Rare positive vibes from Surfers

[14 West]

This was surprising to me, so I thought I'd share.

I was out at Cox Bay in Tofino yesterday morning in glassy head high conditions under a relentless sun, doing my best to make up for the depressing lack of waves the South Island (4 hours away where I live) suffers through over the summer. Cox Bay is a notoriously localized place when it gets good; in the summer conditions are mellower, so that is rare and you'll even see a lot of surf schools here, but on decent summer days there can still be hoardes of aggro-types out. Anyways, long story short, there I was tearing around on my 8' Pro with complete with a rasta colored deck pad so as to attract as much unwanted attention as possible, and this confrontational looking surfer paddles over towards me, I knew to expect a big "F-U" or the like, but instead something strange happened, the guy says "I've never seen someone shred a paddle board so hard brah." I said thanks, and he paddled off.

It was like a scene from the twilight zone.

Anyways, thought I'd share.

[Moonwalker]

Awesome, such a beautiful place too!
And I love it when non-Hawaiians try and sound Hawaiian . . . brah'
But good on him

[SoCalSupper]

wow very cool, i was gonna make a comment like this does not happen here in Socal, but it does, just very un occasional like REALLLLLYYYYY rare.

Here are some possible reasons for the Aloha Eh.

1.  He was really baked and thought your were Marley.
2. He was really baked and thought you were the Prime Minister
3. He was really baked and thought you were Giselle
4. Shrooms this time, and the previous three within five minutes of each other.

All kidding aside stoked you got some love Bru!, Brah!, Dude, Homie, Bro.

[Easy Rider]

I've had a couple of "good vibes" in Cox. 

I was also present when a guy on a rental longboard paddled out and started mouthing off at the 3 of us on SUP's
His first bitch was that our boards were too big and dangerous.  I asked him how long his board was - he shrugged and said "I don't know" (it was about 11') I said "I'm on a 9'5".

He then moved on to one of the Quiksilver invited guests - and pointed at him (who happened to be sitting on his board) and said "he can't even stand on his, does he even know how to surf"  -  my reply "do you have any idea who that is?"  Him "no"  Me - "that's Mark Richards - you know as in 4 time world champ Mark Richards"  his reply "who?" 

I shook my head - caught a wave and ignored him.

[SlatchJim]

I'm glad I wasn't drinking when I read your post ER.  I woulda sprayed... classic.

[PonoBill]

Reminiscent of the dipshit Haole who paddled his longboard out at Pier One and told Junya, Chris P and Dave Kalama that they couldn't be out there on SUPs and they'd better paddle in. The only surprise is that they didn't all grab a limb and "make a wish".  I can't imagine telling any one of them what they should do, but all three?

[supthecreek]

West
i am sure you were ripping and deserved the Kudos... but I bet a big part of his complimentary approach was because you were also sharing waves.

I surf my SUP with long and short boarders every day. So far we live in a dream world where everyone gets along just fine. But I see a day coming soon that the tide shifts.

There are a LOT of SUPs in the lineup now and the level of surfing is getting pretty good. But I see too many SUPs paddling balls out for every wave, with no consideration for the crawlers sitting inside. I spoke to a few of my SUP buddies about it today, I told them they need to be less aggressive if they want the vibe to stay positive.... they agreed

I was telling a young girl how much I liked the way she surfed her longboard. She absolutely rips with an old school flair... great to watch. She told me she didn't mind me being in the lineup because I let good waves go by if she is in good position. She added that she did not like SUPs in general because they hog all the waves.... and she's right. I surf with her everyday and I witness it.

I'll jockey with the other SUPs to score a good set and I will sometimes even block another SUP if I see a good proner inside.

Bottom line, if you chat with the proners and defer some good waves to them, you will find surfers more accommodating. You'll get enough waves and make some friends.

Another great way to keep the welcome mat out:
I will grab my camera during a break and shoot some pics of the surfers in the lineup.
Then I find out their Email and send them some good shots of them. Done it in several states that I surf in.... works wonders.... next time I show up... they are wicked friendly.
Took about 50 shots today... all proners... the good ones will be sent to them.

