Surf ski Olympic sport

Why isn't surf ski an olympic sport. Is it becasue boats are unregulated, or maybe becasue it has much to do with weater conditions or can be difficult to broadcast or becasue it is a long distance sport rather than short fast bursts of speed? All that is true but sure I would love to see some good surf ski racing in the Olympics.

Cheers

AC

Probably because no one has ever lobbied for it and another paddle sport would have to drop out to include it, but I agree it would be great to see.

All of the above.

But I for one don't want to see it as an Olympic sport.
Because it will bring massive regulation to bear on an activity that has started as a freedom sport.

The great thing about surfski is it's variety and ability to do or try anything you want.

It is hardly a truly global event either, imagine the non competitiveness of land locked countries.


Surf ski will find it's own way.

Well said RAB.

Ocean ski racing paddling is freedom personified, but that should not limit its olympic appeal.
I would argue that it has the potential for broader appeal internationally than slalom racing, which is largely Eurocentric.
In addition, Slalom courses are usually artificial structures that cost millions to build & usage hardly justifies setup & ongoing running / maintenance costs. Similarly, man made sprinting courses cost a lot of money for the limited usage they get.
They could just send the ocean ski paddlers down to the sailing course with a 2 week window period for a 3 race series downwind!
Fiscal limitations in future olympics may drive this ?
The great television spectacle it could create would have a lot more appeal to me than slalom racing or even sprint racing!

It might be easier to get marathon canoeing in. Many top surfskiers do both.

Land locked competitors might surprise:

Found this exerpt interesting in Jo Glickmans article on the 2012 Blackburn challenge -- was won in record time by Dorian Walters:

"While it might seem odd that a guy who now trains in a K1 on a miniscule lake behind his house in land-locked Columbus, Ohio would thrive in rough water, it makes more sense when you consider that the muscular 5'10", 175-pounder from Erlangen, Germany dedicated a more than a decade of his life to slalom kayaking, winning the German national title in 1988."

with all the portages they could stage the marathon racing as a biathlon

In triathlon circles, Kona is still the race to win.
Many are now bored with the formula Olympic distance created to appease the Olypic committee gods and gone are all the whacky distance events as they are seen as too difficult to televise.

But, with all the new camera technologies out there now, maybe Tony is right, a good entertaining downwind could be produced.

But at the moment TV isn't even interested in downwind paddling, most people have no idea what an ocean racing ski is and assume that a SLS ski is what you mean.

If TV got wind of how good a spectacle could be created and then the Greek gods got a whif of money making potential, which after all is what the current day Olympics is all about, then maybe........... But I'm not holding my breath and it's going to take a huge Internet interest in clips made by a Rambo on steroids to get it all rolling, but nobody will do that without a return for their time, so it all boils down to getting sponsors interested in our best races to kick things off really.

So, anybody out there with good contacts capable of creating the Redbull/ Coke/ Nike Molakai?
Maybe we should court the tobacco companies..........

First off with the new ICF Surf Ski World Championships it could possibly lead to a IOC bid. Getting the sports governing body to now recognise Surf Ski is a huge first step. It won't happen over night, but it opens the door.

Who cares about land locked countries? Do we care about countries with no mountains for the sports of down hill skiing? Heck what about countries with no snow?

Lastly believe it or not you can do some pretty epic rough water training in Ohio.

Ohio: Mosquito resevoir: good downwind action with deep enough water for decent downwinders; Pymatuning Lake: very deep water, well situated for downwinders; ALum Creek Lake (Columbus): deep water for speed, but short for an out and back; Lake Erie!: an incredible lake, DEEP near Cleveland, kinda shallow on the West end of the great lake, but Cleveland areas have tons of miles of nice Westerly fetch, and good sized rollers (12-14' in many 20 knot westerly blows). Best thing though, is hooking on to a roller in Cleveland, and ending up in Painsville 30 miles away! Ohio has some good skiing areas!

Doug at SagaKayak.com wrote: Ohio: Mosquito resevoir: good downwind action with deep enough water for decent downwinders; Pymatuning Lake: very deep water, well situated for downwinders; ALum Creek Lake (Columbus): deep water for speed, but short for an out and back; Lake Erie!: an incredible lake, DEEP near Cleveland, kinda shallow on the West end of the great lake, but Cleveland areas have tons of miles of nice Westerly fetch, and good sized rollers (12-14' in many 20 knot westerly blows). Best thing though, is hooking on to a roller in Cleveland, and ending up in Painsville 30 miles away! Ohio has some good skiing areas!

All great suggestions and options!!