i think a hi tech blow up could have a place in bop race. it is better suited to crap conditions. you run in to somebody - knock them flying with your soft board . every one comes up laughing.


i dread seeing a serious incident. the surf living saving movement has been around for a long time, they know their stuff, are a large organisation - yet they had a few incidents that have rocked them considerably.


i doubt any sup movement at the moment would survive what the surf live saving movement has been through.



prevention is the best cure. don't wait, get it right NOW


don't listen to young hotheads who are basically young, fearless and stupid. hospital wards are full of them.


inflate them up, crash them up- that sounds like fun to me and cheaper

Wise words Lacey. Safety and its compatriot, "litigation" cannot be underestimated in today's society. If someone is hurt or killed in an event like these the organisers are held responsible. I doesn't metter anymore that the competitor wanted to compete. If their family thinks that someone could have made a better decision the organisers could be held responsible. No one in the SUP community wants to lose a friend.
The bottom line is the safety of all involved. I would suggest that if the young stallions want to risk their lives they do it on their own.
ET.

Evening all,
While I see or your points about safety, I feel when your time is up....your time is up.
On a very sad note, I have heard through the grape vine that the younger brother of the 2 bros that own the Boardroom at Miami has pasted away on the weekend while surfing at Byron. He was hit in the head and they are not sure if it was by his own board or someone eleses.
My throughts are with the family and friends.... Very,very sad A nice young man that leaves behind a loving family.
We will miss ya champ xxx


You take out the boards and that still leaves the paddle, which can and does cause injury or death. Helmets and body armor as I am sure with all the sup companies out there, some investment into safety gear that is light weight and fits well to allow you to swim could be good start to a safe and fun race.
Please take care in the water and watch others..
Cheers Ben

husq2100 said..

dont sweat the red thumbs Goaty, probably means you are on the right track. Re inflatables, I think they may solve some travel issues, I also think they can be used across a range of events. To make BOP and them the standard IMO isnt a great idea. I think there are some engineers among us here so I would like to here their thoughts, becasue isnt force - mass x acceleration? How much do these inflatbales weigh? How soft are the rails?

Tragic indeed CCC, and I think your right re time is up in an incident like that.

your kinda on the right track. hit at the same velocity a heavier board requires more force to deccelarate, however some of this force is transfered across a greater impact area as the board deforms around the impacting object

glennc said..

I was the only one wearing a helmet at shoal bay and copped a bit of stick for it.

There you go. This may well be the heart of the problem. Not only are people mocked for putting safety first, but there is also peer pressure to man up and go out in conditions beyond their capability, which is EXACTLY the reason why a couple of young clubbies are no longer with us.

It might seem like a funny joke to give someone a bit of stick for wearing a helmet or for being too soft to go out in conditions they are not comfortable with. But that is Bullying 101, it's juvenile, and it is the reason why everybody's fun is going to come to an abrupt halt if it goes the way of the clubby tragedy.

That might all sound a bit melodramatic, but I reckon a few people need to grow up a little bit and realise they are the problem here and it's this very attitude that will bring the fun police down upon all of us.

JonesySUP said..

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

IS this the photo that is creating the controversy.
Can someone point out where the danger is here?

^^^^^
NSW practising their scrum tactics on the Goldy for Origin 2 Lacey brother

laceys lane said..

petedorries said..

JonesySUP said..

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

IS this the photo that is creating the controversy.
Can someone point out where the danger is here?

one of those blokes still standing up loses his balance, wilding slashing his paddle which collects a guy already off his board in the face. he loses any eye and gets numerous facial stitching.


just out of picture is a three foot wave the comes through with a out of control paddler on it freaking. his board knocks out another guy also off his board.

in the commotion and because the can is down the beach and paddlers are focus on getting back on their boards, the knocked out paddler gets swept away by a rip and drowns.





nah that couldn't happen could it!!!!.


im done with this argument.

Its great you guys are advocating safety. I am all for it.
As A lifesaving coach and a competitor at the titles over the years and especially where deaths occur I am very aware about the dangers to myself and mine and other competitors. I have actually approached officials about calling things off.

The problem is that there is a lot of WHAT IFS in life.

because I am involved I the skirmish above is why I ask the question.

There was no 3 foot wave that was going to hit anyone there. The wave broke out further and lost energy and size well before the turning buoy. It just bought back markers up into an area where there was congestion. The turning buoy was in a flat area.

