Flame suit on on , when I first watched this video I had Casso's sediments , but didn't want to trash the video. I love first time vids on the Breeze. Like Casso I have just come back from Fiji surfing these waves and trust me these breaks are crowded and you really need to Sup with respect.Regardless whether you think the guy inside will make it , throwing down a snow ball (breaking the wave in front of him) takes away a safe exit and pushes him onto the reef.

When you paddle in on waves like this you need to look over your shoulder to see what's going on inside. Fsamar had his blinkers on and thats the big mistake and what pisses off the prone crew.I understand the comments that have come from this post saying he did OK but you guys need to sit in this line up to really understand how it works.

Casso...No need to yell "going left" at Namotu...just "Yep".

Yeah the shortboarder would have made it for sure. The old fisheye lens definitely makes things look further
than what they are and small Namotu is pretty forgiving. And Fsamir had the blinkers which is a big no no!
It should be like head checking when driving even when you know you're clear...you check again anyway.

BUT Fsamir thanks for posting...you've probably learnt something or more so the importance of not dropping
in. I've surfed those breaks and when crowded you may get caught out with someone on the inside but your
video showed 16 waves and only that one drop in so this shows you're not a regular offender.

I can't imagine Casso ever deliberately dropping in on someone but he's probably surfed 100,000 waves so
it wouldn't suprise me if it's happened once or twice.

62mac said..

Those waves in the clip were just fat,weak crap,learners day in Fiji

When I've surfed Namotu small you get a lot of beginner/intermediate surfers who still fight for position and
most mess up the take off or don't even catch the wave although they are in the best spot. Can be really
frustrating.

I love it when it gets to 4ft or bigger and the sweep really starts running cos only a few pronies have the
paddle fitness to sit in the line up. On the SUP it's easy to hold position and even sit further up the reef to
get the bombs with no hassling at all.

62mac said...
Rewind back four years ago it was all about the stoke,now you want to eat each other

Nom nom nom

Yeah and I'm hoping this week isn't a hint of this summer coming .... mmmm Fiji half your luck mate - be good if there was work coin there ... but how the hell would you fit your mancave contents into one container and would they let you loose on the Ducati

yes, to be polite, the SUP probably should have let that one go through to the short board if he was actually going for it.
The SUP in the vid had the wave at least five good stokes further out. Looks to me like the shortie had realised this, and just kindly let him go through.
But lets be honest with ourselves, if you are an SUPer, you would know how often we have to make these calls when other craft are close, especially when the sets are few and far between and everyone gets a little desperate.
Add to that , when the intentions of other riders are unclear ( and how often is that!) and you commit to a wave, often it may be safer to just ride it out instead of ditching everything at a bad time and spearing that big board up in front of someone.

But here is the classic problem you have when SUP and short boards occupy the same space. The SUP has simply taken the wave further out first , while the short boarder sitting further in has not yet had the opportunity . That`s just the science of it.
This is why SUP riders - especially good riders, do need to be considerate of not stealing more than their fair share.
If the SUP was habitually dropping in with no remorse, then i would certainly be cranky with him, but i see no other evidence of that in the vid.

And what`s with the criticizim of ???uncool??? when getting on your knees for a moment of stability?
Seriously?

For sure! life is too short to stick at so much extra volume of buyoncy that make these big board more cruising the wave rather than surfing the curl. Despite than big board can be the good choice to cruise and have fun under crappy condition even on a first class spot as the Fasmir's video shows on it, i sincerely expect that SUP industry will reduce soon those large dimensions which is the inherent effect of what is going wrong between SUPers and surfers ( short, long board ) at the peak. I wish this industry of this kind of too easy going board got allready enough market and will bring their customers to an higher level of standup paddle surfing by offering shorter and narrower SUP to them .
Or can be surfers might appropriate the paddle becoming supers by this way and bringing this talking about "droping in " and "snaking" as an usual and old story

And it seem to me there is no trouble like i knee paddled on my 9'8" StarB superfish as well i paddl now with my arms to the peak lying paddle under my chest on my 6'10" for the bomb to come

Markyb said..

Casso said...
This is why SUPs get a bad name - guys with limited ability, surfing well known breaks, on crowded days, with big clunkers - and then dropping in!

Casso you and a mate of yours were supping near me about 3 weeks ago and between the 2 of you I got dropped in on 3 times in half an hour

You got to admit it - that was a funny post...even if it isn't true. Made me chuckle.

Surprised no-one has advised him on paddle technique

As someone said - the poster will have learned something from this so all good.