I'm talking styling like some of the prone longboard greats -- tyler hatzikian, joel tudor, wingnut, alex knost, Jai Zye and the like -- who take almost a minimalist approach to what they do on a board. Personally, I love it: fade, turn, stall, walk the board (or not), noseride (or not), back pedal, do it all again. For reasons unknown to me, I especially like it when one of them finds trim and just stands there, doing not much at all except maintaining position.

But on SUPs, I've never seen the same thing. And I'm talking about even those who ride longboard SUPs, like Guts Griffith, and Leroy Xavier, and et al. There's not that sense of silence about them, of simplicity and grace. Am I wrong? If so, please to prove it with some vids. Thanks!

Here's an oldie

ivan is great, no doubt, but imho there's nothing in what he does that makes me say gee whiz that's .... beautiful. iow, for all his technical prowess, he doesn't stir the senses the way a good longboarder can.

i'm beginning to think the problem lies in SUPs as a shape -- they're clunky and wide and unlike a longboard they never seem to disappear beneath the rider. they're always there, calling attention to themselves by their very nature. and then there's the paddle. it's very difficult to appear graceful when you're waving that long manmade appendage around.

anyone else have any vids that can prove me wrong?

in the meantime, here's a vid of tyler hatzikian doing what i wish i'd see a SUPer do. this particular video has too much noseriding in it but in between you can glimpse just how fluid he is and how economical his movements are. the flowing ride starting around 2.35 is especially good.

actually, i just found this and it's pretty much exactly what i am looking for. the SUP rider is a great longboarder named Kristy Murphy. Compare her to Ivan. Ivan is much flashier but, for my money, I'd much rather watch the easy-going elegance of Kristy. so, now that you have this as an example, know of any other similar videos?

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linter said..

I'm talking styling like some of the prone longboard greats -- tyler hatzikian, joel tudor, wingnut, alex knost, Jai Zye and the like -- who take almost a minimalist approach to what they do on a board. Personally, I love it: fade, turn, stall, walk the board (or not), noseride (or not), back pedal, do it all again. For reasons unknown to me, I especially like it when one of them finds trim and just stands there, doing not much at all except maintaining position.

But on SUPs, I've never seen the same thing. And I'm talking about even those who ride longboard SUPs, like Guts Griffith, and Leroy Xavier, and et al. There's not that sense of silence about them, of simplicity and grace. Am I wrong? If so, please to prove it with some vids. Thanks!

Nothing else than Laird surfing his longboard SUP will be right for me
#t=171

I wouldn't say "styling" but I was havin' a go...

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Casso said..

I wouldn't say "styling" but I was havin' a go...

No call for false modesty Casso, I could watch that all day.

^^^^^^^
What he said!

Really nice Casso.... and Styling for sure!

And to linter.... I tend to agree with you about the paddle.

Arm, hand movement and gestures by classic longboard artists are a LARGE part of the casual style.
When I noseride, I have had to develop a way to deal with the paddle... usually skimming the water on the inside rail, but it eliminates the possibility of hand flair. All the greats had favorite poses'.... and most were developed around a proper balance point.

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linter said..

ivan is great, no doubt, but imho there's nothing in what he does that makes me say gee whiz that's .... beautiful. iow, for all his technical prowess, he doesn't stir the senses the way a good longboarder can.

i'm beginning to think the problem lies in SUPs as a shape -- they're clunky and wide and unlike a longboard they never seem to disappear beneath the rider. they're always there, calling attention to themselves by their very nature. and then there's the paddle. it's very difficult to appear graceful when you're waving that long manmade appendage around.

anyone else have any vids that can prove me wrong?

in the meantime, here's a vid of tyler hatzikian doing what i wish i'd see a SUPer do. this particular video has too much noseriding in it but in between you can glimpse just how fluid he is and how economical his movements are. the flowing ride starting around 2.35 is especially good.

?rel=0

Tyler made me the same board as that one in the Vid its a RIDDLER .Even delivered it to OZ & I spent some time surfing the Vic coast with him.
He surfs even better in the flesh don't think you will ever get him on a SUP he is old skool big time

IMO its 3 main things:

#1 you either have style or you dont.

