An advantage of having a baby in the house is a permanent acclimatization to dawn patrols. Awake at 4:30 a.m. I have a look at the dim hues on the local surf webcam; it’s clean, head high and packed. Why?, because it’s summer! Ah yes, the season of ice creams, sunburn and surf rage as every man, woman and animal stakes their claim on the waves. In the surf food chain, SUP being the new kid on the block and vehicle with the highest potential to ruin someone’s day, sits somewhere near the bottom in the eyes of most people. There’s no point debating SUP’s place, who wants to be that infamous YouTube guy in Cornwall claiming wave rights on his SUP! A better course of action is to recognize that SUP does indeed have to respect the self-regulation of surf hierarchy and for us to act responsibly in the line up. That doesn’t mean giving up waves, it just means being tactical and diplomatic about how we get them. Here are some of the tricks and tips I like to use to keep me on the right side of the surf laws.
Avoid The Froth
The packed dawn line up I observed earlier is not only because it’s summer and the line up is full of tourists and seasonal surf instructors getting their fix before work but because it’s the first real swell in weeks and so begins the froth. Whilst everyone is ‘jonesing’ to be the first on the water, the savvy surfer knows that the empty line up won’t come at dawn but later when everyone’s surfed out and too busy trying to find the name of Lance Armstrong’s doctor to restore their tired bodies.
Wide Is Wise
Everyone wants to be front row at a concert but you can still hear the music at the sides and with a lot less spit. It’s the same at a break, wide sets or waves can still be ridden but not by the front row pack. Work on your spin and go technique and you can pick up the scraps that sneak past without offending anyone and keeping you and everyone else in the line up safe. Worried your wave count will be less? Relax. Relatively, you’re still catching more waves than someone stuck at work or out through injury. Instead of watching your wave count, work on making every wave count. Set goals for technique points you want to work on so every wave has a focus and the end of your session can be marked by progression not frustration.
