OG SUP said...
Just for clarity,

The racing can be done at anytime of the year and the Elite BOP racers love big conditions so why cant the event date be changed to July / August to get more contestable surfing conditions?

Further to my question above and given that the Surfing is mobile as previously stated in this thread and not tied to the racing venue and likely the Racing to be done on different days, its reasonable to assume it could be separated from the racing like in Vicco Titles (president already set) and run at a different time all together to get optimal conditions?

Then you would have ideal racing conditions and more conducive surfing conditions.

ChrisClarke1 said...
Back to the timing of the event, if its all about the ISA in April and having the event closer to that, then why have it in November, 6 months before the ISA? I think all the states should run the surfing event in the best possible surf they can find, and to do that you want to do it in the best time of year for swell. I'm not saying we won't get waves in November, but do you think the ASP would run the Quicksliver Pro in November or the Pipe Masters in July? This event is not only here to show case Sup racing, but surfing as well. How many people do you think will go down and watch if we have 1 to 2' slop for the comp? It's equivalent of watching us do a 20km race on a 8' surf sup!! Anyway, I would like to hear some of the top surfers comments, not just the racing crew,or at least some comments from the local crew up there that can tell me what the chance of getting good waves are? In my opinion, the Goldy will be a great spot for the event! Just hope we get good waves, just remember its not all about racing! And yes, I will be there racing my 12'6". Rather do it on my 14' though!! And yes I am stoked the we now have a stand alone event and grateful to all involved for their hard work but it seems like the surfing is getting push to the side.

Well said Chris, I think it's a big plus for the sport to have a standalone event and keeping the surfing and racing in one event creates a great opportunity to make it a good big event and raise the public profile of the sport.

With respect to surf conditions though, it's pretty hit and miss up here when it comes to swell in November (but weve been known to get long flat spells at other times of the year as well). I think the bigger concern would be the likelihood of straight onshore winds (NE) which are pretty common at that time of year, and mobile or not for the surfing component, it's pretty hard to find shelter from a true NE anywhere on the coast.

Regardless of conditions, it should be a great event and with a 4 day window hopefully they will have the flexibility to make the most of the surf conditions on offer.

I'm bummed cause i reckon it will be a fantastic event but there's a 99.9% chance I won't be able to compete (even if I could manage to make the Qld team). Looking forward to watching the first day or two of competition before probably heading south for a family wedding that weekend.

PS Pity running Aussies in April doesn't fit with the ISA or state title schedule - we've had some great waves up here over the last few weeks!

ChrisClarke1 said...
Back to the timing of the event, if its all about the ISA in April and having the event closer to that, then why have it in November, 6 months before the ISA?

ISA titles have been in Feb last two years so not sure where the April thing comes in.

ChrisClarke1 said...
Sorry, don't know where it came from either! End of Feb into March!!

Either way, it's a long way out to have the nationals, but my understanding is Surfing Australia is keen to have the team selected as early as possible, and the November date is as late in the year as they are comfortable with at this point.

ChrisClarke1 said...
Back to the timing of the event, if its all about the ISA in April and having the event closer to that, then why have it in November, 6 months before the ISA? I think all the states should run the surfing event in the best possible surf they can find, and to do that you want to do it in the best time of year for swell. I'm not saying we won't get waves in November, but do you think the ASP would run the Quicksliver Pro in November or the Pipe Masters in July? This event is not only here to show case Sup racing, but surfing as well. How many people do you think will go down and watch if we have 1 to 2' slop for the comp? It's equivalent of watching us do a 20km race on a 8' surf sup!! Anyway, I would like to hear some of the top surfers comments, not just the racing crew,or at least some comments from the local crew up there that can tell me what the chance of getting good waves are? In my opinion, the Goldy will be a great spot for the event! Just hope we get good waves, just remember its not all about racing! And yes, I will be there racing my 12'6". Rather do it on my 14' though!! And yes I am stoked the we now have a stand alone event and grateful to all involved for their hard work but it seems like the surfing is getting push to the side.

I'm not sure what the answer is Chris but I do know that November is one of the 2 worst months for surf on the East coast and I can't imagine it is much good for wind either. If the surfing has to be on the Goldy, January is a pretty reliable time - my family and I did about 15 Jan trips in a row to the Goldy and we always got waves on the points. Strong SE winds as well so good for Down Winding.

