OkiWild said..
Older thread, and I find the stories fascinating. Here's mine.In 1979, at 10yo, I graduated from a boog to a short board. The first ten years were great. The second ten the crowds and attitudes started to leave their mark, and the third ten+ went into a steady burn-out decline until I almost stopped surfing... I can hassle in the pack with the best of them, but having to put on my war face, and getting amped for the competition to come every time I was headed to the water lost it's appeal. About 15 years ago, I left the line up all together, and started using a sea kayak, or doing the big paddle to hit more remote breaks where I could surf by myself. Awesome at first, but being more cautious, more complicated, and lonely, eventually lost it's appeal. In July of 2017, I hadn't surfed in maybe two years. A co-worker who knew I was a surfer came to me one day and told me that he had taken up down wind SUP racing, what a blast it was, what great exercise it was, and that I should give it a try. Of course, the first thing I said was "SUP's are for kooks." I had seen a few people around on tankers trying to surf waves, but had no idea that SUP surfing was even a thing. I hadn't followed any surfing media in almost two decades. After thinking about it for a while, I thought a race board might be better exercise and less complicated than a sea kayak I was doing a daily paddle on (in), so I called a friend who owns a surf shop here, and asked what he had for race boards. I was a team rider for the shop many years ago (before the burn-out), and he gave me a new Kazuma 12'6" displacement board for maybe $1,500 less than retail here in Japan. I started paddling this board on the daily in a large bay I live by, and it wasn't long before there was a tiny summer swell making it into the bay. Some knee-high rollers going for hundreds of meters, off shore breeze, and I thought "I wonder if I can surf this thing?" The huge smile was instant, and maybe 50 waves later, I was completely hooked. Shortly thereafter, I realized I needed something better, so I bought a local brand, cheap pop-out 10'X32". Took it into some larger stuff, and broke the side fins out. Repaired and reinforced the back of the board, started doing SUP surfing research, and the world opened up. SUP made surfing possible almost every day of the year here. I started collecting SUP's and sold all of my short boards. Two and a half years in, 10 boards, back to surfing 3-5 times per week, and I still feel like a grom...again. I discovered the SUP surfing community here, and unlike the packed hassle of the normal line up, outer reef SUP line ups are friendly, and non-competitive. The biggest problem I have is the guy who got me into it is now also hooked on the surfing part of it, and while he's advanced quite well, he always wants to surf where the surfers surf, and I refuse to...LOL So many good waves here that SUP has made easily accessible. When he does surf with them, he then complains about being paddled around, burned, and all the other transgressions that are against "the rules" you read on the Internet...I've dislocated my right shoulder twice playing rugby, and it gets pretty twingy after prone surfing for a while. At first, I used this excuse to people who asked why I switched, but that was just an excuse. The reality is in what my one and only childhood surfing hero, Gerry Lopez, said: "SUP is just better." At 50, I don't do ACL-killing snaps, I surf below the lip, etc. I catch double the number of waves in a session. I surf when it's knee to double. I surf when it's all chopped up. Days I wouldn't think of paddling out on a short board, I'm frothing to get out there on a SUP. I'm having way too much fun to care if others think it's cool or not. I feel like it's given my my life back, and I'm in it for the long haul.
OkiWild,
We got some waves here in Nagasaki prefecture where it is just me. My skill is no where near yours but if I get to Oki, I will try to track you down for a paddle. Same to you if you are able to get to Kyushu.
and the search continues!
some time this year, I was planning on taking a ferry with some boards, and doing a road trip up the coast, and just surf what I find. SUP makes that so possible, it's crazy. 
