After having followed this event more closely than anyone, here's my take.
I was in Nicaragua for a week before the event and only just left the country last night. I commentated and reported on every race. I chatted to almost every competitor who was competing, as well as coaches and supporters. I had very long (and at times quite animated) discussions with the various ISA officials, including their President Fernando Aguerre and all the guys running the show.
In short: The ISA still has some very big holes to fix, but this was a genuinely great event and I feel the momentum might have finally shifted to where the big names will support it next year. Just so long as the ISA gets the location and scheduling right...
I was a little surprised not to see more chatter on here, though I think Seabreeze is a bit of a bubble sometimes.
I know on my own site the ISA is the second most viewed event, behind only the Battle of the Paddle. Granted I do a lot of posts about the Worlds, but even using the "Average views per post" metric, the ISA ranks third behind the BOP and Molokai.
This year's event was first class in many ways and terrible in a few others. The organisation is above and beyond anything else in this sport and makes the BOP look like a school fete. The grand stand that was setup for competitors on the Lake was insane. Made it feel like a pro surfing contest not a SUP race.
The level of competition was also better this year than ever before, however the location continues to be a major problem. Not only was Nicaragua a nightmare logistically, the split location compounded the problem and provided paddlers with serious headaches. I really hope they drop this split location idea in the future...
Though despite the location the ISA got lucky this year with the racing, with all events being genuinely exciting (particularly the men's distance race - the most entertaining race I've ever witnessed). The long course through the islands, which I was the first to criticise when it was announced several months ago, was actually the most exotic and unique course in the world. It was amazing to watch paddlers weaving their way through the beautiful jungle islands for almost two hours.
Don't underestimate Team Australia's performance this year either. If you look at the final team standings it looks like they did it easy, but this was a massive effort against some very classy opposition. Australia's worst result across the board was silver, except for one event where they got a bronze (Shak in the surfing - and she was kinda robbed of the silver I think). This is despite Team Aus going into the event not being the favourites in any discipline outside of prone.
Lincoln really stepped it up to claim 2x silvers, which is quite remarkable given how stacked the men's field was. Not only that, he won his second silver in the course race just 24 hours after finishing an absolutely grueling 18km distance race (it was 37 degrees and the pace was solid).
Shakira was far and away the athlete of the event. Bronze in the surfing, silver in the distance, gold in the short course and gold in the relay. Outstanding achievement for someone who's only been back in race training the past three weeks. Everyone was trying to convince her to make a comeback at the Battle this year.
Jamie Mitchell was getting very fired up in the commentary booth and mentioned at least a dozen times how much he wanted to be out there racing. If there isn't a big wave contest the same weekend as the Aussie Titles, he could make an appearance.
Travis would have loved to have been there and was probably a little disappointed he wasn't offered an injury wild card when three of the SUP racing men pulled out. Maybe next year.
There could be a whole new thread on the politics of this event, but I sincerely hope more big names from Hawaii/USA support this event next year. It doesn't compete with anything: It's not trying to out-do the Battle, it's not trying to out-do the World Series. The only event you could argue it conflicts with is the Henessey's/WPA World Champs, which has become irrelevant now anyway.
The ISA isn't trying to make money or impose its rules on the sport, the only goal the ISA have is getting more countries involved in paddling and getting into the Olympics. Not sure why anybody would oppose that.
The cost to individual athletes is a genuine problem though...
I know a few of the Currumbin Crew were invited but chose not to go, mainly based on the cost. And I don't blame them.
It's very expensive to get to Nicaragua, especially with a board. Without the lure of prize money you have to weigh up the pros and cons. The pro of "representing your country" should be enough to outweigh any cost, but I agree with the doubters that the ISA still needs to do a lot more work on building the prestige of this event and having that "do it for your country" selling point become strong enough.
It's the chicken and egg scenario: You need the top names to make it prestigious, but you need it to be prestigious to attract the top names...
The ISA definitely needs to improve the location and scheduling asap (plus a few other minor things such as the rankings and how the prone divisions skew the results - the women's prone races are technically the most important events of the entire championship...), but apart from that I think it's the community's turn to step it up and contribute.
Though I actually think it's less up to the individual paddlers and more up to the national federations.
