Is the race board market dead? what is going on? How did we get here? Can we fix it?

Guys would love to hear from you!!

From what I can see in France, it seems the race market didn't catch up because it failed to build a large base of young riders. There are very few SUP clubs that have dedicated trainings and boards for schools, with a regular contest schedule. I guess it is because in France, SUP is managed by the surfing federation, which basically doesn't care about flat water activities, but nonetheless engaged in a turf war to prevent the kayak federation to manage the race SUP scene (and get the relevant subsidies).

So there has been no effort to organize SUP as a school activity, with subsides for contests, etc... SUP racing in France is thus limited to adults with enough time and money... not a recipe for growth. OZ may be better in this regard with its long history of competitive water sports in school.

For instance, Gong does not call these boards "race" anymore (no market), they are now labelled "race/cruising/fitness"

Yep its pretty much dead these days, Board prices went through the roof, the average punter wasn't going to update their board every year to try and stay competitive at those prices, which ended up killing club and event participation. I think the only side that has stabilized is social & recreational paddling as it doesn't really matter what you ride.

If there is to be a race board market, it needs to be for amateur paddlers entering races for their own enjoyment.
"Financially viable" does not make sense.

To turn over $3k-$4k every 12-months on the latest race board is just not viable for most paddlers that aren't sponsored, especially when you off load them 12-months later and lose $1.5k-$2k when you sell it.

One reason in my opinion is that the boards kept getting narrower each year, which meant bigger guys (like myslelf) who can't ride a 23" or 24"'wide board stopped competing. It became clear that to be competitive, you had to be able to ride narrow boards, which meant you had to be light and small. That and as mentioned by others, it's unrealistic to buy a new $3000-$4000 board every year

Hey Rob, sorry, I thought you were talking on a prize money / lack of sponsorship level

Racing is still going strong in QLD . While we are very fortunate to have great weather and locations to paddle , importantly we have 4 very active clubs all headed by passionate and motivated committes who regularly run time trial events and club training for members to improve their skills. There' s been a number of races this year including the Elliott heads flatwater classic , Race the bay and Old woman island on the Sunshine coast , the Coochie classic in Brisbane as well as the famous 12 towers race on the gold coast . All 4 clubs are well supported by local retailers sponsoring events and our local Elite paddlers such as Kelly Margetts , Paul and Angie Jackson, Karla Gilbert , Trevor Tunnington and world no 1 Lincoln Dews are all very active in either competing alongside the locals , running coaching clinics or offering one on one coaching . I think a lot of it comes down to the club level and having those dedicated hardworking committees to keep the wheels turning .