Hey PT,
BOP is where the money is going as its the best spectator sport for the punter.
How many people were on the beach at Northhaven or Noosa oohing and aahing at the carnage or possible carnage its addictive.
After Noosa I think dog surfing has its place as well on 12'6 longboard SUPS.
Its all about having an open mind
You cant see someone riding a bump 2km off shore.
No doubt that's true, BOP is great for people on the beach to watch. But I maintain there's not much point in limiting all other forms of racing to 12'6" just because that's the ideal board length for a BOP race. Let the BOP racers risk their 12'6" board in these exciting races while the 14' boards can do the Marathon and Sprint races where they are better suited. And as I say, if anyone complains about not being able to afford more than one board, perhaps they shouldn't be risking their only board in the carnage of a BOP race.
trashing expensive boards is good fun, as long as its not your board.
however it seems as if race organisers are working on paddler safety
on the subject of carnage i hear someone got a pretty nasty gash across their head at the aussies
as they say- its all fun until someone gets a poke in the eye
For all the crew that have some inside info on the official side of this discussion, it is sure to make sense.
For the 100's of other paddlers out there that wern't privy to the discussions held at the Nationals behind closed doors, how about someone in the know provide an explanation.
It would be interesting to know how many of the crew out there, that have read this and are/were considering buying a race boad for this season, have either lost interest all together or have absolutely no idea what length board they should be buying.
This issue has the potential to have a massive impact upon not only the race participants who may have recently bought the wrong length board but also the retailers that have to preorder stock....and the manufacturers.....except those with the inside scoop of course.
Have the 'officials' made a decision or is this thread just a lot of opinions and irrelevant noise??
Select to expand quotePTWoody said...
Wait a sec, just let me get some popcorn and a comfy chair... okay, I'm set.
PTWoody said this would open discussion.
There was another forum on the 19-7-12 that looked at the benefits of 12'6" vs 14 foot also, particularly from a racing perspective.
I think you basically just need to work out what length of board you want to ride, can afford, store or transport and go with it. Unless you specifically want to do BOP. As race numbers expand there will possibly be expanded categories for 12'6" and 14' hopefully in all age groups. It would be good to get some official clarification though as many people are looking at buying new boards for the season.
12' 6" might not be quite as fast downwind for most people (Apart from Jacko) but they are a great versatile board and will do everything a 14 footer will do. There are still lots of average paddlers on 12'6"s out there carrying a bit of weight who are keeping up with 14s just by putting more time on the water.
Hopefully as the sport expands there will be room for both sizes and the elite guys who generally own two board sizes anyway will just choose what size they will race on a particular day.
I would love to know what size you have to be for a 12'6 board to not work? is it 90kg or 91kg or 94kg? There are heaps of guys in the 90kg mark that are super fast on a 12'6!! Maybe if you are 120kg you should lay of the pies!! All jokes aside i would love to know when a board stops working?
Deano,
I assure you Dog suring is here to stay!
You just need to work out which class:
Small: Jack Russell - Pomeranian is my choice
Medium: Blue Healer
Large: Husky - Great Dane
There are rules regarding collar widths and velcro paws but nothing that cant be over come.
Phill
Goatman, before you jump, consider this... Over 40s is not an ISA category and so there is one school of thought that says the Over 40s does not need to be a 12'6" category. Perhaps wait on Surfing Australia to release formats for state and national titles. Having said that, I think it may be inappropriate for anyone who is not an official mouthpiece of Surfing Australia to make any public announcement on resolutions reached at the national forum.
The ISA have not determined what class it will be in Peru next year - my bet is on 14'....
The discussion about whether a board limits bigger guys or not is not really the issue for me - the issue is a 12'6 limits everyone in terms of speed and thats what irks me.
We recently had a race where one of the top US paddlers came over to join in. He chose to ride a 12'6 where everyone in our elite field is on 14's. The result...our elite guys beat him, but he won the 12'6 money which in my opinion should have gone to our elite guys who beat him. Why must he be rewarded for entering an inferior class with no competition? Let him race with our elite guys and if he wants to use a 12'6 - let him, its his problem, not the race organisers or his competitiors who now lost out on prize-money.
Thats why I'm suggesting doing away with the 12'6 class but letting them race all they want. For the recreational paddler the 12'6 may be the choice for many reasons listed above, but if you have a class for 12'6 there will always be some elite guy stealing the show in this class anyway and taking prizes away from the guys he actually didn't beat......
at the end of the day if your serious about racing in aust, as it stands or will stand or change next month or whatever, you will have two boards at least. a 12'6 and a 14' er.
i would bet that at least 65% of racers do now
In South Africa the serious guys also have two boards - a flatwater and a downwind board - but they are both 14's......
How is a 12"6 a disadvantage for big guys cause they have to go wider, but smaller guys can go super narrow on a 14 comparatively anyway. Don't they both equally "disadvantage" bigger guys?
check this out, if you have a lot of time on your hands
its about hull design
www.greenval.com/shape_part1.html
Ok so why not have weight classes , over 85kg and under 85Kg or something like that , and for the real big boppers a heavy weight division over 100kgs? So you have line honours and then winners in the respective weight classes.
The more I think about this topic the more I think balance skills have to be a big part of it!! Take someone like Pete Dorries can paddle my board just as fast as I can and he is 94kg but he has good balance skills. Part of out training is balance work stuff like standing on balance ball or paddling clubie mals and stuff like that. It would be good to get a 100kg guy and work with them to get there balance better and see if it makes a difference!! Any big guys out there working on balancing skills? I would love it if SUP was a huge advantage for guys under 70kg as I suck at basket ball and always cry that the rules should be changed to help the smaller guys!!