[PonoBill]

Good move Creek. I see it too, as I've mentioned numerous times in varied threads. There are a lot of SUP surfers that chase every wave they can. If you get five guys like that in a lineup (yeah, they're guys) it's going to get bad. I'm embarrassed to be at Kanaha sometimes. I still go--it's a seductive break for SUP, so user-friendly. But when there's 40 SUP surfers it looks like old pictures of Malibu. I did see some hopeful signs last year that things are sorting themselves out. Some of the SUP surfers pulling people aside and telling them to clean up their act. And a bit more spreading out and getting away from the general break.

I say frequently that the grumpiest haters just don't get what SUP is really all about, and they don't. But there's always been some legitimacy to the complaints.

I hope people start doing BOTH of the things people should do once they get good enough to inhabit a popular break. Stand up for your right to be there. And don't be a wavehog kook.

[14 West]

West
i am sure you were ripping and deserved the Kudos... but I bet a big part of his complimentary approach was because you were also sharing waves.

While I don't doubt this to partially be the case, the reality is that while there are quite a few SUP's (proportionate to surfers) on the South Island and we'll often take some heat, up the coast you see next to none, so I don't even think kooky SUP-ers are on most surfers radars yet - they are more like amusing aliens, or rollerbladers. That said, if they are going to say something it generally isn't positive. At a place like Cox which is pretty intimidating most days of the year and thus scares even intermediate proners away, a big SUP wouldn't have a chance making it past the white water. Given that our largest metro area, where half the population lives (Vancouver), is as good as being landlocked when it comes to surf, most people aren't even aware that you can surf a SUP still. Out of the 6 or so days I have scored at Cox since September, all glassy and head or overhead, I have seen a total of 3 SUP's, albeit Kooky ones. Add in maybe 5-7 more at the mellow beaches (granted I spent much less time there). But given that most of those days there were at least a couple hundred surfers spread out over half a mile of beach, it's simply not a significant impact.

The reality for me now that I have gotten down to a decently small board, is that it feels almost the same as a bigger short board and I don't think I act much differently in a lineup. The major difference is that when the rivers start puking out snow melt come fall, I don't have to sit in the water and freeze my balls off. So instead of a 1 or 2 hour session if you are really hardcore, we'll stay out for 5+ hours, and feel like we are baking on Maui (almost, and in rubber). So I think the more intelligent surfers can recognize that advantage, and give some respect where respect is due. Off the beach, talking to many surfers in these parts, especially ones that have tried big boards on flat water, I find that they are just surprised that I am able to balance on the damn thing. Case in point, the guy who lived above the couch I was crashing on asked me what kind of (prone) board I had in my bag just after finishing a rant about Kooky SUP's on big boards at one of the mellower spots. When I explained it was a SUP, he refused to believe a SUP could be that small, until I pulled it out.

Which brings me to my final point; this is one of the only sports (other than maybe swimming or luge where aerodynamics play a role) where a guy can brag about his being smaller than yours.

[SoCalSupper]

Good move Creek. I see it too, as I've mentioned numerous times in varied threads. There are a lot of SUP surfers that chase every wave they can. If you get five guys like that in a lineup (yeah, they're guys) it's going to get bad. I'm embarrassed to be at Kanaha sometimes. I still go--it's a seductive break for SUP, so user-friendly. But when there's 40 SUP surfers it looks like old pictures of Malibu. I did see some hopeful signs last year that things are sorting themselves out. Some of the SUP surfers pulling people aside and telling them to clean up their act. And a bit more spreading out and getting away from the general break.

I say frequently that the grumpiest haters just don't get what SUP is really all about, and they don't. But there's always been some legitimacy to the complaints.

I hope people start doing BOTH of the things people should do once they get good enough to inhabit a popular break. Stand up for your right to be there. And don't be a wavehog kook.

