Pacific Paddle Games at Doheny this weekend..question

[supsurf-tw]

Wondering if the more lightly attended event is more of a trend in SUP racing or just this event in particular

[SUP CPA]

I raced PPG open technical the last two years plus the BOP for the four previous years but chose not to this year because I don't feel I got my money's worth last year. It's hard to justify a $160 entry fee for a 2.4 mile race. IIRC, BOP entry fee was around $85 and it had a better swag bag.

This year I took my race board and surfed the small waves amongst the pros and elite racers before and between races and had way more fun and it was free.

I think a combination if small waves and early clouds may have cut down the spectator attendance.

[kayadogg]

Wondering if the more lightly attended event is more of a trend in SUP racing or just this event in particular

Overall it seems to be a trend in racing. Some events haven’t suffered while some didn’t even happen this year. I’m at PPG too and it’s very lightly attended. Barely a vendor village and participant numbers are down. That being said, there’s a handful of new board manufacturers here. DEEP rolled in deep with about 25 Tahitians. 390 paddlers in the distance race this morning betwee pros, junior pros, prone and open. Still a fun event to watch. Danny Ching had a monstrous lead in the distance race but was going to the wrong buoy and his course correction caused him to drop back to about 8th but he then powered back and almost caught Connor and Michael Booth and still finished a very respectable 3rd. Dude is a beast.

[805StandUp]

I raced PPG open technical the last two years plus the BOP for the four previous years but chose not to this year because I don't feel I got my money's worth last year. It's hard to justify a $160 entry fee for a 2.4 mile race. IIRC, BOP entry fee was around $85 and it had a better swag bag.

This year I took my race board and surfed the small waves amongst the pros and elite racers before and between races and had way more fun and it was free.

I think a combination if small waves and early clouds may have cut down the spectator attendance.

Sounds like fun!  Interestingly two of my racer friends chose not to enter for the exact same reason... Surfed 5 hours this morning with friends and now catching up on the webcast of today's event.  Exciting racing!  Hard to believe that Mo was out so early.

[connector14]

The live drone coverage was pretty cool !  Awesome athletes ALL ! 

[supdiscobay]

High entry fees has to be a factor.  I really wanted to race the Battle of the Bay in San Francisco a couple weeks ago.  they had a really nice course that went around Alcatraz.  Would have been a great paddle.  But $190 is bit much for a recreational race. 

[TallDude]

High entry fees has to be a factor.  I really wanted to race the Battle of the Bay in San Francisco a couple weeks ago.  they had a really nice course that went around Alcatraz.  Would have been a great paddle.  But $190 is bit much for a recreational race.

$190. is a bargain if they throw in a T-shirt, lunch, 2 beer tickets, and a new CF paddle.

[blueplanetsurf]

Here are some photos I took at the event:
https://blueplanetsurf.com/news/pacific-paddle-games-2017-photos/

[PonoBill]

Declining attendance is a trend. It happens in any new sport. The standard sport adoption curve is a steep increase followed by a drop to a stable level. The change in SUP racing is more extreme than the general SUP adoption because there was no notion of making it as inclusive as it could be. The early decisions on board length limits reduced the market by half. That's tough to overcome.

A focus on pros by some of the event promoters is even harder to understand. Certainly elite paddlers add interest, but the bread and butter is the recreational racers. PPG carried that to an extreme. I expect they fully realize the error now, but there aren't a lot of second chances in events. If the change in focus is real and consistent then it's possible to build back, but usually, any event that displeases those that attend it will fold before they can build back confidence. That's unfortunate, this could and should be the premier event for SUP racing. I know how much work this is, and it's monumentally unfair for the effort to go to waste because of a single error. But that's how these things work.

[SaMoSUP]

I paid $169 to enter the technical race and they didn't even have the right jersey and shirt size for me. What a joke! Why even ask for your shirt size on the registration form? For that kind of money the least you expect is to get that part right. The schwag bag was pathetic.

I haven't raced in a couple of years but decided to enter this one in support of the event. The stoke and vibe was missing compared to the BOP days. I hope the event continues next year but would not be surprised if this was the last one.

[Jacko]

Yeah a real shame Ang and i have done 2 races in two weeks and have paid over $1000US  just to enter which IMO is just crazy!!!
Hopefully bug changes  are to come and a different way of thinking.

[surf4food]

I think it’s too early to tell but any sport that just all of a sudden explodes is going to eventually have a decline period, and I think we all knew this was going to happen eventually.  Hopefully SUP won’t go the way or rollerblading but who knows?  While it seems the # of SUP events and participation/attendance at the still existing events are down, I don’t seen any shrinking in the # of recreational paddlers.  That still seems to be growing.
Also it’s not just races; several local contests in my area which used to include a SUP division(s) no longer have them. 

[Tom]

SUP racing is a pretty boring thing to watch live and that's one of the problems. You only see the racers when they start and when they finish and can't tell who's in the lead without binoculars or listening to the announcer. The BOP was good because they had to run thru the chicane on every lap and you could actually see the racers.

Another problem with the PPG is that everyone use to be excited about being in the open race. Now the open seems more like an after thought and a way for the games to make money. Not sure how to remedy that, but they should try to to put more fun back into the open races. The only ones that are going to go to an event are those that participate in the sport and the sponsors need to find a way to attract them by doing something special.

[robon]

I enjoyed watching this online and the commentary was pretty good. Lots of drama to keep things interesting.

Right when it appears Booth had pretty much taken over (at least the distance events), Conor beats him back to back.

Nothing new with Annabel Anderson. So far ahead of the next best racer when she is on. Only injury and mental mistakes beat her right now.

[SlatchJim]

I'd be happy if SUP went the way of longboarding; no contests, mostly boutique shops making high quality gear locally, very few contests, sponsorship for filming and product use primarily.  I'm fine that my sport is "already" in decline, it doesn't affect my enjoyment at all.