WITH ALL DUE RESPECT TO MR. KALAMA, ADDITION (NOT SUBTRACTION) WOULD RESULT IN A GREATER NUMBER OF SUP SPORT AND RACE PARTICIPANTS - AT ALL LEVELS... If Mr. Kalamas idea is to Improve SUP Racing By Making Race Boards More Open, More Convenient And More Fair then why propose placing a limitation on SUP racing that excludes non-inflatable SUPs, their designers, makers, retailers, owners, users, and racers? If one wants to make SUP racing more open, accessible, and successful then wouldnt it make more sense to add classes to include and attract more racers to a race (and people to the sport) rather than impose and enforce limitations that subtract existing race classes and exclude certain types of boards? Keep the current classes and ADD an inflatable 126 and an inflatable Open class. I have read that more than one race promoter in Japan has already added an inflatable class without the expense of subtracting existing race classes. Adding inflatable classes allows the racers themselves to decide which class to enter (if they have multiple boards from which to choose) or race their inflatable against other inflatables. I dont see why this issue must be an either/or issue in the sense that we must choose either hard boards or inflatables. Let the users, the market, the racers decide. Eventually, the pro/elite racers (as well as other competitive SUP participants) would migrate towards the fastest boards while being allowed to experiment with different board materials much like they do now except theyd also have the choice to race inflatables against other inflatable racers. Expanding the classes would create additional work-arounds to the participation barriers that Mr. Kalama mentioned such as transportation, storage, and accessibility while providing an even greater opportunity for racers to use a board that best fits their racing style, body weight, and optimum board design. Mr. Kalama mentions that the 126 board length was a convenient but totally arbitrary number invented without too much thought for the future of the sport. Undoubtedly, Mr. Kalama has given much thought for the future of the sport of SUP: and, has arguably done as much as anyone involved with SUP to promote the sport. But, the idea of making the sport more accessible by placing limitations on the the type of board one can use in a race just doesnt seem to make sense to this Dave Kalama fan. Limiting racers (as well as potential future racers who start as recreational paddlers) to inflatable boards would do just that, limit participation in the sport- at all levels.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 12:22:47 +0000
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