Author Topic: When did you learn SUP?  (Read 12211 times)

Off-Shore

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Re: When did you learn SUP?
« Reply #30 on: March 01, 2017, 04:12:16 PM »
My first board was a RedPaddle 10-6 inflatable which I bought 5 years ago on a trip to Scotland after paddling an 11' NSP here in Hong Kong. Being an ex windsurfer the moment I got on that NSP and fell off multiple times and then finally got going I realised this was it... I had been looking for some new activity for my 6th decade on this planet (the period between 50-60 years old) and it just ticked all the boxes. Great exercise, out on the ocean, and it also felt good to be a pioneer out here at the start of a new sport. I felt I had missed out on several in my life like skateboarding, kitesurfing, paragliding etc so I was going to make damn sure I didn't miss this one!

Starting on an inflatable was purely because it was the easiest way to get a board quickly to Hong Kong. I bought a Starboard Coast Runner 14' hard board nine months later, and downwinded it approximately 3 months later.

Wherever I travel I try to paddle preferably with Zoners. We are a friendly and open bunch of people and one of the greatest joys I get now is either teaching a novice to SUP or visiting places and paddling with others. It's just an awesome way to meet great people and see other parts of our planet from the water.

I'm also a great believer that being on and in the ocean is good for your soul. A great stress reliever, a great way to immerse yourself in the environment. And with people like Pono charging into their 8th decade I know I can do this for a long long time. Who needs golf?
SB 9' x 33' x 4.1" - RPC 9'8" iSUP - SB All-Star 12'6" - Blue Planet Bump Rider 14 - SB Ace 14 x 27 - RedAir 14' Elite Race - SIC Bullet 14v1 TWC - SICMaui F16v3 Custom

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/HksupaHk_SUP_and_Downwinding

PonoBill

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Re: When did you learn SUP?
« Reply #31 on: March 01, 2017, 04:53:01 PM »
I think I started in 2006, in Maui. I was a whacked-out, totally committed windsurfer from the mid 80's on, until I ripped up my rotator cuffs playing rollerblade hockey (both sides, a year apart--yeah, stupid). I started longboard surfing as therapy, did it for a few years, but one day I was at The Ding Kings in Maui (now S.I.C. Maui) and they had this big board hanging on the wall--the hollow carbon fiber Ku Nalu. I asked Mark Raaphorst about it, and he filled me in on SUP. I bought a Ku Nalu (which was torture, 12'2" X 26") and never looked back.

Started the online SUP magazine Ke Nalu, which later morphed into the paddle company KeNalu, which I sold to my partner when it started to be actual work.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

Ichabod Spoonbill

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Re: When did you learn SUP?
« Reply #32 on: March 01, 2017, 05:55:42 PM »
I was a windsurfer, a not very good one. I never really liked going fast. We started seeing ads and articles for SUPs in Windsurfing magazine in 2007. It seemed okay, but my wife was intrigued. She got our first SUP, an Amundson 11'3". The thing was a present after she gave birth to our twin girls. It has a fully padded deck and rails to below the surface line. No handle, but it does have a mast track. Curved deck.

I didn't paddle it much. When we went out together, I would paddle my Kona windsurfer. Then I started using her SUP more and ore. It was a good exercise, and I wouldn't have to worry about those crazy high winds.  Then one time I got caught about two miles out in a strong headwind. My technique sucked, but I managed to paddle all the way home against those 15 mph winds. It was taught, but I felt kind of proud of myself.

In 2011 I joined StandupZone and bought an NSP 11'. I liked being able to explore the Hudson river and not have to worry so much about wind conditions and getting back to my launch point. It was fun to just explore! I went to Florida that summer and didn't take my windsurfer, just the SUP. I had a great time and even caught a few waves!

After that purchase I went windsurfing exactly one time. Then I sold one rig, then the other. Only SUPs now. I don't miss those windsurfers and all those sails and masts and booms one bit. I like how simple SUP is, just a board and paddle. (Yes there's gear, but the essence is simple and elegant.) Now I'm obsessed. I like being in the beginning of a sport and writing about it. I like how casual it is. I like the workout. I also like the shapes of the boards. They look like weird fish, which is cool.
Pau Hana 11' Big EZ Ricochet (Beluga)

Adolfo

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Re: When did you learn SUP?
« Reply #33 on: March 02, 2017, 04:06:13 AM »

