i bought a sup due to an injury but am now back on my shortboard and mal,Ive kept riding the sup when the surf is small and now members of my family want to disown me,my dog pisses on my towel at the beach and won't get in the back of the ute if i have the sup on the roof and a lot of my friends have blocked me on Faceoff, its really messing with my head and Im considering joining sups anonymous to help me through this difficult time-all the best fellow suppers 
Select to expand quoteockanui said..micksmith said...
Don't know about everyone else, but I'm always treated with respect and admiration as would be expected
Great to read this Mick, I share the same experiences although I'm not sure if being deaf helps?
I'm sure it helps a lot MJ and I have been known to suffer from temporary selective hearing loss, but strangely enough it only occurs when it's a female voice.
Sorry I digress, seriously though just get on with surfing and don't let it get to you
Select to expand quoteDarryn said..SeaKing said..
I am in California san diego area. I have surfed for 50 year total about 3 on a standup board. Sometimes I get a lot of ____ for just being out. I am respectful . don't take all the waves lots of proners get more waves than me. I sit out sets sometimes so everyone can get a shot at a wave and I call out peaks that I can't get to for other surfers. So even stpllsometimes I get __ for just being out. not that I am ever gonna quit but I wonder how is it in Australia?
Australia is a big place, I find the culture of surfing varies quite a bit between breaks.
Locally, I surf and live on the midcoast in Adelaide where the waves vary from excellent (rarely) to fat small mush but consistently fat small mush. My local and closest break, 500 meters from where I am typing this is the Macdonalds drive through type break, when its early in the morning the twenty or thirty surfers/sup'ers that get out there get along just fine. As the sun comes up and the swell.net report goes out if the waves are good it gets busy. Then surfing my sup becomes more and more slaloming through the prone surfers. Eventually critical mass is reached and there is no path through them, sometimes you end up in a bad spot on the wave where its not possible for my skill level to dismount over the back of the wave because I have been pushed into a place I dont want to be by my slalom session and I have a raft up of 50 prone surfers 20 feet in front of me. Then I do the flop off the back dismount but grab my leg rope as i do it to shorten it and not hit the prone guys with my board. So far, so good, after years of doing it this way I haven't hit anyone or been hit. There has also been no agro in the surf directed at me but I do see the passive aggressive stuff where a prone surfer will paddle into your path as you take off, then I just move on to another break.
An unusual aspect off my local spot is the cliffs where the car park is located are about 80 feet higher then the water and provide a natural arena with an often large amount of spectators. Unfortunately here is the where the agro comes in, some of the alcohol fueled spectators will see one of the sup's cut off a prone guy on the water and if you happen to be coming up the ramp carrying a sup then you are going to cop a blast. You have to be mature enough to handle that without it turning into a fist fight.
My most successful technique for avoiding the off water critics is always run while carrying the board on land, I have done this since I was a little kid 40 years ago, its very hard for anyone to engage you if your loping past at 10kmh. Have a fast loading technique for your board and don't hang around in the carpark.
Plenty of waves for everyone and I'm never stopping surfing so dealing with attitude from others without it bothering me is an absolute necessity.
I would like to try some of those breaks in California, your in a good spot there SeaKing, milk those waves for all they are worth,
DK
Darryn, the MidCoast that I've been surfing must be a different place to yours.
I sup there 3 - 7 times a week and have never experienced any of what you suggest.
The odd chat from crusty ole mal riders but never any of the other stuff.
As for alcohol fuelled spectators........maybe on Straya Day.....come on mate it's as mellow as it gets.
Select to expand quoteTheGoodDr said..Darryn said..SeaKing said..
I am in California san diego area. I have surfed for 50 year total about 3 on a standup board. Sometimes I get a lot of ____ for just being out. I am respectful . don't take all the waves lots of proners get more waves than me. I sit out sets sometimes so everyone can get a shot at a wave and I call out peaks that I can't get to for other surfers. So even stpllsometimes I get __ for just being out. not that I am ever gonna quit but I wonder how is it in Australia?
Australia is a big place, I find the culture of surfing varies quite a bit between breaks.
Locally, I surf and live on the midcoast in Adelaide where the waves vary from excellent (rarely) to fat small mush but consistently fat small mush. My local and closest break, 500 meters from where I am typing this is the Macdonalds drive through type break, when its early in the morning the twenty or thirty surfers/sup'ers that get out there get along just fine. As the sun comes up and the swell.net report goes out if the waves are good it gets busy. Then surfing my sup becomes more and more slaloming through the prone surfers. Eventually critical mass is reached and there is no path through them, sometimes you end up in a bad spot on the wave where its not possible for my skill level to dismount over the back of the wave because I have been pushed into a place I dont want to be by my slalom session and I have a raft up of 50 prone surfers 20 feet in front of me. Then I do the flop off the back dismount but grab my leg rope as i do it to shorten it and not hit the prone guys with my board. So far, so good, after years of doing it this way I haven't hit anyone or been hit. There has also been no agro in the surf directed at me but I do see the passive aggressive stuff where a prone surfer will paddle into your path as you take off, then I just move on to another break.
