New Designs for Stand -Up Paddleboards Sparks Interest - NYTimes.com Page 1 of 3

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July 2, 2011 Where Big-Wave Surfing and Yachting Converge By CHRIS MUSELER NEWPORT, R.I. — The yacht designer Juan Kouyoumdjian is understandably excited about his latest creation, Mar Mostro, a 70-foot carbon fiber racing sailboat he hopes will win the Volvo Ocean Race for a third consecutive time in the fall.

But last week, he mostly wanted to talk about the sleek black-and-red 13-foot stand-up paddleboard he designed with the big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton .

The Mar Mostro was to leave Sunday for England in the Transatlantic Race 2011, part of its preparation for the late October start of the around-the-world race. And last week, Kouyoumdjian and Hamilton unveiled two prototypes of their stand-up paddleboard, or SUP, in Narragansett Bay.

The unlikely collaborators were matched by marketing executives at Puma Ocean Racing as part of their water sports product-development program. The charge was to create a performance board that Hamilton can use to promote the sport at various Volvo stopovers.

“We quickly bonded, but he is several levels crazier than me,” Kouyoumdjian, who is from Argentina, said.

The prototype boards have reverse angle bows like an America’s Cup catamaran and wide, flat tails like Kouyoumdjian’s ocean racers. The typical SUP , meanwhile, resembles the standard 12-foot longboard , with a rounded nose and tapered tail, though usually twice as thick, with one fin and a thin foam pad covering two-thirds of the deck. SUPs used for surfing have a slightly pointy nose to help with turning on a wave; race boards may have a wider tail and more fins.

“SUP boards are so dynamic, you rely tremendously on input from someone like Laird,” Kouyoumdjian said. “We are using the latest technology in yacht design, but there is nothing better than human creativity.”

Hamilton, who popularized the SUP in the late 1990s, has been hired by Puma to get the Mar Mostro crew in physical shape for the Volvo race. He initially met with

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Kouyoumdjian in April to discuss the characteristics of racing and endurance boards and his preferences. The board was built in three weeks by Clear Carbon and Components of Bristol, R.I., and completed last weekend.

“The surfboard itself is one of the most refined designs,” Laird said. “But it’s drawn with pencil on paper and shaped by hand. There’s always something to be taken away from a collaboration where there’s mutual respect.”

The result has been a performance board that looks as fanciful as its monstrous octopus paint job. One expert found it fast and maneuverable in flat water. Laird said that until it is tested in open water and waves, it is impossible to know whether it is heavy enough to perform well in endurance events.

Until the last two years, stand-up paddleboarding was largely recreational. But races of anywhere from 3 to 45 miles have sprung up since, encouraging a growing number of race board shapers. Still, enthusiasts say they have been waiting for a breakout design.

“Endurance and sprint racing have really been gaining in popularity,” said Mandy McDonnell, the founder of SUP Dog , a club in Newport Beach, Calif., that is gathering point for SUP enthusiasts. “I showed up at my first race a year ago. There, all you had to do was be a girl, participate, and you’d win a trophy. This year, the number of events has tripled and people are full-on training with custom boards.”

McDonnell says board design for racing varies from pointy noses and tails to hollowed- out hulls and rounded bottoms.

“This is new,” she said. “It’s like getting an iPhone , and the next week a new one comes out. People are looking for something to latch onto. We wouldn’t be paddling if it wasn’t for Laird. Whatever he and Juan come up with will be influential.”

Before Hamilton broke out a paddle on , he was considered the guru of crossover board sports as a co-inventor of tow-in, big-wave surfing. Married to the former volleyball star , he has become one of the most recognizable water sports figures in the world.

The prototype SUP was designed and built with the same technology put into Mar Mostro. It is a hollow board whose foam-cored carbon panels were laser cut to Kouyoumdjian’s drawings. The structure was baked in a large oven to create a one-piece board .

“It’s not surprising to see the sport become this technical,” said Nevin Sayre, a former professional windsurfer and founder of Fiberspar, a carbon fiber equipment

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manufacturer. “Development is driven by the desire of different people, but it is accelerated by equipment manufacturers who want to exploit every little niche.”

In the case of the Kouyoumdjian and Hamilton SUP, the primary goal may not be to sell a lot of boards, but the option is there.

“With broader production, we have to think about the environment first,” said Kouyoumdjian, who will be working to engineer construction in 100 percent recyclable materials. “Building thousands of boards in carbon is not practical,” he added, referring to the eventuality of the boards taking up space in landfills.

Hamilton wants to take his relationship with Kouyoumdjian even further. He is asking Puma to help him locate the world’s biggest waves during their lap of the globe, and needs Kouyoumdjian to help develop his foil-boarding concept to ride the giants.

“I have been needing a guy like this for 20 years,” Hamilton said. “You want to have your dreams happen. You’ve been praying for it. Now I know who this guy is and I have access to him. He makes my ideas possible.”

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