Rhetorical response to Palinesque NYT article: If You Can Stand Up, Who Cares if Surf’s Up?

I just read this today! where the F is she paddling? I rarely see any of these guys out at OB.

There was a guy at the Jetty last night just tearing up the place on a SUP, really good to watch. Cynthia has a video of the guy on her blog.

i once took a SUP out to OB last summer on a chest high day. exhausting and nowhere near as fun as a normal board. i was on the south shore of oahu last summer during a big swell and ditched my standard board for a day to see how a SUP would be in the larger conditions (OH+). getting out was a breeze (thanks to channel and a paddle) and catching waves was easy. but once you caught it, you're on a SUP. no easy maneuverability and not that much fun. i then saw a guy on a small, thick SUP (maybe 7 feet) and he was taking tons of waves and tearing it up at probably about 60% of his non-SUP skill level. I asked him why he used the SUP at all and his answer was "it's easier to catch and get waves." i thought, "what a douche."

here's a photo that perfectly captures the "cruise-y ease lifestyle"... at least they're on longboards.

she's not at OB..
I do see Jeff Clark on one of those short SUP's now and again at Linda Mar..
And I am not gonna tell Jeff anything about surfing... EVER!
Let alone that he's lame for riding a SUP

I'll just be the contrarian and admit that it looks kind of fun to me. Hell, I was a 12-year-old sponger before I ever was a surfer. It's never mattered to me how somebody enjoys the water. There is no "right" way to ride, just as there really isn't any such thing as a "bad" surfer if that surfer is having fun and being friendly.

@madpie: the best ride that i have ever seen at ob was at a 4x+ overhead day. nobody was out except one janitor. gianmarol and i saw this guy ride a colossal wave, pretty much all the way to the beach. to this day i kick myself for not asking him how he got out. it was unpaddleable but any standards. respect to whoever it was.

@duckdive: maybe he took the tide out from the bay?

Try the SUP before you blast it. It's a great workout/training tool. I've seen Jeff Clark at LM just stoked tobe in the water. I've also seen him going deeper than anyone on an SUP out at Mavs. He told me that is how he recovered so quickly from major surgery. The guy just loves to be in the water surfing, SUPping, windsurfing, kitebaording, whatever. @Rev MCC He's way cooler than you. You should try it out sometime and stop worrying about what is "cool".

@cookiemonster: with what brand of SUP do you clean the waves?