This afternoon's NH sweet sup sesh and revelation on Longboarding's fade...

[clayfeeter]

Hey guys,
Following up on the "future of longboarding" thread:

Just got home from a sweeeet and very fun righthand point sup day shared with Fred, a ripping sup wave rider from Massachusetts.

As Fred and I were out at the point in central NH this afternoon, I followed Blane's classic "are you Kool or Kook" teachings, sitting down between some of the sets so as not to come off as high and mighty...

... Fred and I got along GREAT with the shortboarders.

It was the one old walrus longboarder that had "stink eye" written all over him -- the kind of grumpy guy our Standup Journal columnist Steve West calls "Crusty" -- it was this longboarder who surprised me.

I backed out of waves that "Crusty" had me up the line on, I occasionally tipped him off with a hoot from my higher standing view that the bigger waves were coming...

...and then when a big gust of side-off wind blasted us from outta nowhere I small talked to him, "geez, I should go in and put a sail on this thing (my board)."

Crusty replied, "I got a better idea: why don't you just go in."

Nice... Crusty, you are such a statesman.

...albeit an elder, crusty statesman.

...I was on the water before Crusty went out, and he got out before I did; I really wanted to suggested he try sup.

He was slipping and falling his last 4-5 waves. It was time for him to go in.

...and after he left, about an hour later, I caught my last wave waaaay into the cove, luckily slipped past the inside rock, then paddled across the bay to my car.

At the other surf spot across the bay, a longboarder walked up to me as I sat on my sup board just taking in the nice waves; totally beat, I felt stoned from the great and fun workout.... it was sweet; what a day!

The other longboarder, said, "Man, I'm too old for this (longboarding; and he was certainly also referring to the 40 degree water and having to wear 7mm booties, hood, gloves...)."

I didn't rub it in, the fact that as he paddled in from his last wave, he was in such pain, each stroke was an event (I noticed this cause I was having fun just cruising in past him as we both came to the beach)...

...it was THIS longboarder that washed away all the bad mojo the earlier longboarder had laid on...

I told him how cool and meditative it is after a long sup sesh to just saunter back into shore, catching some reform, glide home..

..he said, "I've got to get me one of those."

                 Crusty, are you listening?
                         -clay
                          clay@standupjournal.com

[diesel]

A lot of problems in this world, including those in the surf lineup, could be solved if people could just be more nice and respectful to each other.  In Hawaii it's pretty cool because if you say something rude, you get your ass beat down.  Because of this, you have to be really careful what you say unless you are going to back it up.  Overall, seems to be a pretty good vibe at most of the Oahu breaks that I surf.  The North Shore seems to be a different story because there are all kinds of different people from different surf cultures surfing up there.  I try to stick to the south shore where things are pretty cool.

[stoneaxe]

So far I've been lucky. I think I've had one comment directed at me in a year and a half and that guy just started mumbling under his breath when I asked him to repeat it. One stupid crew kept setting up in front of me one day but they were made to look foolish pretty easily. I'm not sure why that is. I'm an obvious newb...I do stay well to the outside of most lineups and I'm 1/2 deaf so maybe there have been other comments...I just couldn't hear them... .

Most folks have been  pleasant enough or at most just ignored me. One thing I do find very interesting about your post Clay. As I mentioned...I still consider myself very much the newb and yet I'll go out and even though I'm being very concsious NOT to be a wave hog I catch 5 waves for every 1 that the guys on longboards will catch even if they are expereinced surfers. Last time out at wellfleet there was two guys on longboards and me. They couldn't catch anything. In their defense it was a tough day to get on the waves but I managed to finally start getting some good rides. They ended catching a couple but mostly riding whitewater, when they finally got up it was obvious they knew how to surf pretty well. I spoke a bit with one of the guys...as it turned out he was visiting his friend and told me he wished that he had brought his standup board but hadn't because his friend doesn't do standup (explained the cold shoulder). I just find it odd that a guy would choose to be frustrated by the conditions because he has some "thing" against standup.

[outcast]

Hey guys
 New to the whole sup thing....learning on my PSH 10'6" which i got in part cause of this site...good stoke and reviews.

