The summer racing season is soon starting and Mallorca has the privilege of hosting the first race of the Euro SUP Tour. The Port Adriano SUP race will take place 23-25 May in Port Adriano. This is the third time Mar Balear SUP Center has organized this race.
Current female Spanish Champion Laura Quetglas and former male champion and well known trainer Manuel Simoncelli are behind this great organization.
There will be a long distance race on Saturday between Port Adriano, El Toro and Margrats islands. On Sunday the races will be shorter and more technical. So if you want to see the fastest paddlers and their latest design boards then I recommend that you pay a visit to Port Adriano. The races, especially on Sunday are really fun to watch because they are done in the little bay next to the harbour and a great show for the spectators. There will be an amateur warriors race too, suitable for people who paddle casually and don’t take racing so seriously. Great fun and a fantastic opportunity to try SUP racing. I will be there the whole weekend for sure! More information about this race can be at this link. http://marbalear.com/en/port-adriano-sup-race-2015/
Euro SUP Tour is the biggest SUP racing event in Europe. After the start in Mallorca, the races include Europe’s premiere events such as the Lost Mills in Germany and the Bilbao World SUP Challenge in Spain. There are also stops in the UK, France and Italy, while the final race in Namur (Belgium) on the last weekend of June.
It all started with BOP! Battle of the Paddle
It would be really unfair to talk about races and SUP racing without explaining how it all started.
In 2008, when the sport of SUP was in its infant stage, the legendary surfer and shaper Gerry Lopez and the founder of Rainbow Sandals decided to organize a SUP race to bring the early SUPers together. They chose the beach of Dana Point, California where the swell can create 1-2 meter waves close to the beach but the deeper waters are calmer. These conditions created a very unique race that became the most popular race in the world, in other words the Super Bowl of SUPing. The race starts from the beach, the SUPers have to paddle through the waves then paddle on flat water for a couple of kilometers then surf to the beach, leave their boards to their board caddies/helpers, run 50 meters on the beach, jump on their boards and do the same circuit again. This set-up made the race very interactive and a spectacular show to the spectators. The race was a big hit and since then every year it gets bigger and bigger. There are licensed versions in other countries too. The second day of the race, there is a long distance version but the real race is the Saturday version better known as the Battle of the Paddle. It is really a battle and the board fixers make a lot of money that day. People watching it say that it smells a lot of broken carbon in the air.
BOP not only kick started the racing activities around the world, it also created a dominating SUP Race board length, the famous 12’6. Since there were only 12’6 blank foams available those times, the shapers made the race boards from this set of foams only and 12’6 became the mostly used SUP Race board length. There is now a lot of discussions if this length is the optimal length especially the long distance races became longer then before. 3-5 years ago the long distance was considered to be 6-8 kilometers but lately long distance races run at least 12 kilometers. Therefore 14 foot boards have a speed advantage and racers are tired to carry both 12’6 and 14 foot boards. Therefore, Euro SUP Tour selected only 14 foot as one length.
Looking forward you see you in the coming SUP races!
If you have any questions about SUP surfing or real estate in Mallorca (which is my real job), you can reach me at ahmet@mallorcaresidencia.com. Information about SUP events in Mallorca can be found on our Club de SUP Mallorca Facebook page, www.facebook.com/groups/clubsupmallorca.
SUP Article May 2015
SUPCORNER
Ahmet Senoglu
