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IN FOCUS


"I'M BREAKING THE LAW." PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/ VISUALCOMMUNICATIONS


VESTS, BELTS OR LEASHES


On August 21, 2015, 29-year-old paddleboard racer Andres


training for the


Columbia Gorge Paddle Challenge. According to local news services, Pombo went out to paddle the course a day before the race, fell in the river and drowned. His body was found six days later. He reportedly was not wearing a leash or PFD. The death of an experienced paddler so close to


a high-profile race has re-ignited debate about the need for more awareness and use of safety gear on paddleboards, as well as debate about which equipment is best. A day before Pombo’s body was recovered, Warren


Currie, owner of Easy Rider board shop in Edmonton, Alberta, and Dave Kalama of paddle manufacturer Quickblade, penned an open letter to the paddleboard community demanding manufacturers, retailers and pro paddlers promote safety equipment in stores, online and in advertising. "The bicycle and wakeboard industries both went


through similar circumstances with helmet use," says Currie. "In both cases it took a high-profile tragedy for their respective industries to band together and implement campaigns for helmet use. Now you can’t see an image put out by either industry without a helmet in use."


38 PADDLEBOARDING || Annual 2016


THE SAFETY DEBATE THAT IS TEARING THE PADDLEBOARD COMMUNITY APART Pombo drowned while


LIFEJACKETS: IT'S THE LAW According to Transport Canada and U.S. Coast Guard regulations, a PFD must be carried on your paddleboard at all times except in a surf zone or designated swimming or bathing area. However, it only takes a glance at the svelte silhouettes on local waterways to confirm that PFD use on paddleboards is low. A 2012 American Canoe Association (ACA) survey of members found that only 25 percent always wear a PFD when paddleboarding, a number that is estimated to be lower in the general—and sometimes less safety conscious—public. Perhaps this is not surprising, considering that paddleboarding advertising images


often feature safety-essential-free paddlers whose beautiful beach bodies would be marred by cumbersome safety equipment—bulky foam flotation isn’t exactly sexy. "It’s really cool that so many people are excited about paddleboarding, but


some have jumped into it half-cocked and aren’t aware of the dangers," says Wade Blackwood, executive director of the ACA, America’s largest educational organization for paddlesports. "It has been hard to combat the no-PFD look of the traditional surfing community, and hard to say to paddlers that it doesn’t matter what you look like, you have to wear it. That’s why inflatable belt packs have been so great," adds Blackwood. Chair of Paddle Canada’s SUP program, Tony Palmer, agrees. "The waist worn


inflatables are great, they are low profile, they don’t get in the way in the surf zone or on a hot day—all excuses evaporate with it. They don’t even wreck your tan line," he says. Palmer believes that if industry pros were seen wearing visible safety equipment


others would pick up on it. "If the big shots—the people winning the races, the people on the magazines, with their own blogs and thousands of followers on Twitter—if those people started wearing PFDs it would trickle down," adds Palmer.


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