santa cruz - the hook - first bad SUP experience

[magentawave]

Santa Cruz, so many great spots but so crowded and it was crowded when I lived there in the early 80's too. Except for my well timed secret session's at Bridges, I escaped the crowds by surfing up north at Davenport, Waddell and Ano.

10 guys paddle for a wave and four catch it.  If it is really good, you will have the same 2-4 guys get 99% of the set waves.
Why would you waste your time with all that.

[Badger]

Hearing about California makes me glad I live in NH.

[Fog City Rider]

Santa Cruz is one the greatest places in the world, only problem is that everybody knows it. 

[bajasurf]

I surfed the hook in 1982 and had a bad experience..  Its kind of like surfing zippers here, unpleasant for sure and thats the pint of the whole experience, they will scare you so you won't surf there.... I surfed Pleasure point for a month or so without any problems.  Surfed north a bit,  but got spooked one day, I was sure something was hunting me.  You guys that surf north, have some big cajones...

I go surfing to enjoy myself, not to get upset, its a spiritual thing for me.  Puts things in our crazy world into perspective ... I am sure its the same for the most of you.

I drive a few minutes more to escape this crap and go find empty waves, to go with the flow.

Occasionally we get the crappy US attitude here, but I remind them that they are visitors, not owners...I have invited a few to talk about it on the beach, but still no takers yet... I really despise bullies, and haters.  I have over 30 years of Aikido and Aiki Jujitsu under my belt, but I still walk away from trouble and every fight, but it does show a certain amount of confidence when standing your ground...

Starting to get some negative vibe, as some SUPers dont have the proper surf etiquette and end up snaking all the proners.  Its making it harder for the locals who SUP to surf our normal breaks, but its all good..

[SUPcheat]

SUP'd all over The Hook this AM.  Of course, it was foggy, there were no waves and it was low tide kelp farming.

I think an otter gave me stink eye.

[magentawave]

I dunno about cajones but the creepiest feeling I ever got happened while surfing Ano Nuevo by myself one gray late afternoon winter day in the early 80's. (For those that don't know, Ano Nuevo is about 45 minutes north of Santa Cruz and has a huge population of sea lions which is why great whites hang out there.) About 20 minutes into my session I had the strongest most intense feeling come over me that something was watching me and that I SHOULD GET THE F OUT OF THE WATER - NOW! I took the next wave in. It could have been paranoia but I never got a feeling like that before or after that day so I'm glad I acted on it.

Surfed north a bit,  but got spooked one day, I was sure something was hunting me.  You guys that surf north, have some big cajones...

[bajasurf]

Same here.  I was surfing north of town with my nephew and I got the feeling something was hunting me.  We got out of the water asap, problem was, we had to paddle though deep water to get back to the beach... the only other time I had that happen was when I was guiding in Alaska and a bear snuck up on me from behind.  I got the feeling and turned around and there he was... We saw bears all the time and not a issue, it was the being hunted part that was the thing...Gives me goose bumps just thinking about it..

[SuppaTime]

I was climbing in the Cascades in Washington many years ago and the decent from the peak we bagged had a lot of bush-whacking in thick, overhead brush. We stopped to get our bearings and heard brush rustling behind us. I waited a minute and peered through the brush and was looking right in the eyes of a cougar maybe 20' away. He/she had been stalking us. We had ice axes and pulled them but the cougar ran off. We found out later there was a large mountain goat population in that area and the cougars were killing them off.

[PonoBill]

I shot an arrow at a big cougar once that was coming towards me while I was hunting elk. It was coming straight towards me in a stalk. I don't think it saw me since I was pretty camo-ed up and still. Probably investigating scent or tracking the same elk I was. The arrow went over it's back. It jumped, turned to look at the dirt bank where it hit, and then turned and stared straight at me. I stayed still because realized I wouldn't have time to nock and draw if it came at me. It switched it's tail like a housecat and walked away.

At that point in my bowhunting life, a clean miss on a target that big at 50 feet was ridiculous. I thought I was calm, but my shooting showed I was scared shitless.

[johnysmoke]

