i smashed my back and pelvis up really badly. the surgeons gave me 2 choices cortisone till my back was completely rooted and a op or a op which they thought i was to young for and success was not that crash hot for benifit. went to rehab for a year but just coundnt stand all the vanity. so decided to become a feel sorry for myself self medicated piss head my rehab physio used to ring all the time to see how i was going and i would tell him,just getting fatter. after another 3 years he told me about sup,i laughed when i looked it up but went with a paddle with him,hooked i was,considering the only water fun i was told i could ever have was to find some german mates with aglass coffee table. could not believe how much i missed the water. so went and bought a sup and strated getting stronger and more stoked,so the girl bought 1 my son got 1 and well i have a few now now im back into skating,down hill,bowls and cruising have lost close to 25 kg and just bought a longboard of a super cool breezer,cheers mac62 one pimp though cause all this could have gone bad without the time and patience from the super cool people at roar,thanks very much guys sorry for being long winded but im proud and stoked with my story and how my life has changed,so yeh sup saved my life and im bloody stoked

Seen pics of Blane Chambers 'canoe paddle surfing' kneeling down to paddle and was blown away. Next Jamie and Mick Dibetta were riding them at the Alley. I put in an order for a board as soon as I could sell my Fender Strat on Ebay to pay for it.

Living in the Currumbin area there was no choice, epicenter of the sport in Australia.

G8 story crispy!

I took up surfing in my late twenties,i started on a short board but soon moved to a longboard.I surfed 2 or 3 times a week til i was 34.Then i got sick(Brain Tumour) and lost my sight so surfing sort of slipped down the priority list. A few years later i started to get motivated again and spent a summer on a boogie board so i could get used to the ocean and sunlight again. The next spring when it started to warm up i started paddling my longboard in the Noosa River. We kept seeing people riding these stand up paddleboards and i kept saying to my brother that i'd like to try that cos i reckon i could do it. So as my birthday present he took us for a lesson with the local sup school(Stand Up Paddle Surfing Noosa). Best birthday present EVER!!! Started on flat water for a few weeks then went out in the surf. I'm out on most days now catching more waves than i used to when i was "normal" The longboard is now gathering dust and the booger has become a kids toy!!

Partially tore my glenoid labrum tendon off the shoulder while training for IM and could not go in the ocean at all due to the surgery and rehab (8 months) and got really pissed off about it

Had a go on a mates sup board and realised I could paddle so hunted down an old Oxbox off ebay (thanks sis) and paddled in the bay all the time, spent so much time there surfing the little waves during the rehab period it was a no brainer to keep doing it and when I started back on the short board there was good strength and fitness already so I could hook right in...

Its another way to stay in the ocean and enjoy the lifestyle

Started because i couldnt surf prone style too good

62mac said...

laceys lane said...

it all started before i was born. my parents got married and the rest is history

Oh Lacey you WERE a much better backhand shortboarder at d-bah some 25 + years ago mate

hmm, i really think you've got me mixed up with someone else there- remember, this is qld, land of the right hander and i'm a natural footer

ps the history part really doesn't add up to much

Im in a similar boat to brownie.

Used to Booger hard when I was younger, and entered a few comps got some placings, etc. Had an awesome time over the years. Then tagged along with my brother to boxing one night out of boredom and was hooked on that. Boxed for a few years and was trying to moveup weight classes so was hitting weights hard as well. Then I blew out my labral tendon on bench one night, after surgery and 8 month recovery, I tore my supraspinatus tendon (rotator cuff) on my other shoulder. I think it was from just over using it trying to let my left one heal. I was only 27 yrs old.

Was so bummed out about not being able to do anything for roughly 18 months, I had a lot of time to reflect. Found myself wondering when was I at my happiest over the years, the answer was out in the water, with my mates, surfing for hours and feeling so stoked just to come away from a good session, not trying to kill myself in the gym or have someone trying to kill me in the ring.

Too old too bodyboard so thought I would give SUP a go. Never looked back. Its funny how you always get drawn back to the water I reckon.

SUP started because my partner said I should give it a go. At the time I was riding short and long boards with the same mentality as some of the crew we all meet today (I'm never going to try that, it's not surfing, friggin goatboats etc).

