This is the best photo I've seen from the Qld titles BOP race! Epic
Thanks to Pieter Plooy from SUPworld Mag

i though all those prone paddlers were pretty brave getting in amongst loonies going berserk with their paddles at the start and the first 2 cans

JonesySUP said...
[br]This is the best photo I've seen from the Qld titles BOP race! Epic
Thanks to Pieter Plooy from SUPworld Mag

Haha I was going to say how good does that look but noticed most of the board's in the pic are mine!!! Lol spewing we missed what looked to be a really fun event.

Jacko

Its all fun and games untill someone gets seriousley hurt.Which is bound to happen sooner or later!I dont now why the race was held at Bilinga when a place like Laceys is a perfect spot for a great bop race. QLD titles in the middle of Billinga , where two men and a dog stop to watch is not promoting the sport.Dont know what the answer is on safety , inflatables a good option?.Changing the corse for the novices , ie no turning can close to the shorebreak , letting the experienced race their own race?

Sending the prones out on a different start time might be an idea too. After that first inside can I was looking for fingers to wash up on the beach

Piros said..

Flame suit on ... That really is a great shot by Pete but it's only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt in a Bop style race. Look at surf life saving they would never put their competitors into that situation. We all love the carnage and that was always the appeal of the surf life saving in the surf boat & ski races until someone lost their life...

Piros, it's the same as the boxing argument... ban a sport to prevent brain damage, when the brain you are protecting is too stupid to realise it's in mortal danger? On the other hand, let Darwin sort it out?

Its a fine line.. i do more than my share of extreme sports but agree that bop in massive waves will kill someone. some judgement when calling a location is required.

ps. u wouldnt carch me going prone in a race with suppers!! ther r brave.

Definitely some food for thought. The main thing I dont get is having other craft and classes in the same race. Also seeing races held where the general public are within the race coarse area....not really bright IMO. As far as inflatbales, yes there are some vaild points, but at the end of the day, the elite guys/girls are going to be riding their sponsers board of choice....

re the can inside the break, maybe more like SLS and have it out, along, in and then run across beach back to start and repeat???

I still think lower volume smaller SUP boards could help, but I doubt that will happen.

laceys lane said..

down skiing is a about you and your skill and control. the hill doesn't come at you.

plenty of deaths each in the season including collisions

every time a chopper lands in the car park at perisher its a broken neck, back or a death- once a week there abouts.


inflatable are the go imo. you still get the spills and thrills.

i keep hearing its slower, but if everybody is on one- whats the difference.

a oc1 is faster than a sup, a ski is faster than a oc1, a motorboat is faster than a ski etc etc

If the inflatables get better it may be an option.... Try riding down the face of a large wave on a blow up...stand on the tail...the nose sags.. nose dive... But yes that would certainly add some factor of safety, and it would be even, surf skills still come into play...no damage to $2500 race boards.. definately more punters would enter.

Inflatables may help but surely the bottom line is choice of location and conditions. Lacey mentioned that as opposed to most overseas BOP races, the Australian events are tending to be held in pretty extreme conditions. On the couple occasions when I've seen this happen, it's been because a surfing event has just finished and the infrastructure was in place and therefore too much trouble to move. I really can't see that being much of a defence in front of a coroner in the worst case scenario - yeah we know it was dangerous but it's so hard to pack up a tent and move 5km to a safer spot.

The other issue seems to be that organisers are heavily influenced by the top competitors, who figure they can handle the dangerous conditions so they push to go ahead rather than relocate. As much as this will piss off the elite guys, the onus is on the organisers to ensure that the weakest competitor makes it home alive. They have to ignore the elite guys who are probably looking to gain a competitive advantage at the expense of safety. Sure, people have to take responsibility for themselves, but if someone dies, we all suffer.

Would hate to think of having to move to inflatables, would be like having a surfing comp on learn to surf boards and would totally murder the performance element to technical racing.

