I was smiling to myself and happy for you, TV Mott, as you described your experience of catching your first waves—up to the point where you wrote that you were on a standup board at Launiupoko. Learning to catch waves on a standup board when you do not know how to surf is not the way to go. You will never experience true stoke—the stoke of catching that energy with only your arms as propulsion, the stoke of standing up at the right moment and dropping down the face of the wave. You will not know how hard it is, and therefore, you will fail to give proper consideration to those who do know.
Herein lies the root of the animosity between standup paddlers new to the waves and surfers. I recall in a previous “TV Timeout” piece, you described having a paddle for “protection,” which implies you knew you were doing something unwelcome. Launiupoko is where countless kids and adults learn how to surf. Having newbies on standup boards amidst them is dangerous and totally unwelcome, and I wish that those newbies would paddle away and stay away.
I know some surfers, male and female, who don’t go to Launiupoko anymore because of the “SUP invasion.” So please learn how to surf first before trying to catch waves on a standup board. It will only make you a better SUP. Practice that activity away from the surfers. You could also consider what some people are doing—going downwind from Maliko to Baldwin, Spreckelsville or Kanaha with nobody else around you. But then again, you are afraid of sharks!
Patrick Ariihere Brault
Pukalani