 Clay...always loved you work...i'm wavesailor first and foremost...I like the new mag...and one sail per issue is fine
 
 I live cape cod...expect to meet stoneaxe at some point

 Right now i suck at sup so bad it's not funny,  and i laugh at how many waves i could have made prone.   Enjoying a new way to go over-the falls with a paddle in hand

 As a newb, i am claiming to want to keep my long/shortboard...I went sup
1  For something new to do
2  To stay out of the cold water more in winter/spring
3. For some of the offshore bars
4. To get  to some spots otherwise not easily reached  (between marconi and whitecrest ...truro)
5. For bigger days when getting out is hard to do.. off this beachbreak
6. Cause my buds are gettin into it

But....I just don't see not sitting (on a longboard) next to my wife/friends laughing and talking on the little summer days.....the social aspect of surfing never followed thru to windsurfing on the water, and sup seems a bit disconnected too.    Isn't it fun to be 3 feet away from someone talkin story and then just spin and go for the wave that pops up?


And yeah...its always the older guys on cape with the stink eye...(i'm old too....) maybe the world beat them down, or maybe the waves were better "back in the day"....i just leave-em...plenty for everyone

Anyway....i've been lurking for a while....trying to learn from you guys, but LOVE the Stoke on this forum....and Blane especially: mahalo  the board is a rocket!

[Tree]

Some people just don't get it and that's fine... More waves for those that do. It's tough to teach an old dog new tricks! The best part about the sup experience is being able to paddle away from the stink eye and hit other spots where the Crustys of the world will never go.

[stoneaxe]

Hey Outcast...howzit. I'm down at whitecrest most often. Do you know Jody C or Vec? Both did the Cape Cod Bay Challenge with us last year and are planning on joining us again this year.  Often a good crew of standup at whitecrest.

[clayfeeter]

Hey Stoneaxe, Outcast rips! (he's the "Fred" in my posting about yesterday's nice day on the NH coast)... he's a good guy to have in the water... I'm looking forward to joining you guys also down there in the Mass. tropics soon.
                      Clay

[outcast]

Sorry Clay, i am not same.
Decidedly not ripping (yet !)
biggest problem is i'm overdigging to get the wave....that is a prone leftover.
Once moving....maybe i rip in tiny bits

None-the-less, i'm plugged into the wilder side of the Cape...and have some spots that rock...you get down this way, we'll hook you up. 

Stoneaxe: Met jody/Vec...almost ended up with a V board...Didn't really hit whitecrest last year after the bar moved winter 07....but looks like i will this year,
in fact alot of good potential spots this year....I have a fly-over  planned for the coast this month ...been hitting Chatham lately

[PonoBill]

Funny you should mention this Clay. Yesterday after an ugly north shore session (a few nice rides but a lot of Kanaha close out butt kicking) I went to the west side to get some sun, easy paddling and knee-high surf. I put in at Launiopoko, paddled west and ran into Randy, Randy and Chan at Woodies, caught a few waves there, paddled on to Puamana, caught few waves there and caught a bunch of stinkeye from a guy I've met a few times who always gives me a cold shoulder. Paddled on to Hot Sands, caught a few there, went to Hole In the Reef (my name, I'm sure it's called something else) and caught some mega-nice rides there, paddled into the lagoon behind the Lahina reef, stopped at Pacific O for some lunch, paddled on to the Lahina Breakwall which was going off big in it's usual weird way. Paddled to the Harbor and caught some nice rides there, back east to Hole in the Reef, then hot Sands, then back to Puamana.

Stink Eye dude paddled back out when I was catching waves. He said "why don't you get a real surfboard". So I told him what I had just done while he was sitting around waiting for the crappiest waves and shortest rides I'd encountered that morning. I said "If all you want to do is catch a few crappy waves then I guess you're on the right board". He didn't say anything, so I paddled about fifty feet out, caught a nice wave and rode it to the east end of puamana, and paddled back to Launiopoko by way of Woodies and Guardrails.

In the late afternoon I did a great nine-mile south side downwinder with Scott, Randy, Chan, Mark Raaphorst, Jack
Dyson and Randy Royse.

For those old crusty guys and the sheep that follow them I say "Living well is the best revenge" . We SUPers have more fun on a dinky day than they have all week.

[Tree]

It makes me smile and laugh to think of how closeminded these guys are... How can one be so blind? 

[Southbay]

Pono, well put!  On Maui with nothing pressing, that is living well!

[NCBA]

Yes. It's the guys that don't catch many wavesare the ones that give the stink eye and comments. The good surfers are too busy catching waves to mind.

My father in law catches tons of waves on the SUP, while others his age(62) sit for hours on their surfboards. Some believe SUP is harder than prone surfing. I believe the contrary. Once your balance is comfortable you can catch anything. IMO if you're middle age, have a big belly and poor flexibility then SUP surfing is easier than prone.

[PonoBill]

I also get a kick out of the folks that say there's no skill involved in SUP. That's undoubtedly why paddling on your belly and popping to your feet is scored so heavily in surf contests--that's apparently where all the skill is.