I've been busy trying to solve a problem for the past few days and forgot all about it.
Crap, it would have been a top day to be out there today.
A few more pics to make Simmondo happy
The overall idea was to promote safety in SUP, gain community engagement and most of all FUN FUN and more FUN!
All participants had to register and were issued with a yellow "Play It Safe By The Water" vest if they had paddled before and a blue vest if they hadnt. Everyone with a blue vest was provided a free lesson from Surf Session Professional Surf Coaching to maximise safety on the day. The biggest problem Cam, Matt and their crew of coaching staff had was trying to get the participants out of the surf and back to the beach.
The colored vests ensured the Surf Life Savers that volunteered could clearly see who was in our group from their RIBs. They know that beach like the back of thier hands and immediatly alerted our group in the water to dangers such as exposed reef when the tide was dropping and relocated people to safe areas. Huge thank you to Torquay Surf Life Saving Club for all thier assistance.
We literally ran out of boards we were allowed to use ( dont tell Matt but even his brand new catalina went for a a splash at one point) and had a queue forming on the beach waiting and it stayed that way most of the afternoon.
Rich all the planning and effort you guys put in really paid off, Huey even gave you superb condition you really couldn't have asked for more.
Thank you again to all the countless volunteers who gave up their time and especially to SUPVic for the BBQ travelling all the way from melbourne, Jay from PSH and Aiden from Naish for product support and answering about a million enquiries each, Surfing Victoria for equipment, rash vests and support in so many areas, huge thank you to Torquay Surf Life Saving you guys rock, Kevin (X makes the spot) the register man and many many others.
The real pleasure from yesterday was the beaming faces and the breadth of people who came along to show support for the SUP community, short boarders, longboarders, ski racers, OC1 paddlers and people who just had never tried before and wanted to give it an old fashion Aussie Go.
John Lane thoroughly tested out the PSH and Naish range looking for a weapon of choice.
Emma Webb current Aussie Womens SUP Champ
Once the board you wanted came available you had to hot foot it to the water!
Hey Phill,
guess who's running around the backyard this morning with the camera
,
not sure what he's doing to the cat though to get some action shots
,
was a great day and looks like the WestCoast is in for a big summer of Sup'ing with all the interest shown yesterday
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Cheers.
Hey Camo,
He can buddy up with me anytime, plenty of ways to have fun mate.
If you saw the the HUGE smile on his face and heard him shout I can see dad I can see dad, smokin!
He was having a ball and whats more he's got talent!
Phill
Thanks for all the epic photo's Phill you are the man for capturing the moment.
This shot below pretty much was the response from everyone , STOKED to try out SUP.My only motivation for the demo day was to let people experience how much fun we have even in small waves!
Phill has thanked everyone before but i would also like to mention Thanks to Kristi Page who also helped many beginners learn the basic skills with great success!
The kids had heaps of fun trashing the blow up Havaiana palm tree's on the beach between swims
Aidan & Jay from Naish , Paddle Surf Hawaii / Quickblade you guy's i can't thank both enough, full of energy after a 10hr drive down !!
Torquay SLSC - Thanks for joining us with the IRB & Westpac Helli !.
Sup Vic , Ross , Cam & son ,Dave - BBQ /drinks was very much appreciated.
Kev (Revvin) got just swamped by everyone wanting boards , Lessons running the registration but as always Kev had this running smoothly.
Lessons (Surf Sessions) - Cam Lamperd , Matt Mo Lumley , Keith all ran about 40 new crew through lessons along with everything else they helped out with thanks guys.
Around 100 people registered for the day that im blow away from this response and we will do this again next year.
Thanks to everyone for making the effort to give SUP a go !.
Regards,
Rich
Well done Rich and co, you really set the bar this year on how to run a successful event. Great prep and organisation made the day enjoyable for everyone.
Mick
