On Christmas day, the International Canoe Federation (ICF), soon to be known as “Paddle Worldwide”, released three rule changes for competitive SUP racing in 2025: two adjustments related to technical racing and buoy turns, and a new One Design mandate for paddle boards used in the junior class. The rule changes don’t come as a shock, but that doesn’t mean racers are satisfied. Top SUP athletes are already concerned about potential implications. In this three part series, SUP Racer is diving deep to consider how new rules (or lack thereof) are affecting the sport. Part II will cover whether the new technical racing rules really make things more fair, and Part III will discuss how long is “long distance” when it keeps getting shorter.

One Design for Juniors: 2025’s New Rules, Part I

13.1.2 – Juniors (U18) are restricted to use designated (one-design) ICF SUP Hard Board 14′.

In a flurry of rule changes for 2025, the new One Design mandate for SUP juniors was dropped like a lead balloon. All juniors, athletes under age 18, will be required to use a single “One Design” hard board for SUP at ICF competitions. Their stated reasoning? Accessibility.

In the context of the 2025 ICF SUP Worlds being hosted in Abu Dhabi, the One Design rule for the juniors almost looks logical. Abu Dhabi offers a beautiful course location, but it’s not exactly known for its robust SUP racing scene. Getting to the UAE should be relatively easy for racers from around the world since it’s a global flights hub (‘easy’ in an ‘it’s equally inconvenient for everyone’ kind of way), but for race boards it’s a different story. Using a single design for all the junior boards should help address that access problem. The ICF justified the rule change as: “Racing on one-design boards make [sic] the sport more accessible for juniors, less cost for equipment and board transportation.” Improved accessibility at the world champs and otherwise is certainly something to celebrate, but moving SUP in the direction of One Design isn’t a win across the board. In fact, it could be detrimental for the future of SUP with the ICF.

SUP racers come in different shapes and sizes, and not every board design is right for every athlete. In the open men’s category, one example that comes to mind is comparing the Dutch paddler Donato Freens with repeat world champion Shuri “Shrimpy” Araki from Japan. These two top SUP athletes have near opposite builds: Donato is 1.90 metres tall (6ft 3in) and 85 kg (187 lbs), while Shrimpy is 1.60 metres tall (5ft 3in) and 65 kg (143 lbs). And that’s just in the open men’s category. Considering racers on the smaller side of women’s and junior categories, or heavier athletes in men’s categories, the differences become even more stark.

While starting the One Design rule for juniors first may feel less risky than starting it for the seniors, the consequences for juniors could be worse. Younger paddlers are still growing and may have even greater variation in size than the open/masters paddlers. And because juniors are often less experienced at racing, they may have even more difficulty managing boards that are too big or too small. The idea for One Design in SUP comes from windsurfing, where athletes have flagged this exact problem.

Looking at One Design in windsurfing

One Design has been the standard for windsurfing since the 1980s, and Starboard has been an advocate since the beginning: first in windsurfing, and now in SUP. In 2019, Starboard celebrated when their One Design was chosen again for the new Olympic windsurfing foil class: the iQFoil made its debut in windsurfing in the Paris 2024 Olympics. Since One Design has been ingrained in windsurfing for such a long time, the SUP community can look to windsurfing to understand how One Design may affect SUP. An article in Surfer Today highlighted the perspective of windsurfer athletes on the pros and cons of One Design in response to its roll-out for foiling in Paris. Here’s a few of the pros/cons from that list that are worth considering as potential pros/cons for One Design in SUP racing:

Pros

– One Design recognized benefits in equalization of equipment, limited equipment items required, and focus on athlete competition among foiling options;

– Design is developed, well-tested, and ready;

– Cheapest foiling equipment;

– Attractive offer for Emerging Nations;

– If opened to multiple branding or multiple manufacturers, it will allow for equipment sponsorship opportunities;

– High-performance equipment;

– Secondhand equipment will become suitable and attractive for recreational purposes;

Cons

– The one-design equipment will not represent the latest design trends in the following cycles unless the class introduces changes;

– Will develop in time a narrow ideal sailor weight range;

– One sail size for men and one sail size for women reduces the sailor’s weight range compared to the other foiling options;

– Equipment sizes less suitable for heavy sailors compared to other foiling options;

– Only one single brand is currently involved: depends on new brands being licensed to allow for equipment sponsorship opportunities and risks of quality or supply issues;

– No secondhand equipment is available yet;

In summary, the pros of One Design in both windsurfing and SUP are largely about accessibility of the sport. The cons are largely about equipment suitability across weight ranges and the impact on the athletes. While growing the sport is incredibly important, it would be disappointing to see individual athletes suffer at the cost of sport accessibility. Perhaps there’s a compromise in a sort of One(ish) Design approach, similar to other paddlesports?

Could One(ish) Design be a solution?

In flatwater kayaking, there’s no One Design policy, but the specs and design are consistent and mature enough that most top end boats look very similar. The biggest variation comes not in design, but in boat size. Athletes shopping for a new Nelo, for example, can choose from Small, Medium, Large, XL, XXL, and even XXXL sizes according to their height and weight. Using their “Discover Your Boat” tool, the very first step is inputting the paddler’s height and weight. The design principles remain the same according to the boat model (for example, Vanquish 7 versus Quattro) but have been adapted at each boat size to fit paddlers of different sizes.

Paddle boards aren’t exactly like t-shirts, and we don’t know yet what the proposed design for the juniors One Design in 2025 will be, but perhaps SUP can learn from both windsurfing and kayaking to produce a more fair option: One Design, Many Sizes. But even a compromise on the definition of One Design may not be enough to overcome the significant disadvantages for junior athletes.

Will the ICF junior events survive One Design?

It’s not clear whether the ICF consulted any junior athletes before implementing the new One Design rule, but it’s clear that One Design is not a win for most of the top end juniors. Many elite athletes in both the junior and senior categories are only able to train, travel the world, and compete at the highest level because they’re sponsored by leading board companies like Starboard, NSP, SIC Maui, Flying Fish, Infinity, and more. Assuming the One Design comes from Starboard, the future looks cloudy for juniors sponsored by any other brand. Not only could One Design put racers at a disadvantage based on their size and weight, but it could also disadvantage them based on their board sponsor.

For junior champion “Super Soryn” Preston, the One Design mandate by the ICF means she simply won’t compete at ICF events. Soryn explained her decision:

My team and I have decided that I will not compete as a junior at ICF and that others most likely will not because of this. I would prefer to choose my own equipment with various volume, width, and model based on the conditions. We ride boards that are designed for our weight and preferences which is important to our performance. I train on a ferrari and don’t want to race on minivan. I believe competition is not squarely based on one’s ability when it is clear that the quality of the equipment has an effect. It also affects the industry because it creates a lack of innovation between brands to have multiple competitive models for elite and amateur athletes. I know nothing about the one design, but it perplexes me as to why we are making our juniors do this but not the elites.

Soryn has been paddling since she was just seven years old. By age 13, she had already competed in over 100 races. At the ICF World Championships in Sarasota last year, she finished with bronze medals in both the technical and long distance events. She earned a bronze medal at the ISA World Championships in Denmark as well. She’s consistently reaching the podium in junior women’s races, often challenges the world’s best paddlers in the open women’s races, and she’s still just 16 years old. Sponsored by SIC Maui, embedded in the thriving paddling scene of Southern California, and experienced enough to know which races are worth her time and which aren’t, Soryn’s decision does not bode well for the ICF.

How many other top juniors are making the same calculus as Soryn, and deciding ICF events that mandate One Design just aren’t worth it? Juniors are the future of the sport. Without them, what does the future of the ICF look like?