husq2100 said..laceys lane said.........it was the biggest class, but most went with the age group thing and left you to race yourself- kinda funny in away because i didn't have a good day but the 50 to 54 mens 14' class was pretty hot, well as hot as it gets for 50 plus
. if i went open i would have got second
cheers
my maths must be different to yours, going by Ali's stats???? I guess you could still call it the biggest class, there is no doubting a 14' board is bigger than a 12.6' board
I'm guessing Mark's talking about in his age group! 14' was the biggest class for the 40-40 Men and the 50-54 Men.
But yes 12'6" was the biggest overall! (But only due to the elite paddlers).
I think the stats really show how important it is to keep the option of both board classes in as many events as possible to cater for everyone!
The majority of
age-group paddlers only have 1 board, so don't have a choice of what to paddle when it comes to race day. These paddlers choice of board purchase is generally going to be aligned with what they will enjoy paddling the most on a day to day basis, not on what size board they need to have to participate in most races.
If we
exclude the Open/Elite classes (where paddlers will generally congregate to one class to race each other), there were:
- 35 age group paddlers in the 12'6" class and
- 36 in the 14'+ class.
So split almost exactly down the middle!
This even split carried through the men's/women's categories too:
Men's 12'6 = 27
Men's 14' = 29
Women's 12'6 = 8
Women's 14' = 7
The Open/Elite classes are a bit different because:
1. When no board class is defined as a single 'elite' class, most of the paddlers will congregate to one class to race each other (sorry Rhino if you weren't to know what everyone else had decided to paddle).
2. Choice of board purchase/ownership is generally based on defined classes for racing (which is increasingly tending towards 12'6" due to ease of international/interstate travel) rather than choosing a board that you'll have the most fun on for what you want to do most (ie. some prefer paddling a 12'6" for everything, but even if you prefer ocean racing/downwinding a bigger board, you need to own a 12'6" to compete in BOP style races).
3. Not all open/elite paddlers have two boards, and with the popularity of BOP racing among these competitors (in QLD at least), pretty much everyone has a 12'6, but not everyone has a 14' (even if many of them have access to a 14' when it is the set class for a race). So 12'6" ends up as the 'default' elite class when its not defined.
4. Locally, pretty much all the elite competitors train day in day out on 12'6" boards, its what they're used to using for crossing over in all conditions, so its what they'll choose to race most of the time.
