Where would you have paddled last easter weekend? (series 3)
We’re STILL in lockdown. STILL no paddling (at least in the UK). BUT. If you could get out and SUP, where was the first place you would have headed for on the easter weekend? Here’s the third set of answers from some of SUP Mag UK’s invaluable contributors.
See here for the first set: https://standuppaddlemag.co.uk/where-in-the-world-would-you-have-paddled-this-easter-weekend/
See here for the second set: https://standuppaddlemag.co.uk/where-would-you-have-paddled-this-easter-weekend-series-2/
Aya Kristina Engel
British Columbia, Canada
Here in Vancouver BC, we have been physical distancing for weeks and all non-essential businesses have been shut down as well. We do however, still have our freedom to go outside whilst keeping our distance.
Ariane Tasca is my best friend and adventure buddy. We haven’t seen each other in ages because her room mate is immunocompromised. As the weather warms up I dream of going paddle camping with her again. Soon this will all blow over and we will get to venture out again. For now, I’ll look at these photos of passed trips. Together we paddled with Orcas, Humpbacks, Dolphins, Sea lions, paddled up to a black bear on the beach and camped many a night on our own deserted island with white sandy beaches. The west coast of BC is a treasure trove of epic giants, archipelagos, and untamed nature.
I can’t wait to get out there again.
Kristina has been a professional circus acrobat for seven years. She’s lived a wild life on tour, now she has now finally settled in Vancouver. She is a herbalist, yoga instructor and always eager to get into the mountains in her spare time. West coast passions include; hiking, kite surfing, acro yoga, SUP boarding and general shenanigans. Catch more of her @ https://www.instagram.com/
ayakristina/
Stephan Lefevre
Road trip, Europe
Usually at Easter we try to get as far south as possible in Europe for our first warm family water sport session of the year, with options for SUP surfing or windsurfing depending on the conditions! In fact we did originally booked an Easter week in Corralejo in Fuerteventura ☹
But after weeks in lockdown stuck in the house and a likely restricted budget my ideal destination would be a road trip. Why restricting ourselves to one place (again) when we can visit the many. Lucky for us we converted ourselves a LWB van eight years ago with all the comfort we could pack in and off course a large garage under the bed for all our water toys allowing us to travel and stop anywhere we want with decent comfort.
With a better chance to get some warm sunshine I think we would naturally head to France (being French help a little with the lingo), first Epic La Torche in Brittany, then La Tranche sur Mer in Vendee, followed by Carcans-plage and Bidard on the south west Atlantic coast with a good chance of getting some very good surfing conditions and finally head to the Mediterranean in Collioure which not only is a gorgeous place but can actually offer some pretty impressive surfing conditions on a good day!…the hardest part is always to come back home back to reality. If it was only me… I would permanently be on a road surf trip.
Stephan runs the UK operations of Redwoodpaddle. Catch his interview with SUP Mag UK here @ https://joom.ag/oOWC/p24
Simon Bassett
West Wittering, West Sussex
I would choose my home break West Wittering – normally I work there on the beach at 2XS and can dive out for a slide on the waves soon as they appear. I suppose I realise now I have taken that option so much for granted and being in lockdown now, SUP Surfing feels like a distant memory. I have worked at West Wittering beach for 35 years and so I know all the sand bars, how the tides work and where all the waves break. We have a small crew who all get excited soon as there is any scent of surf – David, John, Holly B ,Genty, James and others. I have a new JP custom asymmetric SUP which I have been trying out – can’t wait to get back in the water. Right now I am going to respect the lock down, ride my indo board in the garden and get ready for next session .
Simon’s involvement in watersports has been extensive, he was one of the first paddlesurfers in the UK in 2006, co-founded BSUPA and currently is Joint Head Coach and Chairman. Simon did a team world record attempt channel crossing in 2010 on a SUP to raise money and awareness for the Surfers Against Sewage charity and raised £10,000. He has also written with Andy Gratwick the BSUPA teaching scheme which has over 100 schools and more than 20,000 students a year completing BSUPA courses. Further info @ https://www.2xs.co.uk
Richard Webb
Jurassic Coast, Dorset
This Easter I would have spent pretty much all day every day in the water. If the waves were pumping I would have been at my local spot on the Jurassic coast on my gun and if it was flat, I would have been out with family, friends and all the paddlers from the Bournemouth SUP club probably paddling around Brownsea Island and along our beautiful Sandbanks beach.
All of this time out of the water will only make everyone including myself appreciate every paddle that bit more and hopefully we can all safely get back out there soon. Mahalo.
Richard Webb is a director of Hypr Hawaii @ https://www.hyprhawaii.co.uk
Jay JSUP Manning
Canterbury, UK
Easter weekend is kinda busy one for me and paddleboarding. Good Friday is my Easter SUP parade in the historical city of Canterbury, which attracts lots of paddlers and being the start of spring, gets a lot of paddlers out for the first time. Rest of the weekend is mainly catching up with my local SUP community somewhere on the south coast, hopefully in some waves and of course some good weather helps.
Nice long weekend on water getting summer SUP vibes in gear and getting events into place with Fanatic SUP demos and catching up with the team usually on the Monday with the K66 board riders.
Jay Manning, or JSUP as he’s more commonly known, is one of the most instantly recognisable UK stand up paddlers out there. Jay’s relentless social media output is a dream for any sponsor – in this case Fanatic UK, ION and K-66 Surf Division. Always at large, Jay can be found at most UK SUP events throughout the year. Catch him @ https://www.facebook.com/
jay.jsup.manning
Markus Stehböck
Soca River, Croatia
Covid-19 these days, is preventing us from social contacts. Here in Bavaria, Germany, this means no SUP lessons at all and staying at home, letting the first snow melts flows disappear. Usually we spend this period of the year in Greece to open the season. So this is the first break in this almost 20-year old routine but it will strengthen our joy for next year!
Staying positive about the situation, we hope to be paddling the Soca again, soon. Despite all optimism, we are aware of a non-travelling possibility for the next month. In this case, staying flexible and making the best of the situation, is the key. Most of the white water paddlers are used to this anyhow. For us this means staying on the home rivers, which luckily we have also have in quite a number.
Markus works for Alpin Outdoor, based in Bavaria, that runs and organises both SUP and kayaking holidays throughout Europe, catch up with them here: https://alpinundoutdoor.de
Cal Major
The ocean
How to stay connected to the ocean. Even if you’re miles away from the ocean on lockdown, here are three ways to maintain that connection. They might not be what you expected…
Links to my films:
Vitamin Sea: www.vimeo.com/ondemand/vitaminsea
Skye’s The Limit: www.vimeo.com/ondemand/skyesthelimitfilm
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