Theres a lot of people here with a lot of diferent stories and I bet theres some classics,so Ill start.Once upon a time a silly dumb 30 year old decided to play football again,got smashed needed knee surgery,decided to buy a long board to get back into surfing after the op.He decided he liked this new form of surfing and as his knee got stronger he stayed riding this loooong board despite the howles and screames of disaproval from his piers.Now as a loooong boarder living in 6' thruster ville he often felt alone and somewhat diferent but he was having fun and that made it all worthwhile.He often wondered if there were others like him but didnt know where to look.Till one day he discovered a comp happening and thought he'd check it out(but the best way to check a comp out is to go in it right ?)so he did.And on the morning of the comp there he was bleary eyed after a late shift but ready to go (kind'a).It was deadset hilarious after that because after moping around for a good hour he found he was in the first heat and was lucky to hit the water in time but scraped through with a lucky third.So here he was back in contest ville.He met a great bloke cooking snags and had a chat then decided to watch the comp(after all that was the idea in the first place)After a few hours the anouncer called the first heat of the Stand Up Paddle Boards ("WHAT"who are they???)I'd actuallyseen all these giant things lying on the grass earlier,so anyway out they went 6 compeditors in 1'-2' waves all standing up paddling around hastling eachother,well I thought this was funny,odd,diffrent,strange,funny quite funny actually and as I continued watching this guy got this wave and deadset riped it apart.THAT WAS IT.It took another few comps(observations)to take that last step,but I was never in doubt from that time on that I was going to be one of those silly buggers out there having all the fun.