santa cruz - the hook - first bad SUP experience

[BurlingameSUP]

I started SUP-ing on cape cod this summer and was instantly hooked after 15 years of prone surfing. I usually get out between Jetty in HMB and OB. My surfing friends gave me grief at first but no more; I am very respectful of surfers and not a wave hog.  I paddled out at the hook in santa cruz today and immediately had 4 guys giving me a ton of grief and threatening me.   I thought hard about back down/not back down and figured with these assh&%$ I might as well find another peak.  I was a bouncer for 5 years and my fighting days are long over.  anyway, as I started paddling away one of the guys came up grabbed my board, I ended up in the water face to face, He told me he was going to punch me and I told him if he touched me I would kill him and if he wanted to fight - lets head to the beach.  One of his buddies grabbed him and I split.   I love sup - it has changed my life. I am still mad and wanted to share.

[Zooport]

I'm sorry for your terrible experience.  Prone surfing is also a wonderful sport, I have loved it for 40 years, but it always has attracted a lot of dim wits.  If you were hogging the guys waves, I could understand him being upset, but you weren't.  You were being respectful.  And nothing excuses violence even if you were hogging.  

I was an SUP hater for a long time when I prone surfed, but I never said an unkind word to one, let alone committed any violence.  I would just paddle away and find some other spot and grumble.  SUSers have all of the advantages and proners know it, that's why they hate it. Now that I SUS, I can see the other side of the coin and understand that the hatred is wrong.  

[OUTSIDEWAVE]

I   used to surf the hook in the early 70's being from  school at san jose there were  " valley go home"  signs/ grafitti every where. sounds like not much has changed.  Last time up there I surfed in town at a capitola and had no problems    still it is a bummer  that then and now  things don't really change.  the guy  was an asshole. period.  no excuses. I wonder if it was the same guy who  was featured here a few months back for  vandalizing cars or fighting or something and he turned out to be an attorney.  

[Zooport]

I   used to surf the hook in the early 70's being from  school at san jose there were  " valley go home"  signs/ grafitti every where. sounds like not much has changed.  Last time up there I surfed in town at a capitola and had no problems    still it is a bummer  that then and now  things don't really change.  the guy  was an asshole. period.  no excuses. I wonder if it was the same guy who  was featured here a few months back for  vandalizing cars or fighting or something and he turned out to be an attorney. 

Well, if he's an attorney, that explains everything.

[southwesterly]

Location, location, location.
For what it's worth, the Hook is a no go for standies unless your are Joe Clarke the sheriff.
That's just the way it is. It's a hard enough place to prone surf if you are not a bro-bro high up on the roster. If you sit and watch it for awhile, you'll notice that the same 5 per cent of the people out there, get 95 per cent of the good waves. Was the guy that yelled at you named Shannon with an all red wetsuit? If so report it to the police. He already has a restraining order against him with another local stand up guy.
It really is not worth the hassle anyway. There's plenty of good waves with no bad vibes nearby, both up and down the Point.

[lieutenantglorp]

Yes,  SC is deeply rooted in prone surfing. Sup or any other wave weapon is barely tolerated there unfortunately.  If you don't see a gang of sups out already, expect the stink eye/ cursing/  threats on a regular basis.  A little to the east you might find some relief, as long as the waves aren't that good ;-)

[BurlingameSUP]

Hi, thanks for the thoughts - in retrospect bad call to paddle out there. Have a great night and hope to see you in the water.
Best, Barrett

[supthecreek]

BurlingameSUP.... thanks for coming to us, to share... that's the beauty of the Zone... great support group here. If the water was filled with Zoners... it would be a much happier place. After traveling to many surf spots around the world for decades....some places have a few locals, that suck, but for the most part... I met a lot of great people. You are going to run into an asshole from time to time... sounds like you handled the situation well. A little recon before SUPing a new break, is probably the best approach.

See you next summer, when you come back east

[ctuna]

Better to stay away from the better known short board breaks in
SC.  The Hook , First Peak Pleasure and First Peak at the Lane.
The older stand up guy like to use Privates Beach halfway in between
the Hook and Capitola  approximately .
Big swell on the way Sunday . And I can't believe this but surfline
has 30ft forecast for around the 21st.

