As Surfing approaches two years until its Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, the International Surfing Association (ISA) has ramped up the development of its coaching and instructing initiatives to help promote the worldwide growth of Surfing and Stand Up Paddling (SUP), particularly in non-traditional surfing nations.
The Air France Paddle Festival took Tahiti by storm, with one of the most intense races the sport has seen. Around 300 paddlers came out to participate in the 8k Lagoon Race, 24k Elite Race, and 4k Fun Race, alongside a huge crowd of local supporters from the community that joined in on the action.
Watch the 2018 Air France Paddle Festival live broadcast. The first stop on the 2018 Paddle League tour, the 5th Annual Air France Paddle Festival, is going down in the heart of French Polynesia.
Tahiti's largest stand up paddle event, the Air France Paddle Festival is building up to be an epic battle between top ranked international athletes and local Tahitian warriors planning to defend their home waters.
The Paddle League has revealed “stage two” of its plan to help unify the sport, bringing together 41 regional events across 24 nations in a bid to provide a more stable foundation for the future of stand up paddling.
New champions were crowned and a new generation stood up at the Hoe Toa Paddle Championships in New Zealand on the weekend, where Penelope Strickland and Tara Hope earned national titles, Australia’s Lincoln Dews gatecrashed the party with a clean sweep and over 200 paddlers hit the water for a big two days of racing.
The famous French Riviera hosted the inaugural Villefranche Paddle Race in style on the weekend, with a solid swell turning the usually placid Mediterranean Sea into a Salt Creek-style arena for a race that won’t be forgotten any time soon.
In an interview with North Carolina Press Release, Fiona Wylde talks about Annabel Anderson’s hiatus from SUP, the Carolina Cup’s Graveyard Race, her season performance in 2017, and her plans for 2018. Fiona cheers the birth of the newly formed Paddle League, shares her thoughts about the state-of-the-sport, women in SUP, 14-foot boards, and her ongoing challenge with Type 1 diabetes.
The 32nd Annual Santa Cruz Paddlefest was one for the books as stand up paddle surfers and racers took to the waters in Santa Cruz, California. The 10k Pro Elite race for both the men and women were the talk of the weekend as the results had everyone buzzing.
Annabel Anderson of New Zealand, the fastest and world’s top-ranked standup paddle board woman each year since 2012, will take a break in early 2018 for surgery to address a “long-term and horrifically painful ailment” and to fully recover from a serious concussion sustained earlier in the year.
The Carolina Cup, the world’s largest festival combining paddle races, clinics, product displays, and entertainment has attracted the support of Quiksilver Waterman as title sponsor.
The Association of Paddlesurfing Professionals (APP), announced today that it will be bringing the opening leg of its 2018 World Tour to central London for the first time this summer.