I'm over in Holland for work for a few weeks, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to join in one of the local SUP events in Amsterdam last weekend.
The Rondje Ijburg race or 'tour' as they like to call it here is a fun race has been going for 4 or 5 years, with a junior sailing race and the longer race for any water craft (OC1, canoes, kayaks, windsurfers, one swimmer and even a home made raft/float thing), but this was the first year that SUP's joined in - and they made up well over half of the field!!! (even though there was no official SUP category or prizes).
Ijburg is one of the new areas of land in to the east of the city centre - 15 years ago this area was just part of the harbour and underwater, but the need to expand land area for a growing population has led to dredging up sand from the bottom of the harbour to create new land or islands so the 'beach' is constantly moving seaward as they build on the new land.
It was great to see about 20 enthusiastic SUP'ers turn up on a cold and rainy morning (most of the paddlers were wearing steamers, jumpers and booties) ranging from some experienced race paddlers to one girl who completed the 7km course, this being her first ever time on a SUP!!!
Everyone was very welcoming and the day was enjoyable with the beach pub serving up cold beers for everyone at the end of the race. Well done to Hans Shouten for finishing first in the mens and Morene Dekker the womens, both on 12'6 Hobie carbon race boards. A big thanks to Hans and Morene for helping me organise a board, and Roel for lending me his 12' PSH gun and paddle so I could join in the fun.
Map of the course(started heading along the canals ont he inside of the island and then out into the harbour to head back to the finish:
And a few photos...
Kids sailing race (they had a run down the beach and then had to rig up their own boats before launching from the shore)
Waiting on the beach before the race starts..
Lining up ready to go...
A couple of shots paddling along the canal...
Out in the harbour heading towards the finish...
A few more paddlers heading in to the finish line...
One of the girls braving the cold in shorts (but the booties and hoodie weren't coming off). No-one expects to fall in here!
The sun finally came out while we were enjoying some post-race beers.
There's another local race here this weekend, the 'High Tide Paddle Sprints' will be held at haarlem on Saturday so I'll give a run down of that event next week.
Until then, vaarwel...
Great Shots Ali- How did you go?
Looks chilly already over there - you didnt miss any surf the weekend just gone!
Looks great Alison and thanks for the pictures.. How did you go? .. I bet you wished you had a Javelin or Catalina to paddle.. 
DJ
I got 5th overall and 2nd in the womens. Am happy with that as everyone in front of me was on race boards, and I decided to stop and take some photos on the way rather than paddling flat out.
