mbuzz said...
I used to get a bit of stinkeye from the grey surfer brigade but in the past year have seen that turn around as most of them buy SUPs and have smiles back on their face. If I sit down in the lineup and don't hog the waves (even on fat days where I'm the only one with the right kit to catch anything), I find most of the guys will chat with you. On a couple of occasions where someone has suggested I'm cheating with my paddle, I've let them have a go and after several failed attempts at standing up I find I have a little more respect off them.
I definitely feel that as the numbers grow their is safety in numbers. I often find myself heading to Manly on a busy day as I know there will be a section somewhere on the beach with half a dozen or more guys on SUPs where the surfers have moved aside and left it to them alone.
All that said, there is an alarming trend of rental places sending uninitiated people out to meet their doom.
A couple of weeks ago in Manly the lifesavers had to send the duck out to collect a couple on rental boards that had been caught by the wind and were a mile or so out to sea. And only this weekend I went to fairy bower and there were at least 8 people on rental boards hired from cabbage tree bay, trying to catch waves. I left after two waves as it was too dangerous with them about. They seriously had no idea what they were doing. They were dropping in, catching waves on their knees, and if you know the bower, you know even on a small day it's not a good place for a first time SUPer, particularly at low tide as this was.
My local is Freshie and I got the same from the "grey ones" as you at Manly, but they seem to have chilled out a lot, I think that there are still a few SUP riders that "steal" all the waves that piss them off but in general they don't mind me, as I am also a short board rider I know most of the locals and often point out where the set is at when I am on the SUP so we get on quite well.
It is all about having fun, so no point in getting into the fight over a wave.