BINGO!-Dogpatch is SUP MALIBU-im having second thoughts about wanting to be able to surf Old Mans-good gravy i can just imagine some of the kooks in the middle of the lineup there, trust me, there would be fist fights-cop cars and ambulances the first day. The hatred has been simmering there since day one of the ban by the SANO club-some of the members are good humans-a majority are not. For those of us who can ride the shorter and longer sups with confidence-it wouldnt matter-we would be hated from the get go because of the other donkeys. Whats new right?-insert the snowboard/ski-Longboard/shortboard argument here.
Im gonna continue to poach the border when the conditions are right-ill hoot a longboarder who gets a good wave-sit down most of the time-smile-be cool, give waves away, and go toe to toe with any jerk who wants to go.
Im sure some think im a jerk-those that know me know im not-i really do understand both sides of the argument-i think PB's final paragraph nails it.

[endlessfight]

The reality for me now that I have gotten down to a decently small board, is that it feels almost the same as a bigger short board and I don't think I act much differently in a lineup.

i def agree with this point. the only places i've ever dealt with a lot of shortboarders in a packed surfing area is in central america - and i noticed a lot of difference between when i was first there on a 10' board, and more recently on my 7'11". people coming up to me asking about my board and so intrigued how small it was and asking me how hard it is to stand on, how it bottom turns, etc. etc.
i think it's the fact that these smaller sups, you can almost surf them like a shortboard - they see a guy in the lineup on one of these smaller boards and all the similarities between the SUPer and them, and they see the light.

last time i was down in nicaragua, surfing the prob most crowded break in the entire country (maderas) on an overhead day with prob 35 guys in the water, i got the most welcome response i've ever got. i remember paddling for and dropping in to one of the biggest lefts of the day, and most of the lineup hooting at me and yelling "go! go! go!" pretty stoked on that.

but yes, i'm sure nica is waaaayyy less agro then cali or hawaii.

[14 West]

I'll be back in the same spot in wayyy better conditions this weekend, so we'll see how the vibe goes this whirl around.

[colas]

Yes, ShortSUP definitely feel less disruptive to prone surfers. I guess that a factor is you kind of take off like a surfer: one or two strokes to "pop" into the wave. You don't do the "paddle-to-death-distance-race-to get-into-the-wave-finally-after-starting-one-mile-outside" that seem so unfair to surfers.

I wonder if a solution wouldn't be for SUPers to try to always take off in 1 or 2 paddle strokes (then use body English) to seem less invasive to surfers, whatever the length of their SUP?

[SoCalSupper]

Yes, ShortSUP definitely feel less disruptive to prone surfers. I guess that a factor is you kind of take off like a surfer: one or two strokes to "pop" into the wave. You don't do the "paddle-to-death-distance-race-to get-into-the-wave-finally-after-starting-one-mile-outside" that seem so unfair to surfers.

I wonder if a solution wouldn't be for SUPers to try to always take off in 1 or 2 paddle strokes (then use body English) to seem less invasive to surfers, whatever the length of their SUP?

That  dosent fly here in Socal-they simply hate the fact that you even exist-and they smell fear.
Every spot and situation is different, you have to be able to read the crowd so to speak,
I lay low-always let a few slip by when i first paddle out, get my feel of the vibe, take a corner out of the way, be sure to stick the drop and kick out cuz they will be watching you to determine if youre a kook or not, in most cases if you keep low key, give away waves, show you can handle your equipment, most will begrudgingly accept your presence. Really good proners are going to get their waves no matter what, in my experience its always the guys that are not very good surfers that spew the most venom. And sometimes no matter what you do, they just flat hate you no matter what and you gotta deal with it.

Whatever, if you bend over too far to kiss their arse youre gonna take it in your own!

[OC kbar]

Whatever, if you bend over too far to kiss their arse youre gonna take it in your own!
[/quote]


This... I try not to think to much about what others are thinking. I just try to enjoy myself and abide the rules of surf etiquette like I would on my long or short prone board. I think it helps I always go out with a friend.