A few weeks ago I was stalked at my local beach by some kook with a megaphone. I get to my local beach and there is some long board competition going on, so I put in down the beach from the mob of people dominating the good break. Problem is there is another mob floating around on the other half decent spot. So I pretty much suck at sus' ing, can catch smallish waves and do ok, and that's pretty much all we get around here unless there's a strorm, and most of the surfers out that day sucked just as bad as I do. So I'm operating under the assumption we all suck and shouldn't take ourselves too seriously. But it wasn't too long until I heard it "stand up paddle board go to beach right! " My hearing isn't great so I thought I was hearing something else. But the idiot kept repeating himself "Stand up paddle boarder get out of the lineup! " Wasn't anywhere near the lineup these people were bobbing around on, was just trying to get thigh high rides from out back and ride as diagonally as I could. After the fourth megaphone interruption I started seeing red and let the idiot with the megaphone know I thought he was number one. I kinda played through and ended up further down the beach. Only had a short amount of time (have to get a babysitter sometimes to get out) so ended my session and was paddling out back of the break closer to where I parked the car, and I hear it again "paddle board please vacate the area! " Wasn't anywhere near these bobbers and this puke with the megaphone is making me see red. Was just going to get back to the car but before I know it I'm heading up the beach to this schmuck with a megaphone to politely let him know I don't appreciate being told where to ride, and that they should have approached me before I entered the water and asked me politely to give the contestants some space. Get some half assed response and flack back from him and another one appears and tells me I should ride somewhere else. I tell them I don't see their names on the beach and I'll ride wherever I want.
Get home and relate everything to the wife who reminds me what kind of dimwitted pukes want to be in possession of a megaphone and makes me feel better.
Would rather be stalked by a big critter than deal with some entitled pukes telling me where I can be.

[Tom]

Since we're talking about scary critter encounters...My friends, who are in their late 70's, recently bought a 30 foot motorhome and were camping in the Sierras near June lake. At 11:00 at night they felt the motorhome moving so Linda gets up, opens the bedroom door (one of those accordion flimsy doors) and sees a big bear walking on all fours towards them. They had closed their door but not locked it and somehow the bear was able to open it and get inside and the wind blew the door closed. She opened the bathroom door which covered 3/4th of the bedroom door opening. She and Dick held the door while the bear was pushing on it trying to get in.

Linda had a whistle and kept blowing it while they yelled 'bear' trying to alert the other campers. This went on for a long time and the bear finally quit pushing on the door, and this was the first time Dick could let go of the door. He had a pistol in the night stand, got it and shot in out of the window, which woke up the other campers. He explained there was a bear inside the camper and someone drove their car to the camper, opened the door and got back in their car. The bear finally got out and ambled away.

The bear had destroyed a lot of the inside of their camper trying to get out and there was bear shit all over the place. Since then, Dick and Linda have only gone camping in the desert.

[magentawave]

Where did that happen?

A few weeks ago I was stalked at my local beach by some kook with a megaphone. I get to my local beach and there is some long board competition going on, so I put in down the beach from the mob of people dominating the good break. Problem is there is another mob floating around on the other half decent spot. So I pretty much suck at sus' ing, can catch smallish waves and do ok, and that's pretty much all we get around here unless there's a strorm, and most of the surfers out that day sucked just as bad as I do. So I'm operating under the assumption we all suck and shouldn't take ourselves too seriously. But it wasn't too long until I heard it "stand up paddle board go to beach right! " My hearing isn't great so I thought I was hearing something else. But the idiot kept repeating himself "Stand up paddle boarder get out of the lineup! " Wasn't anywhere near the lineup these people were bobbing around on, was just trying to get thigh high rides from out back and ride as diagonally as I could. After the fourth megaphone interruption I started seeing red and let the idiot with the megaphone know I thought he was number one. I kinda played through and ended up further down the beach. Only had a short amount of time (have to get a babysitter sometimes to get out) so ended my session and was paddling out back of the break closer to where I parked the car, and I hear it again "paddle board please vacate the area! " Wasn't anywhere near these bobbers and this puke with the megaphone is making me see red. Was just going to get back to the car but before I know it I'm heading up the beach to this schmuck with a megaphone to politely let him know I don't appreciate being told where to ride, and that they should have approached me before I entered the water and asked me politely to give the contestants some space. Get some half assed response and flack back from him and another one appears and tells me I should ride somewhere else. I tell them I don't see their names on the beach and I'll ride wherever I want.
Get home and relate everything to the wife who reminds me what kind of dimwitted pukes want to be in possession of a megaphone and makes me feel better.
Would rather be stalked by a big critter than deal with some entitled pukes telling me where I can be.

[magentawave]

There was an article in a surfing magazine 10 or 15 years ago about a few Alaskan hunters and surfers exploring Alaska having a friendly argument about which was more dangerous - bears or sharks. The hunters thought bears were more dangerous until the surfers asked them how often does it happen that you're walking along a trail and a bear pop it's head out of a hole in the ground and drags you back in?

Same here.  I was surfing north of town with my nephew and I got the feeling something was hunting me.  We got out of the water asap, problem was, we had to paddle though deep water to get back to the beach... the only other time I had that happen was when I was guiding in Alaska and a bear snuck up on me from behind.  I got the feeling and turned around and there he was... We saw bears all the time and not a issue, it was the being hunted part that was the thing...Gives me goose bumps just thinking about it..

[JP4]

It's the damn cows.  Those things are terrifying!

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/11-animals-more-likely-to-kill-you-than-sharks

[magentawave]

MOO! How come stingrays aren't on that list?! I got stung by a stingray yesterday and today I feel like I'm having the worst hangover. (Second frikkin time this year.)

It's the damn cows.  Those things are terrifying!

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/11-animals-more-likely-to-kill-you-than-sharks