There is going to be four SUP Downhill races in Sydney. As in Queensland we are joining with the Outriiger series.

We are going to allow any length board and there will be divisions if there is more than 5 in each division.

There will be Hinano Clothing as prizes.



Race 1

September 28th 11am start

Mona Vale Basin to Palm beach or in reverse depending on wind.

Race 2

October 12

Long Reef to Palm Beach

Participants MUST carry an approved PFD or wear it depending on the conditions and have a leg rope attached ( an approved inflatable PFD is OK, Thy are available at race start for $100 must organise prior to day)

Race three

9th Novemebr

Palm Beach to Shelly beach, You must qualify your ability in first two races, This can not be your first race.


Race four

Feb 1st

2 or 4 person relay from Shelly Beach to Bayview or reverse ( again your abilty must be qualified in the first two races, This can not be your first race.

Participants MUST carry an approved PFD or wear it depending on the conditions and have a leg rope attached ( an approved inflatable PFD is OK, Thy are available at race start for $100 must organise prior to day)

Race entry fee $20 plus $10 insurance per day or you can join for a year at Insurance. Participants need to eith pay $10 insurance for the day thus $30 total for the first race or you can join for the year and be insured every time you paddle for $40 at nsw.paddle.org.au/ You then just need to bring your reciept to the race.

More information to come

Cheers

12 footers will be allowed , we are working out divisions and we will post them in the next few days. The SUP boards will start prior to the Outrigger Canoes

jessie123 said...

12 footers will be allowed , we are working out divisions and we will post them in the next few days. The SUP boards will start prior to the Outrigger Canoes

Good news about the 12'ers...and great news about the head start for SUP'ers..

DJ

Divisions that seem to be working every where are,

- 12' and under, flat bottom (or surf style), No Rudder

- 12' to 14' , any hull shape, no rudder.

- Open. Rudders allowed. (maybe cap the length at 17' or 18' if needed)

JB

They sound like fair divisions, JB.

Does the 12' Glide have a flat enough bottom/nose to be classified as a 12' and under, surf style?

Your pretty much on the mark there JB.

ISA have just have updated their rule book for SUP surfing/race events.

Below is the racing extract.

B. STAND UP PADDLE [SUP] RACING REGULATIONS:

a. Race schedule: Organizer’s Responsibility.
A race briefing for competitors is mandatory prior to each race. Within this briefing, course layout / description, event rules, safety issues and competitor questions will be covered.

b. Race Age / Group Categories:
These are flexible according to the event.

c. Race Craft & Specifications:

A. 12’6” Class Board
Maximum length – 12’6”
Maximum width – 33 inches
Fixed Fin, no rudder

B. 14’ Class Board
Maximum length – 14 feet
Maximum width – 30 inches
Minimum weight – 20 lbs [subject to review]
Fixed Fin, no rudder

C. Open Class Board
Minimum length – 14 feet, 1 inch, up to any length?
Rudders allowed

d. General Race Rules [All classes]:

1. Single blade paddle to be used.

2. Rider must be standing at all times while paddling

3. Competitors must follow the designated set course, to be manned by water marshals and rescue staff.

4. The nose of the craft is the designated point for crossing the finish line when determining relative placing.

5. The finish and start lines must be designated by two buoys and legal competitors must have not crossed this line when the starter begins the race.

6. No extraneous aids are allowed. This includes, but is not limited to swim fins, engines, wind catching devices [i.e.: sails, baggy clothing, etc] and personal support teams. No twin hulls allowed (i.e.: catamarans)

7. Wetsuits and hats [sun protection] are permissible.

8. Competitors may be required to have an official mark / race vest and / or race number on their arm, which must remain on the individual throughout the event. No competitor shall be recorded as a finisher unless carrying the official mark / wearing the official vest and number on their arm.

9. Organizers reserve the right to accept, reject and cancel entries.

10. Protests must be made in writing and given to the Race Director within fifteen minutes of the announcement of the provisional results. All decisions of the Race Director will be final.

11. Race officials shall have the ultimate and final authority to remove a competitor from the race if the competitor is judged to be physically incapable of continuing the race without the risk of injury.

12. Each entrant must sign the indemnity declaration on the Entry Form before the event. If under 18, the parent or guardian must sign.

13. The organizers reserve the right to reject or cancel any entry.

e. Race Types:

Three types of events are common in SUP.
A. Surfing performance events will be run to ISA rules.
B. Point to point racing – short and marathon. Ocean and inland waters or a combination of both.
C. Combination events – Usually held on one day with a surfing event in the morning and then a paddle [usually around 2KM] in the early afternoon. Places in each discipline are allocated points and winners are declared in both individual disciplines and overall. These combination events may require riders to use the same board in both disciplines. If so, boards are initialed by the Contest / Race Director.

