The Bastard Children of the Ocean

I've definately had my words in the past about SUP's. Most are related to the mass public interest. The people who never really stepped foot in the ocean, or did it on an occasional basis. The SUP gave them the freedom to all of a sudden have a huge advantage over the paddle-less others. They didn't need to serve their time, work their way into the line-up, take the left overs, etc. If they were smart, All they needed to do is spend a week paddling on calm water, then take that act out into the line-up and learn to catch waves. Soon, they could be sitting out further then the rest, and stroking into waves, with hardly a competitor. I think I could teach a non-surfer how to paddle an SUP and having em ligitamately catch waves in 2 weeks. How long does it take the average surfer to learn to catch waves, stand up, and go down the line? Most of these newbies have absolutely no etiquitte whatsoever. They never learned. They never had some guy at WindanSea throw a punch at them, because he grew up their, not because he was right. They never had an older buddy constantly grind their mind with the rights and wrongs, the places they shouldn't go, or the places they shouldn't go with anyone else. They just don't get it. They don't understand why they hear comments as they paddle by. They are just out getting some exercise, just as they would on the basketball court or the softball field. Then, throw in the fact, that most of the ones that don't fit this bill, that actually surfed, then started to SUP, usually don't do it at the break that they used to surf at, well that is just plain fucked. My question to them is this, "You seem to surf well, why is it that you are all of a sudden coming here to SUP?" Why don't you SUP at the break that you used to surf at?

As many of you know, lately I've been really into this handplane thing. Today I got some of the best waves I've had with a handplane yet. Probably one of the funner sessions in the ocean this year. One thing that I've noticed while learning to handplane, is that when you are out bodysurfing, you also get absolutely no respect. On a surfboard, at most breaks, I usually get a fair share of waves. At the break I frequent most, usually more than my fair share. I think I know the wave pretty well, but, I also know the people as well. I've put in a decent amount of time, and think that I'm pretty well respected. That all seems to go out the window when you put on a pair of flippers. You could be talking to the guy next to you, hand over your plane for him to check it out, set comes, you are in position, and he'll burn you everytime. Doesn't matter if you can plane down the face and ride it as long as him. Doesn't matter if he saw you get perfectly slotted the wave before. For some reason, he thinks that because he's standing, it's his. The clincher is that these are the very same people that are making the comments that I made above about the SUP's.

So, now that I've got that all straightened out, the reason for my rant. There are about 5 guys that I know that SUP that I really respect. They started doing it way before the craze. All surfed well prior to starting to SUP. Know etiquitte well. Most importantly, grew up surfing the break that they now SUP at. Tom English is one of them. I enjoy surfing with Tom and talking with him in the lot. He's a smart guy and is always willing to share or give away a wave. Here are a few picks of Tom and myself last weekend, riding a wave together. The part that was missed in the photos, was when we were actually right next to each other, gave a nice High-5, then he sling-shotted me into the next section. One of the most memorable waves of the year. Memorable, while still being the Bastard Children of the Ocean.