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Dyer needs with…
Bryce Dyer
that all sporting equipment is the product of natural
selection or arbitrary decisions. For example, 385
yards was added to the marathon at the 1908
Olympics just so the Royal Family could see the
finish from their viewing box. I would think that
Pheidippides (who legend says ran from the
battlefield at Marathon to Athens in order to relay
news of their victory – only to then die from
exhaustion) may well feel a little aggrieved by this.
Nobody saw a prince collapse when making the
treacherous journey of bedroom to balcony for a
sandwich and a sit down.
The question has to be asked though whether the
current race board restrictions are a good thing.
Have restrictions stunted innovation? Consider that
there have been some fantastic ideas over the last
few years such as SIC’s multihull standmaran board
design or the Allison multi-fin system. Hell, last
month we had 13 year old Finn Spencer nearly
beating an entire elite field at the Bluesmiths
Paddle Imua race in Maui by paddling on a
hydrofoil. But these things aren’t all race legal. Is
SUP racing just about paddling or is it a symbiotic
relationship between athlete and equipment? If it’s
the former, the popularity of the N1SCO one-design
class is easy to see. However, consider that sports
such as Formula 1 allowed the humble family
saloon to enjoy ‘trickle-down’ technology such as
active suspension and better tyres. Pushing
innovation and taking a paddler whose name ends
in Baxter or Hönscheid and asking them to turn it
up to 11 is a good way to make your future touring
boards easier and more fun to use.
I read a good quote in the book ‘Faster’ that
said you could boil competitive sport down
to three basic ingredients. These are oxygen,
food and equipment.
It’s pretty easy to get any of us enthusiastic about
the last two but the first one generally involves
dedication and patience (plus in my experience, a
very supportive family unit that doesn ’t wish to kill
you whilst you sleep). However, some of us aren’t
motivated by paddling for hours on end and a lot of
this is offset with the joys of a new board…and
somewhere out there is that ultimate SUP race board.
It is wise to be aware though that the latest
drippings of carbon fibre won’t win you your next
race but history says it can lose them. At the 1989
Tour de France, Frenchman Laurent Fignon
(resplendent with spectacles and a rather
fashionable ponytail) went from working out where
he’d like the winner’s trophy mounted to being sat
on the curbside in tears having lost the race by just
eight seconds. A rival who was high on motivation
and big on aerodynamics went with the numbers,
not the fashion and won whilst the fat lady was
standing to sing. If you
SUP race, I can offer you
two bits of advice –
choose your parents
wisely or look at your
equipment as a weapon,
not a tool.
A mythical beast that offers unparalleled stability,
pearl-free surfing and the ability to hold 10kph on
the flat powered by nothing more than happy
thoughts. Until that point, brands will inform us
year on year that the latest offerings are one step
closer to that point (whereas critics will say it’s a
catwalk driven by colourways and perceptions
rather than Bernoulli’s theorem).
If the anecdotes are to be believed, the reason we
ended up with the raceboard lengths we have today
is due to several interesting stories involving the
sizes of foam blanks or that some brands imposed
race restrictions on lengths to promote their own
designs (whilst limiting others). Those who feel
disadvantaged by these conspiracies may suggest
that such limits have stifled innovation or were
merely arbitrary in nature. However, the reality is
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