After huge swells cancelled surfing competitions at the QLD State SUP titles, the event was postponed while the weather settled down. 

In what was quite a controversial decision at the time, event organisers decided that the 6-9 foot swell was too big even for the experienced surfers. Instead postponing the event until last weekend, where the conditions were far smaller, but still great for stand up paddle surfing. All the big guns from QLD were there, like Jackson Close, Keahi De Aboitiz and Justin Holland (who came first, second and third respectfully), plus a stack of other talented riders who pushed themselves to their limits in the changing conditions.

Photographer Rob Pirie was there, and seemed pretty stoked on the day:
"The mens was such a battle with all the talent in the field , it was a long day with heats, quarters, semis then the final. Dogman was on the mic all day just cracking up the crowd, classic calling at it's best. The girls final was so good to watch they just charged it!

Another professionally run event by surfing Queensland , the scoring was different to other contest with scores going to more big moves than length of ride , so dish panning was thick and fast along with big rail turns and bucket chucking."

Despite the great show from surfers, crowds were low, with one spectator reporting:
"I would like to know where all the spectators were. one longboarder and a confused short/long/sup boarder were there...but nobody else.I thought more sup crew would be out checking all that went down. oh well i guess its just easier talking about it on seabreeze"

If you did miss it (and it sounds like you did), there's a couple of great photos kicking around on the Seabreeze.com.au forums and Facebook.

Check them out, and stay tuned for how the QLD team does against the NSW stand up paddlers in the nationals later in the year...

#News #StandUpPaddle #Surfing