Jokes aside, the whole wanting to surf a board too small is a real point of frustration for me at the moment............currently high season here, the breaks are loaded to the teeth, and for the most part, loaded to the teeth with short boarders who cannot surf their short boards because:
[list=]They cannot paddle very well
Timing, positioning, and other basic skills are not good enough
They are getting in each other's way and falling all over themselves[/list]
I watched one surfer take off and start down the line last week....immediately dropped in on....literally.....the drop in was actually a forward roll as the guy popped up but never raised his head and just went ahead and pearled then flipped body then board right in the face of the poor guy on the wave.....at my regular spot I have not ridden a wave on the popular peaks alone save for a couple of times over the last 8 sessions....went for a wave this morning while this guy was insisting on trying to cut me off by fade paddling across me from the inside...I popped up when the nose of his board was about a foot away....he was looking at me the whole time so it wasn't like I was surprising him other than I didn't back off (I was deeper anyway)...he hit the brakes and rolled off his board in the process and his board shot out and hit someone else who was a potential drop in save for being taken out by the cutter......
......a zoo, a real zoo......it is what it is and I've been on my tough epoxy boards with self preservation in mind.....not a lot of fun lately.
IF this whole "the smaller board I can ride means I'm progressing and a better surfer" mentality persists, the lineups are going to be nothing more than parking lots with speed bumps floating all over them because the bumps sure can't catch a wave on what is under them, and they wear out pretty quick trying to paddle their little boards around and wind up doing stupid annoying things like all paddling for the first wave of the set, missing it, then just sitting inside because they are too tired to paddle back out right away which in effect blocks anyone else from trying to get a wave because half the lineup is floating around with tired eyes and tongues lolling out of their mouths trying to slow their heart rate down enough to lay back down on their boards like a sack of potatoes with their legs wide open and wobble back outside.....on their 6'1" hybrid swallowtail board that they got talked into buying as they didn't want to get something that they'd outgrow too fast.....
People can be as silly as they want with choices that they make......I get annoyed when it affects me.....crowded lineups with newbies on boards too short affects me......................color me annoyed.
