Stand Up World Tour

[lamontweaver]

An article on the launch of the SUP World Tour in Transworld Surf.

http://surf.transworld.net/2009/06/16/sup-world-tour-announced/#comment-16536

Creation of the A.S.U.P.P. (Association of Stand Up Paddle Professionals) and 2009 Stand Up world Tour

http://watermanleague.com/

[diesel]

I think this is awesome for the sport.  I hope they get big sponsors so they can show the contest on webcast like the ASP events. 
This will give an opportunity for these guys to make some good money for all the work and risk they put in surfing these heavy breaks. 
I think you will see some sick surfing, especially at Chopes. 
I am curious about judging of rides because I have some opinions about what looks good in SUP.

Things that should be scored high:
-Huge 180 degree plus roundhouse cutbacks with full rebounds like shortboarding.  Not many guys are doing these yet.
-Tuberiding- pretty straightforward, deeper and bigger the better
-Vertical attacks on the  wave face, like full bottom turn and coming up at the lip at 12 o clock
-Huge floaters
-Long noserides mixed in with progressive surfing
-Long and fading bottom turns then pull up right into the pocket

Things that should not be scored high:
-My pet peeve is paddling on the wave, why do we need to paddle on the wave when our board is so big anyway?  We should be generating speed thru our surfing like a regular surfer.
-Short frontside cutbacks over and over where you dig the paddle in.  This maneuver is cool sometimes but guys really need to draw their turns out.  Watch Bonga surf longboard.  He doesn't do those short cutbacks.  Just an opinion that others might not agree with.

Please chime in with opinions on this because this is just my two cents from watching surf contests for many years.  I think if the surfing is super progressive then the sport will definitely get the respect it deserves.  Regular surfers generally only see beginner SUPers and don't realize what can be done on SUP.  Exciting stuff to say the least and will give average guys some really good footage to help with thier surfing.

[boardshorts]

yep, looks like the guys on the transworld site are really excited about it too.

Wow, we look like PhD's compared to those guys.

[Paddle-Plappe]

Things that should be scored high:
-Huge 180 degree plus roundhouse cutbacks with full rebounds like shortboarding.  Not many guys are doing these yet.
-Tuberiding- pretty straightforward, deeper and bigger the better
-Vertical attacks on the  wave face, like full bottom turn and coming up at the lip at 12 o clock
-Huge floaters
-Long noserides mixed in with progressive surfing
-Long and fading bottom turns then pull up right into the pocket

Things that should not be scored high:
-My pet peeve is paddling on the wave, why do we need to paddle on the wave when our board is so big anyway?  We should be generating speed thru our surfing like a regular surfer.
-Short frontside cutbacks over and over where you dig the paddle in.  This maneuver is cool sometimes but guys really need to draw their turns out.  Watch Bonga surf longboard.  He doesn't do those short cutbacks.  Just an opinion that others might not agree with.

I do agree with that.
The world sup tour seems to be a "world big wave sup tour". 

[bledesma]

I agree Diesel. A lot of guys only see the average SUP riders and dont realize the potential of the sport. A pro tour in real waves will give more the sport more credibility. Yes paddling on the whole wave drives me nuts!! Use your rails and board speed people!

[lamontweaver]

Great teaser video on the Stand Uo World Tour 2009 is now on the Stand Up Zone home page.

[Blane Chambers]

These are all good points.     Nothing is harder to watch than a stand up surfer dipping his or her paddle every turn when they are killing their power and glide by being more focused on touching the water with their paddle.   Barf.        Good surfing is a blend of using the paddle when it = a heavy leverage turn on rail.  

