Simple, ya have a chat. I took out two surfers this morning . One paddled into the wave I was already foiling on and managed to bench the board before we made contact. The other I hit, I'm foiling and he continued to paddle it from the outside and I couldn't avoid contact. He needed a little more education on surf etiquette . I always make sure that the prones get there fair share as I long as their in position.

Agree with Colas
Ive done exactly that at a famous local point break that i can walk to : i refuse to SUP there . I am rarely out there on a shortboard ..... with this ( non-local) SUPper i had to loudly suggest that # i likely SUP a LOT more than him # there were plenty of SUP waves down the reef, well away from (a lot) of shortboarders # no... i was not being aggressive ... i was helping him before he was mobbed by 50 shortboarders

A few weeks ago a fellow sup dropped in on a local prone surfer that I often see at this spot. The sup cooked the take off and caused the surfer to fall off. They entangled, but luckily no one was hurt. I paddled over to the prone surfer and asked if he was ok and I made a joke about "Fecking paddleboarders, eh?". I then paddled over to the sup bro and had some calm, but strong, words.

Best thing to do is, as suggested by others above, is to try and be the positive force of change. Politely confront people who do stupid things and try to set a good example to others with your own behaviour. Be an ambassador.

To be frank, all of my best 'busy lineup' sessions are with prone surfers. I stay out of the way whilst competing for the best waves, but I do not snake people, or drop in on them. I often leave the initial waves of a set - it cleans the lineup and leaves me free to enjoy. I sit down and chill, smile, and chat, instead of constantly paddling around. I don't paddle for every trickle that comes past. I always make sure that nobody is paddling behind me when I am paddling out, or when I am about to be caught out and wear a bigger wave on my head. I find my own peaks away from the main crowd, when possible.

In my experience it's usually the intermediate sup surfers who probably didn't come from a surfing background that cause trouble in the lineup. They are the ones who will drop in on me and don't even realise it, because they don't bother to look back over their shoulder to the inside, or see me and think I am too far away to make the section and catch up to them. I'll let it go the first time. If it happens a second time, then we have words. Many are completely clueless about basic surf etiquette and lineup rules. Most apologise sheepishly after an explanation of how things work and we end up sharing hoots and smiles. Others are just douchebags. They usually end up paddling back in. I've never had to resort to anything approaching violence; I guess my size helps. I also can do a mean glare with raised eyebrows

Problem i find sometimes is that a long skinny sup is so quick when paddling in you could be already riding a wave for 20m or more and have prone boards, dropping in on outside as well as inside.
But I also try to share to but sometimes a good prone surfer will take 90 % of the waves and not give up one for anyone.

anchorpoint said..
Agreed with most of the comments , i see it also in the water . The main issue is Suppers taking off in the middle of prone surfers, they forget that their boards can wreak havoc in the line up. That and that no duck diving is possible with SUPs . I often decide to bail on a wave if there is the slightest of chance of falling and hitting anyone around. My wave count is less due to that but so far i have killed no one in the water but i can see in other surfers eyes the damages that few idiots create for all suppers out there.

100% with you on that one, I get real nervous in a crowd on the SUP, generally end up way off on the shoulders or away from the crowd. Have scored fun waves with not many people to contend with a lot of times.

On a beach break it is easy to cover ground and have a peak to yourself..what gets me frustrated is when I do that and crew paddle over to where I am then start stink eye and bad vibes...When that happens I just motor off to where they came from and the game continues ha ha