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Let’s Settle This in Court: What, Exactly, Is Stand-Up Paddleboarding? - The New York Times

posted onJune 17, 2017
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Article snippet: The age-old questions. Is light a particle or a wave? Is Certs a breath mint or a candy mint? Is bridge a sport or a game? And now add this one: Is stand-up paddleboarding more like canoeing or more like surfing? This question, at least, is headed to mediation with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. In stand-up paddle, athletes stand on a long, flat board. (Hey, that sounds like surfing!) They race one another, propelling their craft with a paddle. (Wait a minute, that sounds like canoeing!) The races can be held on flat water, like standard canoeing races, or in the waves, like surfing. Now both the International Surfing Association and the International Canoe Federation want to control the sport. It’s not just an academic exercise. Stand-up paddle is a candidate to be added to the Olympics, which has recently been binging on adding new sports and events. Both sides have held stand-up paddle events, and both believe they are the rightful stewards of the sport going forward. “Especially on flat water, propulsion using a paddle is basically canoeing,” said Simon Toulson, the secretary general of the canoeing federation. “Standing up or sitting down is irrelevant.” “We are mainly flat water,” he said. “Surfing at the beach is not our area.” That would seem to open the door for a compromise: Perhaps canoeing could supervise the flat-water version of stand-up paddle, and surfing could rule over the ocean version. But, Toulson said: “So far the compromises have not b... Link to the full article to read more

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