Ok there has been a lot of talk about wave riding competitions for 10'sups and downwinding , and BOP competitions etc.
To be involved in the fullness of what the sport has to offer, I have a solution..the perfect quiver for riders like me who are about 90kg and over 6' and wish to be even mildly competitive [in a chilled out kinda way]
1. 14' Carbon downwinder
2. 12'6" Carbon BOP board
3. 10' Carbon performance waveboard
4. 10' Carbon noserider
5. 8'8" Carbon performance waveboard
6. Selection of about 4 carbon paddles..different lengths and blades profiles

Without including my longboards and my kites and kiteboard gear, I reckon I'll need to spend about $12000 to $15000 just to cope with the varying demands of different organising bodies around the country who create and run the competition formats. This is after I know I will burn $1000 per SUP as soon as I walk out the door...starting to sound like the windsurfing scene that'd fizzled due to cost.....

Just putting it out there...

I am broadly sympathetic to what you are trying to say here. But you are undermining your argument by going to extremes, inviting the following counter-arguments:
1. No-one is forcing you to compete. Most people enjoy SUP without competition.
2. Very few people compete in several disciplines.
3. You can buy secondhand.
4. Carbon boards don't make much difference to performance, unless perhaps you are semi-pro or above. They are not a pre-requisite for competition.

I've just watched a video of a French surf-style in-out race where the winning guy was riding a Fanatic carbon 12-6 that must be 3 years old or more. He was up against some international-level competition. I picked up the same board secondhand for very little a year ago, and in a local race came home ahead of everyone else on it including some people on the latest 14ft boards. If you think you need the latest and greatest gear to win comps then you are dead wrong, and are falling for the marketing crap. Just get yourself a decent secondhand board and get out there and paddle.

Sorry guys... I gave the wrong impression on my post and was being tongue in cheek. I don't compete at all and have 2 x paddles and 2 x 10' sups..1 X Illusions Noosa for surf..and 1 X Starboard for family and friends fun which still surfs well. I was trying to point out that I hope the gear race doesn't begin to be a barrier to enjoying the sport. I had a Fanatic 12'6 for a while, too. To buy a raceboard , it's a toss up between a 12'6 and a 14. The heavier you are the better the 14' is for downwinding and glide, but you can't enter BOP races even if you wanted to. I like the idea of 10'+ wave comps..great floaty size which surf well for the waves we typically have, and you don't have to paddle by hand, prone, or kneepaddle..you actually can stand up to paddle [sup] even in lumpy conditions. For those of us who windsurfed 15-25 years ago, the windsurfing gear race was even more expensive than the SUP gear race, mainly because it was new technology I guess back then...and then, of course,
along came kiting.

Carbon is a load of Sh!t. If your good you'll be sponsored and you don't have to buy them, if I could of got my naish x 32 in std I would of . The guys I buy from agree why buy Carbon unless your at the top looking for an edge .