When many surfers hear the word SUP, they immediately think of the over 40 crowd floating along the bay inexplicably wearing a leash as they slowly cruise along over 2″ ripples. Then there are the surfers who also surf SUPs. This is a different breed of watermen and waterwomen and nothing like the bay floaters.

I recently headed up to Oceanside for the USA Surfing Championships and Saturday morning featured several heats of these specialized athletes. Not only are they good surfers, but they also have incredible upper body strength and paddle skills. Check out the torque on the paddle in the image below!

I was especially lucky with the sun. I usually eschew shooting surf events in overcast conditions, but this day presented a unique opportunity. I was able to walk way out onto the harbor wall so that I was lined up with the inside sections of the waves. This, of course, meant I was pointing into the sun which would normally reduce the surfers into silhouettes. But, because of the June Gloom, I was able to pull off this approach. I found that it put me (and the viewer) closer into the action.

And action there was! Good sized surf, strong surfers and contest jerseys combined for a perfect visual display. You can find the results of Saturday’s shoot HERE.