SUP Surfing Sandbridge: Winter Wrap-up

S&A owner Rob Lindauer digging in on his Walden Mini Mega CD. Photo: Calhoun.

Words by John Streit. Photos by Calhoun & Thomas

The surfing media world made no secrets about the amazingly consistant runs of swell the East Coast received this winter. Some of the evidence can be found on this very website in features like “#Feb27Swell: A Social Media Perspective,” “Happy Hump Day” and “Saturn Swell.” Each of these significant swell events had surfers pulling out their go-to shred sticks as well as their step-up boards to handle the juice.

For Surf & Adventure Co. owner Rob Lindauer, who is also a Walden Surfboards team rider, his go-to sled for this landmark winter was his 8’6 Walden Mini Mega CD standup paddleboard. With cameras lining the beach on these memorable days, Rob was captured pushing the limits of what’s possible in the surf on a SUP: barrels, tail blows, huge wraps and off-the-tops.

Alongside Rob’s natural talent and athletic ability, his choice of equipment also opened the door for these progressive maneuvers. Modeled after the “pod” or “hybrid” shortboards that function so well with their shorter-wider-thicker dimensions, the Mini Mega CD features a full nose and wide area through the “sweet spot” of the board which dives down to a single wing rounded pin tail. The shape paired up with Futures “Controller” quad fins completed the formula for Rob to push his SUP into solid, overhead surf with style and power.

Sandbridge’s sandbars and the Atlantic’s swell provided the canvas for Rob to draw some innovative lines.