The West Side

It’s All Over but the Shouting the Report Card on This Cool New Sport of Ours

- S. West

“Sucks. Totally lame. This will never catch on…and my leg hurts!” That was me. The Way Back Machine is set to 2007. I’m trying out my girlfriend’s new 12-foot Laird standup board for my first sup experience. We are at a North Coast beach break. The waves are head high, punchy and mostly closeouts. Even though the board is as new as the sport, it’s still old school. At least as old school as a new fad like standup paddling can get. No deck pad, no handle, and only one tiny lump of wax to cover almost 36 square feet of slippery deck. At first glance the strange new board looks just like any other longboard…if Paul Bunyan surfed. Even Babe the Blue Ox would have a hard time schlepping this one around. I get the full girth of the new sport when I carry the big Laird.

Paddling prone out past the impact zone, I stand up on the outside with a bad case of the wobbles. Despite Jell-O legs, I’m somehow able to turn the board half way around and paddle for a swell. The wave is a quick right and for some unknown reason, the board is stuck on the wrong rail zinging hard to the left, resulting in the first of many crashes to follow.