Looking at the 2016 PWA calendar
www.pwaworldtour.com/index.php?id=2114
And 2 things stood out to me.
1. No New Cal event. so that makes the amount of world tour events in the southern hemisphere 0
2. Only 3 freestyle events (7 & 8 for waves and slalom)
Now no disrespect to the freestyle crew as i think the moves they do are amazing, but how can you have a bonfide world champ if there are only 3 events? What happens if the wind doesn't show for an event?
Is this a world tour or a world championship PWA?

This might only be the interim calendar. For example in the past there have been occasions were funding for the Maui event wasn't secured until later in the season.

^^^ Still, be nice to see a calendar, interim or not, that has something in the southern half of the world. Especially when for wave and freestyle we arguably have a few of the top 10 spots.

Then Australia should put their hand up !

In New Cal (with a population of 300 000) we did it twice. Surely Australia can come up with something

It will be back next year as we need more time and the sponsor money goes to a sailing event (groupama race) this year.

If New Cal had been cancelled last year the girls would have been left with only two comps and Iachino would be world champ, so I agree with stu, not enough comps especially for the girls and freestyle.
Travel, luggage cost for all rider and accomodation/food for those outside top 16 is an issue to get the riders over this side of the planet.

Tragic that windy spots like New Cal,Perth and Maui are not on the slalom schedule.
Guess its all about the lack of sponsors.
Its hard to see in this era where mainstream sports stars earn millions a couple of mil cant be found to run an event in a remote location.

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seanhogan said..
Then Australia should put their hand up !

In New Cal (with a population of 300 000) we did it twice. Surely Australia can come up with something

It will be back next year as we need more time and the sponsor money goes to a sailing event (groupama race) this year.

If New Cal had been cancelled last year the girls would have been left with only two comps and Iachino would be world champ, so I agree with stu, not enough comps especially for the girls and freestyle.
Travel, luggage cost for all rider and accomodation/food for those outside top 16 is an issue to get the riders over this side of the planet.

With funding coming from the European Union (population 500 millions)
More seriously, I bet there are more windsurfers in new cal. than in the whole Australia...Still, it would be great to have an event here. WA could run slalom and waves easily.

actually most of the funding came from New zealand through Wrigleys....

That will never happen in Oz! lol

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seanhogan said..
Then Australia should put their hand up !

In New Cal (with a population of 300 000) we did it twice. Surely Australia can come up with something

It will be back next year as we need more time and the sponsor money goes to a sailing event (groupama race) this year.

If New Cal had been cancelled last year the girls would have been left with only two comps and Iachino would be world champ, so I agree with stu, not enough comps especially for the girls and freestyle.
Travel, luggage cost for all rider and accomodation/food for those outside top 16 is an issue to get the riders over this side of the planet.

It's totally doable. Just requires a good group of heads that are dedicated to cause, that probably all have a bucket load of time available to commit to the cause, (that's like full time job time Each time!) all the reasons that it 'wont' or 'can't' happen are only hurdles that can all be overcome.

As Sean said a little ol island with expensive food can put on a show then of course Aust could!

NC with 300k pop is similar to the Sunshine Coast , where in May hosts the world outrigger champs...1,000 competiors + F&F etc that's 4,000 visitors for a week....who knew there were even that many competing in outrigging.....just goes to show can be done, and I know for a fact lots of Gov $$ is supporting this event also...it makes good economic sense to.

Of course it all comes down to dollars and cents at the end of the day also....so getting large competition numbers with associated crew brings in better dollars, maybe it's a case of the PWA format joint in with something like the ledge to Lancelin over a 10-14 period, and combine SUP and KITE and the LOC...so now we could be talking serious competior numbers and the economic business case starts to really add up.

There is lot of $$$ available in government events budgets...30-40 windsurfers is not going to attract much.....but 900 (plus all their F&F and crew) split across wind/sup/kite over a 10-14 day period with some serious prize money to attract all...then you have something possible to write a good business plan with. I'm sure someone in the know will tell you there is some sort of economic calculation tool that x+x /x=$$ Gov money

The later is the key as there is business case that can be produced , invest x$ to return XX$ to region A.. Commercial sponsors...this is the grey area that too many sports relied on easy cash for so long... I'ts much harder to quantify what a commercial sponsor gets out of naming rights, brand exposure etc...it's totally subjective ....x amount of bums in beds = a firm sum , even a minimum daily spend can is real return that can be measured.

WA - LOC is best placed to work this angle and with the light wind WA mornings and windy (well normally!) arvo's, flat water and waves, sunny and hot, ticks a lot of box's, especially when it's already on the world map for wind water sports.

so any loaded business tycoon windsurfers that want to have a crack....anyone got Mr Branson's email?!

Lancelin was supposed to be a world cup event from 2010 onwards, that is why we all put in the effort to supply imagery for free and build the profile of the event up.

It costs $120,000 to run a basic PWA event but Lancelin has a budget of $450,000 with the majority put in by the W.A. government so there should have been at least 3-4 PWA events in Australia each year for the last 5 years so you have to ask where is this money going?

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HF said..
Lancelin was supposed to be a world cup event from 2010 onwards, that is why we all put in the effort to supply imagery for free and build the profile of the event up.

It costs $120,000 to run a basic PWA event but Lancelin has a budget of $450,000 with the majority put in by the W.A. government so there should have been at least 3-4 PWA events in Australia each year for the last 5 years so you have to ask where is this money going?

So HAS anyone asked where the money is going??? And if not, maybe someone should!

Don't worry, many questions have been asked over the years. I spoke to a certain business person who went to the event meeting just before the 30th year event. This person asked to see all the financials but was refused, they were then asked to leave the meeting.

Wow! Sounds interesting had no idea of that sort of history or numbers.
If it's government funded then the books have to made available to the public upon request, it's just knowing the right channels to follow up.
Big call $450k,!
But I guess that summarises my basic rough economics above, there is funding available for the right business plan.

In fact for $450k I'd assemble my own crack team and have a go at it!

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JonesySail said..

seanhogan said..
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.......

There is lot of $$$ available in government events budgets...30-40 windsurfers is not going to attract much.....but 900 (plus all their F&F and crew) split across wind/sup/kite over a 10-14 day period with some serious prize money to attract all...then you have something possible to write a good business plan with. I'm sure someone in the know will tell you there is some sort of economic calculation tool that x+x /x=$$ Gov money

I work in the Sport sector here in Vic (not in major events though), in case people are interested here are the guidelines for Sport & Recreation Victoria's (State Gov) Significant Sporting Events Scheme, other states would have similar programs: http://sport.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/ssep_guidelines_2016.docx

Of course the amount of funding available from the Government is dependent on a lot of different factors. Currently in Vic we have a Sports Minister who's only real interest is major events. Hence we've had commitment of big $$ to Melbourne Park, Simmonds Stadium in Geelong, the UFC fight with Rhonda Rousey/Holly Holm etc. whilst the money allocated to community facilities, State Sporting Associations & Local Governments for Sport initiatives has reduced. Previous ministers have had different priorities too. Who knows what our next one will be interested in. These are the challenges of working with State (& federal) Gov.

Thanks Dan good link & read , I'm sure the other states are similar ..ish.
So just needs a team of good heads with lots of time available, and it could happen(PWA Aust)...probably forms part of a National Windsurfing strategy?

QLD Has the world RB Nats heading here later this year, I know it's not PWA but it's a start and an example of what a small group of people can achieve, so I think that has to shed some positive light or top the glass to at least half full!