Author Topic: TRYING to think outside the box  (Read 43550 times)

UKRiverSurfers

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Re: TRYING to think outside the box
« Reply #105 on: May 01, 2016, 01:11:26 AM »
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You'll be complaining next that Candace and Annabel wear their bikinis too small ;)

Actually - yes!

The whole flesh fest in SUP is another thing that makes onlookers not take it as a serious paddlesport.
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UKRiverSurfers

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Re: TRYING to think outside the box
« Reply #106 on: May 01, 2016, 01:24:18 AM »
99% of folk getting into SUP around here are woman with no interest in paddling or board sports but oh yes - they want the body, so they buy the SUP.

It's a great Abbs workout after all - yawn  ::)
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Re: TRYING to think outside the box
« Reply #107 on: May 01, 2016, 01:39:00 AM »
Well, whatever we call it, there are SUPs that move nicely through the water. The Barks do, and so do the X series SICs. But there are many more. The original Fanatic Fly 12-6 has a deep V bow/nose/front end and is smooth through the water despite being 30.5" wide, and that was first sold 5 years ago or so.

It's a good point about the time it takes to get good at surfski. It's one of the reasons why few people do it. SUP however has exploded because you can start having fun right the moment you start. SUP Racers and surfers are now paddling boards that are far more technical to stand on than would have been used just a few years ago, and so it is likely that this trend will continue to the point that in a few years a beginner would have to invest several years of tough learning before they can enter a race and make it to the end on the equipment that the winners are on. And at that point SUP racing will die off, it is hasn't already.

This is of course the point that Jim Terrell made so cogently a couple of years ago. The current SUP shapers are doing a good job of keeping narrow boards fairly easy to paddle. I think it would be a great shame to lose that. So, if you want a "deep V" or "cutting bow", or "axe bow" or whatever you want to call it, that is attached to a useable SUP then there are plenty to choose from already on sale or that have been on sale over the last few years. But if you want SUP to remain as popular and accessible as it is now, then it is pretty odd to start asking why our boards don't look much like watercraft that are used by a sport that has virtually died a death because learning it is too much of a grind and sacrifice for all but 0.0001% of the population to want to engage in.

SUP can currently teach a lot of other Watersports a thing or too about how to be successful. Please let's celebrate that, and not rush to become another elitist and obscure nanominority activity. No doubt in 10 years, elite flat water racers will indeed be paddling boats that look like surfskis, on courses that are currently used for rowing, or Olympic canoe. Straight lines. Lanes. Expensive venues that only the rich can afford. And at that point SUP will have become "respectable", and accepted by the traditional paddle sports. And no-one will be doing it.

UKRiverSurfers

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Re: TRYING to think outside the box
« Reply #108 on: May 01, 2016, 01:43:04 AM »
Surf ski is not the only other paddle sport  ;D

From my POV - its other already skilled paddlers that need 'hooking' in the UK.
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UKRiverSurfers

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Re: TRYING to think outside the box
« Reply #109 on: May 01, 2016, 01:44:35 AM »
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SUP can currently teach a lot of other Watersports a thing or too about how to be successful. Please let's celebrate that

Because - Sex sells

And - all the woman want a flat tummy

???

No?

:D

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Re: TRYING to think outside the box
« Reply #110 on: May 01, 2016, 01:46:39 AM »
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You'll be complaining next that Candace and Annabel wear their bikinis too small ;)

Actually - yes!

The whole flesh fest in SUP is another thing that makes onlookers not take it as a serious paddlesport.
I'm pretty sure you'll be in a minority with that view, mate. Even with women.

Perhaps you should take a long hard look at why you are seeking validation from other paddlesports. SUP is for people who just want to go have fun without all the regulation, palaver and serious whisker-stroking of some other paddlesports. It grew out of surfing, and THANK HEAVENS still maintains some of that rebel attitude. It is what is making it so popular. One aspect of that is that people can wear whatever they like. I think that's GREAT.

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Re: TRYING to think outside the box
« Reply #111 on: May 01, 2016, 01:53:50 AM »
Here's Jim's article. Always worth reading.

http://www.supracer.com/the-death-and-rebirth-of-sup-racing/

UKRiverSurfers

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Re: TRYING to think outside the box
« Reply #112 on: May 01, 2016, 02:01:02 AM »
I'm not seeking validation at all - because I am other paddle sports.

I just know that there's a huge market in the UK and it's being totally missed by all the major brands.

And by me also - I just spent a small fortune on a craft from the other side of the planet. There's plenty of 'me' out there who would drool if they saw a good quality super light, flat water, hollow speed needle SUP but they are not being targeted - the makers don't even know they exist.

