A Stand-Up Guy

A surprising test of speed, stamina and coordination, stand-up paddle-boarding is an intense sport that’s making waves. We sent our man to the Dragon World Championships in France to find out if it can really deliver a full-body workout at a stroke

- Justin Guthrie

Stand-up paddle-boarding (SUP) can look a little tame. Tranquil backdrops, lapping waters, a lone paddler gazing into the middle distance: it’s basically canoeing for the Instagram influencer. But there’s another kind of SUP that burns your core, leaves your shoulders in bits and tests your balance, coordination and stamina. This is the world of SUP racing, and I am its newest inhabitant.

Balancing at the tip of a four-person board, I’m jostling for position with hulking eastern Europeans at the Dragon World Championships on Lake Annecy in south-eastern France. More precisely, I am up the proverbial creek de merde. Before I arrived a day ago as part of Team Nike Swim, the championships’ headline partner, I’d done a bit of paddle-boarding – but the 30 minutes I spent floating across the Swan River in Perth don’t seem relevant in this semi-final. Instead, it’s the advice of Martin Letourneur, a Nike Swim paddle-boarder and the anchor of our team, that I try to remember: “Whatever happens at the start, you must give yourself room to paddle.”

In an attempt to secure myself some space, I nudge the Team Latvia board a few centimetres with my paddle. Bad move. My bulkier Latvian opposite number is staring at me. “Don’t push me,” he intones, “or I’ll push you.” But more about him later.

SINKING FEELING

Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that it’s all being taken so seriously. SUP is suddenly making waves. The Statista Research Department estimates that the industry will be worth as much as R155bn by 2020, double its valuation just four years ago. And according to a Royal Yachting Association survey, in places such as the UK, more than 600,000 people tried paddle-boarding in 2018, an increase of 53.5% since 2016. And that’s minus the better weather we Saffers enjoy.