I'd love to see some activity on the Breeze, so let's chat it up!!!!!
Fire up your cams, get some stoke going here!!!!!!

I love interacting with the SUPster crew from where ever and forums seem to have lost their spark,
so get involved and keep our little clubhouse filled with chatter!!

Great VID Rick ,looks like the 8'8 is a keeper and your go too

Amazing conditions. When are you going to get out on a smaller board now that you've shed all those pounds?

hilly said..
SUP wave riding has disappeared here

Hi Hilly
Why do you think that is?
None of the old guys I run into have any interest in Foil because they have limited skill or physical ability.

Granted the age of SUPsters in Australia is younger than many parts of the SUP world but I am surprised not many of the old crew contribute here in the past year.

AT home on Cape Cod, we have a very big SUP Surf Crew and in Florida, I see other SUPs everywhere I surf.
Plus the SUP surf page on FB has thousands of members and a lot of daily posts.

I just love the folks in the SUP community and enjoy visiting them in my travels... such a great way to stay connected with other stokers!!

Hilly, do you still occasionally jump on your surf SUPs, I miss seeing guys like you posting stoke here!

BostonSUP said..
Nice vid. Dreamy conditions and the new board and new bod look to be working well!

Thanks Boston... it's a blast!


Tardy... waiting on my 8'5 that is in route!

I've got off the SUP and moved to Foil SUPping cos my knee can't handle the board wobble while waiting for a wave. I do hope to train my way back to fin surfing but in the meantime I'm loving the foil . If you've got long fat waves that just are marginal on the fins , the foil just opens a new play area. The board is much more stable too

I am of the same thinking with a foil. Not having tried foiling, I imagine being in a fixed position with a heavier front foot on a foil would put more strain on my knees and hip. Would love to hear from others about the physical, endurance and technical differences with Sup surfing and foiling. Which is harder on the body?

Another very nice footage Rick, keep it up

VenturaShaper said..

TBM said..
I am of the same thinking with a foil. Not having tried foiling, I imagine being in a fixed position with a heavier front foot on a foil would put more strain on my knees and hip. Would love to hear from others about the physical, endurance and technical differences with Sup surfing and foiling. Which is harder on the body?

In the earlier days of foiling(3+ years ago) the foils were very heavy front footed monsters. With this newer generation of foils you tend to take off in a slower manner similar to an airplane. You have to build enough speed to fly. They are also way more forgiving in terms that they won't buck you out of the sky like the first foils. As for the effort and strain on the body(28 surgeries total, 2 ankle reconstruction, 2 hip replacements, knee replacement, etc) the foil is much less stress for me. I ride many different surf sup boards from 7'10 shortboard style to 8'6 performance to 9'6 wide body and finally 11' wave cruiser all in the surf. Is the sup foil going to be easier than the 9'6 or 11' board where I can catch 100 waves a session with ease if I wanted to, no. But it is a hell of a lot easier than the smaller 7'10 and 8'6 boards. You ride the wave with a sup foil completely different especially with these new longer style sup foil boards. I can take off on a shoulder 20 yards from the peak nice and easy and ride the wave for hundreds of yards at our local spot. The falls aren't bad either because I'm riding the "swell" section of the wave and not in a critical spot. There's no tumbling or fear of white water and the foil connecting for me, which was one of my big concerns. You fall and just feel the swell kind of lift you up and set you back down. For me, I rate it like this for wear and tear on the body from least to highest.
11' Sup, Winging, 9'6 Sup, Sup Foil, 8'6 Sup, 7'10 Sup

Great! Thank you. Very detailed and information I need to make a decision.

hilly said..

supthecreek said..

hilly said..
SUP wave riding has disappeared here

Hi Hilly
Why do you think that is?
None of the old guys I run into have any interest in Foil because they have limited skill or physical ability.

Granted the age of SUPsters in Australia is younger than many parts of the SUP world but I am surprised not many of the old crew contribute here in the past year.

AT home on Cape Cod, we have a very big SUP Surf Crew and in Florida, I see other SUPs everywhere I surf.
Plus the SUP surf page on FB has thousands of members and a lot of daily posts.

I just love the folks in the SUP community and enjoy visiting them in my travels... such a great way to stay connected with other stokers!!

Hilly, do you still occasionally jump on your surf SUPs, I miss seeing guys like you posting stoke here!

Foiling has taken over. I do not have a sup now. Too busy tow foiling, winging or parawing.

That sounds awesome... stoked you have a new passion, that's all that matters!!

Sup surfing is doing just fine as far as I am concerned and I am too old to care about what others are doing or what they may think.

Fitness up, muscles up, core strength up, friends up, weight down. What's not to love?

