We've Changed Vibe at Dogpatch.

[Zooport]

Maybe I was just there on a bad day, so my perceptions are clouded.  Was out at SanO, dogpatch today and it was packed and so intense that it was not any fun.  It seems like SUP has made it into just another crowd scene.  No lineup, no courtesy, the strongest and most aggressive get most of the waves.  Just like any other spot, but DP didn't used to be like that.

Please don't think that I'm knocking SUP, because I was one of them out there today.  It's not the fault of the SUPers; anytime you put that many people together competing for limited resources, tensions arise.  But it's a shame to see a mellow place turned into just another crowd scene. 

[RATbeachrider]

That's too bad Zoo.  I'd great time at DP this past Wednesday and Thursday.  Wednesday was packed with the buttsurfers (counted at least 15 at one point) but we party-wave most of the smaller and mid-size waves while leaving the bigger waves (chest high max) to the lucky ones who happened to be in the right spot.  A few SUPers (4) were told by the LG yesterday to paddle south after they slowly "snuck" north to catch the bigger rights.

[supsurf-tw]

SUP is growing fast and the Sano crew is gonna have to give a little. We're forced in to this tiny area to park and these shitty waves to ride. Time to give up the other areas to SUP. The surf schools are now in the SUP zone and we're supposed to be ok with it. Beginning proners running over each other and that's ok but one SUP slightly getting in a proners way and the world is ending. There's a couple of long time "locals" that get on the phone to the guards every time a SUP crosses the OK sign and they (guards) are getting tired of the calls.

[cnski]

The surf ski guys don't give an inch. You just have to be strategic and lucky. It definitely can get crowded. Especially when out of towners roll in and camp out during a good swell. Like me :-) I love DP and the people there. It is a special place and I'm grateful to the locals who share their waves and treat me like one of their own. I've experienced some real Aloha at DP.

[Califoilia]

It definitely can get crowded. Especially when out of towners roll in and camp out during a good swell. Like me :-) I love DP and the people there. It is a special place and I'm grateful to the locals who share their waves and treat me like one of their own. I've experienced some real Aloha at DP.

Take the bold, and throw in the summer surf camp flotilla that many times floats south, and things do get squeezed, but we all know that that all kind of comes with the territory for the several summer months, and just grin and bear it.....

We simply adjust our summer times, and sneak off to our other "summer spots" to avoid the crowds, and just look forward to September.   

[Zooport]

Agree, it's not nearly so bad after school starts.  Especially better when the weather and water cool down. 

[anonsurfer]

Maybe I was just there on a bad day, so my perceptions are clouded.  Was out at SanO, dogpatch today and it was packed and so intense that it was not any fun. 

I would not worry about it too much.  Days like this happen. 

If it keeps happening then definitely time to find a new spot or change the day and time you go out.

[PonoBill]

This is just an opinion formed from the 5 or 6 days I spend at Dogpatch before the BOP, but I don't see expanding the SUP area as decreasing wave competition. All of San Onofre looks crowded when it's crowded. I'm probably wrong, and understand that I'm not against poaching some waves on the wrong side of the sign, and I think the segregation is bullshit, but crowded is crowded.

[JayInSoCal]

It was awful this morning, no hope of a non party wave.  The butt boarders really have no courtesy at all.  I'm watching the line up right now, and the crowd has thinned to about 20 stand ups, but there are still guys dropping in on each other all over the place.

[Califoilia]

It was awful this morning, no hope of a non party wave.  The butt boarders really have no courtesy at all.  I'm watching the line up right now, and the crowd has thinned to about 20 stand ups, but there are still guys dropping in on each other all over the place.

The butt boarders were there on a Saturday? 

That's odd, the "gang" is usually only there 3 days a week during the weekdays....and yes, they do not have any courtesy at all.

Which is usually not too bad when there's room, but on crowded days, they're a huge PITA....ok, a couple of them are cool to surf with, but by-and-large, the rest, not so much.

[Gramps]

So the proners can surf the SUP break but not the other way around?  I had planned to try SUS at DP on my next visit to the area, in the fall, but you guys are giving me second thoughts. I'm up on surf etiquette but I'll be a total beginner at SUS and don't really want to deal with a negative vibe.  Is there a better place to go?

[Califoilia]

So the proners can surf the SUP break but not the other way around?  I had planned to try SUS at DP on my next visit to the area, in the fall, but you guys are giving me second thoughts. I'm up on surf etiquette but I'll be a total beginner at SUS and don't really want to deal with a negative vibe.  Is there a better place to go?

Gramps (or anyone else for that matter) PM me when you'll be in town, and I be more than happy to get you acquainted with "the patch', and maybe even some "parts lesser known".

Really a great bunch of "regulars" there (not all are "locals", but certainly there almost daily), who are more than happy to meet new people just as stoked on the sport as we are.

As long as they know you're new, open to friendly suggestions, and willing to swap stories....you'll find yourself readily accepted into the "lineup" (if you can call it that at DP ), and getting told to "get it, get it, get it" more times than you'd probably think imaginable....from some of the stories you might read about SoCal SUSing.

Just make sure that if you forget to PM me....that you at least find the blue Honda Odyssey, and bring your cup....as there's always hot coffee being shared (hope ya like it black), and tall tales being told by all those hanging around the open tailgate behind it.

[cnski]

And if you don't mind SUSing when the wind comes up slightly then you can literally have the entire Dog Patch to yourself. As soon as the wind comes up slightly, poof, they're all gone! The whole crowd disappears. If that was Maui that would never happen.

[Gramps]

Thanks, guys!  SanoSup,  I'll PM you when I'm headed down.

[PonoBill]

I've noticed the wind thing before--but I thought it was just a one-time deal and kind of puzzling. Maui glass, and everyone's bailing. Chuck got out his kite and was trying to launch it. He was at least five MPH shy of anything kite-able. Everyone else got out of the water. I had the place to myself. Sweet.