What planet do you want to live on?
ICF vs. ISA: A Moment to Reflect After Back-to-Back World Championships
With both international federations claiming jurisdiction over the SUP sport and hosting their World Championships almost back-to-back, this is an opportune moment to step back and consider the bigger picture. It’s not as though we haven’t discussed this before—indeed, it often feels like we’re going in circles. Nevertheless, this unique situation provides a valuable opportunity to once again reflect on who these two federations are and what they actually deliver.
Olympic Hopes
We lived through the growing pains of this one and have written many articles when the ICF and the ISA were fighting over the sport at the IOC Court of Arbitration.
The verdict was clear: The ISA holds the key to the Olympics.
That is a given and will not change anytime soon. So for all the ICF hopefuls — you will have to bury your Olympic dreams via the ICF.
Mit dem Laden des Videos akzeptieren Sie die Datenschutzerklärung von YouTube.
Mehr erfahren
Five years ago the CAS verdict came out. It was a big moment and we spoke to Connor Baxter back then.
We were all very hopeful that SUP would be integrated into the Olympics very soon, but we were disappointed again and again.
We can leave this behind us and look at how each organization is treating the sport — and they could not be more different.
Planet Canoe – Planet Suit 👔
The ICF started to show interest in the sport very late in the game, but made a strong push to gain goodwill in the SUP community. They accomplished that with their events in China, Hungary, and Poland. Then the honeymoon phase was over, and the ICF started to put their stamp on a sport that originated in a completely different culture than their own. People in charge do not know the sport, let alone its culture.
Back in Hungary, they were shocked that SUP athletes did not follow podium dress codes. The ICF is run by suits, and this resonates through all of their doings.
➡️ Not everybody liked sandals and barefeet.
This does not mean that their organizers do not know how to put on exciting races. Time and time again, the ICF has proven that flat-water SUP racing can be very exciting. When it comes to organizing races, the ICF has a clear advantage due to the pure nature of their DNA: Paddle Racing. Sadly they fail to adapt to the slight nuances that the SUP Sport is bringing with its culture.
It is unfortunate that the ICF made such a grand entrance into the sport — schmoozing the community — only to then start deteriorating their operations. It was clear that the quality of events between Hungary and Sarasota diminished tremendously.
However, their biggest weakness is not their events: It’s the way they communicate and market the sport.
When they entered the scene, everybody was hopeful that the ICF had seen the Aloha Spirit and surf culture in SUP and wanted a part of that to make their own sport younger and trendier. Instead, the opposite is the case.
To this day, they have not understood that we race on boards, not boats. They treat SUP like another canoe discipline — and that is not what SUP is. SUP came out of surfing. It was surfers who started SUP races, not canoe paddlers who one day decided to stand up for a change. SUP is not Canadian Paddling Standing Up!
Live Production Issues and Paywalls
Furthermore, it is very unfortunate that the ICF, with all their capacities, is still not capable of producing a live broadcast that is adequate for our sport. The latest example was the event in Abu Dhabi. While the voices on the microphone were the right ones, the camera work and production looked like a hobby event — and then they had the nerve to ask the audience to pay to watch. The frustrated comments in the live feed made this very clear.
Putting a sport that is desperate for a larger audience behind a paywall is an outrage and absolutely counterproductive. Just take a look on their youtube channel and pay attention to the views.
Treat SUP like a Canoe Hobby Sport and it will remain a… Hobby Sport.
Participation Model
From a participation point of view, the ICF has a different approach:
Instead of a qualifying process like the ISA, anybody can sign up. As a result, the ICF Worlds attract paddlers of all ages from across the globe. It is great to see amateurs paddlers alongside elites and senior paddlers proud of their accomplishments. This perpetuates the sport further — but again — why charge to see hobbyists paddling?
The ICF treats their World Championships like a large international SUP event where everyone is invited. Participation numbers reflect that. Even if Abu Dhabi had a lower turnout than previous years, it was still a very big event.
The ICF is capable of reliably delivering their product, even if flawed, year after year. We already know the future venues:
- 2026: Sicily
- 2027: Sarasota
This reliability is greatly appreciated in the SUP Community and shows a level of professionalism and forward thinking only suits can do.
Planet Surf – Planet Flake ❄
The ISA holds the key to the Olympics and has been in SUP since 2013. They took SUP for what it is: a surf sport, invented by surfers. Once they actually have an event happening, their production is always great to watch. They understand how to market the sport and make it look cool.
The latest example in El Salvador proved this once again: A massive production, free to watch, shareable content for all — this is how you go viral. Everything looked very professional and the quality of the web cast was a pleasure to watch. The hired multiple commentators and had cameras everywhere. Then right after the event, they uploaded their content for media like ours to share. Every race was followed by a highlight reel.
The Reliability Problem
However, in its entire 13 years in the sport, the ISA has not once been a reliable partner for the SUP community. They keep everyone guessing, make big announcements, form committees — all for nothing to happen. Regarding SUP, we hear from the ISA once a year at best.
