BeauOBrian said..
If its advertised pay up. Sponsored riders do have it easier than some but still it doesn't fully cover being away from home expenses.
Gotta agree with Beau here. As awesome as it would be for the elite paddlers to not have to worry about money at all and just do it for the fun of the racing, there's just not enough money in SUP racing yet for it to be a viable career option for more than a select few who've worked hard to get there and have a managed to secure lucrative sponsorship deals to support them.
To advertise a certain prize (down to a specific $ amount for the top 10 guys & 5 girls) get the paddlers there, and then not pay up isn't the way to grow the sport (regardless of the particular circumstances).
I don't know anyone who has taken up sup racing "for the money" and to start this sport at its current stage of development, in that mindset just wouldn't work. Pretty much every elite paddler I know froths on the sport and is doing the sport because they enjoy it.
Having the elite line up beside weekend warriors is something great about the sport. But participation by the elite paddlers in their local races (with no prize money) is completely different to travelling across the country or world to race for a prize that's then not awarded. Im all for elite crew mixing it with novices in local events at their home, but there's loads of local races around the world each week without prize money and you can hardly say that elite paddlers ego's are what's stopping them from competing in each and every one of these events!
As great as it would be to say the money doesn't matter, its simple economics that will determine whether racing in a particular overseas event is viable - there needs to be a chance of making some $ back or good exposure for the sponsor (often both) for it to be worthwhile - and then the riders still need to cover costs back home while they're on the road.
Even for the riders who have the expenses of travelling & racing covered by their sponsors, they've still got mortgages/rent and other bills to pay at home (not many of thier sponsors will cover these too) and jobs that they can't indefinitely put on hold or expect just to walk back into when they feel like it and someone else can hold the fort while they're away. For the majority of the sponsored paddlers out there, the loss of income at home and/or bills that still need to be paid are what the prize money will offset - and if there's zero chance of meeting these obligations then there's a big limit to how much racing you can do (regardless of whether you're paid to get there).
Despite the travelling/racing part being for fun, there's not a lot of sup'ers who get a full time salary to do what they love, so for most, the economics will determine how much fun they can afford to have.
The reality is that the chances of prize money covering your costs to get to a race in the sport are still pretty slim - even for the select races with a big enough 1st prize to do so, there's probably 5-15 guys who could take it (or alternatively, you) out, so you're mostly just racing to cover your obligations back home, and occasionally a bit of extra cash to spare.
When you weigh up the costs, the chances of coming out on top are next-to-zip for the self-funded paddler and slim to mildly possible for the majority of elite sponsored paddlers.
When you look at the numbers of people who do travel to race, it just highlights how much people do enjoy our sport and what they're willing to put in or sacrifice because it is fun!
PS Congrats Jakey! Awesome results on the weekend (prize money or not)!
Red is definately the fastest colour , yellow is for Daiseys
Sup is a minnow sport , on the world stage or domestic stage.What i am saying is if the gun paddlers support events the money will come , really what are we talking here , certainley not cattle stations?Whats the biggest prizemoney in sup the BOP , 20Gs total prize pool , I know bush footballers who get that for a season(and dont put in nearly as much work as the top paddlers).Dont kid yourselves , help the sport grow and you will reap the benefits.Thats goes for you too Jake , dont get to big for your boots
total participation over the whole event was great. Sure it's not all about the money and Tahoe is definitely one of the best places I have paddled but crappy race directors and an unorganised event definitely put you off from wanting to come back next year. 
Fortunately,they now have left themselves open to being sued for much more than the $10,000.
