Ride the vehicle that gets it done. Not all SUPs are bad. Surfing for 24 yrs and SUP'in for 3. Help the noobs out by let them know either way about dropping in, snakeing and Hoggin, the nice way or the old school way (yell). they will get the hit. Everyone wants to be nice and not get involved. If peeps are sitting on the inside and in the way, tell them to move if there hoggin then have some words. Yes SUP are wave catchin machines and there is going to be a good collection of older noobs out there but they have to learn some way. Have fun and give a wave but don't let them snake 97 days till no more Guards
i agree w/ half of your statement; ride the vehicle that gets the job done. if it's a loggin' day, log it up. if it's a shortboard day, go shred. that said, i disagree that not all SUPs are bad (in the line-up). i've had exactly 1 positive experience sharing a line-up w/ SUPers, & that was earlier this spring. it was a small day w/ a high-ish tide at my local, so the waves were kinda just rolling thru to the inside section. you'd catch the wave out the back, cruise & trim to the inside, then get up on the nose & tuck in for the close out speed section on the inside...good fun, really! there was no one else out besides me & these 2 SUP guys. i chose a peak well away from them, but, being able to cover so much ground, they ended up briefly sharing my peak from time to time. & it wasn't bad. they were competant (for janitors) & friendly enough. the funny thing was, i caught way more waves & was getting into them sooner on my 9'6" log than they were on their SUPs! but as i said, that's the only positive experience i've had w/ SUPs in the line-up. halfway around the world, i got hit my an out of control jackass on one in the maldives (he was not riding a wave, just paddling through the line-up. i was sitting, waiting my turn at the peak...); i've seen groms get run over by them, & i've seen them exhibt the poorest of poor behavior, hogging waves & dropping in. i think SUPs are fine tools for working out on the water...i'd even consider getting one myself for just that reason. but i don't think that they belong in the average jersey line-up (cue response mentioning laird, et. al...) as far as crowded line-ups go, learn to body surf! there's a LOT more room out there when you lose the board sometimes...
I love when the clean up set wave doubles up.....all the clueless get caught inside and get swept....if I'm on it, I let out a long hoot or a loud yeeehaw and watch their eyes bug out like a cartoon....good stuff. I saw a 2 person kayak get smacked by a set wave,.....solid 2ft created havoc and panic at the same time....classic.
Saw a guy do a Dora yesterday... nearly ended up in a fistfight... over a two foot mushball. Funny $hit.
as of monday night back to normal empty beachbreak here until weekends and official school's out summer june 17then i go escape to Hatteras
crowds are obstacle courses to me. when i drop in i yell but they dont listen so i speed past most of the time, if needed i push the nose of their board out of the way. if its really crowded i bust out my Holy board a few more holes wont hurt i just patch em up. Being a goofy footer all the regular footers get in my way anyway, they need to practice backside too.
that is some classic Dora footage, Matt! Thanks for posting, I haven't seen that much Dora footage in one vid b4! One time I tried to push a bodyboarder out of a wave after he looked at me on the wave (up and riding) and dropped in right in front of me. This was down in Costa at a long left point that was working pretty well. There were plenty of waves to be had but this kid just didn't care, especially if it was a gringo on the wave
Expect Massive Crowds in the Water Within 18 Months And we think the water is crowded now ... ? Just wait until Nike's campaign hits full stride. Advertising Nike Tries to Enter the Niche Sports It Has Missed In an attempt to leave no sport unmarketed, Nike, the sports apparel manufacturer, will begin the next phase of its current “Just Do It” campaign with a focus on action sports like skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing. “When we looked at action sports, we saw a unique consumer segment that was underserved in terms of product innovation,” Mark G. Parker, Nike’s chief executive and president, said at a shareholder meeting in May. Action sports are a $390 million business for Nike, and executives hope that figure doubles over the next five years. Big brands that want to enter the action sports market have to contend with the somewhat insular culture of certain sports and with the athletes’ loyalty to smaller, edgier brands. For the last few years, Nike has been on a steady mission to penetrate the market by creating sub-brands like Nike 6.0 and buying smaller brands like Hurley. And they seem to be getting it right. “They did their homework,” said Bernie Baker, the former Hawaii editor at Surfer Magazine and the contest director for the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, who cited Nike’s “relentless promotion of youth events” as one of the driving factors in the brand’s success. The campaign features a contest in which athletes can submit videos showing themselves in action. The videos will run on the campaign’s Facebook page, and visitors to the page will be able to vote on which video they like best. Winners of the contest will be chosen at the U.S. Open of Surfing, which is held in Huntington Beach, Calif., and completely owned and sponsored by Nike. The company has been ramping up its action sports products and branding over the last few years, most visibly with surfing and skating. In 2002, Nike acquired the Hurley brand of skateboard- and surf-oriented apparel to compete directly with brands like Quiksilver, O’Neill and Billabong. A year later, it acquired Converse, the canvas sneakers popular with skateboarders. Since 2009 it has sponsored the U.S. Open of Surfing, a weeklong surfing competition. This year, Nike produced a short film featuring a cast of female surfers like Malia Manuel and Monyca Byrne-Wickey called “Leave a Message.” The new campaign will hit an international audience as well. Broadcast spots will be shown in countries like France, Italy and Germany, and Nike will use a Chinese social media site, Renren Tudou, in addition to Facebook to show the commercial. Emerging markets like China, India and Brazil are estimated to represent 19 percent of overall sales for Nike, according to research by Edward Jones, and 60 percent of sales come from international markets. Matt Arnold, an analyst who covers Nike for Edward Jones, said, “To have a pair of Nikes elsewhere is a very big deal.”
Man I love money, but I cant stand it when money infiltrates our surfing world...I glad that I was able to really enjoy surfing in my teens and 20's without the influence of hype, government projects and now this gigantic marketing scheme that will for sure create an even larger influx of posers. But in the end when the surf is large and in charge it will still just be us yearound men in the lineup...cheers!
