Is SUP Cool?

[SUPcheat]

SUP is so cool, it's anti-cool.

[surfinJ]

Paul Newman was cool

If you talk about standup to the uneducated the typical reaction isn't of something cool.

The looks I got this morning board schlepping my 200l 11' big red over the sand dunes weren't, oh how cool.

But when I took off on a last wave to the beach, a little inside section, amid the flotsam and jepson of the summer surf school season, someone did hoot.

[surfcowboy]

I think you guys hit it. If you're away from the coast, it's cool. If you're anywhere that people surf traditional boards, not cool.

But as a guy who still prones it 15-20% of the time, it's way more fun.

As I've said before the equipment just makes it hard to look smooth at any other time other than a full speed flat paddle or on a wave (and even then the paddle can get weird.) the equipment works against us. Don't believe me? Look at your GoPro footage. But yeah, who cares? It's a blast.

[supsurf-tw]

Paul Newman was cool

Naa, Steve McQueen!

Ah the age old question
Betty or Veronica
Ginger or  Maryanne
Kelly or Laird...wait what?

Maryanne hands down

[Area 10]

I think you guys hit it. If you're away from the coast, it's cool. If you're anywhere that people surf traditional boards, not cool...As I've said before the equipment just makes it hard to look smooth at any other time other than a full speed flat paddle or on a wave (and even then the paddle can get weird.) the equipment works against us. Don't believe me? Look at your GoPro footage. But yeah, who cares? It's a blast.

Downwinding is where the inherent form of SUP makes sense IMO. A larger sail area because you are at standing up, and the ability to shift weight substantial amounts, and surf waves and bumps standing up, give SUP a big advantage in terms of fun and style over other watercraft. Usually you are offshore so no-one sees you, so the average person won't know about it at all. Which is kinda cool in itself. Surf SUP, whitewater, and flat water paddling seem to me to be huge fun, but rather compromised compared to their sitting-down equivalents. But that's not true for downwinding. A good SUP downwinding expert at work is a lot more fun to watch than an expert OC1 for instance. And the SUP equipment looks more minimalist in comparison which also adds to the potential elegance.

I don't give a rat's ass if some self-appointed style guru wants to declare downwinding cool or not. That would be the worst reason in the world to do it (or not). But when people ask me about SUP and I describe the different subdisciplines, it's when I get to the bit about being "couple of miles offshore in the open ocean, surfing unbroken ocean swell for mile after mile" where they most often say "wow, cool", usually followed by "really? You're crazy", which is when you know they have got it. Then if they see some video of Andrea at Maliko or Molokai, the cool factor goes off the scale.

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

As someone who grew up in the nerd/geek zone, I don't want to be cool. I earned my dorkiness the hard way. I hope some day to SUP with a +2 battle axe, a Tardis, and Klingon head prosthesis. Then I will be truly cool in my eyes (and mine alone.

[Weasels wake]

Something tells me Weasels never been near the water that calm?

If I lived by glassy water of that expanse, I wouldn't be on a SUP board, I'd be on a single man sculling boat, so fast, so smooth, and all under human power. 
THAT would be sooooooo cool.  And I'd name my boat the "Steve McQueen".

[stoneaxe]

Cool is the reason I do it. It was very uncool to be stumbling around like a drunk....

[andygere]

I never really thought about it until now.  I do know that the people I've met through this sport are cool, does that make SUP cool?  Perhaps a better indicator is my kids (Bobby-11 and Jilly-13).  The last time we brought the Uli out in the boat and anchored up, they were fighting to see who got to use it first.  Middle school kids don't do anything that isn't cool, and they are increasingly interested in paddling, and even surfing on dad's SUPs, so it must be cool.  Wait, does that make me cool?

[magentawave]

Well said. It's cool to be totally RE-STOKED on surfing this many years later! It's cool to get 10X more waves than I used to get (and all without snaking anyone). It's cool to get that awesome "surfed out" tired feeling after each sesh because every muscle in my body has been worked. It's cool to see the sets coming cuz I'm standing up as well as the sea life below. It's cool that I'm challenged (and humbled) every time I go out. What isn't cool about it? When I look out from the beach or cliff to see humans standing up waiting for waves does NOT look cool. Obviously I do that too, but it still looks funny and kinda Cro-Magnon.

Learning to switch hands with paddle and the many other cool little tricks is like being a grem again. Learning new stuff. That's the key to forever stokedness....
Once you lose the stoke just pack it up.

[pdxmike]

Well said. It's cool to be totally RE-STOKED on surfing this many years later! It's cool to get 10X more waves than I used to get (and all without snaking anyone).

I was going to reply to this, then I re-read it and saw you said "stoke", not "stroke".

[OUTSIDEWAVE]

Perhaps it's like road cycling.  Once upon a time there was nothing less cool than a die hard cyclist decked out in all the tight lycra, and now it's considered uber hip.

Nope they are the most  uncool arrogant  sobs on the planet.

[surf4food]

Perhaps it's like road cycling.  Once upon a time there was nothing less cool than a die hard cyclist decked out in all the tight lycra, and now it's considered uber hip.

Nope they are the most  uncool arrogant  sobs on the planet.

Well if you are talking about taking up road space and slowing up traffic then that's a whole separate discussion.  As someone who both drives AND rides a bike I can understand both sides. 

[SlatchJim]

As someone who grew up in the nerd/geek zone, I don't want to be cool. I earned my dorkiness the hard way. I hope some day to SUP with a +2 battle axe, a Tardis, and Klingon head prosthesis. Then I will be truly cool in my eyes (and mine alone.

Because the guy you meet on the other side of the space time continuum will be a max level fully armed Romulan... 

SUP in the middle of a crowded summer beach break is almost never remotely cool. SUP with your family on uncrowded waves is downright frozen.

[Kwolfe]

SUPing on a glassy lake at 6am as the sun comes up is definitely cool.  I'm going tomorrow again just for that.  Plus the fact that I'm hooked on it like crack.