[diesel]

Another curious thing I saw on the site about the tour is that the five commitee members are the competitors as well.  Wouldn't this be a conflict of interest?  I don't think you could have it like that on the ASP.  I think they will have to remedy or it might be a problem.  Especially when it comes down to judging and style.  Maybe they could have the commitee members be guys from the different SUP board manufacturers like C4, PSH, Naish, etc.  If there is one guy from each company then it should be balanced out without any advantages too certain guys on tour.  Maybe the committee guys could get on there by a set dollar amount donation to the organization that can help with prizemoney and paying for judges.  They can automatically get adverising on the standuptour website and at the contests.  Just some ideas.  This is a minor bump in the road to overcome for these guys.  I really am excited to see this come to fruition and hope that it is super successful for the benefit of everyone.

[watermanleague]

Another curious thing I saw on the site about the tour is that the five commitee members are the competitors as well.  Wouldn't this be a conflict of interest?  I don't think you could have it like that on the ASP.  I think they will have to remedy or it might be a problem.  Especially when it comes down to judging and style.  Maybe they could have the commitee members be guys from the different SUP board manufacturers like C4, PSH, Naish, etc.  If there is one guy from each company then it should be balanced out without any advantages too certain guys on tour.  Maybe the committee guys could get on there by a set dollar amount donation to the organization that can help with prizemoney and paying for judges.  They can automatically get adverising on the standuptour website and at the contests.  Just some ideas.  This is a minor bump in the road to overcome for these guys.  I really am excited to see this come to fruition and hope that it is super successful for the benefit of everyone.

Thanks for all your comments and feedback. The Committee is made up of riders for a reason - they are there to represent the riders. From our experience having industry members on a Committee that decides on matters that affect the riders directly creates problems, and there is more often than not, a conflict of interests. By having the riders vote on important matters and having the committee members represent them in the making of important decisions such as judging, event format etc., makes for a smoother and more natural progression of events. If it wasn't a committee made up of riders, it would not really be an association of stand up paddle professionals. At the end of each year, the members will be voted on by the riders to make sure that it remains fresh and in tune with what is going on and what is required. We will post more on judging and format soon - thanks again for all your comments and keep them coming

[Blane Chambers]

IMO, I rather see the surfers themselves dictate the rules.       I think the surfers on that list have a variety of styles and are diverse enough to come up with fair options for this thing.     When companies get involved politics and problems always follow.     In the end, I like surfers who are actually doing it making rules, and setting standards of performance.     Some of the companies out there are run by people who can't surf stand up for sh*t!

[NCBA]

THIS SPORT IS EXPLODING! Although, surf the East Coast of US and paddling on a wave is mandatory for a wave longer than 8 seconds.

[Bald Brother]

GREAT promo!

[diesel]

IMO, I rather see the surfers themselves dictate the rules.       I think the surfers on that list have a variety of styles and are diverse enough to come up with fair options for this thing.     When companies get involved politics and problems always follow.     In the end, I like surfers who are actually doing it making rules, and setting standards of performance.     Some of the companies out there are run by people who can't surf stand up for sh*t!

Makes sense Blane.  I wouldn't want companies making decisions about judging if they can't even SUP well.  The surfers should be able to come to a consensus over what is good SUP surfing and that is how it can be judged.  Anways at Chopes, it is all about tube time.  No tube time, no money.  That contest will not let you mess around.  I can't wait to see that contest go off.  We will see some definite hand dragging going on or some dragging across the reef. 

[Chan]

We will see some definite hand dragging going on or some dragging across the reef. 

How would you score this barrel?   Should make anyone's top 10 list.

[Blane Chambers]

When the barrels open up like that, there is now plenty room for your paddle.     Don't need to get all tight and cramped up.      The hand drag thing is for smaller tubes or almond shaped ones where the paddle gets ripped from your hands.    

Honestly, in a contest situation with waves that good and all the boys charging, that wave in the pic wouldn't score well.       That is an awesome picture for sure but  guys are already getting WAY deeper than that.       You should see the goofy foot guys.    They are getting so shacked!    When it's that good in a contest situation, guys will be getting deeeeeeep to the point their not making some of the waves.          I don't think Laird is into contests at all.     If he were, with everyone pushing each other deeper, he'd be back 20' from where he is in that pic.