A couple of ways to more effectively manage the risks:
1) Smaller heats/starting waves of competitors - as an example the clubbies have a limit of 16. This may involve shortening the course and running a knock out type progression or staggering the start to group categories together.
2) The concept of completing a 180 degree turn around a single marker also creates avoidable carnage. Again the clubbies run their races so that a full turn is managed in smaller steps around multiple cans. Turns within the break create great viewing but create risk. Possible soultion would be a run transition on the sand.
3) Longer distance between the start and the first turn also will string out the group.

Cheers
HV

Compared to Bull Riding and Moto X (just to name a few), Stand Up Paddling BOP doesn't seem to be too dangerous.

If inflatables are mandatory then the bigger companies will still have their own designs and styles anyway, so it still wont be on a level playing field.

Everyone has been complaining about the number of boards you have to have and now people want to add an inflatable into the mix.

If Supping is getting too dangerous then perhaps it is time to consider taking up lawn bowls instead.

I agree the experienced should be able to race in whatever conditions they wantShould not be in with the not so experinced and certainly not amongst prone guys. I think what everyone is alluding too is safety in the new sport needs to be considered very importantly , and course design needs to fit the conditions. Because if their is a serious accident , you wont even be allowed to bop raceLike it or not thats the way it is Im not saying those particular conditions where over dangerous , not for the experienced anyway. All you tough guys talking it up , what if it was your board that smacked some one in the head and caused their death , im guessing you wouldnt be talking so cavalier then , heySafety first

Just make helmets and impact vests compulsory - problem solved. You might get some cuts and bruises but no deaths (god forbid).

I'm with RJK on this (I race Mtn Bikes as well) and BOP is a relatively mild sport IMO.

PS: keep blow ups for the 'fun' events only - State and Nats should be on real SUPs (plus I can't justify buying another board)

goatman said..

teatrea said..

All you tough guys talking it up , what if it was your board that smacked some one in the head and caused their death , im guessing you wouldnt be talking so cavalier then , heySafety first

It's not about 'tough guys' talking it up, rather not wanting to see a great event watered down because the bleeding obvious solution is some safety equipment. Whitewater slalom and racing has always had helmets and vests as standard equipment - no brainer really.

You sure about that!Yep your suggestions are spot on , and guess what you will get the tough guys saying i dont need a helmet , i dont need a vestIm all for the races in big surf , but safety has to be considered and from what ive seen so far expecially the race where talking about , was more about getting everyone done and dusted as quick as possible.The choice of location was crap , more about finding somewhere , that we wouldnt upset the surfersSurfing Queenland put on a great event and run it proffessionally , but in my opinion are still giving SUP lip service.

teatrea said..


You sure about that!Yep your suggestions are spot on , and guess what you will get the tough guys saying i dont need a helmet , i dont need a vestIm all for the races in big surf , but safety has to be considered and from what ive seen so far expecially the race where talking about , was more about getting everyone done and dusted as quick as possible.The choice of location was crap , more about finding somewhere , that we wouldnt upset the surfersSurfing Queenland put on a great event and run it proffessionally , but in my opinion are still giving SUP lip service.

Yeah that's spot on with a lot of events - don't upset the locals, don't go anywhere near clean waves. So instead, Australian BOP races are often being run in walls of white water where no-one wants to surf. How is that a demonstration of surf/race skill? It's a crap shoot if you manage to get lucky and avoid having a wave dump on your head. I don't think this is about elite vs novice. I want to see the best guys and girls performing in the best conditions to determine who is the very best, not the luckiest.

I understand some people just want to see carnage. But some people go to car racing or bike racing hoping to see a crash, or rodeo hoping to see the bullrider get gored. At this point, do we want this sport to be mass participation, or do we want it to be a freak show for blood thirsty ghouls where only people willing to risk serious injury are prepared to enter?

We can talk all about safety gear - helmets, impact vests, inflatable boards, whatever. But the simplest solution is to just run the events in decent surf conditions that they were supposed to be run in when this style of racing was invented. Doesn't matter if it's 2' or 6' - just make it clean surf and not crappy close outs that no-one can deal with.