so how long do you think the stand up surfing fad will last, before it fizzles into obscurity?
i give it one more year, then only the die hards will still be doing it, the adds will be long gone, and you won’t hear of it again.
Surfing?
Stand up surfing will be around along time. Stand up paddling on the other hand is just kind of silly.
Its recent popularity may fizzle but
its been around a lot longer than any of us.
Stand up paddle surfing (SUP), or in the Hawaiian language Hoe he’e nalu, is an emerging global sport with a Hawaiian heritage. It can be traced back to the early days of Polynesia. The sport is an ancient form of surfing, and began as a way for surfing instructors to manage their large groups of learner surfers, as standing on the board gave them a higher viewpoint, increasing visibility of what was going on around them - such as incoming swell. To begin with, this started with using a one-bladed paddle, whilst standing on a normal length surfboard. The popularity of the modern sport of SUP has its origination in the Hawaiian Islands. In the early 1960s, the Beach Boys of Waikiki would stand on their long boards, and paddle out with outrigger paddles to take pictures of the tourists learning to surf. This is where the term “Beach Boy Surfing”, another name for Stand Up Paddle Surfing, originates.
It’s been growing very rapidly
in Southern CA. 4 years ago there were one maybe 2 SUP’s seen around Dana Point now and then, now I see 6 or 8 every time I’m out on the water. I don’t think it’s going to fizzle at all.
I eagerly await
the first SUP designed for solo BWCAW tripping. Complete with built-in yoke, bungie nets to lash your portage pack to the deck and a Scotty rod holder.
Jim
SUP trend predictions
I think for it to be more mainstream you will have to have much less expensive gear. A $50 aluminum shaft paddle and a $299 rotomolded board. The equivalent of the rec boats you can get at Costco and sporting goods stores.
I’ve never tried it but it looks like fun and a way for me to sunburn evenly.
Not something one needs to know.
Maybe a Discussion Forum topic.
You will see soon
several inexpensive poly or ABS boards desogned to capture the interest with an affordable product. SUP’s will become “rec-ified”. The problem now is not interest in the activity, but expensive gear that’s out of reach for many.
Bigger than kayak IMHO …
– Last Updated: Mar-26-09 4:13 PM EST –
On the coasts..
I think you are miscalculating …
It’s growing exponentially each year here in Southern California, there are already breaks that have become SUP spots of choice. Hundreds of businesses are springing up. It’s attracting a lot of the same demographic that got people into kayaking in the last 10 years. It’s also attracting a lot of women to get back into to surfing. It’s very addicting and fun, I think it will be around.
Boom
It’s not even started to boom yet…it will be around for a long, long time yet. You’ll see a lot of builders popping up and most likely some of the big corporate companies getting in on it too.
I’ve noticed…
some pretty big surf boards at my local Sam’s club. Don’t think they’re intended as a SUP board but…
Just guessing
I think it was here that I read that SUPs were being treated by either the coast guard or local regulations as “vessels” in some places. I’m going to take a wild flying guess that if that is the case, such enforcement will eventually kill a lot of the enthusiasm for SUPs.
Left alone, I can see why they would be popular with a certain niche - but I doubt that this niche is very large. Cross-country skiing is a perfect reference for example. Where skiing is common (in the US mountain states anyway), XC skiers are the exception, not the rule. Enough of a following to support a viable market, but nowhere near the volume to have the political clout it would take to survive if some regulating authority suddenly looked on the equipment as a “vehicle”.
OTOH - maybe the “vessel” thing was much ado about nothing…
vessel
I can’t imagine why a SUP board would not be treated as a vessel by the CG. Do you currently not need to have a life vest on board, just because you’re standing? If you sat down it would be a SOT kayak, and you’d be required to have a PFD.
Am I missing something up here in the cold-water northeast, where SUP will NEVER catch on? 
(heck even SOT kayaks are extremely rare)
vessel
Surfboards and sailboards don’t require pfd use; at least I am unaware of it. I don’t know if they are considered ‘vessels’.
A pfd could inhibit a surfer from paddling and for a sailboard the board itself is considered the pfd. When you drop the sail the rig acts as a sea anchor in most cases; although in strong winds it can get blown away from you.
What good is a vessel
that doesn’t allow one to comfortably lillydip? If I don’t nearly doze off on a warm spring afternoon I consider myself to be paddling too “seriously”. I do not see how a SUP can lend itself to my paddling sryle.
Jim
COF (Certified Old Fart)