Dynamics are underway in the international surfski racing community whereby paddlers are being ‘signed’ to specific teams. At this point there has been little definition of what ‘signed’ means, perhaps we’ll hear more about this over time. A recent article on surfski.info shows a photo shoot of the new Epic Riders, which looks to be a team of 11 surfski and kayak racers wearing Epic emblazoned uniforms and proudly holding Epic paddles. It is not clear how this team will function, particularly in races, but clearly based on the quality of the paddlers, both male and female, a key objective of this team approach is to garner high profile advertising for Epic products at surfski races.
Look at the pre-race photos of the Dubai Shamaal Surfski Race and it is clear that Fenn is also buying into the team approach, although to what extent is not yet evident. Just as many paddlers can be seen strutting their stuff in Fenn labelled race jerseys, which presumably means these paddlers have received some level of sponsorship from Fenn. At the recent NY Mayor’s Cup there was a small group of surfski paddlers wearing Think race jerseys, again presumably indicating some level of sponsorship for the paddlers. At US surfski champs it is common to see paddlers wearing Huki race shirts…perhaps indicative of paddler sponsorship.
With Epic’s latest move to formalize the Epic Riders team, will the other surfski manufacturers soon follow suit…or will they wait to see how effective is the Epic Riders team approach?
It will be interesting to see whether the team approach will take hold in the international and even in our local surfski racing communities. Will we see the start line of our surfski races look more and more like a bicycle racing peleton with most of the paddlers outfitted in a multitude of team uniforms? And if our sport does move toward a team system, who will be backing the teams? The surfski manufacturers are the obvious choice; clearly Fenn, Epic, Huki and Think (and others) will benefit from having paddlers showing off their company logos and doing well in races while paddling their boats. What about the folks who sell surfskis and other paddling equipment…will they jump onto the team bandwagon? Clearly stores like MEC, Deep Cove Outdoors, Ocean Paddlesports, Pogue Sports and Ecomarine could be expected to benefit from having paddlers showing off their logos to the paddling community and race spectators. But off course this brings us back to the term ‘signing paddlers’. Any business getting involved in backing a team of paddlers is going to need to get back more from the deal than they put in for the investment to pay off. So clearly the cost of ‘signing’ on the team of paddlers is going to be a significant issue.
Hmmm, well what could ‘signing’ mean?
Ø Professional team…paddlers paid to race in a certain team’s uniform and using the team’s equipment.
Ø Equipment sponsored team…paddlers are provided the boat and/or paddle that the team’s racers use.
Ø Entry fee sponsored team…paddlers have their entry fees to particular races paid for by the sponsor in exchange for racers wearing team uniform and/or using the team’s equipment.
Ø Club team…paddlers represent their paddling club by wearing the club’s team race jersey.
Obviously a Professional Team of paddlers is the extreme edge of the ‘signing’ spectrum…but we can all dream, right! It would seem that manufacturers would be most suited to an Equipment Sponsored Team since they would have the most to gain from having their products do well at races. Perhaps paddle sports businesses that sell surfskis and paddles might also adopt this team approach, although their team might be made up of a variety of different product lines that the store carries. An Entry Fee Sponsored Team could be backed by most any business, especially since most paddlers own their own surfski. In exchange for wearing a team jersey and/or having sponsor’s stickers placed on the boat and/or paddle, racers have some of the expenses to take part in the races paid for by the sponsor. Club Teams can be simply paddlers wearing their club’s colours to show pride in their club or perhaps businesses can donate to a club in exchange for some sort of logo display. Clubs can then choose ways to motivate their members to take part in events to satisfy the sponsor.
So what effect would teams of surfski paddlers have on our local racing?
Not surprisingly it is likely that the fastest paddlers are still going to win the races no mater what team jersey they are wearing or which equipment they are using. Perhaps the biggest effect could be the numbers of paddlers entering the races. For example if paddlers were part of a team they might feel obliged to take part in more races. As well if paddlers’ entry fees will be paid for they might take part in more races, particularly if the ‘signing’ agreement was for a package of races. One would expect the highest-level paddlers would be in demand by the teams so it would be expected that more of these faster paddlers would take part in more of the local races. Having more and more faster paddlers taking part in our races will raise the level of our local racing scene and will motivate more paddlers to strive to achieve higher levels of performance.
Does surfski racing need teams?
On the international stage it may well be that team racing could become more of a factor in determining the outcome of races. Just look at the line up of the 2008 Dubai Shamaal Race to see that the level of competition at the most ‘prestigious’ events is becoming stronger and stronger. With all these super-fast paddlers vying for the ever-increasing prize monies being offered up at surfski races it is going to be harder and harder for individuals to take victory. It may well be that team strategy could become more and more important in determining the outcome of these highly competitive races. Locally, team sponsorship can have benefits on our racing scene, but at the relatively early stages of the development of our local surfski racing scene it is likely that key sponsorship will be better served to help event organizers offer more and better races for our surfski racing community…a community of that is rapidly growing both in our numbers of surfskiers and in our skill level.
What ever happens, it should be fun to watch.
The next question is how long it will take for surfski.info to become an online bookmaker…taking bets on the race results…they are getting closer to this with their recent addition of online ‘pick the results’ for surfski races…you can even win prizes. Keep up the great work Alain and Rob!
