Legend stands up to the boarding critics

They get ridiculed, abused and hassled out of the water but Kiwi surfing legend Daniel Kereopa has a blunt message for the "anti" brigade - stand up paddleboarding is here to stay.

Invented by some of the old-time Waikiki beach boys as a means of photographing Hollywood stars while out having surf lessons without getting their cameras wet, stand up paddleboarding was brought back into vogue by surfer Laird Hamilton and is reportedly now a fast-growing sport in the world.

Kereopa has been at the forefront of stand up paddleboarding's emergence on New Zealand's coastline but said intolerance from within the surfing community to the new form of wave riding continues to anger him.

"The acceptance levels for SUP riders, although improving, bums me out in New Zealand sometimes, and I used to think it was just the shallow-minded surf community but now I'm thinking it's New Zealand people in general too," the 34-year-old said during the Hyundai longboard series at Mt Maunganui at the weekend. Stand up paddleboarding has been part of the national series for the past three years.

Although a lot of the hassle directed at paddleboarders is territorial, Kereopa said it was ingrained in Kiwi surfing culture to always want to pick on someone or something.

"It's been bodyboarders or longboarders in the past and now it's the guys on stand up; another person in the water to look at and judge.

"I understand what it's like being a surfer and how it is not to catch waves - stand up guys see the waves a lot easier - but it is a shame people in the surf community don't give each other respect for the individual.

"There's been a strange feeling in the whole community whereas in Hawaii, where I first saw stand up, every kind of board riding is embraced as a water activity. Here people put walls up to new things when the ocean should be shared and enjoyed."

Kereopa was bumped back to third at Tay St at the weekend in the SUP division, with Christchurch's Shane Baxter winning to square the series ledger with Kereopa at two wins each.

Baxter, the 2010 series champion who won the national title at Piha last month, said the abuse he got when he started stand up paddleboarding almost a decade ago in Dunedin only fired his determination.

"I almost got hassled out of the water back then ... while riding my old clubbie board ... but slowly acceptance levels are starting to change with guys like DK (Kereopa) out there promoting the sport," Baxter said.

"As more people see what the sport is about they get educated."

But paddleboarders could also do more by learning early how to control their boards and the etiquette of catching waves to lessen the aggro.

"Get out on the flat water, learn the craft and how to paddle properly and do the drills you need to do because the last thing SUP needs is people getting hurt," Baxter said.

"Also be mindful of who is in the water around you. Don't paddle inside and catch every wave because that carry-on gives SUP a bad name ..."

Kereopa first saw stand up paddleboarding while competing on the WQS series in Hawaii and came back to New Zealand, modifying an old windersurfer and splicing a handle on a discarded waka ama paddle.

"People would point and laugh at me paddling around [Raglan's] Manu Bay because they had no clue what I was doing, yet I saw what was possible because I'd seen it done."

The sport had taken off in the last three years, with paddling schools popping up around New Zealand and greater access to gear imported from overseas.

SUP was the best crosstraining Kereopa had done but it was the drive to be involved in something new that fuelled his involvement.

"I'd reached a level with shortboard surfing where I'd been among the best for so long yet still had that competitive spirit, so I jumped into longboarding and started winning that.

"Then [competitive] stand up paddleboarding came along ... and I grabbed it."

A renowned big wave surfer, Kereopa is itching to get the SUP into some big barrels.

"But the time has to be right because paddleboards are way harder to manouevre and you could easily get yourself into a bad position with the wrong choice."