SUP Racing - How To Increase Participation

IMHO

1/ Age divisions Open , 40 & 50 (Juniors can go in amateur)

2/ A single amateur division (you can only enter in age or amateur)

3/ Race on what you like 12-6 or 14

4/ Always have a wave element , that will even out the 14's

5/ BOP style but without multiple beach landings , finish with you board that way you don't need caddies and you can run the event pretty much anywhere

6/ Be a member of Surfing Australia and that should cover all insurance aspects.

Pan pacs are on again next year on the Goldy , maybee sup could be added to that! Maybee even a demo sport for the Commonwealth gamesSome one call Tater Head

To those who say don't panic, the sport is still growing - I admire and appreciate your optimism. However we must remain cautious and wary of the pitfalls that destroyed windsurfing due to the elitist tendencies of that sport.

Great post John, I think you are spot on. It's no use the elite crew wondering why the social racers aren't turning up to get smashed in the surf or a 20km marathon. They want to race on flat water over manageable distances. In Vicco, we pushed a bit hard this past Summer in trying to get everyone racing longer distances, and even though we provided a shorter "social race" option, the casual racers recognised this as tokenism and not a real race. Consequently, we increased the number of very competitive paddlers at the pointy end which was good to see, but we lost quite a few at the tail end, and that is unfortunate. Next Summer, we will work hard on building the base numbers and welcoming back lapsed racers and prodigal sons. Maybe the Blast program is what we should be looking at.

OK. From a newbie.
I buy my 10'6" longboard style sup. Get my wife a 12' all round style. We train for 45 minutes to an hour 4 mornings a week and are both getting fitter and most likely faster. We like that it's a sport / pastime that we can do together.
I surf the other days and ultimately I will get a short board style sup, as well as my other board.
We are thinking about joining the local club and if we decide to do some races, will want to get a 12'6" flatwater race board. But hey, I might do some open water races, so I'll get a 14' downwinder as well. So I think that's 5 boards so far. Now if we want to race in the same events, we will need 2 of each (same age group) as most races are still mixed. So thats?????
I'ts doin my head in!!!
Therein lies the issue of participation.
Really need to dumb it down for races. Having, say a 12' non race board event is not a novelty event, it is a class of it's own. Thats what will get the average punter to join the local clubs, to have fun and do a few events, if they are that way inclined.

I agree with DJ. I do not compete nor do i intend to compete. However, if events were a "fun event" or were for a charity or a good cause I would get involved.
ET.

Time for a AGM boy's,get your house in order

Some really good comments here, whilst I agree with most, I think the one determining factor that seems to be overlooked, as you can have as many "fun races" as you like, but if the weather is against the day's activities then those "fun paddlers" just dont turn up and that only the more serious paddlers do, as evidenced in the recently held events down here in Victoria.

I love the idea of one design racing in an accessible class for weekend (read not pro) racers. SUP is very fragmented right now - and a s a SUP er of 6 years this puts me off many aspects of the sport competitively. Surf boards are getting too short , Race boards are getting crazy long with various confusing classes... think i will just go paddle my 10'5 in some small waves and not be bothered with it all as it seems too hard.

VIDEO

This next bit will seem a bit self serving given what i do for a living. There are a few good freelance video shooters / editors around the country that can cover these events with a video -(remember video includes good quality audio) that is edited and posted within a few days of the event.

By cover i mean being experienced enough to be able to tell the story of the event.

Not just a bunch of animated photos in a "video"
Not just 1 tripod shot off the beach of the riders coming and going.

You need

Set the scene with some establishing wides,
Pre race interviews with good audio,
Nail a start wide shot,
a variety of angles at key points during the event ,
perhaps a few LIMITED go pro shots, good coverage of most of the racers/ surfers, the finish,
post race interviews ,
pick up the vibe/ post race endorphin rush from non winners,
sponsors logos

This can be done on modest budgets - not like the hideous loads of cash that full blown production companies with big overheads need to charge. I have seen $100 000 blown on event production that never even went to air - or even web.

At the same time more harm than good can come of amatuerish coverage with windnoise all over the mic, limited angles / story telling - dont get me wrong - its good to have - but not to have as the official event video.

There is a sweet spot...This is where small dslr shooters like Rambo and myself can help out. We are shooters,sound guys and editors all in one.

