So I was sitting with a big Markerting guy in the office today and telling him about the world of SUP.

He had never heard of the racing scene so I showed him some you tube clips of the BOP and Carnage and also a DJ DW clip.
He was Frothing but he said this.
"I am a fit Australian Male that surfs and loves the beach but had never heard of SUP racing just SUP surfing". He said this Sport needs main stream coverage in Australia to take it to the next level. He asked me why isn't it tied in or somehow attached to surf life saving events. "Like The nutrigrain Iron Man Series has unreal television coverage and media coverage the sports governing body needs to get this sport on Australian TV. " He said I fully understand the Surf Life Saving community might not want anything to do with SUP racingas the are very old school, but if they want to evolve maybe this is a discipline they might want to take on one day as a BOP course is basically the same as an iron man course held in the same conditions. He said all this after just watching a couple clips so he picked up plenty.

I Agree how good would it be to have an "exhibition race" held at an iron man event that got prime time weekend television coverage. and a couple thousand people watching live on the beach.

Whats peoples thoughts??

Very true, nippers just froth on anything in the ocean, get a fleet of ocean inflatables the right size for juniors and they would love it more Than their prone boards surely. Better riding a wave standing up Than laying Down.

How close are surfing qld/Australia with surf life saving?

Nope, not a good idea. Only winners would be some business dudes who want to make money.

Why ruin something great by making it mainstream.

my opinion and I am sticking to it.

ET.

You have a good point E.T , but a sport so awesome should be shared , and hopefully it can keep its spirit of fun and inclusivity that what is gold about stand up , every one can do it and every event ive been too people have been stoked on just participating. I like watching the iron man racing , but how much more exciting is a sup bop race

Yeah fair enough and it's a great opinion to have I respect it greatly.

I don't know about other states but on the GC supsa run a bop race series over there summer. And also here in Brisbane we started a bop race series last summer ran every fortnight for 10 rounds. Yes we don't have massive swell but where we race over the ten weeks had everything from glassy days to rough and tough swell coming through.

I did say weekend coverage. The nutri grain series has unbelievable coverage for it's events over the past years on channel 10 but switched to channel 9 this year and it was magic to watch with all the go pros etc on the crafts. Cooly gold is always televised. To me on free to air tv that's to a bloody big audience every year

Maybe it's more of a QLD thing

Good point.
I still this mr marketing guy in my office is onto something though.

PT just wants to do a Tony Abbott

Not to mention surf life saving competitors are required to do mandatory patrols minimum 25 hours a season, do annual proficiencies, bronze medallions.... Not that this is all bad, I would just rather be surfing.....

Hi All,

Cool thinking though in my personal and commercial opinion it would be selling SUP racing short.

Also consider, Surf Life Saving disciplines stem from tradition and require active participation in SLSC's including patrol rosters etc.

I'm not convinced it is a good fit.

Although not strictly BOP...

Food for though:

I would like to see a mixed genre marathon event with high level media exposure - like the Anaconda, but more local. For example, In Perth we used to have the Swan River Marathon. It was a Pentathlon event with all class divisions catered for ie Solo men/women/Open Team/Womens team/Jrs etc.

When I started doing them I was windsurfing and also messing around with triathlon and had kayaking experience so the goal was solo racing, however I was a jr so the various associations 'Jr Coaches/Reps' pooled together to assemble teams of young athletes to give widespread opportunity to youth and also to grow the individual sporting genre and their various memberships

Previously the disciplines were,

Windsurf
Kayak/Paddle(ski)
Swim
Cycle
Run

For a new event - substitute one of the above for SUP - I'd love to see a fleet of SUP's kicking the event off and flying the SUPWA flag.

To make my position clear, I am currently acting as the Representative for Junior Development in windsurfing in Western Australia - appointed by Windsurfing Western Australia(WWA). Additionally I see my role as liaison with other sporting disciplines so would welcome any fresh ideas and I am always approachable via PM or via my email [email protected] and as always you can contact SUPWA [email protected] and WWA [email protected] direct with any enquiry at all.

Keep up the chatter guys its a very important topic for discussion!

Cheers,
Adam

Support from the SLSC is a great resource. WWA run an event at Margs and we have Jetski support at a very reasonable fee from the local SLSC and some flyovers by the chopper. Great way to support the DLSC and the local communities you are in for the events.

Event looks great LindaLim!