1st Annual Stand Up Paddle and Surf Event in San Diego 9/22

[iwaterman]

Aloha Friends,
 
get ready for the 1st Annual International Waterman Summertime Stand Up Paddle and Surf Event on Saturday September 22nd.  With a goal of uniting Southern California Paddlers to facilitate healthy growth of our sport,  we'll be keeping this a low-key, fun-for-all event.
 
Detailed event info can be found at:
http://www.sdwaterman.com/events/SummertimeContest.htm
 
The event will consist of a paddle to Blacks Beach from La Jolla Shores and back (about 4 miles), with the additional requirement that each participant catch 10 waves and give 10 'Alohas' to someone not in the event before exiting the water.  Participants will be timed - the winner being the first one in.
 
There will be an awards ceremony and BBQ in the La Jolla Shores Park (north end) immediately following, with prizes from sponsors including C4 Waterman, Bob's Mission Surf Shop, Legends Surf, Las Olas Restaurant and a more.
 
The BBQ is BYO food, drinks, fire and accessories.
 
Please come and join us for some great fun in the sun and to spread the aloha spirit so common to all of you that I know.
 
Aloha!
 
Mike

[MichaelF]

Great, I'm on for this event.  Should be able to bring a few others not on this board to the event.

[iwaterman]

Awesome!  please shoot me an email with your contact info and the t-shirt size of you and your guests to:

mike@sdwaterman.com

Aloha, and see you there!

Mike

[MichaelF]

Hey there wasn't a lot of feedback on this post and I thought that it was worthy to ping again into the forum. 

Mike,  what i love about what you have done is you are changing the format.  Sup does not have to be about the standard surfing contest or even the distance paddle races as we know them.   
"The event will consist of a paddle to Blacks Beach from La Jolla Shores and back (about 4 miles), with the additional requirement that each participant catch 10 waves and give 10 'Alohas' to someone not in the event before exiting the water.  Participants will be timed - the winner being the first one in."

Stand up Paddle is completely new and the formats that we create should be thought of from a completely different angle.  For instance the traditional paddle boarders have the built the format for the distance races.  This has suited their sport perfectly as wave riding is not the easiest with their boards except on the best ocean swells.  SUP has adapted to the distance races and clearly this is another winner but let's not stop here.

What Mike is trying to do is create something new that belongs to this sport and a massive topic because anything can be created at this time.  Do we want contest surfing to become the norm or do we want the waterman to emerge?

I come from a rowing background and spent 20 years of my life rowing around the world.  I love rowing but I really really hate going backwards.   Rowing races are normally 2000 meters long.  If you are spectator you are able to see only the last 300 yards.... Amazing sport to be in the shell and engaged in the race but a fairly lousy fan experience.  I get distance SUP races and want to partake but we all should put together our collective brain trust to do what Mike has and change the rules. 

Who wrote the rules on football?  well that came from rugby and was adapted so much that the games are extremely different today.  Who adapted cricket into baseball?  What was it like to put that basket on the wall and throw a ball into it?  Who said that a basketball team consisted of 5 members on each side? 

Think of all the creativity & talent on this board, just 80 members right now - progressive shapers, amazing artists, watermen/women, business leaders, soul surfers or rowers like myself.   Hey, I have never met one person from this board in person and I know if we collected together we would be amazed at our collective talents.  Why?  because there is always one moment in any collective social movement (standupzone & SUP) when the members are truly extraordinary before the masses arrive.   This may not be in one year or two years but right now we have authenticity than may never be replicated at another time.  There is a collective brain power that we must tapped into.  Do we inherit the legacy of surfing/paddleboarding or create our own? 

Here are my thoughts:

The most striking thing about SUP is that people love to watch from the shore.  It may be the new thing but it is also like walking on water.  However there is nothing on water that will have the visual impact that SUP with have on spectators.

I would love to see a race out 100 yards out-  across 100-  back in and maybe a loop again...  The amazing thing is that spectators could watch it and see who was doing what...  They could see the moves, the acceleration in the turns, the challenge of reading the waves,  with wave catchers passing rushing paddlers on the way inside.  There would certainly be some chaos but it would be fun.  Instead of having distance paddlers coming in 10 to twenty minutes ahead of each other, like the death march, we could have tight races and could even throw in some style points for waves like Mike is doing in La Jolla.

Think about how this would look if we had 30 Sup's on the course and how much more fun it would be for spectators.  Then think about 30 paddle boarders, 30 swimmers, 30 kayakers or 30 canoes doing the same thing, close but not really.  Does anyone really like watching the IRONMAN swim portion....?   Hell no...   YOU CAN'T SEE SHIT !  Imagine the Hawaiian iron man without swimming but with SUP and I can guarantee that it would be a hell of a lot more interesting.

I have even thought about getting an eight man rowing shell http://www.hudsonboatworks.com/ (65 feet long - 24 inches wide - 200 pounds - completely round bottom) putting mini outriggers and getting 8 Supers to see how fast we could get this thing going.  I am sure we would smoke the traditional outriggers on flat water and be one hell of a sight.  I would put money on this being an Olympic sport before surfing.

There is nothing on the water that will have the visual impact that SUP will have on spectators.  Let the people see the watermen and make it fun.   I get that I did really tie in surfing into some of my race theories but again remember I am a rower   I will leave the surfing stuff up to you guys.

Thanks Mike for putting together something different and taking a risk.  I will be there and can't wait.

[Chan]

I could see your idea being a great sub category in a wave contest; a Wave Slalom.  To add some specifics to your concept, how about a beach start via horn, two bouys only: one positioned just outside the peak, one inside, and far over in the channel.  The race would require paddlers to battle out through the break (or go around, using channels), maneuver to the bouy just outside the peak, and then pick up a wave (or just paddle like mad) to bring them to the inside mark. They would need to repeat, say 3-5 laps, and then dash for shore.  This would be an excellent test of endurance and would also reward wave knowledge and surf skills (the paddler who is able to use the wave to get him to the inside and the channel with the least paddling willl have a huge advantage). 

This would be an awesome spectator event, and would involve a good chunk of luck as well.

I would love to compete in such an event!

[MichaelF]

You have much better knowledge.  I love it "Wave Slalom". 

[iwaterman]

Wow! Mahalos for all the nice comments!  Run with it!

Aloha.

[Rand]

Well, for ocean oriented wave style events, I think Chan's idea would be a great addition.  For lake and flatwater races, alternate event suggestions would be surfer-polo (no mallets required), and for chuckles, American board gladiator (preferably on softops). 

[Allan Cheateaux]

Bump...


If you would like to try/compete on a shorter board, drop me a line and I'll see what I can bring down there.

[climbbikesurf]

Mike - I'll be there.  It sounds like a fun event.

[MichaelF]

Mike,

How long do you think that it will take to complete the 4 mile round trip? 

I went Cardiff Reef today to North of Swamis, surfing and messing around.  I wasn't hitting it hard but I was trying to do a little distance with surfing mixed in.  It was around 1:45 round trip in windy weather weather on a surfing stand up that didnt like to go straight.

I measured out the on the road the trip and it was likely 1.7 miles straight.  Just trying to get your thoughts on the time estimates for sat. 

[paddlesurf.net]

Hey Mike- The IB contingent is getting fired up for the paddle- I'm going to be bringing up a couple of cool boards! See you there- we'll be there early!