Hotwired SUP....

[Big H]

There was a guy out on an SUP in the lineup today.....wasn't very big today, 2-3ft (Aussie/HI measures)....there was a guy on an SUP just shredding top to bottom down the line, hitting a stroke here and there to keep going but was pumping like mad as well....weird thing that I've never seen before is the the SUP he was on was the same length as a mid sized board and he could barely stand up on it when not under way, would sink to mid shin, almost to the knees and he'd start working the paddle hard....paddle back out he'd slip the paddle in under his chest and paddle it like a surfboard....different, never seen that before.

[Big H]

Just saw this on Facebook....looked something like the one on the right....middle board was listed as a 9'2".

[oldmansurfer]

Lots of SUP boards are tankers. The only way anyone can ride them well is with a paddle. Over here at least for a while I noticed the SUP boards getting shorter and more maneuverable to the point that they can't stand still in the water on them or they sink. But personally I think if you want to shred you don't want to be holding a paddle. One of the guys I knew from long ago went to SUP and he used to SUP on a regular longboard (but he is a small guy). Ahh well there are lot's of different ways to ride waves. I guess it depends on what you want.

[Tudeo]

weird thing that I've never seen before is the the SUP he was on was the same length as a mid sized board and he could barely stand up on it when not under way

Did he still have the edge on getting in early over the others?

[Big H]

He wobbled getting underway but after a few hard strokes he leveled out and was killing all of us on shortboards.

[pmcaero]

they make whitewater SUPs (for river surfing) that go down to 6ft. maybe something like that?

[Big H]

Not that small....but smaller than what I'd seen before and never seen one so small that the rider could pump down the line and bury rails the way he was....

[oldenglish]

Sups get pretty small when they are in the high performance range. People can shred on some small sups even around here in marginal surf. Even though they are much shorter than the average donkey's sup, they are still pretty dang wide and thick. Still get Into waves easier than a shortboard and are sometimes more of a hassle cause they are ridden by skilled people that want to catch every wave rather than a nonskilled one that wants to do the same.

[drowningbitbybit]

In this neck of the woods, those tiny SUPs have been around for a few years and the guys (and the girls - we've got one of the female world champs at my local) absolutely rip on them.
A few years ago, all you had to do was paddle around them as they wobbled about, but now they've got really good and they're just as likely to be on the face of a double overhead monster on your inside.

Still, it's nice to see the longboarders getting burned by SUPs in the same way that shortboarders have been by longboarders for years

[oldenglish]

One of my favorite pass times is listening to longboarders complain about SUPers taking all the waves