SUP surfing world tour might go bust

[Zooport]

Personally, I could care less if Pro SUP makes it or not. Look what happened to prone surfing once the pro circuit came to be. Sorry, take me back to the 70's please.

Amen, bro!  I could care less...(or I couldn't care less.  Which way is correct?  I could care less!) either way I miss the days of soul surfing.  The pro prone surfing circuit put the emphasis on pulling off greater and greater tricks, which they had succeeded at, but somehow a lot of the beauty has vanished. 

[supthecreek]

There's a pro tour?

[supsurf-tw]

How about "I don't give a fu#k about the SUP Pro Circuit". Is that better ?

[supthecreek]

ha ha.....

Before Pro Surfing became a reality, the top surfers made a living by visiting local surf shops around the country, stoking the grooms on the brand they rode. They had to travel around  in beat up old cars, doing meet & greets

Living on Cape Cod, I met, surfed and partied with the best surfers in the world and many stayed at our house.

Nat Young, Skip Frye, Jeff Hackman, Gary Chapman, Mike Doyle, Peter Kinkaid, Mike Tabeling, Dennis Choate plus industry legends like Bill Yerkes (Sundek) Jim Jenks (OP) and Pat O'neil.

It was very cool for the local shops to have this kind of "in house" promo available to them.

If they were not doing promo tours.... a lot of them had jobs in the factories. Shaping, glassing, sanding. Soul work!

[Area 10]

It's a weird Americanism - "I could care less" which means the opposite of what it means. You're right, 10. We also have a problem with the definition of irony. We tend to equate it with coincidence, but it doesn't mean that at all.

Ah yes, Alanis Morissette... the definition of irony being someone who sets out to write a song that riffs upon the ironies of life, but illustrates her point by describing examples that aren't actually ironic. This, perhaps more than any other feature between our cultures leads to the biggest misunderstandings, since irony is the basis of a lot of humour and bonding between UK people (and elsewhere in Europe too). But to US eyes the use of irony (and I don't mean sarcasm) can make us sound negative or even sneering - or just plain baffling - where what we are usually doing is inviting the listener to share with us the sheer idiocy of life in a humorous way, as a kind of bonding gesture.

The other things that baffles me when I visit the US is when people ask you e.g. in shops how you are doing, as in "how are you today, Sir?" and the like. But if you actually bother to answer the question, they look at you as if you are deranged. Why start a conversation if you don't want to have one? It just seems rude to ask and then not listen to the reply. If what you mean is "can I help you?" or similar, then why not say that rather than asking a personal question? It's a cultural minefield haha!

[Area 10]

How about "I don't give a fu#k about the SUP Pro Circuit". Is that better ?

As long as you aren't being ironic

[PonoBill]

Actually, they do expect an answer, they just assume it will be brief.

Here's some suggestions for your next trips:

Great.

Shitty.

Hungover.

And some that stretch the social contract but remain acceptable:

So far so good

Fit as a fiddle.

Not dead yet.

Lousy, I have a cold, don't kiss me.

Terrible, I'm having a herpes outbreak

If you just write those on a notecard and select one at random, you'll be fine.

[Area 10]

I do say something like that. But it's when I then politely ask them "and how are you?" in return that seems to throw them. Like when they say "have a nice day" as I'm leaving, and I say "and you too".

[PonoBill]

I generally say "just ducky" when I'm asked how I am. Confuses everyone, even me.

And now back to the world surfing tour:
"How do you think the World tour is doing?"
"Just Ducky"

[Chilly]

I like seeing the finals or championships in sports. Like the World Series, Super Bowl, Americas Cup, Olympics, etc.. The same goes with SUP racing, I like the PPG, M2O, and Carolina Cup, but to follow them for a whole season or series it too much.

[Area 10]

I hope the SUP surfing world tour survives. But although I'm an avid SUP contest watcher, and surf myself, the surf contests are my least favourite viewing. The surf races (like the BOP) are great fun to watch, if broadcast well (so were the river games), and the ISA World team champs are great, because you can get behind your country, and also the women's prone paddleboard races are often pretty spectacular, thanks to a couple of particularly body-confident young women (if you watched last year you will know what I mean). But the sheer spectacle of SUP surfing doesn't really compare to watching mainstream surf contests. Maybe if we developed a style all of our own, or were SUSing in conditions that didn't suit surfing. But at the moment SUSing is just a slow and weak copy of shortboarding. Even copying longboarding would make more sense.

[kayadogg]

I enjoy watching these contests. I like having it on one monitor while I work on the other. It's less about the contest and is more about just seeing people surf at some well-known spots. The Sunset Beach Pro was fun to watch because they had waves and I liked to watch how they handled themselves in sizeable surf... paddling out, kicking out, getting sets on the head, etc. There would be the occasional barrel, which hardly ever leads to them coming out, and their turns are all pretty much the same. Mo, Kai and Zane seem to put more energy/compression into their turns but overall it's nothing jaw dropping in terms of the actual surfing. It's actually kind of boring. 

On top of that, the webcasts are plain awful. So much dead air, poor camera angles, no indication of who is what color jersey, no clock, no scores, etc. Even Rocky doesn't seem to always know who's who out there.

On the flip side, the Titans of Mavericks webcast was on another level. Almost too much, with the staged interview areas, etc. but they had contestant profiles, some back stories, interviews from the water, etc... much more entertaining than just putting some cameras on the waves.

There was a day of overlap between Mavericks and Sunset Beach and I found myself watching Mavericks. I don't see how they will continue the SUP world tour with all of these things working against them, especially with the empty promises of paying the winners time and time again.

[SlatchJim]

Having played college water polo some time in the last century, guys would talk about going to Europe and play pro.  Ugh. Can't imagine watching water polo unless you've played, and even then, it's dull as hell.  Someone has got to pay your salary too, and who would be so foolish?

Not everything should have a pro level.

[Bean]

Even copying longboarding would make more sense.

Maybe Vans will sponsor a Duct Tape tour for SUS...