I propose a new rule..actually two new rules.

[JT]

NO it's not there line up. The line up does not belong to anyone person or group of people.  A line up is made up of everyone regardless of what they are riding, SUP, shortboard, longboard, bodyboard, or no board.

If you are competent and respectful of everyone in the line up, then there is nothing wrong with taking any set wave on a SUP.

I'm not trying to be rude here, but allowing SUPs to be discriminated against is not doing us any good. We all need to show competence and respect while out there. Running off with our tail tucked between out legs isn't going to help us gain any respect.

I largely agree with what's been said in the above quote. I grew up surfing (prone shortboards) in a couple of the more hyper-competitive and crowded parts of the US. Perhaps age has addled my memory, but I recall the lineup as always being ultra competitive--for the best waves, the best photo ops, the best bragging rights. There always was an atmosphere of aggression--in fact a local shaper I knew branded his boards that way--and an undercurrent of implied, if not real, intimidation and violence. Hustling and jockeying for waves was the only way one got waves on the better days at the better spots.

I also recall the longboard renaissance and how the reaction among some shortboarders was similar to the reaction of some proners is today with regards to SUPs. i.e., much moaning about how older, fatter, unfit kooks were buying longboards because they couldn't surf "real" surfboards. Never mind that this wasn't always the case and that there were kids like Wingnut basically choosing to skip the whole shortboard thing.

I also recall that longboarders had no qualms about using their paddling advantage to get as many waves as they could. The ones I saw never sat around wringing their hands about their paddling advantage, never thought it their obligation to spread aloha to the shortboarders, and never sat out sets out of some sense of guilt about how many waves they were getting. No, they were too busy getting waves.

Still, none of the shortboarders I ran with ever gave a serious thought to trying to regulate or ban longboards. We just dealt with it by hustling harder.

And that's pretty much how I think it should be. Ride what you want, work for your waves and cede priority to whoever has position. No whining.

That said, I understand the ramifications of appearing piggish on a SUP. So my usual strategy is to let the first wave or two of a set pass, watch all the proners scramble and screw each other over, then take hopefully the best wave of the set after the takeoff zone has been cleared of all the surfboard speedbumps. This works for me, at least for now, because there are few SUPs in my local lineup.

[southwesterly]

Santa Cruz - don't know how valid this one is, but I read that there's a system of "hey" and "go".  "hey" means I've got priority and "go" means I'm taking it unless I hear someone claim priority.  No idea how well this works, but it's a protocol of some sort. That's progress.

In Santa Cruz, at least at the big name breaks, "hey" means I've got priority and get that SUP outta the line up.
"Go" means I've got priority and get that SUP outta the line up.

[sup_surf_giant]

Sweeper is right.

Only secret times.

We may not be able to get solo waves there, but the reality is...many of the guys out are former longboarders.

We all know that longboard is just code for "just stand there and go straight".

So a guy may drop in on me, but I'm able to turn and cut back because they mostly just go straight! =)

[surfinJ]

Mostly. 

[Beasho]

My favorite trick is to sit outside, but usually slightly deeper than I like to catch them.  All the shortboarders will typically sit inside of me by say 10 yards. 

They start to key off of my movements because I have better visibility.  Sometimes I can hear them 'yeah I just watch the stand up guy . . . . '   I will let a/all legitimate inside waves go by but then when a set is coming I will pause, pause, then sprint to the outside.  Given that I can see the peak, and my board speed is faster this leaves the biggest wave, and its peak all to me uncontested. 

No bad feelings because they all get cleaned up in the process.  I tell myself that they must be thinking 'at least the stand up guy got that wave.'   

[tautologies]

My favorite trick is to sit outside, but usually slightly deeper than I like to catch them.  All the shortboarders will typically sit inside of me by say 10 yards. 

They start to key off of my movements because I have better visibility.  Sometimes I can hear them 'yeah I just watch the stand up guy . . . . '   I will let a/all legitimate inside waves go by but then when a set is coming I will pause, pause, then sprint to the outside.  Given that I can see the peak, and my board speed is faster this leaves the biggest wave, and its peak all to me uncontested. 

No bad feelings because they all get cleaned up in the process.  I tell myself that they must be thinking 'at least the stand up guy got that wave.'   

That is totally fair. Though if you let them know you might end up with some friends in the process.

One of my spots, once the waves are bigger it becomes at very good community, where people tell eachother where the wave breaks and if something big is coming. Makes it a very nice shared experience.

What prompted my post was that a few SUPers in a ineup with probably 20 others, not only caught most waves, but the woman who took the first wave of the set would keep on sprinting out and try to catch the last wave of the set leaving shortboarders inside with nothing. I mean at some point we should ask out fellow SUPers to chill out a little.