Surfing has been absolutely epic here in Maui. The lack of wind and the not too big size of the swell has brought some real gems to our reefs. Tons (literally!) of perfectly shaped A-frames. Let's celebrate that with a few blurred shots (haven't opened the manual of the new camera yet... too busy surfing!).
After a couple of fantastic regular surfing sessions I had to switch to standup (much easier on my back). Still heaps of fun, but one thing has been bugging me. About 80% of the pack of standup surfers (that now outnumber the regular ones in some breaks) is absolutely unrespectful of the etiquette and hog the waves leaving little chance to regular surfers to have their share of fun.
I thought about having made some custom lycra shirts to wear when to go SUP surfing. On the back:
"Regular surfers can drop in on me (as long as it's safe)"
On the front:
"I'm not going to take advantage of my unfair advantage in catching waves"
or, if that is too long:
"Unfair advantages bug me".
That would give a strong message to the other standup surfers, don't you think?
Please post a comment if you have ideas for other sentences or if you want to join the initiative and share the cost of it.
I also opened two threads about this on the Standup Zone forum and on the Hot Sails Maui forum.
See you in the water. Surf with aloha!
PS. Thanks to Maui Ultra Fins who decided to renew their banner (check the new twin fin one) till the end of the year. I'll use that money for the lycra shirts!
The number of blog readers keep growing, but the banner's price just went down (they follow Wall Street): 40 bucks a month!
Here's the stats of the last two weeks.
16 comments:
Same comment as I posted on the zone..
I see it somewhat differently out here GP. Plenty of sharing going on, lots of drop in too, but usually done by prone surfers to prone surfers.
How about just "Don't be a wave hog" on the front and "No matter what you ride" on the back....or more positively "Share the waves".
I think your 1st version provides too much ammunition to the haters that exist amongst the prone crowd. They don't need any encouragement. We do need to educate SUPs to be use good sense and share a scarce resource or the hate will get worse though. I spoke to a newb a few weeks ago. He had dropped in on a longboarder and then fell right in front of him. He was a little testy at 1st but after a brief explanation he was fine with it and was good the rest of the day. I also made sure to call him into some waves and thank him later. Easy to do and it was also very visible to the prone crowd at the break. If they see us policing ourselves and sharing the stoke with them hopefully all the BS will eventually disappear.
How about on the back:
Don't snake the stoke.
And maybe over one breast on the front it could be an acronym in big letters that says - "ASS" and underneath it says "Anti-Snake Stoke - Share your waves.
webby.
Bob,
let me tell you what I saw saturday morning. 25 standup surfers (me included) and 3 regular ones. Not ALL of them, but MOST of the standuppers caught ALL of the good waves. Nothing left to the regular ones.
I was sorry and imbarrassed to the point that I sat next to each single one of them and told them:"I'm really sorry this shit is happening. Please feel free to drop in on me any time I'm on a wave you can catch too... as long as it's safe"
They all appreciated it.
Guess how many times they dropped in on me?
None.
Because I didn't catch any wave that they could have caught too. There were so many waves on the inside with no takers. So many.
You can't call those three guys haters.
Instead you can call those greedy standuppers wave hogs.
In the sunset session, there were way more regular surfers and still a bunch of standuppers. Quite the same story. But the regular were too many for me to speak to them all individually... that's why I thought about the shirt.
Webby, good ones.
aloha!
see you in the water
I guess my comment is probably more appropriate for the zone but maybe not here. The zone isn't focused geographically. I know folks from all over read your blog (I'm sitting in Massachusetts getting ready to put my wetsuit on for a session). But you're trying to address a problem that is more local.
It's a very different vibe here. I've never even seen it close to being equal never mind SUPs outnumbering prone. The lack of crowds makes it a lot easier to share what there is too. Cold water and air thins out the herd...:)
I'm not saying that all prone surfers are haters. I'm just concerned about giving ammo to the haters that exist.
Certainly nothing wrong with pushing for etiquette though.
in front:
TO SURFERS ONLY!
"Safe" drop-in's r Ok with Me.
in back:
I share Waves!
So, Please do the same.
I was out there almost everyday last week and dealt with more surfer drop-ins than SUP, typically most of the better skilled SUP guys either keep their distance or are very accomodating, often encouraging along or warning me on incoming sets, the not so (wave) skilled SUP (often visitors) are the really dangerous kind, many closed calls. Shops should warn them before renting but, more importantly other SUP and surfers should say something if they notice their lack of skill... as was reminded by GP.
Hey GP, have you tried out those MUFins? Would be nice if you have to give us a review to see what your thoughts are on them. They sound too good to be true.
I saw the same thing, and felt bad about it. I understand the reason. there were a lot of really good local SUP surfers in the lineup, and they were competing against each other to some degree for the waves. Plus they were going both ways from the peak. With that many good SUP surfers who can catch pretty much any wave there wasn't much left.
