Maui Resident Completes 300 Mile/ 5 Day Trip on Paddleboard

(source)

41 year old Bart de Zwart completed the 300 mile trip from the big island to Kauai last week on his 14'0 paddleboard. De Zwart spent five days at sea alone with his thoughts. By night, he would sleep on inflatable water mattresses that would often flip over with the wind, startling him awake in the water. He strapped enough freeze-dried food and water to his board for one week in watertight containers.

Aside from some blisters on his feet and having shed six pounds, de Zwart survived this incredible feat unscathed. He credits ancient Hawaiians who traveled in simple canoes for inspiring him.

In the above picture, de Zwart is greeted by his wife and daughter as he paddles his last few strokes to dry land.

You can read the whole story of Bart de Zwart and his incredible voyage here.

Focus SUP Kicks off Summer Season with West Coast Demo Day Schedule

Focus SUP has big plans for the summer, kicking it off with a strong demo season!

Summer is the perfect time of the year for SUP and sun, so we here at Focus SUP are starting it off right with a series of demo days on the West Coast! All of our demo days are free to the public and are a great way for beginners to try SUP for the first time and for seasoned surfers and riders to try out what’s new in the Focus SUP lineup.

We are featuring the new 14’Cali Full-Carbon board for the first time!

Each demo will feature the full lineup of the Focus SUP boards and accessories as well as trained instructors who will be on hand to direct and advise in the techniques and equipment that is right for each and every rider.
There will be food, drinks and free gifts for all people who participate. And lots of fun!

The following dates are now confirmed and more details can be found on our website and Facebook.


May 28th, 2011
Blue Rush Boardsports
Location - 400 Harbor Drive Ste A
Clipper Yacht Harbor, Sausalito, Ca 94965
Time - 9am-3pm

May 29th, 2011:
Park Presidio
Location: Dolphin Club at San Francisco’s Aquatic Park
1801 Wedemeyer, San Francisco, CA
Time: 9:30am – 2:30pm

June 4th, 2011:
Pacific Outfitters – Ukiah
Location: Lake Mendocino, South Dock
1160 Lake Mendocino Drive, Ukiah CA
Time: 10am – 2pm

June 5th, 2011
Pacific Outfitters – Eureka and Arcata
Location: 1011 Waterfront Drive
Eureka, CA 95501
Time: 10am – 2pm

June 11-12th, 2011:
Aquan Sports
Location: Parkside Aquatics Park
San Mateo, ca 94404
Time: 10am – 4pm

June 18th, 2011:
Dive N Surf
Location: Veteran’s Park
309 Esplanade
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Time: 8am – 1pm

June 25th, 2011:
Hoggz Surf Shop
Location: 11200 Stockdale Hwy
Bakersfield, CA 93311
Time: 9am – 3pm

The Focus SUP demo season will be going strong this summer. We look forward to seeing you at any or all of our demo days!
Focus Surfboards, 12114 Sherman Way, North Hollywood, CA 91605 Contact: Daniella Alberni,
818.765.4511, daniella@focus-surfboards.com

Kelly Slater Wins in Australia

{all pictures and text taken from SurfLine}

After a ridiculously exciting day of surfing yesterday, the final day of the waiting period kicked off with a sparkle. The winds were light offshore, there was a healthy morning crowd and three-to-four foot dream runners, grinding down the bank. Everything seemed rosy. Everything seemed like we were in for an epic final showdown. That was until the, "reverse-rip," the commentators have been talking about plagued the lineup. It was a game changer. Things became tricky.

More on that in a bit.

Right now, Matt Wilkinson holds the title as the best (competition) backhand surfer on the planet. He's certainly the most unorthodox, rollerblading to the contest scene on a pair of recently purchased
blades from a thrift store. It just makes us love him even more.

Unfortunately Wilko pushed his backhand too hard, going down to Tiago Pires in the quarters. "I was wiggin' out, trying to do little, weird turns... I was surfing like an idiot," Wilko said. "I fell over for no reason on, like, ten waves. Dumb! I've been talking about surfing smart heats all week -- I just put my foot in my mouth."

In Jordy Smith's quarterfinal heat, he'd caught 13 waves and only posted two low scores, which left him trailing. In ASP World Tour competition, you're only allowed 15 waves per heat, so he had two waves left to get "the" score. He absolutely polished his 14th wave all the way down the line. He needed a mid-seven and got a high seven. This
was in the dying minutes. "It took me 14 waves to get it, but I finally got one," Smith said. "I kept taking off on waves to get an opportunity. If you give yourself enough opportunities it's eventually going to turn around. I got lucky in the end."

