I went off on a SUP Kook today in Carlsbad Ca. I’m done being nice. The SUP kooks are out of control in San Diego county…Here’s what happened…
Today is a school holiday .Lots of people in the water…lots of kids…Surf was about 4 foot. I paddled out into a big pack of kids. Good kids that surf my local break all the time. Kids to young to drive… A big set comes in and 2 SUP Kooks take off. One guy safe out on the shoulder. One kook too deep with no chance of making the close out section. Instead of kicking out SUP Kook plows into the close out and wipes out over a pack of kids. I paddled over to SUP Kook and started yelling at him about controling his craft ect.ect,ect… kook tells me to F off… I give him more yelling. A few of the local crew paddle over and back me up. This in not gang stuff or localism. This is grown men stepping up to protect our kids. SUP Kook stays on the outside away from the kids. 20 min later a 60 year old Kook on a SUP paddles out, drops in on a big set wave completely out of control and wipes out…right in the middle of all the kids! I start yelling at him…paddling back out to the line up after catching a good wave a couple of kids start talking to me and my Bros, Thanking us for yelling and the SUP kooks and telling us how many times they’ve almost been ran over…I’m known as a mellow guy, I have lots of friends at the beach, we share waves…we watch out for the kids. The SUP Kooks are out of control…Stingray…
I had a similar incident a couple of years ago. SUP kook was plowing through the pack and out of control when there were young kids right inside of him. Nearly clipped a ten year old girl and so I paddled up to him and told him to leave. He said “who’s going to make me?” Three of the younger local guys (20s-30s) paddled over and basically said “We are, now f off!” They heckled and harrassed him until he took the hint and split.
I can’t abide those things. However having a son with Down Syndrome I disagree with Barry! folks with Down Syndrome are pleasant, sharing, and inoffensive. SUPs are mostly idiot wave hogs or worse, dangerous. I think it’s time for zoning!
You can get mad all of you, but they are not going away because its too much fun, and most of the haters are too insecure to learn how. Still I have to say I can’t stand them, but I love it and have been surfing the close to 50 years, and know I can surf well enough either way. Flip your finger Barry and your stupid comment on Down’s Syndrome kids pisses me off because some of my best friends have Downs Syndrome. I like to have fun you guys like to flap.
I Have a SUP actually I have 3. Using a flat water sup is a great way to keep in shape,when there isn’t a wave in sight. The waves here on The gulf are often so small and gutless a SUP is about the only craft that will work. If there is some surf at all It’s still more fun to ride one of my longboards. On a couple of occasions I brought a sup when I should have had a Longboard. On those days I move far from any other surfers. I Know it is barge. It’s like an Aircraft Carrier in the middel ofa Yacht Harbor. I do not care what you ride as long as you show some respect and practice some surf etiquette.
It’s too bad all SUP riders don’t share your habits. In our area the problem is so many SUP riders are complete newbies in the surf zone and have no clue what respect for others or surf etiquette even is. The rude clueless d!cks have made such a bad impression they’ve tainted the sport.
When you buy your surfboards in the same place you buy tires, underwear and TP, chances are you are a kuk.
I’d love one for flat water. I have a river and a lake not far from me. No interest in surfing them though. 99% of them here seem to abide by surfing etiquette so I can’t complain. That kind of behaviour is just dangerous though and should not be tolerated. How can they not know they’re dangerous?!.
I know lots of guys including myself who own those 8’ Costco soft boards. They are a lot of fun and some really good surfers ride them on decent days. None of us are Kuks. I don’t buy my underwear at Costcos.
I have 2 SUP size boards, only tried paddling them in the flat water channel at Ala Moana with my daughter, but I am thinking about moving out to the waves.
The way I see it is many of the guys on SUPs are the same ones that would be riding the biggest longboard trying to catch as many waves as they can. Then some are cool and just catch as much as others on regular boards, no hogging. Then there are those trying to learn and don’t know that they are a menace. It’s the same as surfers on regular surfboards. I see more idiot beginners on longboards in the surf than SUPs. Don’t matter how good you can surf on a regular board, if you’re just beginning to learn how to surf on a SUP, you are a beginner.
When did become OK for a beginner to paddle to the outside break and try to surf with all the experienced surfers? Saturday a guy on a longboard was catching all the set waves on a really small day, then once he’s on it he can’t turn. Best waves get taken by an ass who can’t turn. Every wave he gets, we see his board flying out from the back after he eats it. Best part is he has a gopro on his board. I told my friend that I’d love to see the video from that. All wipeoouts.
We need to police the water and tell beginners to stay in a safer place, safe for them and everyone else around them. If they don’t listen then we need to make it hard for them to catch waves where they don’t belong. That’s how the beaches were managed before, especially when we didn’t have leashes. Yelling doesn’t always work, but when a bunch of people send you a message, it usually gets through.
By the way, there are lots of guys on SUPs here that can rip and surf better with them than most of guys on regular boards. Same with the Costco boards, guys are learning how to ride them well enough to make you look twice. They don’t care if they could rip twice as well on a better board, they’re catching waves and having a lot of fun.
I am old enough to remember the short board revolution and people hating shortboards, then the haters hated multifins both in the early seventies and then in the late seventies. I seen people hate on boogies, and skateboards snowboards and longboards, fun boards and simis. Haters gotta hate. Most small minded surfer types hate whatever they are not. I like to have fun, and rip if I want or just cruise and enjoy the glide. O and I am the guy who loves to shape them all because its fun and I can. You guys are late to the party.
Going forward is in one direction and going backward is in the other direction. Adding points in the prevailing pecking order vs subtracting them. The math is about as simple as it gets.
That’s a load of bull, and a line I hear too often from the SUPpository crowd. Anyone who knows how to surf and isn’t crippled can catch miniscule waves on a longboard. I live on the EC, so I know about miniscule waves.
Boy, is that true! In the mid 50’s, when I started surfing, 7 out of any 10 guys in the water, would be considered true WATER MEN. Today, I’d be surprised if it were even as high as 1 out of every 1000. Surfing, as a sport/lifestyle, has really gone downhill IMO. All a function of the ignorance of the majority of who is in the water these days.
SUPers like that are the reason we don’t like them.
If you want something really cringeworthy yet entertaining, go over and read some posts at Standupzone.com. THe vast majority of them talk about “upping their wave count” which convinces me that instead of spending more time surfing, finding out better spots and making themselves a regular they want to skip all the hard work and be a wave hog. This and the dangerous yard sales are why they have to go.
