How to deal with shoulder hoppers?

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20 Comments
  • Tim
    August 10, 2009

    Fin to the back of the necks gotta hurt.
    Shoulda looked back…clue in or charge the peak. Lucky he wasn’t riding a B.C. “Hatchet” fin!
    Overcrowded Aggression fuels. Nice air I must ad.
    “It’s always a good time…’till someone get’s hurt.”…Pennywise
    Do good this week, be good to one another. Thankful.
    Aloha ^^^

  • Anonymous
    August 10, 2009

    Sure the guy made a mistake by dropping in but… It’s a wave and this is supposed to be fun. Ridiculous. I hate this kind of crap.

  • Anonymous
    August 10, 2009

    The ugly side of surfing…
    shoulder-hoppers (no excuse)
    and aggro surfers. Both
    are stupid and ignorants

  • Anonymous
    August 10, 2009

    Why is everyone saying it was on purpose? Looks like he was just airin’ and dude hopped. Oh well.

  • Anonymous
    August 10, 2009

    get em’ Sterling….Thats how Florida gulf coasters roll……

  • M
    August 10, 2009

    It’s quite clear that he could have bailed (to avoid the impact), but instead, he compresses and kicks into the guy. Hopping or not, he could have literally killed that person. Not funny, not justifiable (for one of a million waves this pro probably gets traveling around the world surfing as he does)…despicable.

  • mike@waveridersgallery.net
    August 10, 2009

    I agree with M. No excuse, that could have been my son and in deed was someones. Only in surfing, what a generally fucked up sport. Airs are queer anyway.

  • Anonymous
    August 10, 2009

    Sterling is a little shit that would have been put in his place back in the day, and should be right now.

    But hey, the surf media like Surfer Mag is always on the look out for a Christian Fletcher replacement for when CF ODs.

  • Anonymous
    August 10, 2009

    What an aggro air jerk. There are plenty of waves, but is it worth serious bodily injury, or possibly breaking your own board? Get a grip and play nice with others.

  • Anonymous
    August 10, 2009

    Lesson learned from the shoulder hopper. DON’T SHOULDER HOP OR YOU MAY GET SERIOUSLY INJURED OR DIE! IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND, DON’T PADDLE OUT!

  • Anonymous
    August 10, 2009

    Right idea, wrong execution.

    Shoulda done a half kickflip with his board, so as to slam the kook with the deck side.

    Eliminates the risk of jail time from killing the kook via FCS spinal implant, adds extra difficulty points to the move for a higher score, and wins the people’s vote as a merciful meting of justice.

  • Anonymous
    August 10, 2009

    From the countless films showing pros snaking unsponsored surfers and vice/versa this is just the next step…. If Yancey Spencer is a true born again believer in Jesus Christ, hasn’t his son (Sterling) learned anything about love and forgiveness, not to mention tasted the Gospel Truth of God’s Word? His sponsor’s should deal with this hateful recklessness instead of getting stoned….

  • Surfy Surfy!
    August 11, 2009

    Well, the video has been removed but I just want to say that after viewing it a few times I believe that Sterling was so focused on hitting that section that he did not notice the hopper. I also believe that Sterling himself was probably surprised on how far he aired out over the section thus landing on that dude.
    You know, Moonlight used to work with Yancy Spencer on boards quite a bit back in the day. Yancy has since gone the full on pop-out route.

  • Anonymous
    August 12, 2009

    A little heat and they pull the clip, must be Christians. I did a backside boardslide on some guys longboard in a similar situation and in hindsight, I’ve could’ve pulled out. If I could pass any wisdom on, it would be “know when to pull out.”

  • Old Kook
    August 12, 2009

    The video can be found here:

    http://video.mpora.com/watch/HYO4Pjj2U/

    And, I’m sorry but I disagree. I’m sure Sterling saw him and went for the guy. Absolutely stupid move that could have killed if not paralyzed the guy.

  • M
    August 12, 2009

    I agree with Old Kook…it would be almost impossible not to see the guy right in your line of sight/travel.

    Funny thing…it would be much easier for a “hopper” to not see Sterling than for Sterling to not see the “hopper” (especially on a beach break). Yet, people here and elsewhere seem willing to “bash” the hopper yet forgive Sterling. Strange in my book. Weirder (or more contradictory) still…look at the comments in videos where someone like Kelly Slater is snaking EVERYBODY. I’ve even seen a video where Slater knocks a guy off his board. I’m guessing it’s the same guys (or type of guys) that defend Slater in those video comments (and there are PLENTY) that seem OK with a guy taking fins to the neck or back simply because he (probably accidentally) dropped in on somebody.

    Anyway…if Sterling intended to land that air (and not merely to slam into the guy), wouldn’t he have shifted body orientation in preparation for landing rather than hang horizontal in a position to kick at the guy???

  • Surfy Surfy!
    August 13, 2009

    Yeah, I think you guys are right. He was being aggro and tried to air over him. Maybe he is the same guy who door dinged my car when I was in the grocery store?

  • Anonymous
    August 13, 2009

    No JP, he’s not but probably will land on your son’s neck in a few year…do you realize now?

  • Anonymous
    August 13, 2009

    This happens about 10 times a day at Lowers from July to September. Sterling was stupid enough to post it on the web.

  • Roach
    August 14, 2009

    Hey Annoynymous, why be anonymous? I must be a Christian posting this? Right?
    You wuss. It’s a wave… get over it.