#2 SUP boards arent as agile due to width, thickness and rail types in the longer SUP range so can not be moved as much with as subtle a movement

#3 Few are trying to SUP surf like this, or at least few are getting coverage...

that's nice casso. i brought a 9'8 log last year and really enjoying. first longboard ever. while i'm not that good at cross stepping or stuff,i do like trimming and 'bicycle peddling up the front.

i believe its good dw training for balance and trimming ie you can't use the paddle to lean on in times of trouble

i don't think you see a lot of nose riding style surfing on sup because you can use paddle power through flat spots and maybe the bigger volume doesn't let water get over the board to hold the the tail down like a log does

I'm showing off a little, but I love longboard moves in sup surfing and with all the dish pans turns and bad airs..............bring it on

Luv the long board style for sup, just bought a 10'6 nalu to have some fun on small wave days. Naish is currently developing a performance 10 ft sup in carbon to meet this criteria, due mid year......cant wait.

try some of this

Jeez, bottom turns don't come much better than 1:30 and 3:30 from the big fella. Worth watching Singlefin Yellow to see Tyler surfing ridiculously well, too.

I love all kinds of surfing for SUP, but one thing I can't recall seeing is a dedicated mal-style sup board. Is anyone making boards around 9'4x27x3.5"?

JonesySUP - absolutely loving those pics. And there's an idea for what to do with your paddle when on the nose. Balance it on the palm of your hand and I'd be even more impressed :)

personally, i think the helicopter is the stupidest surfing move of all time and i have to stop watching any vid that has one in it, so, well, i didn't get too far into the laird video before i had to turn it off.

Casso: i have to say this: you've got great style, very smooth. love your drop knee stuff. how about making a new video in a similar style?

StC: great collection of pics. yup, they're what i'm talking about, and i've got a lot of the same ones rotating as my screen saver. sigh.

fester: see, that's what we need, someone like tyler to make a sup. can you imagine a SUP designed by tyler, joel tudor or any of the other longboarding greats? so far, i think the donald t boards came the closest to approximating a classic longboard but, sadly, they're far too tippy for the likes of me. one thing i know is that most longboard SUPs have too much nose rocker for my taste. give me a flat nose, some concave, and a bunch of tail flip, and we'd be in business.

damn, jonesy, those are great pics. got any vids? let's see 'em.

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linter said...
[br]I'm talking styling like some of the prone longboard greats -- tyler hatzikian, joel tudor, wingnut, alex knost, Jai Zye and the like -- who take almost a minimalist approach to what they do on a board. Personally, I love it: fade, turn, stall, walk the board (or not), noseride (or not), back pedal, do it all again. For reasons unknown to me, I especially like it when one of them finds trim and just stands there, doing not much at all except maintaining position.

But on SUPs, I've never seen the same thing. And I'm talking about even those who ride longboard SUPs, like Guts Griffith, and Leroy Xavier, and et al. There's not that sense of silence about them, of simplicity and grace. Am I wrong? If so, please to prove it with some vids. Thanks!

I'm not sure quite why you are dismissing Chris (Guts) Griffiths. This is more progressive than traditional longboarding but no-one is going to be too sorry to be able to surf like this, whatever it is:

Jonesy... ALL surfing is showing off and noseriding always was center stage where a pose was required...well done! I like your style

Bomber... that was a good vid.... makes me want to try an old Nalu.... once, I tried to demo the old 28 incher.... shallow water... got up... got down... wasn't going to happen for me back then.... who knows? OK Linter... I'll come to Linterland when you get back.... we'll borrow one and have some laughs!

area10: obviously, guts is great at what he does and if i could surf 1/4 as good as him, i'd be thrilled. all i'm saying is, he doesn't do what i'm looking for in this particular instance. both he and matt lumley (and laird and ivan, for that matter) are, imho, power surfers throwing in some traditional moves. right now, i'm just trying to find examples of traditional moves only. laird's dad bill used to talk about how one ideal was to "stand tall, do nothing at all." and i've seen folks who do just that on a longboard -- just stand there -- and yet, at the same time, they make it look incredibly cool and even functional. here's a photo of rob machado on a SUP seeming to take bill hamilton's words to heart; i sure would love to see the video of this, to see what came before and after.

okay, i did a little googling and came up with a video of machado on a sup literally doing nothing at all, the infrequent cutback excepted. what i want to know, and what i find almost inexplicable, is how does he look so great doing so very little?

