. |
Monday 13th June: | The Bluff (Alexandra Headland) 7am - Finals day, first heats hit the water at 7am. Duporth Tavern 3pm - Presentations, speeches, competitor's board raffle and all the feel good stuff that goes with wrapping up a huge weekend. |
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