On a kitesurfing trip to Oahu in 2005 I saw a TV show were Laird was talking about the benefits of paddle surfing. He was saying something about training for the off season. I’ve being a kayak paddler and a ‘board’ rider all my life (windsurf, kitesurf, snowboard, wakeboard, etc), so was immediately interested. Paddles + boards, looked like a good combination. But it was difficult enough to get on a plane with my kitesurfing gear, so didn’t consider buying a SUB then.
But a couple of years later our local shop brought some boards. There were 2 alternatives. The Starboard 12’6 x 30 for ‘normal riding’ and the 12’2 x 27’’ for ‘more athletic’ people. It looked like they just bought the SUBS as an afterthought when buying windsurf gear, because they didn’t had any paddles for sale. They said that I could probably use a kayak paddle or the spout of a windsurf boom, and fit a plastic blade at the end of it…
So I bought the 12’2, and went to my kayak paddle craftsman with a couple of pictures from the web, and he made me a very nice but heavy wood paddle.
I still have the 12’2, and the wood paddle is at home, on a wall over the bar as décor.
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clinto

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Re: When did you learn SUP?
« Reply #34 on: March 02, 2017, 06:07:53 AM »
My obsession started just under a year ago. I have been surfing a long board my whole life but i live in N FL and the waves here are bad or nonexistent most of the time. I had been interested in SUP for years but never was around anyone with them and just never tried to rent or anything. One of my friends finally got a board and started running fishing charters out of a local outfitter. I got him to give me a lesson one time and i rented a board from the outfitter. The weather was terrible but the experience was not. I immediately went back to the shop and bought a board. It has got me back on the water every week and the stoke for surfing is back like it was years ago. My health has improved and its all because of SUP. I now have 4 boards, need many more. I love getting better every time i go out and do everything i can to push myself past last weeks session. Surfing, fishing, cruising and racing are now all part of my life on SUP. It has taken over my life!

addapost

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Re: When did you learn SUP?
« Reply #35 on: March 02, 2017, 03:34:20 PM »
2009. I had been sea kayaking for about 8 years and most enjoyed playing in surf. I had moved over to a real HP surf kayak about 2 years before and had been taking regular beatings in that thing. One day at Deep Hole in Nar RI I was getting worked in 3-4 foot waves and this tanned dude paddles over wearing just board shorts. He looks down at me and says hi or something, I'm sitting there wearing a catalog  worth of gear- shoes, skirt, rash guard, helmet, pfd, paddle etc. he just has his paddle and a leash- so simple. He easily catches and rides a few waves before paddling off. I catch a few and get worked again, swim-in a full boat, and say "f*ck this, I'm getting one of those." Have not looked back.
Bunch of old shit

chucktheskiffie

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Re: When did you learn SUP?
« Reply #36 on: March 02, 2017, 03:51:15 PM »
Used to paddle an ocean ski and would to see the SUP's at the local long-wave spot.

Went on my honeymoon in 2013 to Rarotonga and the resort had a Naish Sup there for anyone to use so i gave it a go... could stand on it, just, but fell in love.

Came home and bought one straight away.  Now i'm up to my 6th board.  DW and Surf SUP's.... got bit HARD.


Beasho

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Re: When did you learn SUP?
« Reply #37 on: March 04, 2017, 12:44:14 PM »
Caught 40 waves and had my peanut butter in the chocolate moment. . . .  18,000 waves later still haven’t found my core, but here I am.

How do you know how many waves you have caught?

PS: I am only at 15,464 on a SUP over 1,065 SUS sessions.

ForeverBlue232

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Re: When did you learn SUP?
« Reply #38 on: March 04, 2017, 02:40:38 PM »
I first got on a board in Oct. of 2015, just a few months shy of 41 years old.  I really wish I would have discovered SUP at a younger age so I would have more time to improve.  I want to start racing this year, and I know I have a long way to go, skill-wise. 

