Hi stitch, welcome to the breeze. Try this post and see if it helps, give a couple tips and rules when surfing. Cheers
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/Wave-Rules/

Glad to help enjoy

these are taken from this site.

Kook or Kool? Your first go in the surf...
Plenty of guys are getting on Standup Paddle Boards and heading out into the surf, with no idea of surf etiquette.

Please have a read, and save yourself from mouthfuls of abuse, and giving the sport a bad name:

This section is dedicated to Kook & Kool!

1. You paddle out floundering to a lineup with surfers. You can barely stay standing but proceed right into or outside of the lineup. You paddle for waves while people scramble out of your way only to fall off before you can even get on the wave.... Your big board becomes an extremely dangerous projectile... Kook alert!! KOOK!! KOOK!! KOOK!! KOOK!!

2. You can barely stay standing so you practice in an area where no one is around that you could endanger or bum out. You care about the world wide effects of SUP surfing so you paddle and surf with Aloha. Very Kool!!

3. You start to get the hang of it and want to surf better waves so you decide to surf a more popular spot. You paddle out and stand outside everyone. The sets come and you paddle in like a locomotive right thru the pack. You get waves in every set... KOOK!!

4. You start to get the hang of it and want to surf better waves so you decide to surf a more popular spot. You paddle out and check out the situation. You see waves off to the side that a lot less people go for. You catch a few of those... Since you don't want to wear out your welcome, you decide to catch only a few set waves at most. You surf with Aloha.... Kool! :)

5. You paddle out on an in-consistent day to a crowded spot. You stand outside everyone the whole duration of the lulls. You never sit down so you tower over others the whole time... You make sure you catch a wave from every set. KOOK!

6. You paddle out on an in-consistent day to a crowded spot. You feel like you're on stage so you stand off to the side or sit down between sets because you don't like blocking everyone's view of the beautiful ocean. You catch a couple waves then move to the inside or on to another spot or just paddle around because you figured out how to surf with Aloha... KOOL!! :)

7. You're pretty good and can get in and around the surf well... You surf crowded spots and catch all the waves you can. Small ones, set waves etc. Because you can surf good you get plenty waves. You're always calling people off your waves. You just can't help yourself to sit sets out so you basically take over the spot for the duration of your surf. HUGE SELFISH KOOK!!!!!!!! :mad:

8. You're pretty good and can get in and around the surf well... You go to a crowded spot and check out what's going on. You see some of the lesser quality waves going un-ridden and surf those. You catch a ton of waves but ones that no one really wants. You paddle out and get a few set waves but you make sure others get waves by quietly cluing them in to incoming sets. You become a quiet spotter of sorts for others to score good waves.... You always sit out a few sets. You use your high vantage point to stoke others out. KOOL!! (When you arrive and it's already crowded NOT GOING OUT THERE is the KOOLEST!) :)

9. You see how cool SUP surfing is because you can paddle fast and want to get back at those greedy longboarders. You decide to get into it to take over and be the dominent surfer at any spot at any time. Do the entire surfing world a favor and don't get into it. You are the biggest KOOK!!!!!! :mad:

10. You see how cool SUP surfing is because you can do something that is a challenge, get great exercise, paddle far up the coast at will, have a blast riding waves you never thought would be fun, discover new spots, like to enjoy the comraderie of the SUP surfers around the world. KOOL!! :)

Note:
If there are more than one of you SUP surfing, everything becomes doubled, tripled, quadrupled, etc.
Avoid heavy rotations with other SUP surfers when surfing with others.

Be aware of your actions and the actions of others. BE KOOL!

Thanks to Paddle Surf Hawaii!




And this from unknown:

I both regularly surf and SUP

- SUP's are controversial and for good reason--- like a big longboard or skip frye cross country style glider, if it gets into the hands of an irresponsible rogue, it can be used as a weapon of mass destruction for a lineup...
Unfortunately there are many such rogues out there and have already given em a bad rap, especially on the mainland.

So here are my rules for stand up etiquite--

1--- spend lots of time in flat water first (bays, rivers, glassy ocean with no waves).. then choppy bay or ocean (just paddling not surfing). You really need to do this to get your act together balance wise and to practice paddling and especially turnin the board around (as if spinning to catch a wave). Do this in a lineup, you are an instant source of entertainment and disdain for all around). Anyway flat water paddling is really cool.

2. Horses for the courses, ala nat young. Standup boards are really not for beachbreaks with no real channel....Best for pointbreaks or reefs or places with lots of room... ie--- not beaches that are bordered by 2 jetties with lots of guys on the inside..

3. When starting to go for waves, again, do it in a place where there are no other surfers around. Really get comfortable handling the board---- spinning and catching waves, kicking out, hard redirectioning turns (in case their is someone in front of you), handling closeout sections (which with some practice, get fewer and fewer...)... paddling out through breaking waves, getting caught inside, etc....

All these things are essential and take time to figure out and are really really dangerous and rude to try and do in a crowded line up...

Thing with the sup's is you don't need much of a wave to have fun and do these things---- there's 100 miles from rock to ala mo, so spread out and get the hell away from everyone.

4. Graduate to some way outside / offbeat spots-- there are a whole bunch of rarely or hardly ever surfed waves that would be awesome for SUP--- those are your spots, and these kind of spots are really what SUP's are for.

5. If you have the lineup to yourself, do whatever you want, but....when you're finally in a lineup with others, be cool..... sup is all about chill style and glide... dont amp. Dont paddle outside everyone and stand there waiting to pick off sets. Casually Paddle the "pattern"... out the channel, way outside, up and down the lineup and back through the channel... In other words, dont stand still -- this is really anoying for regular surfers sitting there with you standing on top of them waiting for the best wave.

As you paddle the pattern, if somthing should happen to come to you, be it an outside set wave if youre there, or an inside shoulder piddler if youre there, take it as long as there's no one on it. Ride it to completion, some of the funnest parts of stand up paddle surfing are the weird little reforms and direction changes the wave does on the inside... also, you will be gone from the lineup for a good while, giving others the chance to get waves and almost forget you.

lets try that again.

www.srosurf.com/rules.html

Michelle,

If you are "inside" another surfer, you are riding closer to the breaking section of the wave and, accordingly, if you are on the "outside" you are riding the wave further away from the breaking section of the wave compared with someone who is "inside" you. This also assumes that you are riding across the wave, staying just "outside" the breaking section.