let me start by saying that ive surfed short boards for 35 plus years, was competent to good on my day. 2 years ago i started surfing a sup. No choice really, fused vertebrae in my back, too much middle aged spread etc. the option was to give up surfing altogether or hop on a tanker. Now i sup whenever i can and i absolutely love it. however and heres the rub, in spite of 35 years of surfing, including being president of the university boardriders, i will never take a sup into any crowded line up. Never !!! SUPS are just too big and cumbersome to safely surf around other craft. The natural order of things means that in perth there are now defined sup breaks as opposed to the better known short board breaks. SUPS can catch pretty much anything, we dont need to hang out at the traditional breaks. The fundamental reason why we cant and shouldnt surf sups in crowded lineups is that you cannot duck dive a sup like you can a short board or even a much lower volume mal. Inevetably you will end up with 10 to 15 kg of board hurtling through already crowded lineups. In any surf situation where the swell is big you will get caught inside. I dread to think what my 9.6 allwave or even my 8.10 starby would do hurtling behind me in the line up. I know there is a feeling here that we should be able to surf anywhere we like, but i humbly disagree. SUPs were never intended for crowded lineups. as ive said earlier at most beaches in WA there are sup lineups, further down, not as good, a bit fuller etc, but still a blast on a sup. There are obvioulsy guys who rip and can cut it with the shortboarders. These guys are the exception and not the rule. I also think that to surf safely in a crowded line up you need surfing experience. New sup riders are paddlers long before theyre surfers. There is absolutely no way that those guys should be any where near a crowded lineup. Untill we acknowledge that sup awesome as it is has its own place in the surfing world, and that place is away from others riding smaller less dangerous watercraft, then people will rightly get pissed off at us.

yeh for sure. if thats not a sup. stupid post

Typical Gold Coast Bulletin crap that we put up with on a daily basis. This stuff sells papers as it is "sensational journalism." Sure beginners need to be away from the pack and learn how to handle these big boards before moving closer to a crowded bank/spot. However there are a lot of competent sup guys/girls who do show respect and can competently handle their boards and surf these places regularly without any issues. As usual it only takes a small minority to ruin it for the greater majority. Gold Coast Bulletin paper makes a great firestarter P.S The outline of the sup paddler on the page looks a lot like you Jacko

the bully reporters should come down to the alley, the pirate park, winders and the creek and just see the numbers of people surfing, paddling around on all sorts of craft and generally having a good relaxed time on a lazy sunday morning. but wouldn't sell papers would it- way too feel good

Your spot on Mr Toon.. Though I must admit I no longer ride a bike because of 'Kook' car drivers. The laminectony I just had is probably directly attributable to being hit a number of times by car drivers that weren't concentrating. (I've nearly done it my self.) My whole complaint about this SUP thing being an issue is that down here we have the opposite, I go out by myself, catch a couple of reasonable waves because of the increased volume of the board and within minutes, I'll have ten longboarders and five shortboarders as company all taking off on the shoulder. They all usually go for the first wave of the set and get cleaned up, so then you have all these obstacles in the water that very rarely paddle to the inside after being cleaned up. They paddle to the face. Most of them then get angry that you are getting waves because they can't either make the sections or the wave is too slow. Fortunately (touch wood) I haven't hit anyone so far in the 3 years I've been out in the water (scared a few though.) Everybody has their gripes. The suppers on the GC should use their Go Pro's to document the idiots on shortboards and mals and present the evidence to that rag that passes itself off as a newspaper on a slow news day. I really do feel sorry for you guys.. By the way I'm pretty sure that the clip itself is of Malibu, I remember seeing it a couple of months ago somewhere when a shortboarder was having a big glass of whine. As for the break known as "Ours". It doesn't really matter where it is. You gotta pay your dues to ride a place like that! It is no place for a SUP! I don't know why I keep on getting sucked into these exchanges, probably because people like, Piros, Wazza, Lacey and a whole heap of other crew are clearly good enough to Sup surf anywhere they want to, at anytime they want to on the GC (all points included) they have the water safety and surfing ability/knowledge required. Maybe if all the hot guys up there in all surfing disciplines got full face Moko tattoos then the 95% of wannabes would be clear on who you don't drop in on!! Hopefully I'm still here in twenty years time, and I betcha there will still be the same arguments going on about something new. Good luck and don't forget to have fun!!

Could be a problem there ShireSUK.

Looks like the tribe has spoken.

you environmental vandal..........that was a carbon paddle that had locked that carbon up for at least another 3 months and you go and release into the atmosphere!!!! Just checked was it the GSI or the Ke Nalu

Your'e absolutely right doc, unfortunately common sense isn't very common!

Wow what a great read, no need for my input lol

sukanimals girlfriends

When I have time, Im working ok?!?

More like this methinks

some interesting reading doggie http://www.poodleforum.com/3-poodle-pictures/12410-poodles-their-famous-people-2.html

Ha Ha