Well I sure hope that doing nothing becomes a mark of a great SUPer cos it's about all I got!

But, really, I think you are just buying the Machado image here. If it wasn't who it is and I saw this at my local break I wouldn't give it a second look. I like longboard SUPing that celebrates the fun and playful side of longboarding. The creative side. I wanna see coffin rides and all kinds of nonsense. Machado just looks like someone's injected him with enough tranquillisers to stun a rampaging wildebeest. Or he's bored.

There's a time for doing nothing. But there's also a time to show what can be done.

yeah, area10, i think you're probably right about the machado vid. even for me, now that i look at it again, it's a little too minimal. but i still stand by my original thesis, that SUP has yet to produce any rider who can do the equivalent of what joel tudor does on a longboard. or maybe it's not a matter of "can do". maybe it's more a matter of inclination; if that's the case, i sure hope it changes soon.

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linter said..
personally, i think the helicopter is the stupidest surfing move of all time and i have to stop watching any vid that has one in it, so, well, i didn't get too far into the laird video before i had to turn it off. Casso: i have to say this: you've got great style, very smooth. love your drop knee stuff. how about making a new video in a similar style? StC: great collection of pics. yup, they're what i'm talking about, and i've got a lot of the same ones rotating as my screen saver. sigh. fester: see, that's what we need, someone like tyler to make a sup. can you imagine a SUP designed by tyler, joel tudor or any of the other longboarding greats? so far, i think the donald t boards came the closest to approximating a classic longboard but, sadly, they're far too tippy for the likes of me. one thing i know is that most longboard SUPs have too much nose rocker for my taste. give me a flat nose, some concave, and a bunch of tail flip, and we'd be in business. damn, jonesy, those are great pics. got any vids? let's see 'em.

Surely you are being a bit of a tosser Linter....would hate to be your wife (if you've got one)
...."the sheets should have been left on the clothes line 15 minutes longer"
....."I told you to give your hair 30 brushstrokes and you only did 29"
so demanding and insistent.....and offering bugger all in return

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JonesySUP said..

I'm showing off a little, but I love longboard moves in sup surfing and with all the dish pans turns and bad airs..............bring it on

yes jonesy, you are showing off

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linter said...
yeah, area10, i think you're probably right about the machado vid. even for me, now that i look at it again, it's a little too minimal. but i still stand by my original thesis, that SUP has yet to produce any rider who can do the equivalent of what joel tudor does on a longboard. or maybe it's not a matter of "can do". maybe it's more a matter of inclination; if that's the case, i sure hope it changes soon.

Well, actually I'm very sympathetic to your main point. I think SUP shortboarding is a pretty dire emulation of prone shortboarding, and that SUP longboarding is generally a poor replica of prone longboarding. The problem is that rather than using our obvious unique feature (the paddle) to develop new moves that have never been seen before in surfing, we are just borrowing from other disciplines. But soon some young buck will come up with a signature move that can't be done without a paddle and then SUP surfing will have come of age.

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laceys lane said..

JonesySUP said.. I'm showing off a little, but I love longboard moves in sup surfing and with all the dish pans turns and bad airs..............bring it on

yes jonesy, you are showing off

I also have been accused of "paddle waving"

i'm 100% with you, area10. i also think that's how things will unfold. unfortunately, i'm old enough to be saddled with nostalgia for my distant past, hence my current attachment to traditional longboarding. sigh.

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linter said..
i'm 100% with you, area10. i also think that's how things will unfold. unfortunately, i'm old enough to be saddled with nostalgia for my distant past, hence my current attachment to traditional longboarding. sigh.

Maybe buy a longboard and go back to the green room.....your angst is like a Woody Allen movie

As you stated Linter, traditional longboarding is mostly minimalist, turn trim and glide. That type of surfing is generally not
a spectator sport. The true enjoyment of old school longboarding is in the doing, standing out there on the nose with nothing
but blue front of you.

I started on longboards and though I transitioned through single fins to shortboards, I kept using my heavy logs when the conditions
called for it. Today is the same. When the waves lack the size or juice to surf up and down, I'll grab my 11 footer and just soak up the joy
of long straight lines. And at these times the paddle does become an unneeded appendage, but so what?