So back to the reverse rip. There's a lot of factors which contribute to this phenomenon. You'd need all sorts of PhD's in nearshore wave movement to have the street cred to accurately explain it. In a nutshell -- the swell clocked around more to the east changing the currents in the bay, the tide was very low leaving the sand along the point high and dry so there was no place for water to move up the point other than through the wave zone. Kelly even opted to paddle back out to the takeoff zone rather than request ski-assist. Whatever the phenom, it proved a headache for them in the final.

"Taj and I both made a couple of errors in the final. He fell on one I fell on two," said Kelly. "I think we both had higher expectations in our minds of what the waves were going to be like... that probably messed with us.

"In situations like that, you get down to the final and you want to be able to have a battle going back and fourth, not worrying about priority and things like that," said Kelly. "You want to both be getting
waves in every set and just lighting it up for the crowd... and may the best man win."

Taj did everything he could in the situation, but after a standout run through the event, there was no back-to-back Quip Pro win. "Bummer the waves didn't hang in there," said Burrow. "It was really sloppy in the end -- I was blown away I couldn't even better a three."

It came down to two average waves Kelly rode, which weren't special. Taj had been posting nines all the way through the event, but lost to Kelly who won with two fives. Both men struggled in the tricky conditions. Regardless of wave quality for the final, as Kelly put it, "everybody loves this event and all the surfers really love this event because the waves are so fun."

Hawaiian Watersports - Featured Dealer

The name Hawaiian Watersports has become renown with water sport enthusiasts in the Hawaiian Islands over the years. Founded by husband and wife team Josh and Arlene Seymour, Hawaiian Watersports opened their first location in 1998 in Kailua.

This original location remains open today and they proudly expanded their business two years ago, opening a new location in Honolulu.

Josh and Arlene have been selling surfboards, stand up paddleboards, kayaks, windsurf boards and kite boards since their inception in addition to providing lessons and rentals.

Hawaiian Watersports carries the full line of Focus SUP including our new Bamboo Veneer boards along with a full line of Focus accessories. They have demo days and Focus boards available for rent.

If you're ever in the area, be sure to pop into this one-of-a-kind shop and try one of our Focus SUP boards or the other great surf items they carry.

Don't forget to say Aloha to Josh and Arlene for us!



Hawaiian Watersports’ Locations and Hours are:


Kailua Location
Everday 9:00am - 5:00pm
Address: 354 Hahani Street (Kailua)
808.262.KITE (5483)

Diamond Head Location
Everday 9:00am - 5:00pm
Address: 415 Kapahulu Ave. (Honolulu)
808.739.5483

A Sad Day in Surfing - World Champ Andy Irons Passes Away

source

Yesterday was a sad, sad day for the surfing world; a true champion and a great man has been taken away from us.

The untimely death of Andy Irons at 32 is both shocking and chilling. A lifelong surfer who warmed our hearts with his smile and world class wave-riding, Andy will never be forgotten.

The full impact of what has transpired has not completely hit me as I write these difficult words.

The surfing world looked up to Andy ever since he was on the world stage and especially during the battles with Kelli; it was a period of time when he was unstoppable, a master of his domain. This is how we should remember Andy, a force to be reckoned with, a powerful personality who was both admirable and intimidating at the same time. No one ever wanted to have their heat with Andy. That’s a fact.

I, personally, had the luxury of surfing with him in 2008 during off-day at pipe. We surfed Ehukai Beach Park with Kelli and other pros. This session was the best I ever had, and not because of my surfing but because it was a dream come true to be in the water with Andy and the guys and to just free surf for the purest reasons we all do it.

Our hearts go out to his family and young wife; as they mourn and remember Andy.

R.I.P Andy Irons.

To read more about Andy Irons and see pictures and video click here.

We Did It!

We are so happy to announce that the Paddle for Water event was successful and that a new water well will be built providing over 250 Bayakan people in the Central African Republic with access to clean drinking water for 20 years!

Thanks again to our friends at Pirate Coast Paddle for helping us get involved in such a great cause. We were more than happy to provide a carbon paddle for auction to raise money!

Paddle for Water

Focus Surfboards is proud to be sponsors of the Paddle for Water event on October 23rd, 2010. By donating (here) you will be entered to win a Focus carbon fiber paddle worth over $200!



Donations will go to Charity Water with the goal of building a clean water well in Africa. Please support our friends at Pirate Coast Paddle and their effort to provide clean drinking water to Africa.

Full event details can be found here on the Pirate Coast blog.