In surfing performance events there are no restrictions on equipment. All rules to conduct the event are ISA sanctioned and listed in the ISA Official rulebook.

Risk management is a location by location issue for organizers. Racing rules are basic [above] and currently there are no set rules covering tactical /interference issues. Protests will be handled by the Contest / Racing Director based on actual interference and impeding progress, fairness and sportsmanship criteria.

Wow ... better start training ... and saving - for a 16 footer.

How's that "House for sale" going in Frenchs Forest, Sam?

BWDave said...

Hey NewcastleSUP, Thanks for your very informative post. I am wondering if the ISA rules will cover all, most or some of any future races. In particular the classes of board. If it is true that there will be a 14 ft class then it seems that it could be the fairest class. I mean if you just keep going longer, lighter and of coarse more$$$$ then where will it stop?
I think it would be terrific to race against guys on the same boards so having a length limit is a step in the right direction.
In most or all other types of racing ther are strict controls on equipment to ensure that it is athletes prowess and skill that wins the race not the craft or vehicle they ride.
paddle on

Many years ago my Dad, uncle and a bunch of their cronies gathered in the park at Rushcutters Bay. The topic of discussion being the destination for the following weekends outing. They had formed what at that stage they were loosely calling The Cruising Yacht Club, a later date saw the addition, of Australia. Every Sunday they would gather and sail to a different destination in Sydney Harbour and party out. "Next weekend, how about the first boat there doesn't have to pay for beers", "That idea deadset rocks Greame" or whatever they used to say back then was the unanamous decision on my uncles' plan. The seed had been sown that ultimately germinated and grew to become one of the greatest most spectacular ocean sporting events on the planet, The Sydney to Hobart yacht race. The point being here that if you gather a bunch of like minded people together, particularly men, sooner or later they're gonna turn it into a competition, which they'll all want to win and will do pretty much whatever it takes to do so. It's this inbuilt competitiveness and desire to improve things that set us appart, without it we'd still be in the trees or worse. In fact the only thing that accelerates technological growth quicker than competition is war, which when you look at it is basically just very serious competition. The number of everyday items is countless both performance and safety wise that have been born of the "need for speed". Sure, even those early days of CYC racing had their share of grumblers, "oh, he's gonna win coz he's got a bigger boat", fortunately sense prevailed as the majority of club members were happy to race alongside these wind-driven rocketships and were even more stoked to watch and benefit from the rapid advances in their sport. They came up with a system of handicapping that in the right conditions can see the 5 man crew on a 30 foot $100,000 boat beat the 25 man paid crew on the $15,000,000 85 foot state of the art maxi! What you end up with is a race within a race, there's the battle for line honours and the handicap results both prestigous titles in their own right and when that crew of weekend warriors on the 30 footer does everything right and crosses the line ahead of a boat 20 foot bigger and worth 10 times as much, well the look on their faces truly is priceless. If those early yachties had listened to the grumblers and limited things to a one design class to level the field, then that race and indeed the club itself would not exist today. It would have died of boredom ages ago. Now much as this lengthy reply has gone to Big Wave Dave it's really an open letter to the lot of you out there, I just chose BWDs' comment as a few of his points stood out. 14' no rudder, fine, it gives the punters an entry level board and I'm halfway through a sweet little rig that's about a week off completion and can be optioned down to a very affordable price. I love building the things but I'm sorry we cant give em' away! Next, longer, lighter, more$$$ and when I've read the suggestions of an upper limit, I've nearly had a heart attack. People, honestly, what do you think we're gonna be doing? Turning up at races driving flat-bed trucks with $80,000 worth of 60 foot sup on the back? Come on now. Speaking for all who design and build these craft, LEAVE THE UPPER END ALONE, LET US ROAM, you'll be greatful in the long run when the advances filter down to benefit the whole sport. Believe me too that nature and physics have already set us limits that cant be circumvented. Too long and you start having issues with the wave in front, too light and she'll disintegrate before you finish, too narrow and you'll spend more time in the water than Phelpsy. Also if we're gonna be told what length width and weight we can make, kindly refrain from calling it the unlimited class! In closing I just gotta say again, have your 14' rudderless stocky just DONT' BLUNTEN THE CUTTING EDGE, UNTIE OUR HANDS...........Bye Bye, Stuey

Good post Stuey, imagine life without SUP cause someone said you can't do that!

Rod

NewcastleSUP said...

The ISA rules seem to cover everyone including the mad scientist but at the end of the day its up to whoever is running an event to set the rules........

An 18.5ft board being modelled from an America's Cup hull being built on the goldy? What are your thoughts on this Stuey? Is your 18ft'r going to be a point to point board or follow the lines of a yacht hull designed for fast downwind runs?

