Future of SUP Competition

[photofr]

I started on a stand up paddle board in July of this year… so while I am still pretty new at this, I absolutely love the sport.
Taking aim at some SUP competition for 2015, I need some feedback on the racing scene.

Where do you see SUP competition going in the USA ?
Flat water (dead flat) ?
Pure Downwind ?
Beach Races ?
All rounder (up wind, downwind, side wind) ?
Long distance mixed (like 25km) ?
Short distance mixed (like 9km) ?
What am I missing ?

I figured it would make sense to have couple of boards and obviously training for each type. Just trying to (perhaps) narrow down my training a little. Currently paddling about 90-140km a week, in all sort of conditions.

Feedback most welcomed !!!

[EasternShorePaddler]

I know that if you want to race flat water you need a FLAT board with no rocker and the proper volume for your weight. I learned this the hard way. I have a 14' M&M board, I thought it was fast. Competed in a flat water race and was destroyed by people with flat boards. Come to find out, im too heavy for the M&M and it has a fair bit of rocker for BOP style racing. A flat board is hell to surf and steer when coming back through the waves.  If you want to compete in Over the beach races or down wind race you have to have some rocker, not much but some,  in order to get into the waves and swells. Anyway, Im pretty new as well and still saving up for a flat board to race with. Im looking at the Black Box board or a custom Infinity, which everyone in Maryland seems to favor.

[JimK]

Eastern,
Check you the Fanatic Falcon Flatwater they seem to be winning alot in FLATWATER in open water conditions the Falcon seems to be more than adequate (2nd in the recent BOP isn't bad)
prices on these for Zoners are morereasonable than you might think
JimK
www.extremewindsurfing.com

[photofr]

Thanks for the replies.
I am just trying to understand where COMPETITION is going.

BOP Comps
Do you feel that BOP racing will take a new dimension and require SUP Racers to compete in bigger waves ?

DISTANCE Comps
Do you feel that distances are getting shorter or longer ?

[pdxmike]

Seems like your guess will be as good as anybody's.  My guess is more of everything, but no particular direction towards longer or shorter.  So, more variety--still lots of races in the 10-15k range, but more added to that that are longer, as the number of racers grow that will want that challenge, but also more short racers (5k or so) to attract more novices.  I could see some very short sprint races being added to other races also. 

The types of races will vary greatly depending on the region.  Some areas have no downwind or surf, so are 100% flat water, while others are the opposite. 

I could also see some more extreme races that really are geared towards elite racers, with conditions (downwind, surf, or long-distance flatwater) that the average racer might find too challenging, but if that happens it may be over the next several years. 

Off the subject of your question, I hope there isn't any rush towards standardization.  I'd hate to see everything turning into 10k races around buoys. 

[SaMoSUP]

Don't forget river and white water races

[XLR8]

I'll give you my take on the Great Lakes scene....

In 2010 we saw some of the first organized SUP races occur.  Low numbers, few raceboards, lot's of stoke.

In 2011 the WPA's model made it to the Midwest and we had a defined region and a points series that offered 7 or 8 races throughout the Midwest.  Folks were on raceboards now and getting serious.  I participated in 6 of them, which had me accumulating enough mileage to have driven across the country and back.  I won the points series, but i don't think I was the fastest regional paddler.  I was the one who made the commitment to drive around.  I went to Hennesey's in CA.  It was awesome.  The Midwest events had a core group of 10-12 guys and a few women.  Events had lot's of schwag and it felt like everyone was celebrating the sport.

2012 was more of the same.  With more events (nearly double) in the series the core group of travelling paddlers also grew and we saw a few more women involved.  Events were awesome, with cool podiums, lots of schwag, big energy, great food, sometimes bands.  Lot's of stoke.  I won the points series again, but I still don't think I was the fastest regional paddler.  Willingness to drive, consistency between races and staying healthy and injury-free were important items.  At the end of this summer I began thinking about the commitment it took to do the regional race series.  My travel time and money spent was cutting into time and money to contribute to the surf seasons.  I began wondering how long I would keep up the commitment to racing.

2013 marked a turn in the quality of events, most racers would say.  I think shops and company reps began wondering if the shwag donations and time in setting up races was worth it.  There was definitely a growing interest in the sport and participation numbers were increasing.  I felt less committed to the series and, while the core race group was still a lot of fun to be with, I participated with a little less luster.  I saw many of my racing friends showing the same trend.

2014 was still fun, now a large number of events out there.  I now am prioritizing surf and downwinders over planning for racing.  I wanted to be paddling in conditions and many races were pretty cookie cutter flatwater affairs to interest me.  Still, for fitness, to remain in the scene and to enjoy the friends I had made I continued participating in most events.  I started bailing on fitness workouts more often in order to surf and downwind, which I had really been doing all along, it just began to feel like those pleasure experiences were worth more than the racing experiences.

NOW....I think the racers that have been in the Great Lakes from the start of organized SUP races would say that we are on the downslope of the bell curve -- unless some organizers have some ideas up their sleeves to unveil in 2015.  There are some quality events in the region that remain models for other events.  Some others have sort of fizzled.  I think this is normal.