Shame on Surfing Australia for not giving more financial assistance to a team that was two-time defending champs and had to scrap their way through to make it a three-peat. Several lesser ranking nations had their trips fully funded AND received financial bonuses for bringing home a medal. Team Aus got 6x gold, 4x silver and 3x bronze and probably won't see a cent for the two weeks they just sacrificed in honour of their country.
If the federations could fund their teams, it would solve 90% of the comments about "where are the big names?"
As for all the questions about the top Hawaiians and Americans:
- USA was there and acted like a great team unit. Their two racers (Chuck and Slater) are probably both ranked top 5 in the U.S. right now. They were sorely missing guys like Danny, but it would be an insult to suggest this was anything other than a classy squad.
- Hawaii's ISA affiliate (Hawaii Surf Team) openly stated they don't have the time/motivation to focus on building a separate SUP squad, so it was up to the individual paddlers to organise themselves. That nearly happened, but scheduling (i.e. holding it the same weekend as Olukai) got in the way. The Hawaii Surf Team won the ISA World Juniors last month, so they do support the ISA to an extent. Hopefully that'll cross over into SUP next year... And if it doesn't, I'm sure the individual paddlers will organise themselves. The young guns in Hawaii are some of the best paid in the sport, so I'm sure they could tough it out for at least a year just like the Aussies do.
As for some of the individual paddlers...
- Danny Ching simply doesn't support the ISA Worlds. He might eventually come around but for now doesn't see it as a legitimate event. That's his choice but I hope he changes his mind.
- Chase Kosterlitz (probably #2 in the USA behind Danny, at least in the long distance format) was at the event. Not competing, but working behind the scenes with the ISA to improve their race knowledge, rules, etc.
- Connor Baxter was interested but it conflicted with his favourite event (Olukai). If the ISA gets their scheduling right, I'm pretty sure he'll be there next year.
- Candice Appleby had her kids' event scheduled the same weekend and hasn't been racing much lately anyway.
- Jenny Kalmbach was at the event, except she's from Costa Rica not Hawaii as many people assume.
- Kai Lenny was the strangest one... He snubbed the event but then turned up in the same country at the exact same time. He was surfing an hour down the road all week... It was a bizarre choice and he didn't help it with some of his comments on Instagram. Almost all the paddlers I asked thought it was poor form and made him look like a bit of a diva.
But on a positive note, with the big names gone it opened the door for up and comers. The young girl for the USA, Shae Foudy, definitely made a name for herself. The 15 year old literally pushed herself to the brink in both the distance and course races to walk away with two copper medals. It was one of the most inspiring performances of the week. She ended up on an IV drip after the distance race and passed out again after the course race. Great to see young athletes so dedicated. Her team mates were literally in tears with how hard she pushed herself for the team. I was impressed with the camaraderie of Team USA, something definitely helped by having the likes of 4-time Olympian Jim Terrell as your race coach.
Hawaii/USA being two separate nations I think is a good idea and follows the tradition from surfing (and as mentioned above, a few other sports as well). Plus if Hawaii do ever get organised, they're going to be very competitive on their own. Australians shouldn't be calling for a combined USA/Hawaii super team or we'd be in trouble :-D
My dream match up would be a full strength: Hawaii vs Australia vs USA vs Tahiti vs France. Teams such as New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil, Spain and Mexico wouldn't be too far behind. That would be a very solid top 10. Throw in a dozen emerging paddling nations and a dozen minnows, and you've got 34 countries to produce a grand spectacle.
Still a lot of work to be done by both the ISA and the nations, but I think we'll get there in a few years. Despite comments in this thread, the 2014 ISA Worlds was a big step forward.
Next year I have a strong feeling we'll be back in Latin America but I know there are other potential options being looked at (San Diego is a good chance in the next year or two, while Japan and Australia are always thrown up). My choice would be Europe. It would automatically attract so many established paddling nations and would be much easier logistically.
But wherever they go, I just hope the ISA doesn't clash with any of the big races again...
Anyway this is turning into a rambling post, if you want more insight into the event here's my final day recap, including some comments about the pros and cons of the event in general:
www.supracer.com/2014-isa-worlds-day-8-recap/
