COVID-19: Statement regarding Surfing Contests in South Africa
SUPSA SA Stand-Up & Paddleboarding Championships 2020 Port Alfred Postponed
15 March 2020
In accordance with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s speech, this evening, the SUPSA SA Stand-Up & Paddleboarding Championships 2020 in Port Alfred has been postponed.
SUPSA (Stand-Up Paddling South Africa) will be meeting to confirm new dates for the event and will confirm all details as soon as it is finalised. We will be communicating all decisions on email communication, the SUPSA website, as well as social media platforms, including Whats App and Facebook, to ensure clear and defined information.
Kindly, Mandy Scanlen
SUPSA President
supsapresident@gmail.com
SUPSA March 2020 Events
1 March 2020
SUPSA is hosting the first Sanctioned event on 1 March 2020 in Cape Town. The SUPSA Century City SUP & Paddleboard Challenge 2020 will take place at Century City, with a 7 am registration and 8.30 am race start. More details will follow – please register before 23 February 2020. You can register here and continue with your payment with the Quicket link. All SUPSA hosted event fees will be divided between SUP Development (50%) and Fundraising for the SA Team for Worlds (50%).
2019 Annual Prize-giving and SA Squad Announcement We have a great deal to celebrate for all that happened in 2019. Join us at the 2019 Annual Prize Giving on 1 March 2020, 1.00 pm, after the SUPSA Century City SUP & Paddleboard Challenge. Make sure you send in your nomination for the President’s Achievement Award to supsapresident@gmail.com . Final details will be sent to you throughout this week. The SA Squad (athletes, Team Manager and Team Coach) will also be announced at the Prize-giving. If you are interested in applying for either the Team Manager or Team Coach job, please send your name, surname and motivation to supsapresident@gmail.com .
24 March 2020
The ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2020
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) will take place on Tuesday, 24 March 2020 at the V&A Waterfront at 7.00 pm. The specific location will be communicated to you by email. Please RSVP, here with the names, surnames and email addresses of the attendees.
Make sure you register for the race, send your nominations and RSVP for the AGM 2020.
See you there.
2020 Events (Feb – April)
Upcoming Events
The 2020 SUPSA Calendar has been loaded on the website. Make sure you do not miss out on any of these events. SUPSA is hosting the first Sanctioned event on 1 March 2020 in Cape Town. The SUPSA Century City SUP & Paddleboard Challenge 2020 will take place at Century City, with a 7 am registration and 8.30 am race start. More details will follow – please register before 23 February 2020. You can register here and continue with your payment with the Quicket link. All SUPSA hosted event fees will be divided between SUP Development (50%) and Fundraising for the SA Team for Worlds (50%).
It is important to note that all SUPSA Sanctioned races requires all racers to wear a SAMSA approved life jacket. This life jacket must be “fit-for-use” and meet the requirements of SAMSA. Read more, here.
Prone athletes do not have to wear a life jacket, but leashes are required.
More Upcoming Events
SUP The Crossing Best conditions are chosen within a window period between Saturday the 22nd February to Sunday the 15th March 2020. All weekend days will be possible days choosing the best weather conditions forecast by the safety officers. Make sure you do not miss out on this incredible paddle from Small Bay to Robben Island.
The High Altitude Surf Ski Championship 2020 The HASSC is taking place on the Emmarentia Dam in Johannesburg on 14 March 2020. Speed boats whizzing around, surf ski’s cutting through the waves and SUP’s strong and steady making their way past it all. A fun Johannesburg event!
Paddle For The Paw A fun charity race to take part in. 14 March 2020 at the V&A Waterfront with SUP Cape Town. Bring your boards, swimsuit and pet food (for a raffle ticket) and enjoy the water with family and friends.
Pili Pili Family Fun SUP Race Pili Pili always brings people together on the water. Join us for the Pili Pili Family Fun SUP race on 28 March 2020.
SA Championships in Port Alfred SAVE THIS DATE!
The SA SUP & Paddleboard Championships will take place in Port Alfred this year. It will take part of the Port Alfred Amanzi Festival. The SUP & Paddleboard Championship will start on the 17th of April with distance races and sprints for both SUPs and Paddleboards and continue with the SUP surf event on the 18th & 19th of April 2020.
The Freedom Paddle Celebrate the freedom of surf ski paddling by taking on the challenge of racing around South Africa’s Symbol of Freedom – Robben Island. The Freedom Paddle is a 27km race / paddle from Oceana Power Boat Club around Robben Island and back. On the 27th April 2020, Freedom Day, line up and be a part of a race around one of the most iconic islands in the world. A great surf ski event inviting SUPs and Prone boards to take on the challenge.
