the SUP discussion...

Sup

I have been out in every swell this winter.What few we've had.Give SUS a try you might like it.

 

SUP's dont belong in the line up they are dangerous and yes around here mostly kooks. Great Flat day work out I am sure just stay off the waves with those things! Hope Coast Guard make them register them soon it is a growing Problem in CA and HI people really getting hurt with the non surfers trying to surf on them..

 

No one wants you out there!!!

 

Sh**, if I was in OC this winter, I would probably like to try SUPing on a good day. When the water is 38 degrees, and the air is freezing, I think that would be the most ideal time all year to do SUP in the midatlantic... Ive never SUPed. Im just saying. It would make sense to stay dry the whole freaking session... you can find your own peak whereever you want.

Now, I wouldnt ride it at the freakin inlet, I would find my own not too shabby peak and have fun over there.

 

i wouldnt mind trying out an SUP on a nice sunny FLAT day when theres no rideable waves, but when theres swell theres no way in hell you would ever see me on one of those kookmobiles out in the lineup.

most of the SUP guys i see cant surf for **** and are just in the way out there. it was really bad during hurricane season when the weather was still nice enough for them to be out thinking they have priority for every wave. im not a fan...

 

I agree with most of the posting on here ... SUPin is soo dangerous in a line up ... I was out in brigantine on a head to little bigger size day and this one kook was ditching his board left and right with no regard for the people paddling out behind or near him. They need to go to an EMPTY break or just not go out ...

It might be good exercise but why not just longboard if you need to ride a big board ...

Keep the lineups safe!

 

I would think SUP would be more popular in the winter, seeing as how you don't really go IN the water. Hell, you could wear street clothes if you are any good. For the record I do not condone SUPing, nor do I recognize it as "surfing".

 

Damn you laird Hamilton !

 

I tried it and hated it. I gave it several outings. I don't like stand up paddling on a calm day without waves and if there is waves I want to be on a real board. I last time I had as much fun as SUPing is when I caught my D**K in my zipper.

 

ive SUPed a bunch this winter. i catch like 50 waves an hour and can stay out forever. its way more fun filling in the gaps certain days with junk east coast conditions. it beats the heck out of longboarding IMO. im not the guy on a 12'6 NSP cleaning out the lineup in the middle of summer with all the other kooks at the most crowded peaks.

and yes, i prefer traditional surfing, most of the time im on a 5'8 - 6' 2 shortboard when conditions permit/are fun, but how many days have been OH and barreling lately besides last tuesday??? its pretty beat you have kook SUPers with no surf etiquette and a bunch of narrow minded "surfers" who either have no balance or cant afford a SUP so they are unwarrantably driving a ridiculous argument. ruins it for those of us who love it all: skate, snowboard, windsurf, kiteboard, wakeboard, longboard, shortboard, SUP, swim, kayak, canoe, sail and paddle cuz they are all unique and fun disciplines which round you out as a better waterman/woman. maybe instead of whining about how you got a boo boo from a big bad SUP, actually try it and/or spread some wisdom to the people causing the problem because they don't know any better. most of these problems arise from ignorance. i bet if u tell the SUPs what they are doing is wrong they will fix the behavior. if u tell them and they still act up, THEN maybe it warrants an old fashioned attitude adjustment...

 

Sup

Pierit1,your comments are spot on.Nothing more needs to be said.

 

I saw someone SUPing recently. It was one weekend recently that was supposed to be flat, but had a small bump at the right spot/tide in NJ. I was surfing a waist high peak on my fish by myself, and a guy comes paddling down the beach on an SUP. He had a winter suit on, but some kind of trench coat on over it, and he had a St. Bernard following him on the beach dragging a long leash. He paddled up to the peak I was on, took a wave all the way in, hooting to his dog the whole way, then jumped off the board and started playing with his dog. Then paddled back out took a few more. He paddled over, we chit chatted about the surf conditions, then he paddled away. It was all very bizarre.

This is literally my only encounter with an SUP in NJ. This guy clearly knew how to surf, and actually didn't crowd me or take more than his share of waves (allthough he could have on that thing), and he was friendly.

I don't really share the hatred of SUPs that most on this forum seem to have, but I really don't see too many people doing it where/when I surf, so I don't have the negative experiences of others. And this encounter, although very strange, didn't turn me off to them. It doesn't really appeal to me, especially around here, but if a friend had one I would try it to satisfy my curiousity.

If I lived somewhere that had spots that consistently had rolling mushy swell that was catchable on an SUP and not much else, I'd probably be into it. I've seen video of spots like that and they look fun for conditions like that.

 

nicely put.

 

Pierpit is right on the money with that post.

Riding waves is riding waves.
Kooks will always be kooks.

Take a look at Surfing Nosara's surf pics, lately nothing but surfers dropping in on another surfer that clearly had the right of way. Drop in Kook

What about the kooks who walk past empty peaks to paddle out into a "lineup" I love a paddle battle kook.

Or crowd an area that has a surf cam.. 48th st? lol Glamour kooks

I sponge, SUP, Longboard, body surf, and short board. Fun is fun.

I really hate prejudiced surf snobs.

 

I think like a lot of things in surfing, SUPing is misunderstood. I had this conversation on the forum months ago, but my basic outlook is this: People think of SUPing as something that is supposed to be done when its flat, or when there are no waves...

