The Stand Up Paddle Athletes Association have this week raised an interesting point about the way start lines in the sport of stand up paddling operate. Accompanied by some enlightening statistics, they make a convincing argument starting with a vivid recount of what many stand up paddlers experience when racing.

“3…..2…...1…...GO!!!, the starter yells. You clamber through the start line, banging boards and smashing paddles as the water quickly turns into an angry cross-chop. The paddler next to you started early, (somewhere around ‘2’) and you are lost in the choppy mess trying to get your footing. You fall in, get up as fast as you can and navigate the mayhem.

Eventually you find clean water and try to figure out how you ended up at the back of the pack. Most of your race is spent recovering from the hectic first few moments at the start.”

Have you ever experienced this? Chances are if you’ve ever been in a serious stand up paddle race, you have. So what does the SUPAA have up their sleeves to fix this problem?

Here’s some of the major recommendations for those who don’t want to read the full SUPAA rulebook.

- Each competitor must be allocated at least 1m of the start line length. For example a race with 50 paddlers will require a 50m or longer start line.
- Starting horn shall be sounded from the middle of the start line.
- For beach starts, a black rope shall be placed along the start line, with competitors not allowed in front of the rope (But their foot can be on it).
- A start line ‘Aligner’ will sight the line before the gun goes off, to make sure no competitors are breaking the line.

Simple rules really, and there are more; these are just the ones that stood out for us. Do you think stand up paddling races will become fairer with these new rules?

Read how the SUPAA recommend all event organisers start their stand up paddling events here in this SUPAA email.

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