The wave hogs were out in force!

Sometime ago, I went for a surf (without Michelle as she was still too ill and let me know how unhappy she was about that - her parting shot being - "I hope you drown!") and it was pretty busy as there was only really one channel working.

Anyway, the crowded conditions were made even more frustrating due to the wave hogs and one in particular!
He has to have every wave and he gets them too as he rides a longboard giving him some advantage. Instead of getting his wave and then allowing others onto the peak he will paddle straight back to the spot. Incidentally, he is perfectly capable of riding a short board but clearly chooses not to for obvious reasons. I ride a longboard too when conditions are appropriate although I prefer a shortboard, but I am aware of the advantage a longboard provides and I make sure I give others a shot at the waves also.

Now his daughter has also recently taken up surfing and she is starting to pick up some of her father's ways which is not a good thing - particularly good at sitting on the inside in the way of the take off point for surfers on shorter boards particularly frustrating for my mate Roland who had the pleasure of surfing with these greedy bastards for the first time!

Another guy, who is a real miseryguts and also a renowned wave hog (who also rides a longboard) had just left the water as I got there so it could have been worse. He was the guy that ran over my previous poodle, Simba, at the same beach a couple of years a go. Poor bastard he must feel terrible about that. I hope so!

An acquaintance of mine and also a mate of the wave hog first mentioned rides a slightly shorter board and he continually snakes you!

So all in all it was a frustrating session but I think next time we are all out (Roland, Michelle and I) we will finally be doing something about it.
Roland is just going to sit inside Number 1 wave hog on his small board for the whole session, Michelle and I will use longboards to get around Number 4 everytime he goes for a wave and give Number 2 a bit of a watching over.
Then maybe they will get the message and learn to share! I think it is imperative to do so especially as it is getting busier out there nowadays.

Anybody out there got some effective ideas to deal with wave hogs? Let me know if you do?