EL SALVADOR 2019 – Meeting the President and race heat

What an eventful Saturday it turned out to be. With breath taking waves all morning long (leading to not only one session but two), a new burrito place for lunch (not only veggies but chicken, beans and avocado) and a visit to the president’s palace made for a great pre-Champs day.

It is evident that we are closer to game day with how crowded the beaches have become over the last two days. Race boards doing ins-and-outs, catching waves and getting distance rides on the back line and SUP surfs shredding incredible waves at point break – it is definitely not a surfers paradise at the moment. SUPs have been ruling it – especially today

Outside the water…

Migael, Tyra and Ethan was invited to the President’s palace for an official welcome to all teams. Nayib Bukele welcomed them to El Salvador and explained to them his love for the sport and how he believes that water sports have the power to educate and empower children and communities. See the great images below.

Dave and myself (Anja) attended the Managers Meeting at Hotel Acantilado, where a conference room was setup and awaited the 27 countries participating at the ISA World SUP Championships. There was some upset about the sprint not being a straight 200m race this year but a 100m-bouy turn-100m sprint, with a beach start and end. But ISA was set to keep all race-courses as planned. Dave did raise a question about the safety of the athletes and their boards – riding through the shore break and having the rocks on the beach to run over – but they are sticking to the inclusion of a surf element to all races and assured the beach to be cleaned of all rocks before and throughout the course of the races.

The race heat are available, here. We definitely did not come for an easy ride. Here we go – time to race. Catch Dylan and Khara on the Sprints by watching the ISA Live Streaming at 23:00, Sunday evening, SA time.

EL SALVADOR 2019 – Our last two days before World Champs

We are getting more and more on El Salvador’s pace. Morning surf, fruit bowls for breakfast (beans and rice for Matt and chocolate brownies for Dylan), late morning surf, burrito lunches with smoothie’s, midday siestas [an afternoon rest or nap, especially one taken during the hottest hours of the day in a hot climate], sunset surfs and burgers and pesto pasta dinners.

The surf here is incredible with Migael smashing the waves one after the other with great guidance from Dylan and Matt landing on the ISA photo’s page on a daily. We, the SA SUP Team, registered for the ISA World Championships after a boiling midday walk through high tide. A huge thanks to ISA Surfing for all of the arrangements and gift bags as well as to El Salvador for the great service, kindness and help so far.

We also got the 14’ All Star out of its bulletproof (times two) board bag and into the shore break, which Khara, Migael and Dylan will take on in the sprints and technical races. We’ve had some problems with getting the prone board to El Salvador and still trying different ways in getting it here. This might mean that we’ll only get the board tomorrow or Monday or we’ll have to find a board between the other teams. We are, however, not giving up on the new Bark board being delivered bright and early tomorrow morning.

From a sunny El Salvador to all our South African family and friends – we are happy, healthy and excited for World Champs starting on Sunday.

EL SALVADOR 2019 – We found paradise

We found paradise. Beachfront room views, fun breaks, fresh coconut water and burritos. We found paradise.

Our last flight was a quick one. Hoping, praying and trusting that our boards had a safe flight, we met them 6/7 alive. Evette’s Surf SUP experienced a nose and tail trimming on the last flight. We strapped 7 boards on top of an 11-seater Toyato, and there we went.

Closer to El Tunco, San Salvador, meant closer to the ocean, and you can be sure that we are really close to the ocean.

See here the schedule for the next few days and enjoy some more photos.

EL SALVADOR 2019 – En route

Tired eyes, bottoms and necks. 12 hours from Cape Town to London and 10 hours from London to Miami. After running around between terminals and passport controls, we made it to the Miami International Airport Hotel and after a shower and new set of clothes, we made our way to South Beach… well we tried making two not-so-English, Spanish uber drivers understand where we’d like to go, which ended up making 4 of us parade up-and-down and up-and-down along Lincoln Road and the other 5 visit the brightly lit up Ocean Drive with crowds of tourists. 

We eventually made it all to the top of Lincoln Road and like a hungry pride of lions stalking a little springbokkie in the Kruger, we hunted down Mexican Restaurant, a (you guessed it) Mexican restaurant in Lincoln Road, Miami. Veggie tacos, steak tacos and chicken burrito’s made a bunch of hungry South Africans very happy. 

We are departing for El Salvador at 10:45 am (17:45 pm, South African time) and looking forward to meeting up with Dylan and Camila. See you on that side.

Have a great day!

SA SUP Team 

 

EL SALVADOR 2019 – And we’re off

The day has come that the SA SUP Team will be traveling 12495 km to El Salvador. Boards, paddles, boardies and bikinis are packed for a two-week Central American trip to compete against countries all around the world. Dylan Frick has been checking out the waves for the last two days and the rest of the team will meet them in El Salvador on Thursday.

You can stay in touch with the team by following them on Instagram (@supsouthafrica and @sasupteam), Facebook (@Stand Up Paddling South Africa) and the news page on the SUPSA website for daily updates. There will also be a live video share on all the action on the official ISA event page.

SA SUP Champs 2019 News & Results

Do you know what my favourite part of the SA Sup Waveriding Champs was?

 

You might think it was the free coffees we got from Xpression on the Beach. Maybe you think it was the opportunity to surf right down in the corner without weekend crowds? Or maybe you think I had the chance to be so very cold I could stretch my new Techno Butter wettie to the limit of its capacity? 