I miss being able to duck dive, so I am considering jumping on a short board again when the conditions allow it, but I believe in being on the right craft and for my local conditions like in the video below, janky is the usual name of the game. That's what I love about sup surfing. I can catch waves that I would not even consider getting out of bed for in my youth. Gotta make the most of what we have!

theSeb said..
Sup surfing is doing just fine as far as I am concerned and I am too old to care about what others are doing or what they may think.

Fitness up, muscles up, core strength up, friends up, weight down. What's not to love?

I miss being able to duck dive, so I am considering jumping on a short board again when the conditions allow it, but I believe in being on the right craft and for my local conditions like in the video below, janky is the usual name of the game. That's what I love about sup surfing. I can catch waves that I would not even consider getting out of bed for in my youth. Gotta make the most of what we have!

Hi Seb, cool vid that shows the beauty of SUP... just go have fun!!!!
You are spot on, SUP is a super healthy and addicting sport that just gets better and better!

Thanks for your support!!

surfmore said..
how do you like that Escape Pod?

Loving it bud. It's just so good in most conditions that I am likely to encounter on a daily basis that I hardly reach for any other board. I've had it for nearly a year (got it at beginning of June after pre-ordering). Dawn patrol tells that I've done 81 sessions and caught 745 waves. The real stats are higher than this because I sometimes catch things that resemble waves, but the app disagrees and does not count them and whenever the conditions are good I surf multiple times a day but my Apple Watch is quite old now and the battery dies after around 2.5 hours of surfing.

When the waves get bigger it can be a bit tricky and that's when I jump back to the SB Pro if it's clean, or the bigger Spice if it's a bit gnarly, but she is happiest in the 1-5 foot range. Stable even in awful conditions.

Only 3 minor complaints:
1. The handle is a bit small when wearing gloves
2. I feel like I am very careful with my paddle but things happen when it gets a bit bigger / windier. I don't often bash my boards but clearly I have done it a few times and the paint seems to chip relatively easily. I should have put rail tape on. It's not impacting the board, but just looks a bit ugly.
3. I don't know why but I find popping over bigger waves more difficult on this board than any other board I have, or had. It could be the combination of the small rocker and nose shape. It could just be me. I noticed this on one of the first sessions in 3-4 conditions and assumed it was my lack of familiarity. But even though I am happy on it even in very strong winds and multiple swell directions, nearly a year later popping over is still more difficult than on my other boards.

Overall, I would definitely buy again. I wanted a board in between my SB Spice and Pro that would also be fun in tiny junk like my Hypernut was and this board ticked all of those boxes and more. Since I've got it I've taken out the Spice around 5 times when it was 5-7 or 6-8. This used to be my every day board and before I got the Escape Pod I recorded 107 sessions on it. It's now gathering dust and is likely to be traded in for another Infinity. It feels boring in comparison.

colas said..

theSeb said..

2. the paint seems to chip relatively easily.

You may want to buy a spray paint can of the same color, and just spray-paint when you chip the board without doing a proper repair to try to fill properly the chipped part.

I found out that it seems to prevent chipping again. I don't known why, perhaps its is that the paint you apply stays a bit more supple than the factory paint?

(I do not own Infinity boards, but I suspect it may work the same on all painted boards).

Hmm. Thanks for the tip. It makes sense, so I'll give it a try when I am bored in the summer.

supthecreek said..

hilly said..
SUP wave riding has disappeared here

Hi Hilly
Why do you think that is?
None of the old guys I run into have any interest in Foil because they have limited skill or physical ability.

Granted the age of SUPsters in Australia is younger than many parts of the SUP world but I am surprised not many of the old crew contribute here in the past year.

AT home on Cape Cod, we have a very big SUP Surf Crew and in Florida, I see other SUPs everywhere I surf.
Plus the SUP surf page on FB has thousands of members and a lot of daily posts.

I just love the folks in the SUP community and enjoy visiting them in my travels... such a great way to stay connected with other stokers!!

Hilly, do you still occasionally jump on your surf SUPs, I miss seeing guys like you posting stoke here!

Like Hill I also live in Western Australia and I was totally addicted to Sup, both surfing and downwinding.
However foiling came along and I became fully addicted to that, particularly downwinding as WA has world class conditions for it.
Although I am in my 60's I have never had the desire to try foil drive and although I have dabbled in winging and tow foiling I prefer to just paddle in.
My main focus is down winding but I suppose to keep my skills up or improve them I started to always sup foil in waves as well.
Downwinding is tough for anyone but particularly for an old guy, so I just felt I had to make that my main focus until I got it, and so haven't touched a regular sup in years and very rarely even wing.
However seeing a lot of my mates post from Bali at the recent LSR comic sup comp has got me eager to dust off a sup and get back out there (the last sup I bought wa a 10' Sunova Style so it may make a return to the water soon).

The way I see it getting on the water and doing what you love is the main thing.

BTW I also have adopted a more carnivore/keto way of life and have dropped around 10kg and generally feel much better.

Finally got the camera out and got a mate on some small Tassie waves.