Heh retailers, what is the prevalent age category buying boards?

Reason being, if the introduction of over 40's category in flat water and surfing was only brought about because of retailers insistence of that age group buying the most boards then could a case be put forward for an over 50's series of events to enable Sup to have broader age appeal and give an opportunity for those inclined to have an opportunity to compete both in Local, State and National Competitions.

In the age where youth in the sport is quite well catered for, so is the need to ensure that the elders of the Sup community are afforded the same opportunities, the huge growth in the sport over the last few years provides clever companies associated with sup to open new directions and start sponsoring these "aged' events.

The standards achieved in this category would be equal to the other categories.

It is time not only that all the peak Sup Surfing Associations show initiative as well as the Major Sponsors getting onboard to organize the incorporation of the over 50's category on the events calender for 2013,

I'm of the soap box, time for an Friday ale....

ockanui said...



In the age where youth in the sport is quite well catered for

How exactly is it catered for? Not sure there are too many U18's that can afford $2500 for a paddle and race board these days. At that age it is a toss up between a car or a board and paddle, I know what is going to win. If you can't afford a board it doesn't matter how well catered for an event is!

One reason there might be so many over 50s buying boards is due to disposable incomes and more spare time.

40 to 60 are the largest market for stand up paddle with boards 10 to 12' in size

All true
I love to surf, full stop end of story. When my knees give out, as they inevitably will, then I'm gunna be the best octagenarian bodysurfer or dare I say it, boogie boarder the world has ever seen!! Sorry bout that, possibly one too many scotches.
Bare with me, could get ugly!!
My opinion, for what its worth is that there is a hell of a lot of crew in the over fifties category who have surfed for a freakin long time and are looking to recapture that stoke we all had as groms when we were just starting out and couldnt get enough water time, regardless of what the wind was doing and no matter how bad the surf was. Well, Stand Up gives us those options. I can come home from a sh.tty day at work, winds howling, but still go for a paddle at the local bay or even score some peelers in a protected corner. Yeah, Yeah I know I should grab the shorty and suck it up and sometimes I do, but why freeze my ring off in marginal conditions when I can have a blast on the SUP. Probably a lot of crew coming back to it as well cos Stand Up gives them a relatively pain free entry into a medium they probably thought was closed to them when the mortgage, waistline, number of kids and house size all ballooned sometime back when they could still check out their toes. While the retailers and manafacturers may spank off over the next big thing, they sure as hell know where their bread and butter is. Thats the reason why the short surf SUPs make up a fraction of the total market.
As for the Over Fifties Division....bring it. Bit of a bloody travesty that Vicco only gets one slot at the Nationals in the Over Forties. It should be open to anyone who made the final in the States! Not only that but the Open division is now one man down with a team of three as opposed to last years four. So as far as Vicco is concerned the SUP division has not been expanded at all, kinda like robbing Peter to pay Paul. I still think that Surfing Australia is the organisation best positioned to run this thing, but they need to get serious. Open, Over Thirties, Forties, Fifties and beyond and if that means that because of time constraints SUP Nationals need to be run independantly of Short, Long and Alaia then so be it. Throw some money at it, see where it all ends up, could be a hoot!
Sheesh done it again, multi paragraph semi scotch fuelled rave, pay no attention to the idiot in the corner, could be a long one!
Cheers
Sparx

Scotch works for you Sparx,great post.Last weekend I was involved in the 32nd Byron Classic they had a comp for every age group both Men's and Woman's from young groms to 40/50 and even 60 plus,The highlight for me was the big boys comp,you had to be over 100 kgs and some were up to 150 and surfed the house down.

62mac said...

Scotch works for you Sparx,great post.Last weekend I was involved in the 32nd Byron Classic they had a comp for every age group both Men's and Woman's from young groms to 40/50 and even 60 plus,The highlight for me was the big boys comp,you had to be over 100 kgs and some were up to 150 and surfed the house down.

So who's the ex tv star ? Yellow shirt familar face.

Strange how SUP Australia does 0/45 and Surfing Aust 0/40's surfing. With this post and the population greying it sounds like O/45 might be the better go?

gee was that five years age since macca hit me with that wet C4 rashie haha wife still gets her hair done with macca

i reckon this guy would would do alright in the over 70s

Sparx said...

Bit of a bloody travesty that Vicco only gets one slot at the Nationals in the Over Forties. It should be open to anyone who made the final in the States! Not only that but the Open division is now one man down with a team of three as opposed to last years four. So as far as Vicco is concerned the SUP division has not been expanded at all, kinda like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Sparx

Victoria gets 4 allocations in the Open Mens Surfing at nationals according to correspondence I've seen. We probably should push for more allocations in Over 40s in both surf and racing given the older demographic of competitive paddlers in both disciplines in this state. Then again, if we introduce Over 50s, there might not be anyone left in the Over 40s.

it was just luck to be the stephen bradbry of the sup, last man standing, but there should be another age category 40's... 50's.. same as longboard surfing, hopefully its brought in before I have to push for an over 60's, farrrk can't believe I just wrote that..
heh moderator, where's the face for depressed?

ockanui said...

it was just luck to be the stephen bradbry of the sup, last man standing, but there should be another age category 40's... 50's.. same as longboard surfing, hopefully its brought in before I have to push for an over 60's, farrrk can't believe I just wrote that..
heh moderator, where's the face for depressed?

MJ you have the right attitude you could be 100 and it wouldn't matter, see ya in the water next weekend cheers Matt

Piros said...
I reckon over 40's is a fair call , we still don't have the depth for the 45's or 50.

It maybe a chicken and egg argument - or if you build it, they will come.

My own sense is that unless you have 8 serious competitors in a division, then you don't really have a valid division. There has to at least be the requirement to earn your way into a final rather than just walk in to a 4 person final.

PTWoody said...

Piros said...
I reckon over 40's is a fair call , we still don't have the depth for the 45's or 50.

It maybe a chicken and egg argument - or if you build it, they will come.

My own sense is that unless you have 8 serious competitors in a division, then you don't really have a valid division. There has to at least be the requirement to earn your way into a final rather than just walk in to a 4 person final.

Totally agree, the numbers are not there!
I am 48 and racing on a 12'6 during this years flat water series when most in contention used 14' in the over 45 division,( if thats not a handicap i don't know what is) bit like bringing a knife to a gun fight, but overall i did not think it made much difference because the best paddlers consistently prevailed in placing and times, in every race held this year. Best example is Cam Hosking who is in his early 40's he is smashing guys 20 years younger, on anything he rides!
The morale of this story is if you want to be competitive train harder and drink a concrete smoothie!

Cheers Leon.

We had a 50 year old DCRider today smash all of us with a 46 year old taking run out
Think they may both move to WA now Guess who they may have being ?

Yep spot on and that was after a night on the Canadian Club
O my head