GizzieNZ said..
interesting that he isn't paddling constantly to maintain speed on the wave like i see some of the local shorties do......but maybe a quite fast wave?
No, just that they both are good surfers, surfing also longboards (you can see a drop knee turn and some crosstepping in the first vid), so they prefer using the board than the paddle to gain speed: pumping turns, positioning close to the curl, going to the nose...
First vid is in the south of Brittany (Vendée), with slow waves due to a large continental shelf
Second is in Hossegor (Seignosse, actually), but on a day of small, short-period waves.
A lot of the "paddling constantly" SUPers do not read the wave and resort to paddle power rather than flowing (dancing?) with the wave... which is surfing is all about IMHO.
Plus, these boards are short, but they are nothing like the "world cup" shapes: they are wide and they have glide! (fast rocker). Small SUPs used in contest have no glide due to their narrowness and heavy rocker, and must be ridden in the most powerful parts of the wave, in a aggressive manner. When people buy small "pro" SUPs but do not have the technical level to surf them, they often resort to paddling on the wave... :-(