I have a couple of views on certain parts of the rule changes:

1. The paddle out. Looking at this from a personal SUP perspective (and someone who often has dreadful balance heading out) I am happy to see that the bias towards standing up on the way out has been removed. However, looking at this from my experience of wavesailing comps I think it should stay in. Good wavesailors get out quickly, ride more waves and score more points. At some comps last year people have only got out the back once and didn’t progress to the next round.
2. Longboard v Shortboard style. We need to have a weighting system when it comes to judging rather than a “black and white”/”yes or no” with paddle use. What I mean is a bottom turn without paddle use shouldn’t be discounted, but it should be scored significantly lower than a paddle driven bottom turn.

I remember watching the Snowy this year, and not naming names (although you’ll probably work out who I’m talking about), I watched one SUPer spend an entire heat trying to do a nose 360 and I don’t remember the paddle being used. The other guys were doing full rail turns on many more waves whilst using the paddle through transitions. If the 360 had been completed and won the heat, it would have been unfair as it was purely long boarding (although impressive!).