I see it from all side because I'm from all sides.

All the paddlers I know that don't SUP just see it as a beach toy. They are serious paddlers who do 40 mile open water crossings on £5000 craft. To them stand up is nothing more than a joke.

On the other hand - most surf background guys look at sit down paddlers as if they are a lower life form, a no legged being who can't stand up  :)
« Last Edit: May 01, 2016, 02:07:48 AM by UKRiverSurfers »
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Re: TRYING to think outside the box
« Reply #113 on: May 01, 2016, 02:18:45 AM »
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Our sport has deep roots in the surf culture, which is considered to be cool in pretty much all parts of the world. That’s an association I don’t think we can afford to lose, but we may be doing just that if board designs continue the way they’re going.

Surfing is surfing.

Paddling is paddling

Paddlesurf is paddle surf...

Three different disciplines.

All have a connection and all are linked spiritually but in marketing terms, the spectrum is sooooooooo broad, there's a huge range of folk out there but it's only really being aimed at the first bracket.

You said yourself, you want to 'surf' you Downwinder not pilot it?

Perhaps just go and 'surf' :)
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Re: TRYING to think outside the box
« Reply #114 on: May 01, 2016, 02:29:42 AM »
Please be careful not to inadvertently stoke hate between different watersports.

The moaning about the perceived shortcomings of SUP by people from other backgrounds who apparently want the sport to be more like some other sport is just like these inventors who keep coming up with designs for SUP that remove the need to paddle, or stand up. It is missing the point. What is attracting people to SUP is that it is what it is, not that it could be something else.

No doubt, in time the "trainspotters" will take over SUP. They will organise leagues, approved courses, a mass of training and certificates that you have to acquire before you are allowed to use a 12-6 board, or a 14 or whatever. There will be complex liability insurance schemes, and approved clothing that will make you look either like a sexless noddy gimp or else a MAMIL road cyclist. Children will be forced in school to go in muddy cold water and have to stand listening there to a boring weirdy-beardy instructor for 30 minutes before they are even allowed to touch a paddle. Then they will spend 5 hours learning how to fall off and climb back on a board, and have to then pass an exam and get a certificate all before they are allowed to actually try to paddle anywhere. The fun and spontaneity will be sucked out of the sport in an attempt for "respectability", and only other trainspotters will bother to do it.

F£&k that! Give me the chaotic amateurish have-a-go, let's see if this is fun attitude that SUP currently has any day. You can keep your rules and regulations and weird unflattering clothing. And your respectability. The price is too high. We'll just go have fun, with no-one to tell us what we should be doing, or can't do.

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Re: TRYING to think outside the box
« Reply #115 on: May 01, 2016, 02:34:04 AM »
In the UK - the hates already there.... If I show up at a group paddle in my SUP others think they're gonna have to hold my hand and guide me. Even though they are beginners.

"He's on a SUP, he's just playing with paddling"

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Re: TRYING to think outside the box
« Reply #116 on: May 01, 2016, 02:46:43 AM »
Paul - lets insite hatred???

You're a classic  ;D

I suppose you'd rather see a SUP equivalent of the Lyme Bay Tragedy first??

It was that incident that kicked off all the rules and regs regarding instruction.

99% of paddlers today can't even remember what happened. 

If rules stop 'Cowboys' killing children at sea - that's a good thing? No?

Fact is - there are no rules at sea with regards to personal watercraft. Some inshore bylaws yes, but actual law saying a beginner can't paddle a kayak out to see do not exist. A beginner taking a group out is against the law in sit down paddling but not in stand up...

Let's have a go - let's kill a group?
« Last Edit: May 01, 2016, 02:51:39 AM by UKRiverSurfers »
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Re: TRYING to think outside the box
« Reply #117 on: May 01, 2016, 02:48:29 AM »
You worry to much about what others think. Just do what you enjoy doing. If other people want to think they are superior then that's fine, its nice to make them feel good about themselves. If SUPers worried about the approval of other water users it would never have started. The entire sport is a triumph for fun over frowns.

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Re: TRYING to think outside the box
« Reply #118 on: May 01, 2016, 02:52:51 AM »
It's not a sport - sports are simplistic ways to beat another person.

Paddling is a whole way of life.
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Re: TRYING to think outside the box
« Reply #119 on: May 01, 2016, 02:55:11 AM »
I'm not actually worried - just pointing out that to think outside the box, to grow into bigger discipline, it's gonna have to do what JT is scared of.

He is not a surfer so he calls it 'cool' and still think it is.

I am a surfer since 1991 and it's not colts me... Deeply satisfying bit looking 'cool'??? That's for teens :)
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