Reading this thread got me thinking about how to get SUP racing started at our local windsurfing club (over 400 members). I just wrote an email to a fellow club member to see if we can organize something for the coming season. I'm copying my email below. Happy to hear further ideas or suggestions on how to tweak things.

My email:

The majority (like 90%+) of SUPers are not that interested in training hard, buying the fastest gear, killing yourself during an all-out effort during a long race, and being as competitive as possible. However, a significant number of them could be interested in an informal, fun race that has the following attributes:
- Gives almost everyone an opportunity to think about being competitive
- Social: simple BBQ, beer, etc. after the race
- Not too long a race
- Doesn't require the latest, fastest gear to be competitive
- Fun for everyone - all ages and abilities

I figure one way to achieve this is by having a relay race that creates competitive teams. We could classify paddlers according to their speed (regardless of age, sex, board type). For example, 4 classes of racers from fastest to slowest: Gold, Red, Blue, and White. Each racer is assigned to one of these classes.

We could create relay teams with paddlers from various classes. It doesn't necessarily have to be a team of 4.

This should make for a very close and fun race.

We could determine appropriate cut off times for each class based on a course that anyone could do on their own. For example, one lap from the beach in front of the clubhouse (at the blue plastic drainage pipe) to the red marker in the Eastern Gap and back (2km). People could time themselves whenever they want to determine which class they're in.

On race day, depending on how many racers there were, we could make teams of 2,3,or 4 racers based on appropriate class mixes on each relay team. You could have a team of a Gold+White racer going against a team of a Red+Blue racer. We'd probably want to stick to no more than 3 racers per team since that would already be a 6km course in total. Alternatively, if we had a lot of people, we could lay our own shorter course of about 1km per lap and run teams of 4.

The team concept would build camaraderie among the team members, even if they just met, as they cheer each other on. Great for the social aspect and the BBQ afterwards.

If there was interest, we could also run a regular race of 1 or 2 laps after the relay race where people compete individually in the traditional 14' or 12'6" classes.

We could advertise this SUP race series on our web site and send email notices to inform all club members. Of course, anyone outside the club would be welcome as well. Maybe we could have this type of race once every 3 or 4 weeks during the summer. We could devise some sort of points system where you get points for how well your team did but the points would accrue to each individual because, it's unlikely that the same team members will show up for all races. So at the end, almost anyone could win depending on how often they showed up and how their teams did, even if the individual were from a slower class.

Having an ongoing series with tracked results (posted online) will add interest and encourage people to keep coming out. Over time it's natural that paddlers will want to improve into the next faster class, so this will provide motivation as well. It encourages beginners and slower paddlers to get into racing since they're not finishing last in every race.

After the races, we'd have a simple BBQ with beer, etc.

On selected nights, we could hold SUP gear demos or info sessions such as paddling technique, buoy turns, downwind paddling, gear info, etc.

Check out this series which has just wrapped up its first season in Auckland tonight www.citysurfseries.com . It has gone really well with up to 100 paddlers each week. Couple of points that have made it work well.
- distinct divisions which are all competitive meaning you are racing similar skill levels, novice, surfboard, intermediate 12 6, elite 12 6 and 14. The class which impressed me was the surfboard with really high numbers.
- variety of courses based on wind direction, which kept it interesting and challenging technically. A lot of m shaped type courses with gates etc...these evened up racing between the 12 6 and 14s
- family friendly atmosphere, makes it easy to obtain leave passes when the wife is doing the novice and the kids are entertained on the beach with free sponsor giveaways
- excellent social media coverage with heaps of photos posted after the event and banter etc on Facebook
- prize giving straight after with loads of quality spot prizes, they have saved presenting the placegetters their gongs until the end of season do...this has made it way more social
- it's based at a busy city beach and there are loads of demos and have a go sessions linked in, they extended this to run free have a go races
- heaps of innovation, a dash for cash race and free meat packs for family bbqs were a couple of examples

All up it was brilliant and got a lot of people into racing. It catered for everyone from the elites to the first timers. Bring on series 2

Flat water races are where the numbers will be simple , always a place for downwinders , bop ect , but if sup wants mass participation this is where it will be.Short races 5k the odd 10k and sprint races How many parents would be comfortable sending their kids 2 to 4 k offshore in a downwind race or 3 to 4ft bop race.Any way i think sup racing world wide is going off , early days