nalu-sup

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Re: When did you learn SUP?
« Reply #39 on: March 04, 2017, 06:10:07 PM »
My journey to being a SUP addict: (This timeline will make more sense if you know that I spend the winters teaching snow skiing, and spend the summers on the ocean.)
1959-Caught my first wave on a giant longboard at Waikiki (with the help of one of the local beach boys).
1976-Moved to Maui for the summer to get serious about surfing, and surfed every day on a longboard.
1979-Moved to Santa Cruz for the summer and surfed every day between Pleasure Point and Privates on progressively shorter boards.
1980-Got hooked on windsurfing while watching young Robbie Naish ripping in Kailua, and have been teaching it ever since; first couple of years in San Diego (Baja trips every week), then on Kauai for a few years, and then on Maui since 1987. While I continued to surf most mornings, my focus and true love was/is wavesailing.
1995-Back surgeries and very arthritic hips (one now replaced) ended my prone surfing career, and I took up waveskiing and progressed to 7'5" custom epoxy high performance skis. Absolutely loved it.
2011-During a windsurfing trip to San Carlos in Baja I was frustrated in the morning glassy surf by a clunky waveski that I was borrowing. I took out an SUP for the first time and had no problem catching a few nice long rides, but the thing was 11' long, so I was not hooked compared to my 7'6" ski.
2012- During a stretch of light wind on Maui I was looking for a way to wavesail in really light winds (5-10 mph), and discovered that I could hook a sail up to a 9' SUP and have some fun in the surf when the wind was too light to high performance wavesail. I bought a 9' Fanatic Allwave for light wind wavesailing, and decided that I might as well get a paddle to go with it. I started paddling into some waves as an alternative to the waveski.
2013- I bought an 8'10" Sunova Speeed (and later added an 8'7" Flow) and was hooked on SUS almost every morning before windsurfing. My waveski has not been back in the ocean since.
2016- At age 65 I decided to try downwinding, and thanks to Jeremy Riggs and an SIC 16' unlimited, I am now hooked on that as well.
And the journey continues.....
8'7" Sunova Flow 
8'8" Sunova SP25
9'0" Elua Makani
9'0" Tabou SupaSurf 
14' SIC Bullet 2020

UKRiverSurfers

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Re: When did you learn SUP?
« Reply #40 on: March 05, 2017, 01:15:41 AM »
My paddling life started in 1981. Got serious a few years later and solely focussed on paddle surfing all the way until 1998 when I snapped my boat in half in a barrel. Then I thought - its longboard time. Spent the next 8 years prone long boarding on empty Scottish reefs (Actually pioneered a few of the best).. Until my hearing had finally gone - surfing in 4c water with minus 30c wind chill had destroyed what ear canal I had left. The only way to carry on is get a SUP.

First Stood up to single blade paddle in 2010 on my local standing wave that I had already been paddle surfing on for decades before.

SUP surf is way easier than kayak surfing and IMO way harder than Prone surfing especially if done without falling during a whole session. IMO if you fall off in surf, get on a prone board first.

Controversial view on SUP surf but who cares :)
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WhatsSUP

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Re: When did you learn SUP?
« Reply #41 on: March 05, 2017, 03:27:15 AM »
Like many, its been a long but not so strange path that brought me to SUP...

- Spent every summer as a kid playing on the Carolina beaches in the 60's watching and trying to mimic surfers on my little foam surfboard.
- Started prone surfing in Rhode Island during college 1979-1983. And then continued off and on for a number of years.  Total kook - but I remember my first successful ride pumping down the line after 100's of failed attempts like it was yesterday.
- 2013 Decided it was time to get back into the game given military retirement right around the corner.  Was intrigued by standup paddle board so bought a 11'2" Tava and paddled flatwater.  Fun but wanted to surf.  So, after a couple of session in small waves I knew I needed something I had a chance of turning without going to a low volume performance board.  Bought a 11' NSP that was half the weight and much more fun. 

Since then I've discovered this forum and have/continue to meet super folks.  I've bought a couple of other boards since and have at least one more in my sight this coming year!

Total addict!
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UKRiverSurfers

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Re: When did you learn SUP?
« Reply #42 on: March 05, 2017, 03:44:25 AM »
Always great to meet face to face - everyone I now know in person from this forum and others are usually great people. They are never as they seem online. Sometimes the exact opposite. More folk should meet up and actually do stuff rather than virtual reality paddling. Forums are great but they don't show body language. Almost every single post of mine is slightly tongue in cheek but that never comes across online.
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Beasho

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Re: When did you learn SUP?
« Reply #43 on: March 05, 2017, 08:10:39 PM »
Gerry Lopez sharing Laird and Dave Kalama's first time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJjmUDOqPZ4

Larry2c

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Re: When did you learn SUP?
« Reply #44 on: March 09, 2017, 06:03:37 PM »
I started about 3 years ago and I'll turn 61 later this year. I got interested in SUP while camping at San Elijo and watching these guys slowly paddle up and down the coast just outside the surf line. I don't remember seeing too many actual surf on their SUP back then but I see quite a few now days. I kept telling my wife & son how "zen" that looked and that I'd have to try it some time. That Christmas they gifted me a good ole Costco foam board and that was enough to get the addiction going. I'm a budget oriented person so after a year I upgraded from the Costco board to a used Isle Glide. I mostly paddle in the southern part of San Diego bay but this summer I'm going to finally man up and try out the open ocean - might even do it up at San Elijo when we're camping there!

Just to mention it, this site has been a great help in learning just about anything I needed to know to get deeper into my addiction. Thanks to all who have answered my questions and posted their adventures!

 


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