Posted by
Mike Harnish on 14:33:16 1/25/2010 from 76.87.11.145:
In reply to: A world without Paddleboards posted by
Pete on 13:26:55 1/25/2010 from 99.131.57.154:
I like the surfboard paddlers. If they want to stage surfboard-paddling-only events, why not? It's not as if ALL events are going to be SP-only events.
Also, on the growth of paddleboarding, the actions of one man took paddleboarding from a sport that almost nobody ever heard of to a sport that a few people here-and-there knew very little about. That man was Craig Lockwood.
Lockwood's articles in The Surfer's Journal about the Catalina Classic in '95 and '96 raised awareness of the sport around the world. And, they helped take paddleboard manufacturing from a mostly money-losing effort to a sometimes profitable business.
Still, paddleboarding is the smallest sport in the world. It's probably dwarfed now by surfboard paddling. Why? What's the difference between a first-timer on a paddleboard and a first-timer stand-up paddling a surfboard? The surfboard paddler has a smile on his or her face.
I'm still of the opinion that paddleboarding is one of the most demanding sports in the world.
