I didn't compete because I din't really want to pay $70 to paddle from Snapper to north Kirra back to Snapper then to the Alley in an offshore wind. Although when I saw everyone paddling into the creek I kind of felt guilty I hadn't. Excuses, excuses blah blah blah.

Anyway, just as the last of the paddlers were coming in right on cue a little South Easterly kicked in. I guess it could just as easily not have (or worse still blew up from the north) but it had been forcast for a few days leading up to the race so timing is definitely an issue.

I also think there is an opportunity to get more of the weekend novice paddlers involved just by putting a few banners, posters and flyers around the usual haunts along the Creek and at the Alley in the weeks leading up to the event then offering novice and junior events in the creek open for registration on the day with hire/inflatable race boards available or just on your own creek/surf cruiser. Not sure how it all works with insurance etc. but if it was under $30 for adults and $20 for kids with a cap, a few stickers, a sausage and maybe the chance to win prizes or even a board etc. it might work. I'm sure plenty more would come along and give it a go.

Events like the GC marathon have a whole bunch of distances for everyone and is promoted to the general public and encourages things like corporate teams etc. more so than promoting to the elite athletes who will be there anyway. From the outside it definitely looks like a closed gathering rather than an open event encouraging public participation. Maybe a recognition of completion medal or certificate like in the marathon might give people something to paddle for too.

Yep it's easy for me and others who don't help organise (or even compete) in these events to tell those who do how to suck eggs without knowing the intricasies involved with all the stake holders involved so really in the end well done to those who do.

Pete:- Actually Von Piros, Lincoln got third and Timmy got 4th in the surfing. And there's Jonesy too in the 40's. And Mat Delahunty and Andrew Kerr (2nd in the BOP) all race. But you are still correct they are in a minority. Oops missed those guys and Jonesy would of done the marathon if not for getting hurt in the surfing , but again those guys are all top of the pile and you can still count them on one hand.

Lacey :- 'purposely' recklessly approaching buoys or ramming or laying your board over the top of someone else board to take you around the buoy- immediate disqualification. That's another reason for a pro and multiple social class races and put the Social class on inflatables for the Bop. Run 2 lap races for Juniors men , women and over 40 & 50 plus put in a class for non residents and out of staters , it's ridiculous to have these guys standing on the beach not competing. This event should be the big draw card with multiple 10 to 15 min races. I'm sure one of the big manufacturers would gladly supply 10 or 15 inflatables for the race. It would be very doable to run 5 or 6 races in a couple of hours. That would be pretty exciting to watch and participate in.

From reading all the post , it seems there is a real call to make the racing shorter and more fun. Surfing Queensland need to loosen their grip and let and event organiser help with putting it together IMHO.

There is a song that will be echoing around Qld if we are not careful " You don't know what you've got until its gone"
Thank you surfing Qld and all the event organisers that have given us a competition to enjoy. I appreciate the hard work and enthusiasm you have given to this sport I love. Please continue next year!!

paul.j said..
I think we all want the same but if nothing changes then no one will be doing these events!!

Maybe we need to change?

i know what jonesy is saying, but you can't threaten people with a big stick- they aren't doing the comps anyway. it's no skin off their noses.


no sup racing needs to change to entice paddlers over or die- it's that simple


i kept hearing why aren't there more people paddling the bop and i keep looking at conditions that have the hero's frothing, but joe paddler going no thanks.

you guys need to make your minds up.

do you want lots of entries in a doable safe, board user friendly event or a exclusive chargers race.


go directly to d/bar

paul.j said..

JonesySUP said...

paul.j said..
I think we all want the same but if nothing changes then no one will be doing these events!!

Maybe we need to change?

?

I just don't think the problem is the events and the way they are run.

Well what then? There is more to a event than how it is run on the day its the passion and drive from the people behind it that feeds it.

when the numbers have dropped by well over half and the sport us still growing I think I something is wrong!!

paul.j said..
Well what then? There is more to a event than how it is run on the day its the passion and drive from the people behind it that feeds it.

when the numbers have dropped by well over half and the sport us still growing I think I something is wrong!!

Absolutely something is wrong and it scares me in a year or two we will be the next goat boat!
I don't have the answer but I'm so grateful for what we have and I support the people that are putting the hard work into our sport.
Anyone with constructive criticism, just ring Surfing Qld or event organisers and let them know if something can be improved but most importanty say thanks!
Lets stop being little spoiled children, be thankful for want we have, clubs and training groups need to work together for a common goal, we all need to promote SUPing in a positive way to the community and the young kids and just enjoy this sport........!

Do you think this has not happened for the last 2 years? Sometime people just don't want to listen. Sometimes things have to die to be born again even better or for something better to step in. As I have said if you are happy with what is happening then happy days to you but for me when I see numbers going backwards I would rather speak up rather than just follow like a little sheep untill its to late. I can care less if people get upset or give me a red thumb as that wont fix anything.

My thought is there are three levels in it.. the pro's or serious paddlers that r training full noise prepared for battle to try to win. Then theres the ok paddlers that have a real good crack at some stage to see how they compare to the elite, then theres the first season racers with heaps of keenbeans.

I think keenbeans make the numbers. the ok paddlers that may not get time to train because of work etc, probably wont enter if they r not fit and will likely have a bad result comparitively (at a state title level and at 65 bucks).

The best races seem to be the ones with epic conditions, the doctor, molokai, king of thd cut, 12 towers.... although im yet to see it with great conditions.

I hear brissup gets epic DW conditions in the bay, that might appeal to the keenbeans.... moreton to manly yacht club in NE??

