Standup Paddleboarding set to be classified as mental disorder by San Luis Obispo Superior Court

A legal earthquake.

A potentially groundbreaking case is, currently, making its way through San Luis Obispo’s Superior Court with a possible ruling that could change surf lineup dynamics around the state of California, if not the country. But you may recall the disturbing tale of Andrew Eric Gustafson, who lives in Morro Bay. Back in August of ’25, the 60-year-old was out for a stroke on his standup paddleboard when, suddenly, things went berserk.

Haylee Red-Van Rooyen, who was surfing with a friend, told authorities that Gustafson paddled over to where they were sitting, dropped in behind her, rammed into her, chased her while hitting her with his paddle then, eventually, forcing her head underwater.

“I thought I was going to die,” Red-Van Rooyen declared at the time. “He grabbed my hair and held me underwater, and I didn’t know if I was going to make it.”

Well, Gustafson was subsequently arrested by California State Park police and transported to San Luis Obispo County jail where he was booked “on felony charges of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, and misdemeanor charges of assault and battery.”

The case, wound its way up the chain until SLO County Superior Court Judge Catherine Swysen likely set a wild precedent that will, no doubt reverberate throughout the country, if not the world, by “approving Gustafson’s motion for mental health diversion court, a pre-plea program that orders and monitors mental health treatment for qualifying criminal defendants for up to two years, pausing their criminal proceedings during that time.”

In other words, disappearing the felonies because standup paddleboarding is a mental disorder.

Per the San Luis Obispo Tribune:

Qualifications for the program include a finding that the defendant is not a danger to the community, that their mental disorder played a significant role in the commission of the charged offense and a qualifying diagnosis from the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, with the exception of antisocial personality disorder and pedophilia.

A legal earthquake.

But do you imagine the new classification will make standup paddleboarders more aggressive in the water, knowing they can escape prosecution due mental discombobulation or do you think they will voluntarily seek treatment?

Wild days, in any case.