Standup Paddle Profile, Sean Poynter

Photos by Manny Vargas and Tom English.

SAN DIEGO, California – Sean Poynter is a standup paddle surfer, who has literally landed on the sport after having experienced quite a few transitions in life, his surfboard being only one of them. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the prospect of becoming anything remotely related to a committed surfer was dim, to say the least. But dimness didn’t last long. His father, while Poynter was still at a very young age, moved to Amelia Island, Florida for a new job.

And it didn’t take long for the lad to find his way to the ocean. At first, body surfing and boogie boarding had him accustomed with beach and surf. But, in March of 1998, much like the throngs of surfers before him, he picked up a surfboard and shortly after ordered his first custom shortboard. Now unlike most of the surf world, he eventually became an exceptional sponsored rider, later traveling to Hawaii and other places to compete and showcase his talent.

1. The Culprit

Now forward eleven years from the day he began surfing and picture Poynter somewhere on a Floridian beach, dreading the long doldrums of summer flat spells. Here again, much like droves of surfers all over the world, the ocean-bound athlete wanted to enjoy the water, but conditions were not there for him to use his shortboard. But voilà! Someone had a standup paddle board. "My friend was like 'let's go surfing. I'll take you out on a standup,' recalled Poynter. “Florida in the summertime is so small, there is never any surf. That was just a way of getting in the water and catching a wave if you could. I ended up catching little, little waves on it and [after that day, kept] doing it for a little bit.”

Now that ‘little bit’ didn’t stop there. The Cincinnatian turned-into Floridian surfer was about to experience yet another earth (or should I say ‘water’?) shattering change. Two months after his first hands-on sup session, he headed out west, to California, and (lo and behold!), as if thrust into the gladiators’ pit at the heart of the Coliseum, Poynter got to witness the Battle of the Paddle in Dana Point, California, by many dubbed the world championship of standup paddle racing, where athletes from all over the globe converge for both fun and competition, aiming to claim the prestige and purse that come with the top finish. Poynter remembers the shock. “Then a couple of months later – that's when I moved west from FL, just two weeks prior to the BOP –  and that's where I got to see the full effect of standup paddling. Crazy! People bleeding! People were seriously wiping out. I could just see the energy and it was super exciting."

2. Equipment & Turns

Since then, the once-competitive shortboarder has been one of the most committed standup paddle surfers around, competing in several events, including a Puerto Escondido Big Wave Contest, where he surprisingly placed second, coming ahead of several highly-experienced big wave riders. “In terms of just sup surfing itself, label me as just that. Big waves, small waves, whatever. I'm a surfer who happens to be doing it on standup now,” he says.

His default riding style still incorporates much of the performance driven turns familiar to shortboarders, but now heavily utilizing the leverage of the paddle. As he puts it: “I have a 6'6", which is somewhere on the smaller side. I like to take it out because I have more control on it. And it's really fun to put it on the rail and pivot it on the paddle. It's just fun. It's just fun!” Poynter exclaims. “It's as simple as that. It's kind of surfing the whole time. You're using your talent the whole time,” not like surfing where you use your talent only when riding the wave. “I think it's that whole sensation of standing up on the water and being tested the whole time. It’s just fun.”

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