An unusual aspect off my local spot is the cliffs where the car park is located are about 80 feet higher then the water and provide a natural arena with an often large amount of spectators. Unfortunately here is the where the agro comes in, some of the alcohol fueled spectators will see one of the sup's cut off a prone guy on the water and if you happen to be coming up the ramp carrying a sup then you are going to cop a blast. You have to be mature enough to handle that without it turning into a fist fight.
My most successful technique for avoiding the off water critics is always run while carrying the board on land, I have done this since I was a little kid 40 years ago, its very hard for anyone to engage you if your loping past at 10kmh. Have a fast loading technique for your board and don't hang around in the carpark.
Plenty of waves for everyone and I'm never stopping surfing so dealing with attitude from others without it bothering me is an absolute necessity.
I would like to try some of those breaks in California, your in a good spot there SeaKing, milk those waves for all they are worth,
DK
Darryn, the MidCoast that I've been surfing must be a different place to yours.
I sup there 3 - 7 times a week and have never experienced any of what you suggest.
The odd chat from crusty ole mal riders but never any of the other stuff.
As for alcohol fuelled spectators........maybe on Straya Day.....come on mate it's as mellow as it gets.
dont ruin his story bro
Select to expand quote
TheGoodDr said..Darryn said..SeaKing said..
I am in California san diego area. I have surfed for 50 year total about 3 on a standup board. Sometimes I get a lot of ____ for just being out. I am respectful . don't take all the waves lots of proners get more waves than me. I sit out sets sometimes so everyone can get a shot at a wave and I call out peaks that I can't get to for other surfers. So even stpllsometimes I get __ for just being out. not that I am ever gonna quit but I wonder how is it in Australia?
Australia is a big place, I find the culture of surfing varies quite a bit between breaks.
Locally, I surf and live on the midcoast in Adelaide where the waves vary from excellent (rarely) to fat small mush but consistently fat small mush. My local and closest break, 500 meters from where I am typing this is the Macdonalds drive through type break, when its early in the morning the twenty or thirty surfers/sup'ers that get out there get along just fine. As the sun comes up and the swell.net report goes out if the waves are good it gets busy. Then surfing my sup becomes more and more slaloming through the prone surfers. Eventually critical mass is reached and there is no path through them, sometimes you end up in a bad spot on the wave where its not possible for my skill level to dismount over the back of the wave because I have been pushed into a place I dont want to be by my slalom session and I have a raft up of 50 prone surfers 20 feet in front of me. Then I do the flop off the back dismount but grab my leg rope as i do it to shorten it and not hit the prone guys with my board. So far, so good, after years of doing it this way I haven't hit anyone or been hit. There has also been no agro in the surf directed at me but I do see the passive aggressive stuff where a prone surfer will paddle into your path as you take off, then I just move on to another break.
An unusual aspect off my local spot is the cliffs where the car park is located are about 80 feet higher then the water and provide a natural arena with an often large amount of spectators. Unfortunately here is the where the agro comes in, some of the alcohol fueled spectators will see one of the sup's cut off a prone guy on the water and if you happen to be coming up the ramp carrying a sup then you are going to cop a blast. You have to be mature enough to handle that without it turning into a fist fight.
My most successful technique for avoiding the off water critics is always run while carrying the board on land, I have done this since I was a little kid 40 years ago, its very hard for anyone to engage you if your loping past at 10kmh. Have a fast loading technique for your board and don't hang around in the carpark.
Plenty of waves for everyone and I'm never stopping surfing so dealing with attitude from others without it bothering me is an absolute necessity.
I would like to try some of those breaks in California, your in a good spot there SeaKing, milk those waves for all they are worth,
DK
Darryn, the MidCoast that I've been surfing must be a different place to yours.
I sup there 3 - 7 times a week and have never experienced any of what you suggest.
The odd chat from crusty ole mal riders but never any of the other stuff.
As for alcohol fuelled spectators........maybe on Straya Day.....come on mate it's as mellow as it gets.
Dr have to disagree here...
We've all surfed the Mid long enough to know what unusual beings there are around here. I mean drunken mobs and fights are an almost weekly phenomena on the sleepy old Mid Coast these days
I was recently privileged enough to capture some of Darryn's prowess before the sun came up and the swell.net report was posted.
Clearly the report was for a typical 1ft pearler putting 50 prone surfers at 3 poles by the time the sun hit the water.
As to be expected, the alcohol fuelled 60 year old mal riders coming back from getting their bottles of port from the Seaford were not too pleased on finding a Sup cut of a prone guy.... I reckon that might even be Doggy trying to break them up
However in fine slalom form, Darryn did a 10 point flop off the back, grabbed his leggy and using a most successful technique for avoiding the off water critics, managed to run on water covering the 500m back to his place faster than the jet than dropped him off
The graphics are very amusing Danny Lee
I never said the Mid wasn't mellow on the water. I did say it gets crowded.
DK
Select to expand quotebigmc said..
Kami, what is it like in France?
Dreggy, I am always scowling at you.
I think choose your break wisely and with consideration. I would never go out at a super busy spot. There are other waves around or grab your surfboard.
Scowl all you want Big Mac.....you got no game.