In summary, I think the race scene is progressing as would be expected.  Some ebb and flow is normal.  I hope my personal view here isn't seen as negative.  I think the value of WPA organization in the Great Lakes is not substantial.  The Region is too big to run an effective points series.  Many serious race paddlers here are picking a few cool regional events that are held in places we want to be in and paddle in.  Then we add in a few national events.  Maybe this is more about my development than the region's development.   

In short, racing is fun and a great way to stay in shape.  I have decided my primary focus is not on racing.  It is surf and downwinders and paddling for fun.  But I like to operate at a high level on the right equipment for the job and racing has helped me hone that.

[PonoBill]

I don't think last year's BOP marked a transition to general carnage, though I certainly enjoyed participating in the event. I don't think local shops can sort out the difference between selling a reasonable number of SUP boards with or without racing and that limits their participation. Too bad. the shops that maintain a consistent effort in that direction will see a reward, it just won't happen the same week. Like any marketing, most businesspeople stop doing it just about the time it starts working.

Most events will be organized under some less formal umbrella. I suspect the organizing bodies will shrivel. They haven't formed in a way that benefits the sport and/or the average participant and show no signs of moving that way.

I do a lot of races every year. I love the little locally organized ones. The Maui canoe clubs put on great events and we SUP paddlers get to play. Great people, fun events. I also love some of the big events--BOP, Big Winds Gorge Paddle Challenge, and the races that Gorge Performance puts on every year on the Willamette, though they seem to change their format with hemlines. But some of the big events have been less enjoyable, with strange focus. No one gets rich putting on a SUP race, and I appreciate everyone who makes the effort, but some of them just aren't fun. So why bother?

Bottom line, I think SUP racing is sputtering a little. It's like any non-spectator sport. It rises and falls with the number of people who want to play. I don't think many people who don't already do stand up watch a SUP race and say "I got to get me some of that".

[pdxmike]

It's interesting that everyone (OK, me and two others) sense a sputtering in racing's growth.  XLR8's description year-to-year sounds like here.  Racing started here with the local races--small and lots of stoke.  Then more came along, and everyone seemed to want to do all of them--whole new world opening up.  Then some of the larger ones made some people question why they were spending that much money on races that weren't that much fun, and didn't really seem to care for anyone outside the winners.  I think that questioning will increase.  Then, the realization that the races that are most fun are still the local Gorge Performance ones.  And I may be wrong, but I don't see them striving towards becoming far bigger, more expensive, sanctioned by this or that body, etc.  They're great as they are. 

I also may be wrong in this, but I see a general shift in sports--that could be long-term--away from competition and pushing yourself hard (triathlons, marathons, 2x/day workouts) and towards things like yoga, running or paddling for fun, etc.  It could be that the people who want to race have mostly already shown up, and new growth may be more in group paddles for fun, learning downwinders and surfing, etc. vs. hardcore racing.  I could see more racing in the form of short races aimed at beginners, much like the growth of 5k's in running.

I see a sputtering in the elite arena, too, as well as in any march towards rules, bureaucracy, becoming an Olympic sport, etc.  The "official" racing organizations do seem irrelevant and even counterproductive to me.  Nobody beyond their own board members seem to want what they're offering.

It all reminds me of the way racing has gone in running over the years.

[PonoBill]

This is going to sound like a broken record, but the early concentration on just two board lengths (12'6" and 14') have fractionated the sport prematurely. There simply are not many people in the open class who look at the elite classes and think they can compete somewhere--even in the middle. This is common in some competitive sports, but it happened much too early in SUP racing. It resulted in a large number of potential participants being uncompetitive even in the open class despite their conditioning and ability.  The open class has followed the elite class even though theoretically one can still race an unlimited board.

You'll hear strong arguments from people who weigh 165-195 pounds in favor of the 14 foot class. But the outcome I predicted--that there would be no unlimited boards if we continued on this path--is simply correct. SUP racing is a 12'6"/14 foot world, and that closes the door on slightly less than half the potential competitors.

That won't change, unfortunately. But if you're looking for a reason why racing isn't growing like we might hope, I don't think you need to look much further.

[Eagle]

Where racing goes is really region dependent based on participation - but these categories have some popularity -

14'
12'-6"
Surf 12'-6"
Inflatable

Check out your local race scene and pick the group of racers that you want to go up against - and have a beer afterwards with 

It may be that weight and age divisions will become popular as SUP racing matures.

[PonoBill]

I like the surf class--pretty much me vs. the board.

[yugi]

Me, I'm one with my board. Waves still throw me.

and I come back for more. Who wins?

[yugi]

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
- Mahatma Gandhi

[pdxmike]

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
- Mahatma Gandhi

Wow, that's a great quote.  It sums up so many situations exactly.  And reassuring, because when you feel demoralized, you see you're just in one of the phases that you go through on the way to victory.  Like having a cold--the when you go from the minor sore throat to the full-on runny nose and fever, you feel worse but you know you're that much closer to getting over it.