Sticking out like a sore thumb

[PonoBill]

Amen to that.

I was talking with Lenny at Hawaiian Island Surf and Sport about this last year. He was having a hard time making the switch to SUP because he's a very experienced longboarder and a SUP kook (not really, but that's what he said). Lenny said "When I surf my longboard I'm pretty good, I can do all the things I want to do. When I get on this thing I'm starting all over again."

Still, he's on his SUP most of the time (or he was when I left last spring).

Besides the capable/kook issue there's also the nature of most surfing. It's really mostly hanging out. The out of shape guys that do it are pretty okay with the gut they're carrying. They spent twenty minutes in the water and two hours in the parking lot, talking story. It's more community than sport, and SUP guys are just tolerated.

I really like the guys that hang at Puamana and Thousand Peaks, they're really interesting people and I enjoy hanging with them. But I'm in the water, good surf or bad, and I know they think I'm some kind of over-enthusiastic loony.

[supstoked]

In my area money is a factor.  I live in South Texas in one of the poorest counties in the US.  The kind of money you make at McDonalds in Maui would be a great job here, and the boards cost the same in both places.  Maybe more here with freight.

[sylvano]

  I agree MONEY is a big factor.
The economic level is very different from a spot to another.
  I read often people on this forum talking about their quiver of 3 to 5 boards (!!), and even more:

Note that I share these with my wife and they are spread through Texas, Mexico and Costa Rica.  10'10' Walden, 9'6" Walden (2), 9'2" Walden, 9'3" Paddle Surf Hawaii ripper, 10'4" PSH all rounder, 10' C4, 10'6" C4.

I hardly bought my board with a special deal with a good friend and when I talk to people around, 1000+ Euros more freight is a big barrier.
Is SUP a high standard level sport?

  I also repeat that the "I want to rip as with my shotboard without learning" attitude is blocking the sup developement here.

[PonoBill]

It's really still early days for SUP, I think the economics will change a little over time as more used gear becomes available, but it will always be a bit expensive. I know when I started windsurfing 30 years ago I wondered how people that weren't making big bucks could manage it. Even back then a full rig with a couple of sails was a thousand bucks or more. Now a complete new rig and quiver of sails and masts is more like 3K.

[Tom]

I think that SUP will grow & maintain better than windsurfing. If you remember the early days of the onedesign Windsurfer, it was promoted as a family sport. A group goes to the beach with a couple if Windsurfers and everyone take turns using it. Windsurfing then developed into a high performance specialized sport and that was no longer possible. Instead of three people using one board you ended with one persone with three boards.

SUP does allow the three person/ one board beach time. A couple of weeks ago, the wives and freinds went to the beach, a SUP friend of mine launced a couple of miles away; paddled and caught waves on our cruse to the beach where everyone was. We stopped at  the beach for some rest and the wives and friends who had never SUPed (some never surfered) took the boards out and had a blast. We then paddled back, catching waves on the return to our car.
Everyone involved had a great time and wanted to get into SUP.