Is Wave SUP dying / dead?

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Created by

robbo1111 > 9 months ago, 28 Feb 2020

backbeach

NSW

157 posts

5 Mar 2020 2:08am

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Kovert said..
Interesting topic and I would say foil has had a big effect and you can see it in the lack of development in surf sups from some of asthe majors as the budgets are obviously going in to the new markets of wing and foil.

I'm further west on the south coast of the UK in to proper swell territory and numbers have definitely dropped. Same faces around for sure but the surf aspect is certainly not growing and if it is it's not from people with a surf background which sadly does cause issues in already crowded line ups. I've proned since I was 8 and ridden kneeboards for the last 16 years in a tight knit line up (Colas, if you ever want a board give me a shout! I can hook you up with a file ??), I do sup at the same spot but on the outside bank and not with the pack out of respect to my mates!!

Lucky to have some stand out local sup guys like Dave and Blue Ewer, Dave owns the local shop and Blue is a JP team rider, but price is definitely becoming an issue and a lot of guys have turned to prone foils for small stuff now rather than even considering sup.

Id say 90% of surfers around here have a negative view of sup because there aren't that many that actually can surf and play by the rules so the pack are pretty much on the defence straight away. Sad really, I swore I'd never sup a few years back but I love it! I also ride mats alongside kneeboards and windsurf and they all do different things in different waves. Dont understand the 'im a longboarder/shortboarder and that's that' mentality, why limit yourself? Too much ego and scene, do think that surfing still holds on to a weird bigotry that has no place anywhere in the oceans...

Hey Kovert your post got me thinking about when bodyboarding really got huge and the animosity that surfers felt towards them as a flippered armageddon of new crew hit the waves. And they did come in droves. My take on it was that a lot of younger crew seeking instant gratification could ride waves with minimal input to ride waves. Theres a lot more to it and other opinions I'm sure but where I'm going to with this is that fast forward to now and there's a whole lot more acceptance and tolerance of the real 'prone'/flippered surfing brethren.
As an aside when I was a young bloke we used to hang poo on cripples (kneelos) but they were all our mates considered surfing equals. Even boardriders clubs had kneelos. Rmemeber when shortboarders hated on mals because of their wavecatching advantage.
I wonder if the same begrudging acceptance of bodyboarders evolution will apply to supsurfers given time. Though the 'few bad eggs' theory you mentioned does muddy the waters especially coupled with an ever increasing line up as surfing becomes more popular and mainstream and more diverse variations (like foiling) adds more punters to the already crowded mix.
Not defending the bigotry but short and long boarding are really tribal and have a long history and surf culture that go back eons and yeah like any sport theres gunna be ego involved as well as bad eggs, which exist everywhere.

surfinJ

674 posts

5 Mar 2020 12:16am

I guess the very low growth suits me fine. As stated, we are lucky to have cross over shapers like at Sunova and Gong to keep the boards coming. But not dead, last Monday.

supthecreek

2750 posts

5 Mar 2020 5:01am

Great shot J SUP'r

ghost4man

408 posts

5 Mar 2020 5:10am

As long as you are out on a SUP it is alive and well.

Dakine

NSW

21 posts

5 Mar 2020 11:57am

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surfinJ said..
I guess the very low growth suits me fine. As stated, we are lucky to have cross over shapers like at Sunova and Gong to keep the boards coming. But not dead, last Monday.

Sick photo surfinJ !!

supsean

214 posts

6 Mar 2020 5:19am

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surfinJ said..
I guess the very low growth suits me fine. As stated, we are lucky to have cross over shapers like at Sunova and Gong to keep the boards coming. But not dead, last Monday.

wow, great wave and photo

cantSUPenough

VIC

2131 posts

6 Mar 2020 9:37am

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surfinJ said..
I guess the very low growth suits me fine. As stated, we are lucky to have cross over shapers like at Sunova and Gong to keep the boards coming. But not dead, last Monday.

Wow!!

Got any more photo? Where is that?

We'll have to start calling you charginJ

SunnyBouy

473 posts

6 Mar 2020 4:08pm

Great pic!
And on your own too!!

colas

5370 posts

6 Mar 2020 4:42pm

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cantSUPenough said..
Got any more photo? Where is that?
We'll have to start calling you charginJ

You can find more pics of the breaks around Hossegor on the facebook of the local SUP club:
~~https://www.facebook.com/SupWaveLeague/media_set/?set=a.556221164574188~~

Note that the conditions were very hard to manage, as you can see there were a lot of cross-swells, making the peaks unpredictable, jacking at random without creating nice lines, all on a very, very powerful place. Personally when it is like that I tend to go to more sheltered spots :-). And I do not get out there if there are too much people, as the crowd is too hard to manage as you have a mix of hyper talented locals and pros, but also travelling kooks attracted by this world famous place.

Hossegor is quite magical, but is open to a lot of swell and wind directions, it can be quite fickle. I haven't been in the water for 2 weeks.
PS: I do not think it is SurfingJ on the pic, as he is goofy (unless he switched stance). I think I recognize the local shaper/owner of POM www.pomcustom.com/, a talented rider and shaper than produces a tiny number of boards aside from his regular job, but is recognized enough that some of them are being painted to the colors of major SUP brands for their team riders.

Chris_M

2132 posts

6 Mar 2020 6:57pm

Mean pic surfinJ

Supnorte

265 posts

6 Mar 2020 7:01pm

So many god memories from Hossegor! Used to go to there in my twentys with a bunch of friends for some wild 10 days of surfing (hangover) during the day and hard partying at night

Hossegor is the heaviest beachbreak I ever surfed, specially La Graviere on the North part of the beach. The waves were so heavy that I saw some bodyboards breaking in half (and a lot of surfboard, of course). And when you wipeout the pressure is so intense that you're stuck in the sand bottom. But there's a lot of different breaks on the beach: La Sud, La Centrale, La Nord and Culs Nudes. The waves are more mellow as you go south on the beach (and more crowded with schools and beginners), but still have some juice. And the first time I saw foiling was around 15 years ago in La Nord with some guys towing bombs.

Definitly recommend anyone going there: great small city full of bars and shops, great nighlife, great surf in Hossegor and around (also surfed La Piste in Capreton and Guetharry), and warm water in the Summer.

surfinJ

674 posts

6 Mar 2020 11:08pm

Sorry guys, not wanting to disrupt the thread and just posted up some living sup without explanation. That's David on about a 9' what looks like a JBThis is at the peak of the swell and dead low tide. He was hanging a bit on the inside to get one in a crowded lineup of 30+ chargers. A fearless display as there were cleanup sets coming through I was standing next to the photog, also David www.ripitup.fr/blog/sessions-parfaites-a-la-nord/
and went in later as it got less crowded and fatter on the rising tide.

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