Wednesday, December 12, 2007

SUP Gathering - Right or Wrong?

At the end of November C4/Boardworks had a little SUP gathering at an already overcrowded SUP break in North San Diego. My personal opinion is twofold. I have surfed this break pretty regualarly over the past 6 years. 90 percent of the time I surf, it is at this break. I know most of the regulars and most of them know our family and have watched our kids grow up on this beach. I'll probably never be a true local, but I'm pretty sure my kids will be calling off Josh and Joel's kids in a few years. So, back to the SUP gathering. I'm not against SUP. I'm against the lack of etiquite. I've known the 5 or 6 good guys that have SUP'd at this break for the last 5 years. I respect them all. They are good surfers and are pretty impressive on an SUB. The problem lies with the rest. The new breed if you will. People that don't surf well are becoming dangerous. Especially at crowded breaks. This is also compounded by the fact that they truly are crutches to catching waves. I have adopted a new motto. Any wave that an SUP would NOT have caught on a normal longboard is fair game. In the other aspect, about a year and a half ago, I did it twice and thought it was amazing exercise. I even designed a board on APS3000 about a year ago. I was pretty stoked on the whole deal. I still want to get a board one day. Not really to surf, mainly to paddle for exercise. I see nothing wrong with pulling up to the reef and paddling the reef stretch to the north and back. Catching little forgotten peaks, that no one is surfing, in the process. I'd rather do that for exercise than run. I am not a big believer in SUP boards in the line-up. It was OK when it was just the good guys, but not so much now. So, back to the real reason for the post. Is it Right or Wrong to have this gathering at an already crowded break? I had alot of fun last year at the "Anything But 3" event and look forward to it this year. So is it hypocritical to say you guys aren't welcome, but me and my Fish/Bonzer/ETC buddies are?




3 comments:

borntoloser said...

It's like giving a car to a ten year old. They want to play with it because it's fun- but it doesn't make anyone else happy.

Anonymous said...

Confuse-uos say:

Ride what makes you happy. If riding what makes you happy makes others miserable, how can it make you happy?

brownfish said...

Scott, Did you see the line-up today? I counted twelve SUP's. It was Mayhem. Lots of pissed off people. They were actually taking off on people coming down the line. A few familiar faces (which as usual were courteous), but the rest I'd never seen before and were just completely clueless. If this is any indication of the future, there is going to be problems. You know I love you and the other 4 or 5 originals, but that was just a joke. Especially in reasonably fun surf that was surfable on any board. Thanks for posting though, I feel priviledged.