As you may have noticed Stand Up Paddle Surfing UK has undergone a face lift !

This means that we will be retiring this blog as the new website takes over.  In the mean time the archive will stay here. Here is our very own press release :

Over the winter, while we in the UK were being hit by storms and conditions too windy to stand up paddle surf in, Matt Argyle, the owner of http://www.supuk.org was busy designing a face lift for the website. Working with his graphic design and programming team, they have made the website live today.

The popularity of Stand Up Paddling in the UK has exploded, and this has been reflected in the number of unique visitors to http://www.supuk.org had risen from around 30-40 per day in November 2007 to over 1,500 per day in February 2008. Given this rise Matt felt that he needed to build a website that would be better able to handle the bigger visitor numbers and to have scope to increase the amount of contributors to the website.

Matt continues “Simon Bassett from 2XS is travelling to Maui in April and I asked him if he wanted to be a roving reporter for the website, he agreed, but I realised that I needed to create a website that would allow him to update it with the minimum hassle. I am travelling to the US soon as well and I wanted to be able to post features and reviews in internet cafes, so I don’t need to take my laptop, the platform for this website will enable me to do this”.

Matt runs a web design company and his experience told him that the open source system Joomla! would be perfect for the launch. Allowing content editors, around the world, to log in and publish content to the site with no software needed other than an internet connection and a web browser.

Matt continues “I think that stand up paddle surfing is the first water sport to be “born” in the internet age, people now expect information to be available immediately and they want to join an online community to ask questions and help others. I hope that Stand Up Paddle Surfing UK will be able to provide this service for stand up paddle surfers in the UK and all over the world”.

From tomorrow I will be putting my British Stand Up Paddle Association hat on and heading to the NEC to help spread the SUP word. We shall be on the beach area with alot of Olympic kayakers and sailors, so it should be a good weekend. Myself, Simon and Bill will be running demos and introducing the sport to the many thousands of people that visit the show every year.

This (more…)

Boards magazine and Kitesurf magazine have both produced paper based SUP suppliments, I have read them both and they are really good (and this has nothing to do with me getting my photo into both ;)). I recommend getting out there and securing a copy.

Ride some of the most progressive shapes in SUP, like your profile added to the www.gongsup.com website, we are looking for good riders around the breaks in the UK send us some details to simon@2xs.co.uk the UK GONG distributor.

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HONOLULU - (February 14, 2008) - Today’s inaugural QuikSilverEdition Ku Ikaika Challenge, presented by C4 Waterman and Red Bull, was a hugely successful celebration of the waterman heritage, epic surf and aloha that have been Hawaii’s gifts to the world for centuries. Staged in waves that ranged throughout the day from six to 15 feet (wave face heights of 12-30 feet), the world’s first big-wave stand up paddle surfing event was more about gathering together to honor a tradition than it was about winning.

The first place winner’s check of $4,000, ultimately claimed by revered Hawaiian waterman Aaron Napoleon (Pearl City, Oahu, 41), was presented on his behalf to the West Side Junior Lifeguard Foundation. Every surfer in the main event (more…)

Here is the latest poster for the BSUPA contest event at West Wittering on 17th & 18th May 2008.  It is the first contest that will form part of the 4 part series to crown a UK Champion.

For more details see the BSUPA website.

We had a press release from the guys in Hawaii about the first SUP big wave competition being held at Makaha Point. The contest is ON for today. and there is a live link to see the action. Remember the action starts at 7am Hawaiian Time :

http://www.kuikaikachallenge.com/

HONOLULU - (February 13, 2008) - The world’s first big-wave international stand up paddle surfing competition - the one-day QuiksilverEdition Ku Ikaika Challenge, presented by C4 Waterman and Red Bull - will tackle macking Makaha Point surf tomorrow, with forecasts for the West Side coming in at 12 feet (wave face heights of 20+ feet), with set waves as high as 15 feet (30-foot wave faces). Competition will get underway at 7 a.m.

“The storm system that generated this swell was absolutely enormous,” explains NOAA forecaster Pat Caldwell. “If it had (more…)

Youtube has provided again.  Last year two intrepid paddlers Chris de Aboitiz and Eugene “Woogie” Te Manu Marsh, decided to try and get around Fraser Island, some 300kms, in 7 days.

2xs are now the official UK distributor and a stockist for Galaxy of New Generations (GONG) stand up paddle boarding kit.

As you may have noticed I have been intrigued by these boards, as the company is European and produces a really large range of 17 different boards (as well as a recently introduced childs board) from the website it appears that they will even (more…)

This should be part of anyones training routine.  If you are serious about improving your balance this is the way to go