Anyway with a history of water sports (surfing, body boarding, kayaking, slsc, swimming etc) and coaching, I finally gave in and had a go one day in the local creek, thought yeah this is going to be easy and fell straight of the board into the water. But once I got the hang of it I was hooked. So much so that all I seem to ride these days is a SUP.

Good to see so many varied stories out there in the breeze. Especially the ones that have come back to water sports through SUP.

Always wanted to surf, but sharks scare me silly...sitting on a board with my legs dangling - freaked me out, totally. Watched from the couch and beach for years, moved to Lennox and saw some sups with these to guys tearing it up with no dangly bits, Wangchang! Still scared silly - but have discovered most everyone else is too.

I got into SUP after catching up with an old school friend who I hadn't talked to for over a decade. When I finally tracked Ivan down he had just started his own SUP company (Coreban) after helping others test their SUP equipment for a couple of years.

I hadn't been in the water for a surf for ages but Ivan persuaded me to give SUP a go and I have had a ball ever since.

Never surfed before, in fact never really into any watersports before. Spent my youth laying on the beach (like all good surfer girlfriends) but I didn't go in the water much, specially if there were waves, rocks, seeweed or anything less than crystal clear water! And I never went out past waist deep for fear of all the 'critters' that live out there!

For the past 10 years we had been living 15km inland and were heavily into horses – showing, endurance riding etc but 4 years ago we moved back to Huskisson. My husband, Jack Mack, who has been a short boarder for 30 years, had always drooled over the little bay waves at Husky saying 'If only they were 2 foot bigger'. He heard about this new Stand Up Paddling sport. Before you know it, he was paddling around the creek on an old windsurfer board and a home made paddle. He decided to go to Sydney & get a lesson on a proper SUP & hey bingo, two weeks later we had an 11'6” Southpoint delivered!

I had my first go on Currumbene Creek on Australia Day 2008. The creek is full of wildlife and I remember screaming and nearly falling off the first time I saw a stingray. It was about 1.5m across and went directly under my board! Not a great start. But over the next couple of weeks, while the husband was at work, I found myself sneaking out on his board.

At first I could only make it half way up to Huskisson but within about a month I had built up fitness and could make it up to Husky Spit and back (5km trip). It was at this point that husband talked me into going out the river mouth and into the little one foot waves.

This was the TURNING POINT! Once I caught my first little wave I was totally hooked: Within a week of my first wave I had bought my own board and was paddling nearly every day. Winter set in so I bought a wetsuit. The weather got even colder so I bought booties: I was addicted!

Since we had always done some form of competition with the horses, it was natural that we would do the same with SUP. Comps provide the greatest incentive to improve & provide the greatest inspiration on how to improve through watching the best SUPers strut their stuff. We have made so many wonderful new friends through SUP and now we do a couple of big 'holiday' trips to events every year: each one is a bit like a family reunion where we catch up with all these great guys n girls.

And now for the good news. I have dropped two clothes sizes and my physio says that my knee without the anterior cruciate ligament as just as strong as the other one. I am fitter and happier now than when I was 18. Who says you can't take up a totally new sport at age 41.


Merimbula Mambo Nov 2008

Kingscliff Malfunction 2011

Well, Mel you have hit your groove. Especially since you weren't a water person earlier.
I surf (some would argue). and sailboarded back in the 80' s and early 90' s. First time SUP I jumped on a 12' Laird in 1' waves. Paddled out and caught a wave first thing and thought this could be good. Bought a board and then seemed to struggle for ages. Catching waves seemed to get harder and was thinking that first time must have been a fluke. Persevered and now a year on seem to SUP a bit more than surf. None of my surfing mates are interested and snarl at me. It opens up a whole new area in that you can get away from crowds and surf a wave that the other guys aren't interested in. Or paddle the river or bay and still be on the water even if the beach in onshore and micro or too huge.

I didnt think there was enough kooks in the line up....so I joined in having never surfed before.

laceys lane said...

after being the dominate waterman in every discipline on the goldie for so many years, i needed the challenge of supping for a month before i was the best at that too(not)

HAHA now lets see you master a LB best of both worlds