The latest example was the proudly announced SUP Committee last year in Amsterdam with respected names on the roster. What have we heard from this committee more than a year later? Nothing. A similar scenario was when they announced Casper Steinfath to be the ISA vice president many years ago, just for Caspers hands to tied most of the time and him eventually not putting him up for reelection.
The fact that the ISA announced their last event less than 45 days out is just as outrageous as the ICF’s paywall. We have covered the ISA since day one, and this has been an ongoing issue. How can you build a sport and provide a path to the Olympics on such shaky ground?
It took the ISA over 30 years to get surfing into the Olympics, and longboard surfing was denied last April. Why should SUP be any different? Los Angeles 2028 is gone, and Brisbane 2032 is highly questionable as well, next stop 2036.
Shrimpy, 19 years old today, will most likely have aged out before the ISA has a remote chance of getting SUP into the Olympics. At this point, we even doubt we’ll still be around writing about it with the Stand Up Magazin. Anyway…
The low participation numbers in this year’s ISA event underline their core problem of being unreliable. We missed several elite paddlers in El Sunzal, and there was practically little Asian or Eastern European representation.
Unlike the ICF, the ISA uses a qualification-based system. Countries send their elites chosen by national selection. This ensures that the event showcases athletes of the highest level. The ISA is not an “anybody show up” event. Making it to the ISA is already an accomplishment.
Ocean Conditions Highlight Philosophy Differences
This year’s event showcased the vastly different philosophy of the ISA, viewing SUP through the lens of surf. The waves were sometimes overhead, the shore break reminded us of the best days in Dana Point and Salt Creek.
It was not clean, sterile racing. The races were sometimes decided by luck, technique, and factors out of the athletes’ control.
One thing became clear once again: If you are not experienced in the ocean, this event was not for you.
As we have pointed out repeatedly: If the same people who were in Abu Dhabi and other ICF events had been in El Salvador, more than half would not even have put their board (not boat) in the water. It would have been a complete disaster for most racers.
And that brings us to a big and final question:
SUP Community what do you want?
Maybe the first question is not that. More so why do we not hear more from athletes? It is rare that someone speaks out in public. Athletes are not organized amongst themselves to create a unified voice to communicate their needs and desires. While we don’t have an answer to that, we have a clear answer to what we want to see: The best of both worlds.
SUP has grown into a global sport and attracted ocean paddlers as well as flat water canoe paddlers, we have to cater to both groups. There needs to be exposure in both areas. If you want to be the worlds best paddler you have to be well versed in all disciplines and waters. What the ISA displayed in El Salvador was spectator friendly and was SUP at the highest level.
However, it did not cater to all SUP Athletes, the best example was Csillag Kocsis from Hungary, who was clearly not 100% comfortable with the waves at El Sunzal. We get that. It underlines the point from above, but we want to embrace SUP as an Ocean Sport with all of its aspects. We also want to see clean, sometimes a bit sterile lane racing in 100m sprints.
Having loose SUP Races during the year across the world is great for the sport and the hobby paddlers out there. We need that. Nevertheless, there is no path for an inspired athlete who wants to compete at the highest level and actually get somewhere.
This is what we want:
- We want at least 6 races with ISA Elite Status and ICF everybody can sign up character.
- We want to see these races alternating between flat water and ocean paddling venues, even with waves like we saw in El Salvador.
- We want to see one world championship per year, climaxing as a 7th event following the 6 previous races.
- We want to see all of these races live streamed in the ISA fashion free of paywalls.
- We want to see the top 30-40 athletes to be able to make a living off their sport and be present at all races.
Is this ask realistic?
At this time, we don’t think so. The budget to put up 6 ISA/ICF style events with a big finale at the end of the year is far beyond of the financial reach of our industry. It would take a capital infusion from an entity with a certain passion for the sport and a very very large check book.
What is realistic?
Sadly the current status quo. The ICF will continue to run their events and push for further canoefication of the sport. They will continue to ignore the calls by the SUP community to put surf back into the their events. Racers will be on boats and things will be run by people completely strange to our culture and heritage. For sure is also that we already know the next two venues for the ICF Worlds and can trust that it will happen and many people will sign up.
For the ISA things won’t change much either. They continue to struggle to find funding and venues for their future events. They will keep us guessing for the greater half of 2026, eventually they might fall back to El Salvador or another Central or South American country with governments happy to pay for the event.
As far as the Stand Up Magazin goes we will continue to write and be stoked about the Sport in it self and can only hope that some day things will turn around. In the meanwhile: Thank you for your support or not.
If you want to be part of ensuring the future of the Stand Up Magazin, please become a supporter / subscriber.
Online Subscription
Are you enjoying the content of the Stand Up Magazin?
With a subscription, you help secure the future of Stand Up Magazin.
Become a patron and supporter with your subscription.
Your subscription is an annual contribution and renews automatically.