There are now 3 tours/series/events claiming World SUP racing Champion status - WPA Hennesy, ISA Peru and Stand Up World Tour 2012 from what I can gather.

Are we not at risk of boxing syndrome with 5 or more world champs in each weight category?

The only one that seems to have a legitimate selection system is ISA which requires rider selection through national SUP bodies associated with ISA which most surfing nations are members of. Ok, that may be a pre-mature statement as we have yet to see how the qualifying system from Stand Up World Tour will pan out.

Observing from outside the US, the WPA effort seems very US-oriented and from a quick glance the recently held WPA World Champs seemed to only have paddlers from the US and Oz - hardly representative?

Without taking away from the paddlers that have won World Championships lately, I'd think it would be in the interest of the SUP industry and public to have one championship with a worldwide selection system which racers and the broader public can relate to - if there are World Champs everywhere it surely dilutes it?

too many world champs is barely enough

It's a very valid point and a great case study is that of slopestyle skiing. Earlier this year it was accepted into the winter Olympics, problem being that there is currently 'two world tours'. The FIS is based on a similar system to the ISA in that you need to qualify through respective states/national titles. The second is the TTR, which was formed by a break away group of riders about 10 years ago and that was focused on the progression of skiing through disciplines like slopestyle and half pipe, breaking free from the traditional constraints of buracratic of skiing. The IOC has now told them for slopestyle to enter the Olympics they need to work out a system between them that is going to highlight the sport at the highest level.

Interesting to see what they come up with and if it could be relevant to SUP in the future.

These problems of multiple tours etc is why things like SUP, sailboarding and kiting always struggle in comparison to surfing. One tour, two levels and then state and national competitions under that. This structure means that sponsors don't have to choose and marketing effort is appropriately targeted to TV etc. IMO until we get our crap in a single sock it will fragment sport and instead of attracting people cause they can make a good living it will keep people out because of uncertainty. On the other hand I have just registered the world professional 5foot 8, 98kg using a Starboard 11-2 with a wood carbon paddle world championship.