Douglas Booth in action at St Clair Beach. Photo by Mark
Stevenson.
Hundreds of people surf the breaks off St Clair Beach
- but not many do it like Douglas Booth. Alistair McMurran
profiles the stand-up paddle boarder.
Douglas Booth has the magic touch. He can walk on water.
Well, it looks like that to those who travel along the shore
by St Clair Beach.
Booth (53), the dean of the University of Otago School of
Physical Education, is the only regular stand-up paddle board
surfer in Dunedin.
"I started riding a stand-up paddle board late in 2007 in
Dunedin as a way to survive the frustration of small summer
swells," Booth said.
"Once the surf gets over 3m, I discard the paddle board and
return to a short board. One exception is Karitane where I
ride the paddle board when the bar is bigger because of the
extraordinary length of wave which can extend to 300m."
Stand-up paddle board surfing is an emerging global sport
with an Hawaiian heritage. In the early 1960s the "beach boys
of Waikiki" would stand on their long boards and paddle out
with outrigger paddles to take pictures of tourists learning
to surf.
Booth uses his regular paddle boarding around Dunedin waters
as a strong core muscle workout and also swims at the St
Clair Salt Water Pool in the summer months.
"The great thing about a stand-up paddle board is the ability
to ride a swell or wave for long distances relative to both
short and long boards," Booth said.
Booth grew up in Melbourne and started surfing at Torquay, on
the west coast of Victoria, at the age of 11.
His favourite surfing spot in the world is Raglan.
"It produces machine-quality waves," he said. "I lived in
Hamilton for four years and surfed Raglan on a regular
basis."
Booth has been surfing for 41 years and no longer has the
devil-may-care attitude of a teenage surfer.
"At this stage in my surfing life my decisions are highly
calculated and I usually avoid situations that will
over-extend me," he said.
"Of course, the unpredictable can arise, such as being caught
by a wave breaking in shallow water. Even a small wave
breaking in 12cm of water doesn't leave a surfer many places
to escape.
"Colliding with your own board is the most frequent hazard
faced by any surfer. It it is a special winter hazard in
Dunedin because the cold water can initially mask the extent
of an injury."
Booth understands the nuances of the sport and has turned
surfing into an academic subject.
"Surfing produces a multitude of affects which are hard to
describe and perhaps even beyond language," he said.
"But the effects of a steep take-off, and sliding and gliding
along a wall of moving water, are special sensations that
become addictive."
Booth understands the dangers of extreme surfing from
practical experience. He has received the occasional stitch
from colliding with his board.
"A wall of white water caught me unawares at South Curl in
Sydney and dragged me along an elevated shore platform," he
said.
On another occasion a raging current swept him over 800m
along the coast at Raglan.
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