I can see the logic in keeping the 2 disciplines together but I get the impression the racing will always take priority as it seems to in NSW, with the surfing on weekdays and the Racing on the weekend. Ideally I'd love to see BOP and Surfing together and the rest of the racing separate but that is purely my own selfish viewpoint - it is also how Surfing NSW separate them.

Well done to the crew for getting a separate gig for running SUP Nationals, it is early days so may take a few runs to get right.

Will the surfing side be run the same as the previous Nats with paid judges and computerised scoring?

Im confused

Please explain

[post the final entry form,dates and classes]

Tar

nsw

Racing - Elite Marathon (20km)

SUP Open Men (12'6) - Top 8 Progress to Australian Titles & ISA games
SUP Open Women (12'6) -Top 4 Progress to Australian Titles & ISA games
SUP Open Over 40 (14'0) - Top 5 Progress to Australian Titles
SUP Open Over 50 (14'0) - Top 3 Progress to Australian Titles
SUP 14'0 Open - Top 5 Progress to Australian Titles

Racing - Technical (4-8km)

SUP Open Men (12'6) - Top 8 Progress to Australian Titles & ISA games
SUP Open Women (12'6) - Top 4 Progress to Australian Titles & ISA games
SUP Open Over 40 (12'6) - Top 5 Progress to Australian Titles
SUP Open Over 50 (12'6) - Top 3 Progress to Australian Titles

Surfing

Open Men - Top 6 Progress to Australian Titles & ISA games*
Open Women - Top 2 Progress to Australian Titles & ISA games*
Open Over 40's - Top 5 Progress to Australian Titles*
Open Over 50's - Top 3 Progress to Australian Titles*

Qld

Divisions 17km:

SUP Open Men (12'6) - top four qualify
SUP Open Women (12'6) - top four qualify
SUP O/40 Open Individual (14' or under) - top four qualify
SUP O/50 Open Individual (14' or under) - top two qualify
SUP 14' Open (Mixed Gender) - top four qualify

BOP/technical

Divisions:
SUP Open Men (12'6) - top four qualify
SUP Open Women (12'6) - top four qualify
SUP O/40 Open Individual (12'6) - top four qualify
SUP O/50 Open Individual (12'6) - top two qualify

surfing

Open men - Top four qualify
Open women - Top two qualify
O/40 open - Top four qualify
O/50 open - Top two qualify

This could all be rumours so you can take it with a grain of salt..... In the past ive heard the allocations are based on Surfing Australia State Branch membership numbers, but i'm not sure whether affiliated club membership numbers are taken into account too?

Also I'm not sure how the other states process membership, but when you join Surfing Queensland, you have to nominate as either a 'shortboard' or 'longboard' member (so this might determine their allocations) but I'd love to see the option of Sup in there as well (unless they're one step ahead already as I haven't checked since I renewed last May).

To me for sup surfing... keeping a record of numbers of registered sup competitors within each state (rather than say numbers of people who shortboard/longboard surf) would be the most sensible way of dividing up limited allocations for national titles places, but also leaving a few wild card spots in every division to have the ability to include (a) top surfers who may unavoidably have to miss their state titles and (b) also to give surfing Australia the discretion to nominate top surfers from any state (based on alternative results) who may have just missed selection. (This allows for the fact that the number of high performance surfers in each state isn't always going to relate directly to membership numbers). IMO this would allow a good cross section of the competitive sup community across the country to participate and also ensure that all top "ranked" (not that there is a ranking system) sup surfers also had the opportunity to compete, maximising the benefit to spectators.

With respect the racing... I like the suggestion of open qualification for the marathon by completing your respective state title race over the same distance. And for the tech race, having 2 rounds, with seeded allocations from each state progressing straight to final and others who missed out on qualifying having to go through an elimination round to limit numbers in the final. If there's still concerns about too many numbers, Maybe qualified state reps (limited allocation) could pay a state team fee and others a slightly higher open entry fee (another benefit of qualifying for your team)?

These are just my thoughts and i'm Interested in what others thoughts on a selection process and allocations should or could be???

