V-SUP NZ Series

Yep. This competition fits in with your life scheduling, rather than the other way around…

No. It needs to be a standing start –  hit the start button on your watch or phone with the board stationary, then start paddling.  Do it this way, to standardise things and keep it fair and achievable for everyone.

Once your cross your finish line, you hit the stop button to ‘close the loop’ on your track. You can do this while at speed, you don’t have to come to a stop. 

To keep things simple and flexible, we are using Google Forms for this system, which uploads your data straight into a spreadsheet, making it super easy for us to sort and edit. 

However, it is a security requirement of Google Forms that to allow file uploads (ie your screenshot), you need to be logged in.  

This is to save you having to try and create a course of the exact distance, which would be weird and artificial, and you’d probably still find that when you ‘raced’ it, your GPS ends up saying it’s 4021m instead of exactly 4000m or whatever.  So we’re making it much more simple for you.  As long as your course exceeds the minimum limit (ie 3km, 4km or 45km), that’s fine. Some simple spreadsheet maths will adjust your actual distance/time figures to the desired distance. 

So, yes, you’re actually going to have to paddle slightly further than the required distance. So the smart play is to try and create a course that isn’t too much longer than required. But then again you might be the sort of paddler that only really gets into their stride after the 3rd kilometre anyway, so going a bit further will work for you. As said, it’s all just for fun. Don’t overthink it.

Because it’s good for your training to mix it up a bit, and it will hopefully tempt you to find and paddle different courses.

This is simply to reduce the effects of wind, tide, currents etc.  Otherwise downwinder or down-current runs would of course be significantly quicker than unassisted runs!

Yes, if you’re extremely creative, and catch the dying embers of the outgoing tide to take you down channel then the beginning of the incoming tide to bring you back again, you might be able to squeeze a bit of an advantage.  If so, well, good for you! We applaud your creativity. But ultimately, this is only for bragging rights and a fun motivation for you to improve your personal times and scores, and see how you measure up against others. 

Look, if it makes you feel better, you do whatever you want! But you might have to face the ridicule of your friends and the general NZ SUP community if you produce some sort of record-breaking time and then it transpires you were on a jetski.   We are trusting you, as good Kiwi paddlers, to play the game fairly. Ultimately, you’re only cheating yourself. 

Remember, it doesn’t need to be exact. Just a bit more than the required distance.  The easiest way of course will just be to go paddling with your distance tracker on, and see what works. But if you want to do some prior planning then just use google maps. Get your body of water on screen, then click your planned starting point to ‘drop a pin’. Right click on it (if you’re using a PC), and then select MEASURE DISTANCE. Then wherever you click next, it will show the distance to that point, and the next one, etc. You can then drag those points around to adjust your track, and hey presto, find the distance you need. 

We thought long and hard about this, and ultimately decided, no. Just the one entry per week, otherwise it just complicates things. Obviously though you can still make multiple attempts in a week, and just submit your best one.  If you want to do that, then good for you! The aim of this is to encourage people to get out there and paddle. 

Fair enough, they are quite expensive. But you can do the whole thing just as easily with a mobile phone.  The Garmin Connect app is very popular, but there are loads of simple free fitness/activity tracker apps you can use, here’s a few for starters

Just be sure to keep your phone in a waterproof case or similar. You don’t want to be losing it!

But how close behind them are you? And can you close the gap, each week, if you train hard and purposefully? 

If you’re in a different age group, then you’ve got the incentive of winning your age group. 

If you’re in a different region, you’ve got the incentive of being fastest in your region – in your age group – on that board fleet.  LOTS of ways to get to the top of the rankings!

If there is enough support for the V-Series, then yes, we will add this functionality.

Well, there’s the answer right there! 80% of the boards sold in New Zealand are inflatables, yet nobody races with them because they’ll get smoked by the carbon 14′ speed machines.  But now, everyone can join in fairly and equally, wherever they are, however old they are, and whatever they’re paddling.

Yes, if you want! Or tandems. Or yoga boards. Whatever you want. Just let us know. Contact us and tell us what class or other parameter we need to add to the V-Series in order to make it tempting for you to enter. 

Yes, for sure. It’s absolutely fine to be on the water with other paddlers, whether it’s an organised formal race or just a bunch of you doing it together. As long as it is of sufficient distance, and you have the same static start, and ’round trip’ format, then it’s fine. 

If the ‘real’ race you’re doing is longer than the week’s V-Race challenge (thinking of you Riverside Drive paddlers in Whangarei here, with your 4km distance each week!),  you can still enter your 4km distance/time for the 3km race. Obviously it’ll probably end up being a bit slower pace than if you were paddling less distance, but it’s still an valid entry, and will keep you in the running for those spot prizes, club rankings etc. 

Yes, absolutely. You can’t dig out some record-breaking run you did in 2015 when conditions were perfect and submit that!  The paddle that you are using for your entry MUST have been completed during the week of the race. 

Absolutely.  However, all entries from outside New Zealand will all be grouped together as one region, and won’t be eligible for spot prizes, simply because there would be not be practical to send them overseas.