Weekly SUP News Grab - Baxter brings back the biff

Competition
The fourth week of the Euro Tour was held in Bilbao in Spain in very flat conditions, although some Baxter-biff created waves.

The format was a 200m sprint (which included a Y-shaped buoy turn at 100m, which splits the field), followed by a 15km race the following day. Lina Augaitis (Canada) won the sprint over Shelby Taylor (US). Sonni Honscheid (Germany) and Angie Jackson (Australia) had a fender bender, but recovered to place third and fourth respectively. Augaitis showed distance was no challenge by doubling up with a win in the 15km. Honscheid and Jackson duked it out for the minor placings.

The men's sprint final seemed to complete OK after a close finish, with Titouan Puyo (New Caledonia) first, Connor Baxter (Hawaii) second and Leonard Nika (Italy) third. But with shades of the controversy at Battle of the Paddle last year, Baxter and Nika exchanged some tense words after the finish. Baxter then proceeded to knock his opponent's hat off his head, which race organisers judged unsportsmanlike. He was subsequently disqualified. Nika was elevated to second while Paul Jackson (Australia) grabbed third spot.

Baxter came out swinging the next day, just pipping Puyo in the distance race by 0.1 seconds, and ahead of Arthur Arutkin (France) in third. Tallying up the points for the weekend, Puyo won the men's combined, while Augaitis easily claimed the women's combined. Bilbao was Augaitis' penultimate event before she takes a break to have her first child. Her last race will be this weekend's Payette River Games.

In case you were wondering where Travis Grant and Danny Ching went after blitzing some of the big SUP races this year, they just completed the Molokai OC1 World Champs over the weekend. Ching took second while Grant placed seventh. It just shows how difficult it is, even for the best, to rely on SUP alone to pay the bills. Thankfully both will return to SUP shortly now the OC season draws to a close.

Upcoming comps
A busy weekend ahead. Locally, Scotts Head and Tassie Winter SUP (entries close Wednesday for both events). Good luck to all competitors and enjoy the stoke.

Offshore, a $50k purse is up for grabs at the Payette River games and a split round of the Euro Tour - the Adriatic Crown in Italy and the Deep SUP race in Spain.

To get you into the mood for the Payette River games, here's a highlight reel of the inflatables going rail to rail at the recent Go Pro Mountain Games in Colorado. Chaos doesn't begin to describe the paddling.or the fashion.

Sadly, in another sign of the difficulties facing race organisers, the Oleron Island Stand Up Challenge in France, to be held this weekend, was cancelled. A lack of entries (not surprising given all the other races this weekend) and funding meant the race was unviable. The race was to be the first of the four-round European Cup (a rival series to the Euro Tour currently underway). The Cup will now be decided on three races, the first now being the Iberdrola Barcelona SUP World Series in Spain (June 26-28). This cancellation follows on from recent decisions to cancel the Battle of the Paddle and the German Cup.

This week's number: 16
The SUP talent pool keeps getting younger. While initial reports had the winner of the fastest paddler on earth, Trevor Tunnington, incorrectly pegged as a 16-year old (he's 18), a true 16-year old has just delivered a major upset. Shae Foundy from the US won the SUP Cross event at the Santa Monica Pier Paddle race over Candice Appleby and Annabel Anderson last weekend. That's a serious win given their recent winning form.

Quiver talk
Images of the 2016 Starboard Allstar flashed up on blogs during the week, but were mysteriously removed. Oops. It certainly looked like a progression from the existing shape, while the distinctive blue colour has darkened somewhat.

The Brian Szymanski designed Lahui Kai range is expanding, with confirmation that the 14' Race will also come in 26" (adding to the 27.25"), while the 12.6' will come in a BOP-focused 25.25". Due in Australia in August.

The Naish Nalu LE 10' is now in the shops; or was, given most reports indicate the first batch was quickly snapped up. Naish distributors were also given the full new-model treatment in Hawaii last week, cosying up to Kai Lenny. Expect new-model sneak peeks in coming weeks.

On accessories, Version 2 of the SpeedCoach SUP GPS unit is now available in Australia. This update addresses two of the biggest problems with the original - it's now programmable and session information can be downloaded. Distressed Mullet offers a review here (www.paddlemonster.com/2015/05/08/gear-review-the-new-speed-coach-sup2/), although I can't verify its independence.

While we're on GPS units, if you're after something less SUP specific, SUP Caveman recently added to his assessment of GPS watches with a review of the Garmin 920 - the best watch tested so far, in his humble opinion. https://thesupingcaveman.squarespace.com/blog/?tag=SUP+Reviews

Happy paddling,
SJKJ

Cheers dude!
Looking forward to a new starboard

Just following up for those interested in coverage of the Payette River Games this weekend, Distressed Mullet & Werner Paddles are promising to provide video updates at the following site: www.paddlemonster.com/category/prg2015/

And here's the schedule, with axe throwing the clear highlight. Finals are on Sunday.



Note that the CBS Network in the US will be producing a highlights package, but that won’t be released until mid-July.

One of the great things about Payette is that you’ve got the best ocean paddlers up against the leading whitewater specialists, like Mike Tavares and Zack Hughes. To give you an idea of their skills, check out the following vid. We’re not worthy!

ps while we're on the topic of inflatables, I forgot to mention in my earlier post that the Naish N1SCO tour visits Brisvegas this Sunday, Mackay the following w/e.