While all of the above were epic, none were my absolute favourite part.

Nope, my favourite part was the vibe. And, just like it takes an array of elements, (wind, groundswell, reefs and sandbanks) to create a perfect wave, so an array of elements created the good vibes at the SA SUP champs.

 Over fifty Stand up paddlers from all over South Africa (Including a crew who made the trip from East London, btw. And I am from PE, so I know what it is to make the journey out of the Eastern Cape. Second only to Marco Polo’s travels.) Stand Up Paddlers of all abilities and backgrounds converged at Muizenberg and celebrated 100 Years of Surfing in style.

 The top shredders in the Open Division set the bar high on the first day. It was onshore but there was a bit of swell, and the waves held up enough for the competitors to showcase their skills. Tarryn King, Penny Stemmett, Khara Doyle, Tammy Foster, Chelsea van Rooyen and Evette Terblanche powered their way straight through to the semi’s. In the men’s division, Capetonians Tom King, Matt Maxwell and Dylan Frick got the job done in the waves, as they usually do, but East London came knocking in the form of Jethro Johnson. His powerful surfing and variety of manoeuvres put pressure on the Cape Town contingent.

 Let’s not forget about the GOAT of Sup surfing either. The Gary of All Time may be over sixty years old but he knows how to drop a nine-point ride. Gary Van Rooyen was on fire in the Men’s Open and Legend division and clocked in with a 9.43 in his opening heat in the Legend’s division. Despite a tight race against the flair and experience of Dave Maxwell, Gary finished up first in the Legend’s division.

 On Day Two, the first-ever Foil final of the SA SUP champs was held in perfect two to three-foot offshore Muizenberg. Tammy Foster flew the flag for the women, and Thomas King took it home for the men.

 Elleni Smyth, Sue Maxwell, Dominique Venter and I were blessed with a glass off in our Divas final. The wind dropped, and a few beautiful sets rolled in, giving us the best of Surfer’s Corner: the opportunity for long, smooth rides with relatively short paddle outs.

 The Social Men’s division brimmed with energy and stoke with guys from around the country throwing themselves at each heat. Up and coming Muizenberg local, Sinda Takatana gave it his best shot, but the winner was West Coast frother, Mike Foster. He joined his wife, Tammy (first in foil and second in Open Women) in the medals.

 The Hawaiian word for family is Ohana, and it is no coincidence that a SUP shape has been named for it. The Ohana spirit was strong at the SUP champs. The heats were overflowing with family connections: Mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, fathers and sons, sisters, friends, partners and more. It was wonderful to see the support and love on the beach and in the water, and to feel the stoke among the families. Whether they were surfing alongside each other, wielding a camera, sharing encouragement or bringing the coffee, family and friends were never far.

 A strong surge of SUP surfing is coming up from the Junior divisions in the form of Chiara Vorster, Miggie Terblanche, Adam Lawrence, Keena Thomson and Cameron Tripney. There were a lot of proud parents on the beach. Cameron Tripney, as always supported by his father, Steve, won the Junior Boys division.

 Erstwhile SA team rider, Khara Doyle, stylishly surfed her way to a stacked semifinal against Tammy Foster and Tarryn King, in the Open Women, while her husband Jarred surfed in the Social Men. But it was Khara’s family, her mom, Natalie Thomson and her sister, Keena Thomson who won the Social Women and the Junior Girls, respectively.

 Stand up paddling in South Africa continues ahead of the field in gender equity. There was, as usual, no restriction on entrants in the women’s division compared with the men, or disparity in prize allocation. The high number of entrants in the Divas and the Social Women is a sure sign that SUP in South Africa continues to empower and uplift women. Many women have, due to historical gender roles and disparity, not had the opportunity to learn to surf or SUP while they were young, so the nerves and fear can be intense. But with the structure of events like SA SUP Champs, and with friends, family members or World Champ Tarryn King there to help prepare them and paddle out with them, many women have been able to step out of their comfort zone and grow as SUP surfers.

 The Ohana board might now be rare, but the spirit of Ohana is not, and all the more so at SA Champs. It’s not just a contest. It’s a community.

 – Missy Volker

For more photos, check out Facebook, here.

The Full Results:
Xpression on the Beach | Surfers Corner Apparel SA Wave Riding SUP Champs

Legends 45+
1. Gary van Rooyen
2. Dave Maxwell
3. Francois Frick
4. Mike X

Divas
1. Missy Volker
2. Elleni Smyth
3. Sue Maxwell
4. Dominique Venter

Social Men
1. Mike Foster
2. Sinda Takatana
3. Cameron van Niekerk
4. Joshua Coetzee

Social Women
1. Natalie Thomson
2. Chiara Vorster
3. Sune Hutchinson
4. Lizanie Teron
5. Gabi Nordgaard

 

Open Men
1. Dylan Frick
2. Thomas King
3. Matt Maxwell
4. Jethro Johnson

Open Women
1. Tarryn King
2. Tammy Foster
3. Penny Stemmet
4. Chelsea van Rooyen

Junior Boys
1. Cameron Tripney
2. Miggie Terblanche
3. Adam Lawrence

Junior Girls
1. Keena Thomson
2. Chiara Vorster

Foil – Men
1. Thomas King
2. Mike Oxley
3. Henco Scholts
4. Pete Petersen
5. Dave Maxwell

Foil – Women
1. Tammy Foster