Sup racing season is in full swing with big races every weekend all over europe including Ireland and sup race series happening every week. It is full on for the next few weeks.

Since the Head of the Dart it was straight back training for the Battle Of The Thames in London. The event was filled with some of the best paddlers in the U.K and Jamie Mitchell of Australia joining in on the racing as well during his tour of the U.K. Jamie is a ten times Molokai to Oahu paddle board world champion and the current Long distance world champion so I was pretty chuffed with myself to be only 5 minutes behind him after more then 16 km of racing. I had a poor start and had to play the catch up game for the rest of the race which got me in 5th postion over the line. Chris Parker aka Mr Supracer gives a good review of his week in Engaland. At Supracer .com

The Dublin Bay Sup Classic happened last weekend and in conjunction with the Pure Magic Battle for the Bay. The event had a nice festival atmosphere and the weather was sunny at least but with a good sea breeze the temperature was pretty chilly. On Saturday Morning the inaugural JM Survivor race was done in front of good crowds. I loved this race format it keeps the racing more interesting then the boring course racing which is normally grinding. Then the Technical race was held in the afternoon. In my opinion the race organizers should have preplanned a better course taking in the one variable they had control on the TIDE. Never the less a rather water less race was had with lots of running around the course. Next morning it was the 20 km long distance race which was a love/hate race as it had some nice downwind sections but had tough upwind paddling and lots of crosswind paddling. A good training course which really tested your paddling style and endurance as it took close to three hours. Overall lots of windy paddling and really nice paddles made by MR OWNES.

Just two weeks after the Dublin Bay Sup classic it was pack my bags and head for the airport once again for the Oleron Sup challenge world series race. It was a stacked field with the top 20 guys in the world attending. Names like Kai Lenny, Connor Baxter, Paul Jackson, Caspear Stienfeth, Beau O’brien, Chase, Jake Jensen, Eric Terrien plus a bunch of other european talent all took part in this cool event organized by Dider(Diablo Fun). Watching those guys race was a huge learning experience and then going up against them was a bit intimidating but seeing them push themselves to the limit shows how much dedication it takes to paddle at that level. Thanks to the Jersey crew, Starboard UK and a special mention to Tim Rowe for picking me up at the airport on the first day.

On Saturday morning it was the Long distance which was supposed to be a 30 k downwinder which was changed to a upwind downwind course of about 5-6 km. Not so much of a distance race but more of a long sprint. Never the less after waiting in the freezing cold for 15mins on the start line it was all GO GO GO. I had a good start off the beach and was around 10th postion but quickly lost places as we headed to the upwind mark. A combination of the cold and rough water made it was hard to settle into a fast pace so rounded the first marker far behind the main pack. The rest of the race was more a race of survival rather then trying to grind it out and gain a few postions. I finished around 30th postion.

Sunday was sprint race day. Another rainy day with a triangular style course in and out of the beach. My first heat and I was up against Kai Lenny and a host of other world class paddlers. I managed to get 4th postion which gave me a direct route in to the Quater finials. Each heat had 8 paddlers in it and the top 4 advanced into the next stage of racing. Then when I was lining up for my quater finial heat with Kai Lenny, Eric Terrian, Chase Kosterlitz, Beau O’Brien and a few other top guys I knew I was going to need a clean start to stick with these guys. I fell off my board during the inside mark and couldn’t catch the guys once I fell off. After the race I was pretty chuffed with myself to be able to stick with those guys until I fell off. My finial postion was 27th overall and 3rd int eh Na Kama Kai(U16). Aaron Rowe from Jersey paddled the best I have seen him paddle ever beating me overall and claiming 2nd Na Kama Kai(U16)

After coming back from France I took out my credit card and booked my next flights to the Bilboa immediately . I can’t wait to race again on the Stand up world Series next weekend.
Credits to all photographers.