That doesn't make sense. Although paddling into a 6 inch wave on an SUP may be easy, think of the physics behind it. On a 1 foot day in the midatlantic, there will be no face on the wave, no thurst behind it. So all you are doing on a super small day is riding a tiny little swell line into the beach while rolling over a few tiny mushballs sections...

Now, while that may be fun, that is not the true intention of the SUP board. The SUP board is really a beautiful thing when done properly, on a good wave. There is a local legend named butter in my nehigborhood. The guy is easily 275lbs and he rides longboards like they are 6'2 potato chips... When it gets about 1-2ft overhead at the pier, and the swell angle is nice and peeling, this guys comes out on the SUP and it is truely a thing of beauty. He is just all over the wave. Slashing the top, just chillin. Its really, really exciting to watch...

And the current trend (In my area anyway, in socal) is not to SUP when its flat. I actually saw the most SUPers ever about 2 weeks ago when I was walking my dog down the cliffs. At both garbages, abs, everywhere, there were like 3-4 SUP guys out at every spot, and it was big. Not huge, but it was easily 7-9 foot out. Guys were getting really really good rides. It was guys who actually know what they are doing, and it was cool...

I was kind of bummed, cause i surfed later that day and it was very easy to paddle into even on a 6'1 shortboard, so its kind of annoying to see that mant SUPs out there, but as long as they arent snaking every set, im cool with it...

The biggest SUP disaster ive ever seen was in Maui this past fall. Everyday that it was really small, I would take a longboard out just to get wet, and at every spot, there were like 10 SUP guys, and they were absolute kooks. All learning. All had nice as$ gear and couldnt even use it... It was all for show. All show, no go... SUPing on a 2-3 foot maui day when its perfectly longbaordable was really lame...

I think the SUP abuse in HI has ruined the perception throughout the world... But I guess the fact of the matter is that HI is just riddled with kooks, visitors and transplants, and it just doesnt mesh well...

But dont hate SUPing until you have seen it done properly... They are not meant for ankle slappers, they are meant for big, rolling, huge faces to carve and dance on.

 

i love the kooks that think they can out paddle me in a wave, where here i am i stay in the top paddling condition and they challenge me. all the surfers i surf with year round at my spot they all get a laugh from when ppl challenge me. and if a kook drops in on me ill yank on their leash and go right past them.

but Sup's trully dont bother me that much.

 

it's not SUPing that causes so much hatred and ill-will, it's the people who MOSTLY do it. I say mostly because obviously, not all SUPers are kooks. but think about it, SUPing is becoming the new "speed walking" for kooks on vacation with money to spend, and those are the same ppl who always wanted to be a "surfer dude" and couldn't do it. Now here's their chance.

Then there are guys who ARE the real watermen/women. My girlfriend's uncle is a tremendous surfer, and he SUP's out past the breakers for distance every morning as his exercise. He is honestly one of the greatest watermen I have come to know. He surfs, kites, skates, SUPs. And he is old head.

 

i like to consider myself pretty open-minded when it comes to accepting various surf-craft in the line-ups, but i can honestly say that i have yet to see a really competent (above intermediate/beginner level) SUPer in the water anywhere.
there are a few guys who paddle around my local during the summer months, but they're gone come fall. & like most summer-only surfers, they are barely able to fully control their equipment, so seriously injuring someone is not out of the realm of possibility for them. & the ability SUPers have to quickly & easily switch peaks means that you're not even safe if you paddle down the beach away from them. they can be back w/ you almost immediately. but the guys i've seen are not kooks. they're not locals, but they aren't clueless hacks w/ more $$$ then brains either.
there was a pair of SUP guys from australia when i was in the maldives this summer. one of them ran me over while i was sitting on my board waiting between sets. he just couldn't steer the bloody thing! pathetic...

zach mentioned that SUP is good for big, fat, slow rollers. i wonder if you wouldn't get a better ride w/ a 10'6" log or something like a skip frye eagle...better glide, the ability to smoothly move around on the board (cross-stepping), etc...versus the blobby rails & ungainliness of a pop-out SUP. i guess, even on the smallest days, if you can't catch it w/ a 10'6" or an 11', it's too small to be worth trying to ride. around here, SUP is pretty much about smaller surf. i've yet to see anyone riding one in anything over stomach high. & if it's too small for anything in my quiver, then it's too small to bother w/. i don't think SUPs belong in the line ups.

i don't personally find anything aestheticlly pleasing about SUP. i've seen video of guys who are quite good & the style is still ugly & ungainly. there is no grace, no flow to the motion...if you see footage of tom curren or joel tudor riding away & compare the grace & beauty of those 2 to footage of say, laird hamilton, laird looks very awkward IMO. i dunno what it is, but style & grace have always been important to me in surfing, & SUP just doesn't seem to have it.

i have no doubt that it's a fantastic workout. a lot of guys i know paddle on the back bays here. i personally prefer traditional prone paddling, but that's just me. brian wynn made himself an impressive SUP out of EPS not too long ago. he only uses it on the back bays.

this became a rather rambling, seemingly disjointed response & i'm not sure it makes sense. if it doesn't, i apologize. hopefully you can pull some semblance of meaning & rationality out of it.