Surfers versus standup paddleboarders
Calls for aloha have been met with threats to hold people under water as tensions flare at a popular Christchurch surf break. Joel Ineson reports.
Calls for aloha have been met with threats to hold people underwater as tensions flare at a popular Christchurch surf beach. Surfer groups at ‘‘world-class’’ Sumner Beach are frustrated by a surge of standup paddle (SUP) boarders they say are taking all the waves and ignoring etiquette.
But long boarders, the group most affected by the growing popularity of SUP boarding, stand accused of having displayed the same undesired behaviour for years.
‘‘I had this long boarder drop in on me three times and I was going ‘Who is this guy?’ and I held him under water just to kind of like go ‘Dude, you’re being a dickhead’,’’ said Greg Maniatis, a Sumner surfer of nearly 20 years and surf SUP rider – a smaller version of a standard paddle board – for about three.
SUP users have multiplied in city waters over the past decade as boards become more readily available and their ease of use due to their large size appeals to seasoned surfers and beginners alike.
Sam Loader, owner of SUP producer Pacific Paddle Company and a Sumner short surfboard regular, said the trouble stemmed from the increase in watercraft types, meaning ‘‘everything has become categorised and everyone sits in a different spot in the line-up’’.
Short boarders sat closer to the shore with long boarders further out, before SUP users began being able to go even farther out – which meant they could catch the wave before anyone else.
‘‘When you’re sitting in the water and … a big SUP boarder or long boarder paddles around you, catches the wave that you were just sitting there waiting patiently for, that, to me, shows a little bit of disrespect,’’ Loader said.
‘‘Surfing’s all about aloha (love) and we’re sharing [the space] . . . and I think you need to show respect.’’
Mike Willman, a long boarder who has surfed Sumner since 1983, said a friend recently got knocked unconscious by a paddle boarder and there were four separate incidents involving SUPs last week alone.
‘‘We think [Sumner is] world-class for
long boarding. About 10 years ago, the SUP boarders sort of started up and now
. . . they get all the set waves and we’re sort of left there with nothing.
‘‘[SUP boards are] massive, some of them. They can do quite a lot of damage.’’
The Christchurch Paddleboarding website has a page for SUP users who want to learn more about the expectations of sharing the water.
It includes information about avoiding crowded lineups, giving way to other water users and only taking a fair share of waves, as well as talking to surfers and congratulating ‘‘a great ride’’.
‘‘Remember when everybody hated long boarders? . . . We’re just the latest new addition to the line-up and in a few years time we’ll be part of the picture if we act considerately.’’
His solution for people ‘‘born to catch every wave’’ was that ‘‘they need to be held under water’’.
Willman said it was true some long boarders were guilty of the same problems caused by some SUP users and ‘‘sometimes we’ve got to let the short boarders get some waves’’.
‘‘But the thing is with Sumner is that it isn’t a very good short board wave, you just about need a long board a lot of the time to surf it.’’
He said there should be signs outlining surfing etiquette, like those posted around many Australian beaches.
Loader said part of the onus should fall on those selling boards to people, especially beginners. ‘‘Everybody needs to accept that there are different forms of water craft and everybody’s entitled to be on their form of water craft.’’
‘‘Remember when everybody hated long boarders?’’