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Dude, Bummer: Discontent Swells Over Big Boards

Longboarders call paddle-boarding 'surfing with training wheels'

By Katherine Thompson, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 27, 2008 5:13 AM CDT

(Newser) – As if surfers don't already have enough problems, novices are swarming their beaches to bogart the waves. Or that's what they'll tell you if you ask about the growing trend of stand-up paddle-boarding, or SUP. Quicker—and much bigger—than a longboard, the paddle board is like "a Mack Truck" afloat, one surfer tells the Christian Science Monitor.

SUP adherents tout the boards' ease and addictiveness, but with beaches already crowded and surfers enduring long waits for good breaks, some see no room for the 10-foot-long, extra wide and thick apparatus. "You’re like, 'really, did that just happen?'" one traditional surfer says of being cut off by a paddler. "Too bad there isn’t a bike lane for stand up surfers."

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (2)]

The competition for good waves off California's surfing beaches is heated already, and with bigger paddle boards joining the scene, tesions are heating up. ((c) celinet)

One complaint surfers cite against SUP-ers is that their paddles allow them to speed ahead of those waiting in line for the next wave. ((c) brett.wagner)

A paddle surfer navigates Morro bay. ((c) mikebaird)

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SUPs will pull into a wave with their paddles right in front of you, and you’re like, ‘really, did that just happen?’ Too bad there isn’t a bike lane for stand up surfers. - Eric Walker, veteran Malibu surfer

It’s just too easy to get into waves on this thing. Sometimes you get dirty looks.” - Tom Tilberg, on surfers' reception of his paddle board

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Dude, Bummer: Discontent Swells Over Big Boards