After all its one step at a time to grow the sport and the standalone titles this year is a great start!

Anyway, regardless of my opinions, this is the full allocation for all states from the Surfing Australia Rule Book for 2013 (unless anything has changed since it was printed in January).

Great ideas Ali - I like the suggestion that the Tech Race has pre-qualified seeds from the states, and then a qualifying race at nationals for those chasing the wild card entries into the main race. Provides an opportunity at nationals for anyone injured or unavailable during states, or even for those who had a stinker at states.

RJK said..


Anyone found out if these numbers are still true?

Nothing's changed as far as I'm aware.

Spot on Ryan, last year NSW and QLD got equal racing allocations and to only have half those spots available to QLD open men's racing divisions this year seems a bit weird?

Might be a typo on the Surfing QLD website? Afterall I highly doubt the mens and womens allocations would be the same?

Looks like the rule book has a mistake for the men's tech race allocations for all states (they've copied the top line of the surfing allocations).
NSW has corrected this on their website, but Qld has followed it through and then repeated it for the marathon?

Has anyone contacted Surfing Qld/Aus directly to find out?

Ali Cat said..

Spot on Ryan, last year NSW and QLD got equal racing allocations and to only have half those spots available to QLD open men's racing divisions this year seems a bit weird?

Might be a typo on the Surfing QLD website? Afterall I highly doubt the mens and womens allocations would be the same?

Looks like the rule book has a mistake for the men's tech race allocations for all states (they've copied the top line of the surfing allocations).
NSW has corrected this on their website, but Qld has followed it through and then repeated it for the marathon?

Has anyone contacted Surfing Qld/Aus directly to find out?

This was the response to my email with the media release attached


Hi Ryan,



Here?s some more information about the event, which was released today.



In regards to the allocations, they?re set out in our rule book. This is consistent with other national title events.



Thanks,



Jake.

Still think its maddness to cap out the qualification numbers ie about 5 or 6 of the top 10 competitors all are from QLD. Sometime in the future the event will go to one of the smaller (but no less derserving) states. When this happens I expect some of the competitors from places like QLD or NSW may not make the trip and are they going to tell the locals they cant participate??? Greater participation encourages development and also atmosphere on the beach. Some of the photos of the races in Hawaii give a sense of where things can grow to. Re the issue of timing the view needs to account for more than just the immediate future. I think there are some benefits to having a regular time in the calandar each year to run the event as it helps with planning for those attending as well create some sort of on/off season, particularly for the local racers who dont venture overseas. The month may not be the best for the Gold Coast but it will eventually do the rounds through different states and beaches.

Just something to think about.

Cheers
HV

goatman said..

RJK said..

No offence but QLD has more of the top surfers and racers than any other state. Surely they should have the most numbers if not equal?? If the point of this event is peru selection then i would assume surfing australia would be after the highest talent attending aussies???

I disagree with the 'surfer' bit. Apart from your top 3, I reckon NSW has more depth in every division and the numbers are warranted particularly for the 'age' divisions.

Flame suit on

Yeeww!!!! state of origin SUP style! gloves off at nationals!!

HerbertVoigt said..

Still think its maddness to cap out the qualification numbers ie about 5 or 6 of the top 10 competitors all are from QLD. Sometime in the future the event will go to one of the smaller (but no less derserving) states. When this happens I expect some of the competitors from places like QLD or NSW may not make the trip and are they going to tell the locals they cant participate??? Greater participation encourages development and also atmosphere on the beach. Some of the photos of the races in Hawaii give a sense of where things can grow to. Re the issue of timing the view needs to account for more than just the immediate future. I think there are some benefits to having a regular time in the calandar each year to run the event as it helps with planning for those attending as well create some sort of on/off season, particularly for the local racers who dont venture overseas. The month may not be the best for the Gold Coast but it will eventually do the rounds through different states and beaches.

Just something to think about.

Cheers
HV

We just have to remember this is not the normal regatta/carnival/event. Numbers are capped for a reason. (some say to stop the carnage in races. For the surfing to get through quickly)
Whether we agree or disagree it is the only event like this.


In the future it may be an open event.

Those in charge have their arguments on why it is so.
I think once we have more events happening around the country it wont be a worry.