Not sure of thd answer, but dont sweat it just yet jonesy, i saw a goat boater out the bluff the other day. . sup will survive :)

Just have a look a the gorge paddle race last week
Initial schedule:
Saturday downwind
Sunday flat water course race
When it was obvious (3 days before the event) that we would have absolutely no wind Saturday and we might have some on Sunday, the organisers changed the days
Results :
Saturday flat water course with very hard fought races
Sunday the wind was not as strong so the organisers delayed the 1st start to increase the chances of having better conditions …bingo, the wind came up and downwind race with fierce battle we had!!!
Ok maybe the organisers might have been a bit lucky with that one, but they did push their luck and did everything they could to have the best possible race and please the paddlers.
At the end of the day if the wind hadn’t come up I could not have hold anything against them as it would just have been very bad luck.

Now Queensland Title:
First of all I am thankfull for surfing queensland to organise it and I am happy to be able to race close from where I live.
But when I see 1 month in advance
Friday : technical race
saturday : surfing
Sunday : long distance
I am wondering “are we trying to commit suicide or what? “ How lucky will we have to be to get good conditions for these 3 competitions on these 3 different days?
Can’t we use just a bit more flexibility?
Can’t we at least wait until some days before these events to set the 3 days and have a better understanding of the forecast?

So at the end I did enter the long distance marathon.
I liked it as it is still a race and I like to compete against others, but I would never paddle this course if it had not been for a race.
Even for training purpose as side wind most of the way is so good to get injuries going.
So let’s forget the racing aspect of thing and think of the paddlers.
What course do they paddle when they train and have a ball everyday?
Look at that and make it the course for race day because if this is the course they like to paddle most of the time in that particular wind condition, there is most certainly a good reason.

Try to organise a maliko run with 1st buoy 5 km upwind just to make it 20km long instead of 15km and see how many people won’t start anymore.
The idea that the top 3 would have been different if the course had been shorter is pure fantasy.
Adding km just to add km to reach a magic number doesn’t make a difference so just don’t do it.
I would be very comfortable if the” north to south” course and the “south to north” course options had different length. It would not bother me at all, it wouldn’t change the end result of the race anyway.
So let’s just paddle the natural course that the bay is offering us.

But once again a big thanks to the organisers and if 40 people entered the long course, not to have more than 13 SUP entering the short course is not their fault, especially when you have so many people training around this aera.
It is the responsabilty of the SUP paddling community and we should have a good look at ourselves before blaming any race organisers. Hopefully next year the organisers will still be here and things can be discussed before being put on paper.
They did listen by opening the Aussie title to everybody. This is a huge improvement.
The numbers should be up so let’s make it as successful as possible and run a good fun course.

Ali Cat said..

But for those who didn't want to do the long course, or wanted a chance to race without being against the pro's - the 8km short course that was the ever popular XCEL race a few years back was still offered but not well supported? That race attracted over 100 paddlers in 2010 and 2011 regardless of conditions & the price was about the same so I'm not sure why it's so much less attractive now? As Mark said - why didn't they come?

Okay so here's a thought.

NSW State Titles event is branded as the Southern Cross Festival of SUP and is widely regarded as the best event run by a Surfing Australia affiliate and also one of the best SUP events in the whole country. Likewise, the national flat water titles in South Australia was branded the AuSUP KeNalu Supfest and was extremely well received by everyone in attendance.

On the other hand, the popular Xcel race in QLD morphs into the QLD's State Titles and numbers shrink dramatically. In Victoria, we have a very popular event called the Battle of Barwon Heads and in the last two years, our Victorian State Titles has used the exact same course just a few weeks later yet it gets about 1/3 the numbers.

The National Titles continues to have difficulty filling allocations in all events and age groups.

So taking these isolated instances together with some anecdotal comments from people down this way and one thing becomes clear - under no circumstances should you ever brand any SUP event "State Titles" or "National Titles". The majority of paddlers couldn't give a rat's arse about competing in state or national titles, and in fact, some say they are actually turned off from entering state and national titles.

On the other hand, if it's a great event and it's fun and welcoming and not too expensive, people will turn up. But it's all in the branding.

I think most of you guys are looking at the issue from your own narrow point of view. Where do you see most people paddling? The races overseas , where are the biggest numbers? Flat water that's where. Why , because its safe. People will say flat water is boring , well if that was the case you wouldn't see hundreds paddling around in the creeks. Leave the open ocean and bop races for the elites (I hate that word ). And put your money where the masses are , flat water. The races need to be fun just not slugfests . The most fun race I ever done was the one in Talley creek.

I would rather see the good and bad points of the event here for all to see and learn from, I know I have talked to and emailed SQ many times with feed back over the years but just giving them the feed back does not help someone trying to put a event on in NSW or WA. So posting on here seems fine.

AndyR said...

skebstebamal said...

I hear brissup gets epic DW conditions in the bay, that might appeal to the keenbeans.... moreton to manly yacht club in NE??

Shhhh that's our secret... Hahaha
We do get epic down wind conditions and I would say more often than the GC as we have so many more options for runs. Sth side port to wello or reverse or anywhere inbetween, nth side Redcliffe down to sandgate or reverse, both locations can be run on different winds also depending on start and finish locations.
Oh and then there's the flat water protected options..

Maybe surfing qld change it up one year run the event at a different location see how the numbers stack up??? Maybe take
It to sunny coast they have the perfect lake for flat water events, great sup waves and just as
Good DW runs.

But then again we in Bris have a pipe dream to run a massive fun social event that will also cater for the elite on a large scale.

100% it would be an awesome location! boat ride over to straddie or moreton then paddle back, reverse in westerly!

if u build it they will come