I thought everyone was doing great and getting around as best they could.
The reason for the congestion was the numbers turning, quite a few were on prone boards and could not get around and the sweep that caused some to be on the wrong side of the buoy and fighting to get back (against the sweep) and having other competitors in the way.

This is an easy fix.

I am just a little bit worried that we are been Chicken Little's'.

Now before you get too upset I also copped a few points of boards in the ribs and legs. (bruises are there to see).
I was also disadvantaged more than most by the turning buoy and its position at that point of the race.

What we are forgetting is if someone did cop a blow to the head what's not going to happen is "the knocked out paddler gets swept away by a rip and drowns."
Because we are wearing legropes. (something the clubbies are not)

With the arguments above, ( and not just Lacey's) Inflatables then would be no better cos' "WHAT IF"

Remember if you think this is an argument then there is no point having it.
Keep the discussion going because safety is PARAMOUNT. You all bring up good points just don't go crazy with your point of view been the end of it.


I also agree helmets should be available and if you want to wear one great.
We wore them overseas and they aren't a problem. (but I don't want to).

Also I had my wife and 15 year old daughter out there. So I am taking all into account.

petedorries said..


IS this the photo that is creating the controversy.
Can someone point out where the danger is here?

For me, the prone guys in the same BOP race as the stand up guys is absolutely bat-**** crazy. Most back foot turns will be swinging a sharp edge through the air at around head height. Is that dangerous enough?

PTWoody said..

petedorries said..


IS this the photo that is creating the controversy.
Can someone point out where the danger is here?

For me, the prone guys in the same BOP race as the stand up guys is absolutely bat-**** crazy. Most back foot turns will be swinging a sharp edge through the air at around head height. Is that dangerous enough?

No One was swinging. There was no danger as we were 6 feet from shore and no real wave action. More swinging paddles out at the buoys at the back especially if the numbers were two.
Point is you wont see prone boards there if we have learnt from that. they were the boards causing the problems as They really had not been involved in this situation before as they progress around the buoys in their clubbie races at a lesser angle out the back (Not 180 degrees)
your sitting there looking at a photo which people are describing as dangerous.
BULL****. It just was annoying.
More dangerous in a ski race at a surf carnival when guys are rounding the buoys. Cop paddles to head, body everywhere and that's just paddlers ben hotheaded n stupid.

To show how dangerous it was I will put up a photo from 15 seconds before.

skebstebamal said..

Im sure jonesy started this one to get his mug in a post.... I count 4 times!! well done haha :)

make that 5 times....doh

Ha ha all this from a photo , God bless the interweb. Anyway general consensus is guidlines need to be settled on

did someone say extreme????



no it is not a remote controlled car........

petedorries said..

PTWoody said..

petedorries said..


IS this the photo that is creating the controversy.
Can someone point out where the danger is here?

For me, the prone guys in the same BOP race as the stand up guys is absolutely bat-**** crazy. Most back foot turns will be swinging a sharp edge through the air at around head height. Is that dangerous enough?

No One was swinging. There was no danger as we were 6 feet from shore and no real wave action. More swinging paddles out at the buoys at the back especially if the numbers were two.
Point is you wont see prone boards there if we have learnt from that. they were the boards causing the problems as They really had not been involved in this situation before as they progress around the buoys in their clubbie races at a lesser angle out the back (Not 180 degrees)
your sitting there looking at a photo which people are describing as dangerous.
BULL****. It just was annoying.
More dangerous in a ski race at a surf carnival when guys are rounding the buoys. Cop paddles to head, body everywhere and that's just paddlers ben hotheaded n stupid.

To show how dangerous it was I will put up a photo from 15 seconds before.

hey pete i know that wasn't the case in this photo. i just took a bit of a licence with it to make a point. thats all.

we are all in this together so it should be thought that way.

as a builder/carpenter my job is hi risk. every day i'm at risk in just about everything i do.

i'm assessing all day long- i have to. i've seen and hear or some terrible accidents- a lot from stupid things, some just freaky.

i more or less have to think worse case scenario

im sorry to all if i come across too hardcore

JonesySUP said..
This is the best photo I've seen from the Qld titles BOP race! Epic

Thanks to Pieter Plooy from SUPworld Mag

Yeah dad!