Extra Important Events
2019 Annual Prize-giving and SA Squad Announcement
We have a great deal to celebrate for all that happened in 2019. Join us at the 2019 Annual Prize Giving on 1 March 2020, 1.00 pm, after the SUPSA Century City SUP & Paddleboard Challenge. Make sure you send in your nomination for the President’s Achievement Award to supsapresident@gmail.com . Final details will be sent to you throughout this week. The SA Squad (athletes, Team Manager and Team Coach) will also be announced at the Prize-giving. If you are interested in applying for either the Team Manager or Team Coach job, please send your name, surname and motivation to supsapresident@gmail.com .
and last but not least…
The ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2020
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) will take place on Monday, 2 March 2020 at the V&A Waterfront at 7.00 pm. The specific location will be communicated to you by email. Please RSVP, here with the names, surnames and email addresses of the attendees.
EL SALVADOR 2019 – That’s a wrap
And that’s a wrap for the 2019 El Salvador Surf City ISA World SUP and Paddleboard Championships.
We ended the last day with eyes fixed on the men and women’s surfing final where France took gold for both men and women – Benoit Carpentier scored an 8.90 on an incredible final wave and Justine Dupont continued to showcase her skill on each wave she surfed. The closing ceremony in the boiling hot sun followed at 13:00 where Tyra Buncombe took to the stage for her gold medal. South Africa placed with an overall 8th and with a proud Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika we ended the 2019 ISA World SUP and Paddleboard Championships.
A word from Anja
Sitting on our last flight from London to Cape Town I though it best to introduce myself. My name is Anja Burger and I have been the Team Manager for the SA SUP Team for the 2019 El Salvador ISA World SUP and Paddleboard Championships. I have been making most of the arrangements for the team to get them where they have to be and have what they need. I also wrote this blog on a daily to keep our family and friends up to date on this trip.
The trip has been a great privilege in my year. Not only was this an opportunity to travel with incredible athletes but it was an opportunity to travel with good-hearted, extremely funny and caring people and share our love for the greatest water sport. I get extremely excited to see the sport grow in our country and got a real kick out of experiencing the sport on an international platform.
We have great plans to make next year as great if not 17 times better. Makes sure you know what’s going on.
EL SALVADOR 2019 – Surfing at Worlds
Surfing – Day 3
Great excitement filled the breakfast room with Matt, Dylan and Khara taking to the waves again. Dylan was up in heat 2 and Matt in heat 3, while Khara would showcase her skills thereafter. Dylan had a great round with scoring a 5.37 on his second wave and a 6.10 on his fourth wave. The waves were cooking and allowed Dylan to surf them from the back to the front. With great excitement – Dylan exited the water with the top score in his heat.
Little did we know that the next heat would include top wave scores from Matthew Maxwell from South Africa. After a 5.40 on his second wave, Matt scored a 4.40, placing him third behind Daniel Hughes. Matt waited for the last seconds in his heat, and with a shock to Daniel’s system, already being interviewed for his second spot, Matt got onto his last wave – 30 seconds from the end – and landed every turn from the back to the very end of the best wave up until then. He scored an 8.73. The vuvuzelas reflected these scores with great and loud blows.
Khara’s heat was coming up and she entered the water with a great excitement after the previous day’s great heat. Khara had a tough heat with Candice Appleby and Lara Claydon from the United States of America and Aline Adisaka from Brazil. Khara had difficulty in getting waves while the others had priority with good sets that came through. She surfed until the end but was not able to place in the top two in this repo round.
It was time for repechage round 4 for Dylan and Matthew. Matthew was up against Zane Schweitzer from the United States of America, Gabriel Salazar from Chile and Juan de los Reyes from Spain. Matt scored on great waves throughout his heat, with a 4.23 on his second wave. With great disappointment – the commentator announced an interference call after wave two – saying that Matt was warned that he was prone paddling more than five strokes and received the interference penalty on his second warning. This was massively disappointing especially with his fourth and fifth wave scoring 6.2 and 5.10, which would’ve placed him in second place but knocked him down to 3rd because of the penalty. This meant the end for Matt’s surfing at Worlds. Great surfing Matt!
Dylan was next and up against Clement Roseyro from France, Guillermo Carracedo from Spain and Jefferson Tascon from Columbia. With some difficulty in finding waves, Dylan scored 5.63 and 5.10 on the two waves that he caught. It was two great waves but was unfortunately not enough to move him from third place.
And just like that – El Salvador Surf City 2019 ISA World SUP and Paddleboard Championships was done and dusted. So what did we do next? We had burritos, organised a bus, packed our boards and found our way to Playa Punta Roca where there were a couple of locals and fun waves. Great fun was found, here. We ended the day with burgers and pasta at our favourite restaurant with the Danish Team.
What is left for today? Closing Ceremony at 1 pm on Sunday and a Closing fiesta at 6 pm. You can also watch the surfing finals this morning (afternoon in South Africa), which has just started.
Just a massive thanks to Ben Reed and Sean Evans for the great photos throughout the World Championships.