MAD SCIENTIST, IS THAT ME?.......That's cool, I'll wear that tag. At least I'm not evil but working for the good of mankind!!!!

When I say look to yacht design, I don't mean follow it. The reason being the incredible ammount of horsepower generated by a yachts sails. Indeed they harness that much energy that when pushed too hard have the ability to dismast the yacht. This means shearing stainless cable or even rod anything up to 40mm thick and when driven hard this can happen in a heartbeat. This is the main reason I just look at yacht design as most of the fastest boats are once again, planing hulls with enough horses to be whipped onto the plane in even the lightest of breezes. In comparison the powerplant on a sup, even if it's Laird on 'roids has absolutely no hope of paddling any sort of board onto the plane!!! The only time an ocean going sup will rise to the surface is when on a runner and as I've said before even in ideal conditions this is only 15% of the time, so for the remaining 85% you're manpowering an inefficient hull around the ocean......The Penetrator 572 is actually 18'8" draws inspiration from many ocean forms but follows no one. It's the tweaked offspring of the 16 footer which shares it's soul with the new baby 14. Provided Tully remembers to bring the camera to work I'll post some pics of the 572 tomorrow night, the thing gives me goosebumps and frightens small children so parental discretion is advised. Stay tuned, gotta go, I think I hear Igor messin' with the spider monkeys down in the lab..............

BWDave said...

Stuey, Perhaps I didn't make my point very well. I am all for inovation and pushing the boundries of board design, and I understand that is from the pointy end of racing that we get the flow on benifits in all board design, but as you pointed out the winners of the Hobart race are the ones spending the most money, hence there is the handicap system so that all of your non multi millionare sailers still have a chance of winning. Obviously there will be no handicap system in SUP racing so my point is that having different classes gives your everyday paddler a chance to compete with other like minded paddlers.
So go for you life Stuey and I look forward to seeing where you and the rest of the inovators take this rapidly developing sport that we all love so much.
paddle on

Yeah Dave, I know what your saying and as I also said I wasn't attacking you or anyone else for that matter. I myself am all for a division that gives those new to it, those less well heeled or even those who like the handiness of the 14 a chance to be competitive, that's why we've put in the effort to come up with a budget 14' racer for the guys as well as a 14' for the ladies who think the 18'8" may be a bit of a handful. My only concern was the few posts that seemed to be coming in calling for a " cap on the UNLIMITED division". Are they having trouble with the UN part of UNLIMITED?......... Cheers and God knows I could see some of my sometimes tongue-in-cheek writing being misconstrued !!!!

Boys and Girls,
I hate to be pedantic, but how is the measurement rule applied?

Rod

boardbumps said...

Boys and Girls,
I hate to be pedantic, but how is the measurement rule applied?

Rod

Rod I'm sure it would be the way any board is measured.

Total length..or across the top..measuring along the bottom line and rocker wouldn't make sense to me.

DJ

DavidJohn said...

Just wondering.

It seems odd to me that they have a 12.5' class..and a 14' class..and an unlimited class.

Why the 14' class?...Unless it's just for the benefit of C4 and their Vortice?

I reckon a 12.5' (stock board class) ...and unlimited (open class) ...That's it.

I have nothing against C4 but I like the KISS concept and let's not turn it into Yacht racing with all the different classes.

DJ

Deej, I don't think C4 would do that. What I'm thinking is the 12' class wont be around for long. Once people begin to realize what actually happens out there they'll see that 12' is really a tad too short for this type of work, you need that waterline length, it equates to speed and glide. The more of each of these you have the easier you'll pick up runs and the longer you'll stay on them. The above was glaringly obvious during the 22km Ocean Marathon at this years Noosa Festival. Conditions weren't ideal and in our boat we mostly stuck with Woogie as it was the Penetrators first race. We were probably with him about 50% of the time, the remainder was spent roaming between Billy Watson on the Vortice and the rest of the fleet. Billy, and the guys on the DC16s as well as the two other Penetrators were picking up a few runs while all the guys on the 12's paddled the whole way. Meanwhile up the front, in the time we were with him, we saw Woogie catch at least 50 or 60. We've got it all on film which will be coming out in a documentry by the brilliant Panga Productions in a couple months time. Stuey

Has anyone got an update for this event? The NSW Paddlers website doesn't give much info on it.

Just spoke to Sam again and rego up at Palm Beach will be open from 9.30 in the which should allow enough time to do the car juggle between the finish at Mona Vale.

On Friday the final call on the direction the race will run will be based on the wind forecast for Sunday.

There'll be a BBQ at the finish whichever way we paddle.

Sam.