The response I promised yesterday...

Though it was almost 25 years ago, I rather vividly recall my second US Team Trials.  It was 1984, Peshtigo River, about 100 miles to the north of Green Bay.  That's right, 100 miles north of Green Bay, in April.  Of course, it was cold.  The put-in was not on solid ground, it involved walking across a 10-15 foot-long sheet of ice.  And even with the frigid weather, there were more than 105 entrants to the 1984 US Team Trials.

1984 was a Pre-Worlds year at Garmisch.  And man, we sent the whole kitchen sink to Germany.  6 "A" Team K-1s, 6 "B" Team K-1s, and a few other K-1s also went just hoping that perhaps they'd get a chance to race.  Though we didn't fill out "B" Teams in the other races classes, the US was flush with C-1s, C-2s, and Dubs.  Though I don't have the exact count, I'm sure there were almost 30 paddling Americans banging their way down the Loisach.

For purposes of comparison, let me play back some stats from this year's (2008) US Team Trials on the Cheat River.  It was an early April race, and we had 22 entrants.  12 K-1s, 6 Dubs, 4 C-1s, and no C-2 entrants.  5 of the entrants were of Masters designation, and 4 were Juniors – the Jrs and Srs made up about 40% of the race.  By the time we got Europe, we had 7 K-1s, 4 C-1s, and 1 Dub.  This includes 5 Masters and 2 Juniors.

So the totals:

                1984 Team Trials Entrants: ~105

                1984 US Team Members to Europe: ~28

                2008 Team Trials Entrants: 22

                2008 US Team Members to Europe: 12

So, just looking at the figures, yep, on the domestic wildwater front, there was more going on 25 years ago.  Anecdotally speaking, I think we hit a high-water mark in 1989, the same year the Worlds came to the Savage River. 

And this had led Dan Murn to legitimately ask "Why is WW racing fading?"  Though I have no conclusive reasoning behind this decline, I can serve up a few possibilities.

1) Expansion of open water paddlesport racing.  Here I am talking about the seemingly endless array of races for sea kayaks, surfskis, and other long boats.  25 years ago, this was just peeking in from around the corner.  And now, this slightly-unstructured class of competition is flourishing.  On any given Sunday here in Seattle, the Sounds Rowers Club will have a race with over 200 boats in it.  And it's like almost every weekend.  I know that all of you have an analog where you live.  If paddling competition is in your heart, his alternative to river wildwater paddling is pretty compelling.

2) Equipment.  Boats, that is.  This is a huge problem.  25 years ago, an American-built composite wildwater was not too tough to get.  Jaycox in CO, Bushnell up in NY State, Andy Bridge in Maryland, and since ww boat molds were around, the occasional home-built popped up from time-to-time.  Fast forward to 2008 – I  am not aware of any US-based wildwater boat builders.  Getting a new boat today requires a bi-lingual transaction with one of the builders in Europe.  And then you need to solve the expensive problem of getting it delivered.

There are no "bad guys" in this observation.  Wildwater boat building is a micro-niche here in the US, and all of the would-be customers have no money.  Bad business model, here the business reality.

Plastic boats, like WaveHoppers and the Speeder have a ton of potential here in the US.  But these Brit boats are not ubiquitous…there are some interesting boat import constraints that are challenging to comprehend.  Yuck – more business reality.

3) Race organizers.  Over the years, the number of third-party players willing to host races has dropped to almost zero.  How come?  Well, putting on a race is time-consuming, and the hosts typically lose money as well.  This is the main reason that we've seen a shift where individuals, and not companies, are putting on races.  We all know the obvious solutions to this – higher entry fees, subsidies from USACK or other supporters, or guarantees of revenue lift (probably from retail sales).  This is a case of prudent business making smart decisions for their businesses.  More business stuff.

4) Organic marketing.  In the past, would-be wildwater paddlers are exposed to the sport at events and through their paddling buddies.  This exposure was the de facto marketing (ie recruiting) for sport growth.  Well, take a peek at #2 and #3 above.  As that dries up, the Implied Marketing effect stops happening.  So, the recruiting problem that used to solve itself no longer does.

I know this is getting long, so let me quickly comment on the key items our US Wildwater Board is working to solve.

a) How do we attract Race Organizers?  As we know, this is a business problem, and probably can be solved with a business approach.  Stated simply…how do we make a Wildwater race financially profitable to a host?  In fact, irresistibly profitable to a potential host?

b) Marketing/Recruiting.  Since the organic marketing has evaporated, how do we explicitly recruit into the sport?  And of course, how do we do that in a way that's not super expensive?  We experimented with a few adjunct events to the 2008 Nationals this year, and we will not really know the results until the spring.  But in the future, expect to see more out-of-the-ordinary things at your local river.  They're all back-handed attempts to get more butts into wildwater boats.

c) Equipment.  Though the old school guys look at WaveHoppers and Speeders somewhat disdainfully, there is enormous potential for sport growth with these plastic beauties.  We just need to solve the procurement problems, and that's a solvable problem.

d) Money (fund raising).  Though it's a short-term fix, we can throw some more cash at some of these problems, and get some short-term lift in all categories.  But for non-Olympic wildwater, corporate sponsorship is too tough a sell at this stage.  So, we're trying to find better ways to tap individuals, like friends and alum, to cough up some green.  But, as I said, this is very short-term solution.  Ultimately the sport has to be able to support itself financially.  And I'll spare y'all the details of what that would like for my next fillibuster.

So Dan, ya got any other questions?  <grin>

Seth Eisner

Chairman, US Wildwater Committee

--- In wildwater@yahoogroups.com, "Seth Eisner" <seth@...> wrote:
>
> Friends, this is something I have been noodling on for 10 years. And
> at this point, I have some pretty reasons, and some pretty specific
> possible remedies.
>
> Please give me a day or two to tune my thoughts, I'll let post a
> hopefully-well-thought-out response here.
>
> Until then, I appreciate your patience.
>
>
> Seth Eisner
> Chairman, US Wildwater Committee
>
>
>
> --- In wildwater@yahoogroups.com, "lakesurfer52" dmurn@ wrote:
> >
> > Hi
> > Why is WW racing fading? Is there a reason(s) we can not draw new
> > paddlers to enjoy this sport?
> > I have been promoting the sport for 25 years. hosting many regional
> > races and the Nationals.
> > I have my opinions! Would like to hear from our group why the sport
> > does not move forward.
> > Dan
> >
>