[SUPcheat]

I think it behooves that you report a description of the individual to the police, if for no other reason than that it helps establish a database of violent and threatening behavior for the person.

It does seem that these "Point Break" medieval gang/thug incidents are pretty infrequent.  My seventy five year old neighbor told me a guy threatened to beat him up, trash his board,  and break his paddle over his head once.  

However, I don't think anybody really wins in those incidents.  The attorney's name was Donald Warren Darst and the incident seems to have sunk beneath the waves, so to speak.

The California Bar dismissed any action against him just recently:

http://members.calbar.ca.gov/fal/Member/Detail/91469

which shows you how seriously they view lawyer misconduct. The self exoneration document shows that Darst portrays himself as a great champion of surf safety, and, of course, claimed it was a "one time" event. It is worth reading in the .pdf and people can judge for themselves the tenor of truth in the document.  If this is what flies for the bar then.....

Here's an often funny set of exchanges over the matter, read to the bottom:

http://stokereport.com/rant/santa-cruz-surfer-arrested-sup-vandalism

[XLR8]

Sounds like a bad deal and I'm glad to not have ever faced such a situation.  And I've never surfed in territorial spots so I don't really know...but...if you actually responded with "if he touched me I would kill him"  I would caution against that phrasing.  I understand heat of the moment and the use of I will kill you not in a literal sense, but I can't think of any situation where I would say that in an actual conflict. 

You got some good thoughts here from guys in the know, but I wanted to share that I think that type of phrasing can confuse the situation if you are in the right and may end up having to get official with your back up.

Good luck and keep getting out there, wherever there may be...

[paddlejones]

+1 c tuna

The hook is #1 on my list not to paddle.

[Subber]

I started SUP-ing on cape cod this summer and was instantly hooked after 15 years of prone surfing. I usually get out between Jetty in HMB and OB. My surfing friends gave me grief at first but no more; I am very respectful of surfers and not a wave hog.  I paddled out at the hook in santa cruz today and immediately had 4 guys giving me a ton of grief and threatening me.   I thought hard about back down/not back down and figured with these assh&%$ I might as well find another peak.  I was a bouncer for 5 years and my fighting days are long over.  anyway, as I started paddling away one of the guys came up grabbed my board, I ended up in the water face to face, He told me he was going to punch me and I told him if he touched me I would kill him and if he wanted to fight - lets head to the beach.  One of his buddies grabbed him and I split.   I love sup - it has changed my life. I am still mad and wanted to share.

I surf most breaks in Santa Cruz....with only one minor explicit incident a couple of years ago. I do start at the fringe and then, if I don't catch enough waves there, move slowly towards the peak.

You want to earn credibility by having them see you catching and riding waves without incident.

Fairly often I feel I am getting challenged, not verbally, but by someone blocking
my takeoff, giving me the stink eye - stuff like that - but that happens to proners also.  I think sometimes they are trying to make you fall....and if you do fall, then they are going to say you don't belong there and ask/tell/yell at you to go somewhere else.  I've improved a lot over the past four years, and I stay up.  Once they see you have skills and don't hog waves nor screw up the line up, they leave you alone and are often friendly.  

I've only surfed the Hook a few times...a couple of times when it was small.
One time when paddling back from Privates I rode a couple bigger ones at the fringe.
It seemed to me it was too crowded and too big and too fast a wave...and it was
also breaking fairly close to shore....so that my longboard SUP was potentially  dangerous to others in those conditions....so I passed on any more (it would have been fine if it wasn't so crowded or waves were smaller). I think the Supping Sheriff was out that day....ripping it up...but his is more a short board - the guy rips.

----
What were the approximate ages of the four guys giving you grief?

[stoneaxe]

Truthfully...makes me want to grab a few choice friends (the dangerous ones) and go paddle the hook. I'm respectful to a fault, usually avoid lineups when possible, and don't stand up outside of the short boarders waiting on waves, but nobody is telling me where I can and can't go surfing.

[1tuberider]

If you sit and watch it for awhile, you'll notice that the same 5 per cent of the people out there, get 95 per cent of the good waves.

Its that way at most good spots.

Violence is an illegal activity, sup is not!