When I left the big wave lineup and went to the inside there were a lot more prone surfers, and some were dropping out when they saw me coming. I waved them on, and stopped to tell some of them to not worry about dropping in on me. In small waves it doesn't matter, the shoulder is a lot more fun, but a SUP can be stabilized in whitewater, so it's not so much of a hassle, and a lot of times you can ride past the section.
In overhead waves it's a different story. Sharing those waves is fine if the other person keeps their speed up, but getting whacked by an overhead section because you had to pull up is a bitch.
Kanaha is a long wave, and any good wave will always have more than one person in it. the good guys make so much speed across the face that they catch up to people starting even 100 yards out of the pocket. But most people don't worry about that much, and I think that's the way it should be. The first 50 yards is where all the adrenaline is.
It would be good to work this stuff out in a way that doesn't involve acrimony.
GP, I was one of the prone surfers in the evening session and saw you out there. Big aloha! I caught one wave to myself that night (was a beauty left) but kicked out of many because a SUP surfer was deeper than me. After a while, my pal who was there told me to take `em anyway and to heck with the SUP guys who have an advantage. Still it's hard for me to do that - just the way I surf I guess. It would be nice to have more folks like you in the lineup! Aloha, Gary
thanks for the comments guys.
anon, my impressions based on a very limited eperience on the Mufins is in a Hot Sails Maui forum thread that I can't find now and I got to go.
I also put the link in a comment like a month ago... can't find that either and still go to go!!
I love to stand up but I always steer entirely clear of prone surfers. It is unfair advantage and bad blood will continue. There needs to be some actual regulations. Like at Ho'okipa for the surfers.
Kind of like with what happened when kiting blew up. There was a all out ban for a while to wake everyone up. Sharing is caring, but too many people don't share yours and others philosophy. I honestly think there should be places where stand up is banned all together. Breakwall for one.
Aloha, Keep up the blog and thanks for sharing your stoke, Windwarrior
Yeah, I was out last thursday and was amazed at how many SUPers were out.. going right and left and leaving nothing but scraps for surfers..
Shirts would be great, but would only add to the conflict. I do like "I am almost good enough.. that I don't need the paddle"
Why dont more SUPers move to the adjacent breaks. I have noticed that some are!! The north shore here is a large place and there are MANY other waves out there!!! Isn't that one of the reasons this sport got started? To realize how many other surfable waves are out there? Why are we overcrowding already over crowded spots???
When it is real crowded I grab my SUP and go where no one is!! 1 because I am learning and 2 because ANY wave I get on an SUP ends up being FUN!!! and 3 I can get to breaks I wouldnt want to paddle that far for.
Cya in the water!! R-
I've pretty much stayed out of the way of any prone surfers anyway but I think from now on I'll make it a point to let them know I'll drop out of a wave for them. I get so many waves anyway (when there ARE waves) it would be very selfish not to.
Its SO different here. I surfed for 3.5 hours in glassy head high plus on Monday all by myself...no one else in sight.
http://newenglandsup.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/what-makes-new-england-special/
OK...no bikini photos ops either but the surfing was outstanding. I was actually hoping someone would show up to share.
One break down the beach after school let out...20 shortboards rippin it up.
It really is so easy for us to move to the next break. One of my favorite local spots is two miles out. I don't think I'll see many prone surfers paddling out from the beach when there is a break almost as good 200 yards out....and even that is usually empty.
Maui is paradise but I love not having to worry about crowds.
stand-up: marked by a high degree of personal integrity or loyalty (a stand–up guy)
I’m a Stand-UP guy.
SUPer respectful
Stand Up for their rights.
Take turns. Make turns.
I’ll wait for my turn.
After you.
All good waves to those who wait.
http://enricowave.blogspot.com/
Marònn...
ciao Cammar, è da un bel pezzo che ti conosco...ho divorato pagine e pagine di WindNews che leggevo dal 1992
Devo dirti che inizialmente mi stavi un pò sulle balle (sai, la storia di quello che vive una vita che hai sempre sognato, e tu non potrai mai farlo, azz!!!) ma poi, abbandonato il wsurf e dedicatomi interamente al surf mi sono accorto che rinnovavo gli abbonamenti a SN solo per leggere le tue storie.
No, non ti preoccupare...non sono un "tipo strano" mi piacciono le fimmene!! Beh, comunque morale della favola alla fine sei stato anche la mia scintilla d'amore per il sup che finalmente pratico con buoni risultati, sentendo sotto il naso un pò del profumo tropicale che tu respiri a pieni polmoni!
Vieni a vedere il mio blog: certo, le avventure adriatiche non saranno come le tue, ma intanto come vedrai mi tengo in allenamento per le session di longboard e sup che prima o poi farò nelle isole (come dicevano in 'Un Mercoledì da Leoni' ...le isole...)
scusa la superficialità della mia descrizione, ma in un commento non potevo farti la storia della mia vita!! eh! eh! eh!
http://enricowave.blogspot.com/
aloha da enricowave
Cool video. I love seeing thse vidoes about how people make boards. Looks like you had a blast
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