the gift -what Stand Up Paddling brings to surfing

I just noticed the facebook copy is very hard to read. I have pasted it here unedited instead.


The gift

What Stand Up Paddling brings to surfing.

By Stuart Murray

I used to call myself a surfer and to tell you the truth I was pretty
happy with that. Living what I thought was the dream life by the
beach. I grew up in a surfing backwater and left there to spend my
years travelling the globe in search of the perfect wave. We all stop
somewhere and I settled down enough to carve out a career as a
surf coach. I had also grown enough to appreciate the waves that
rolled up to my local beach. I did not feel the need to complain too
much about the flat spells, the tough conditions or gripe about the
crowds. I had learnt the ways of getting a few waves on busy days
and how to get one in an onshore.

I noticed though that for many around me the joy was gone. Many
came from habit as at least a salt water anaesthetic would numb
the madness of their busy life, blunt the knife edge of the city and
silence the deafening roar of their own negative thinking. They
surfed but the joy was gone.

As a 12 year old I watched a TV show about brave men zig zagging
down large waves in Hawaii with the names like Larry Blair and I
was filled with awe. Scouring surf mags fuelled my passions and
after I bought my first car the travel bug was set. The mags themes
looking back now seemed to revolve around the search for the
perfect wave, sex and improving performance.

Surf coaching has taught me so much. I notice more those in the
surf who were not so skilled or confident and those intimidated by
the bustle of the crowd. In contrast each winter I would watch a
lady of 60 years plus walk into the water every day in a bathing suit
and swimming cap and body surf a few waves on her own and think
that she was the true surfer. One year she did not come back and I
wonder what happened to her. Other times I would take the time to
give a tip to those struggling or suggest a safer area for those new
surfers lost in the arts of the rip while trying to not interfere. Slowly
for me the joy was coming back...

One day I was injured and as a couple of mates surfed I patched
together a driftwood shack on the beach for relief from the sun.
From my humble shelter I watched with wide eyes two people
paddle around the headland while standing on boards. I had never
seen such a thing and they paddled into wave after wave and my
life changed forever.

Trying this new sport I became a complete beginner and was nicely
humbled. Ask Laird Hamilton and Kelly Slater about their first days
and they will relay a similar story. I persisted and soon enjoyed the
freedom of hidden gems. Waves never surfed before, uncrowded
waves, true surfing camaraderie and a new label for myself. I had
been working on the classic waterman skills of swimming surfing
and paddling and with this came a new set of values.

I now class myself as a waterman with the values of the simple joy
of sharing the ocean and respect for the community and
environment. Waterman to me is an attitude not a measurement of
skill.

Our labels, surfer, longboarder, windsurfer, grommet, old man,
chick, surfski, body boarder, clubby etc have been too long used to
divide us. They are not ok when used as weapons to divide. A
long boarder who said to me as I paddled past his peak “your not
going to surf here on that are you?” conceded I had a valid point
when I replied “It’s not the equipment that’s the problem it’s the
user.”

Our kids watch us and our discrimination or joy becomes their
habit. A new generation of Stand Up Paddle kids will grow up with a
cracker set of values from the waterman ethos. Stand up Paddle
offers surfing the gift of reminding us of a cracker set of values.
Values of the ocean we share and the people we share it with. The
simple joy of sharing the ocean and respect for the community and
environment.

The gift is now on offer to the surfing world.

I use this as a loud opportunity to state to all all Stand Up Paddlers
to not use Sup as a way to get one over another.
My snapshot of Sup etiquette rules is summed up here.
Some of the gifts of sup are learn to let some go, smile and hoot
for others, call the sets, surf the crappy uncrowded wave, explore
the empty wave round the corner, surf to your skill, watch the sky
and read the ocean and leave the surf a better place than when you
entered it.

Brian Keaulana reckons it’s the Indian not the arrow and I reckon
we can all check ourselves next time we surf and that’s a gift to a
sport screaming for air and a timely call back to the simple joy of
sharing the ocean.

It's only in the last few years I have got over the shortboard/longboard/boogie divide.
I now have fun weather the surfs 1/4 ft onshore or big & clean. I don't care what I ride now as long as I'm in the ocean & having fun. I think about all the years I used to keep driving if it was under 2 ft because my thin little shortboard wouldn't float me.
Doh

And - doggie and kearnsy - get your butts over here for a winter surf cos it is consistent and clean and usually beautiful surf between the goldy and northern nsw. I am sure we can get a little crew together and get over west later in the year to pay you back for the destruction you will cause here. (sound impressive I know but we are pretty much all old and busted up and after 2 beers be asleep on the porch in a pool of our own dribble)

I had an issue with two kooks on Saturday,man they could barely stand on them.
They kept smoking the line up without any respect. Catch a wave paddle for another fall off paddle back out drop in and paddle around you going for waves time after time.

Total knobs, it is guys like them that give sup'ers a bad name.

I was so close to giving them a spray but resisted as it would have put me in another state on mind

Yes I own a sup but would never carry on like those two
The thing is they didnt even know they were up sitting the lineup go figure

So in this case, what do SUP bring to surfing, no gift just grief

mac,i know where you and others are coming from,but for i give them 2 goes at the wave whether they are sup,mal,s/board and if they want to snake or grab every wave well i hate to admit it but asea is going on the next wave whether they make it or not. My patience for these sort of people is rather short and if they happen to get on the wave and yell oi i yell oi back with a smile on my dial.My answer back to them is simple you f.....up 2 waves,my turn.cheers

I surf a sup and generally only where there is no one out on a beachy or wide on a point and pick up the scraps. If I am first out on a point and the crowd builds I move wide or move away altogether. NO I don't have to do this and I guess I have a right to surf where and when I want and I surf a sup reasonably well so I can handle it in a crowd BUT I don't believe the sup should be in these crowded areas because they intimidate other surfers and they can be difficult to handle in broken water no matter how good you are. If you are on a wave and someone drops in on you then you usually cant just kick out or straighten out cos the big beasty just aint that easy to throw about and get clear without putting yourself or others in danger. I know it can never be enforced but no one should be allowed to ride a sup in the surf until they have had a surf lesson or be a surfer first and have an understanding of the order of things in the lineup. I don't necessarily agree with some aspects of the "rules of surfing" and sure at times have been guilty of the odd snaking or accidental drop in but even though this is no excuse I do have the ability and experience to take evasive action to avoid collisions and damaging myself, my board or others. As much as I hate to say this - now I am back on a surfboard 90% of the time I am again becoming as intolerant of arrogant and ignorant sup surfers as I was over 2 years ago when they first started taking over my home break. I really think some of you guys and gals who haven't ridden your shorty or mal for a year or two since buying your sup need to get out for a surf again on your surfboard and really see what is going out there in the lineups and maybe you will become a better sup surfer for it. I know it's worked for me.