Nautic SUP Paris Crossing 2013

The ‘Nautic SUP Paris Crossing’ was another great success this year, with over 350 paddlers of all abilities, taking to the water early on Saturday morning. SUPboarder team rider Peter Kosinski was there taking part and here he gives us a rundown of the event and his performance…

Peter Kosinski : “A year has past since I raced in my first international race, at ‘the SUP Nautic’ a unique event which runs straight through the centre of Paris. I went into the event with no experience of serious racing and ended up not doing as well as I wanted.

The event is a part of the Paris boat show and is organised by the crazy French man Dider Laffete who organises most of the high profile European events (Oleron, Bilbao and La Torche). There are two parts of the event – the big city race and the pool one design man-on-man racing. Both contribute to an overall result. The 12 km city race starts near the old Citeron factory on the east side of Paris and takes in a loop of Notre Dame. It then continues on past the Eiffle Tower and finishes near the Microsoft Building at the Port de Versailles. All of this at 7 o clock in the morning!

This year the river was flowing between 4-5 km p/h. This made it extremely choppy and in one place a standing wave formed! 300 paddlers were squeezed onto the line plus three small safety boats in the middle of the chaos. It made it tough to get a clean start. It was my first time on the new Starboard 2014 all star, and it took me a while to figure out the balance point of the board.

I clicked on to the back of the main draft, with Aaron Rowe tucked behind me (as per usual!) I felt strong until I fell in on the other side of Notre Dame. The water was so cold and my legs went numb pretty quick I slipped out of the draft at this stage and paddled the rest of the race by myself trying to catch Aaron, but just couldn’t reel him in. My team mate Ryan James had caught up to me after going swimming 13 times (an unlucky number to say the least!) We had a fun sprint to the line where we called it even.

The sprint racing in the afternoon was so much fun and I got to the fourth round of the pool before getting knocked out. Marie Buchanan took first place for the Ladies and Leonard Nika of Italy took the mens race.”

And here’s what some of the other pro and amateur racers who took part had to say about the event…

Aaron Rowe :“Yeah was pretty stoked to be the first UK paddler across the line. I thought Ryan was in the pack ahead of me so as I finished and sat on my board and looked back to see Ryan and Pete battling it out I was so stoked. I also love the friendly rivalry me and Pete have now and look forward to next year.“

Paul Simmons : “The Paris Crossing is a fun event, accommodating experienced racers right through to nervous novices. Almost everyone leaves the water with a grin on their face and even those of us that didn’t were soon cheering each other on during the indoor sprint races. I’m really proud of Marie; she chose the Ace, which is the perfect board for the choppy conditions and paddled her backside off to take the win. Indoor sprints were fun and it was great to witness plenty of thrills and spills for both pros and amateurs.”

Tim Rowe : “Paris this year was the best one yet. This is the third year that Aaron and I have been and we have seen it grow from 100 entrants the first year that we went, to 200 last year. And then this year the spectacle of 300 boards on the river at daybreak, it was awesome to be one of the 300 trying to hold position in the fast current at the start. This is the first time that we have been, that the river has shown some real movement. OK, it made the upstream paddle hard. The weather this year was also the best that we have had. As always the organization was fantastic and everything ran smoothly. The logistics of getting 300 paddlers and their boards to the start and then back again was faultless. The Jersey paddlers from Team gonepaddling.com were well received and are well known in the international SUP community through their attendance at several events across Europe this year. They normally get a special mention when Didier Lafitte is organising the event and this event was no exception, this is great for such a small island community.”

Joanne Hamilton-Vale : “Once a year you can SUP on the Seine. I was privileged to be one of the 300 paddlers in 2013 and felt extremely nervous as I put my 2014 Starboard Ace on the water, due to the 6km current and standing waves. My board took it all in its stride and happily I was one of the few paddlers who did not go for a swim. Result – 4th place female in Pro Race and placed 34th in the overall Pro standings.”

Sarah Elizabeth Thornely : “As a new paddler, I was very apprehensive but achieved my goal of starting, staying dry and completing the race! Conditions were fierce and the beautiful waters are not to be underestimated. More amazingly, I finished 16th out of 39 ladies in the Leisure section and passed 90 riders on my way through the pack. Great venue too and I would love to return next year.”

Peter Vale : “The Nautic SUP Paris Crossing was a perfect race to end the years racing. I used my Inflatable Red Paddle 12’6” elite board and was amazed to see so many other riders racing on inflatable SUP’s – it must have been nearly 100 of the 300 paddlers!! Everybody had their own story from the race – mine was I had a terrible start, falling in 3 times during the first 2km. Then when the crazy water from the start calmed, I got into a rhythm and enjoyed paddling through Paris and past the Eiffel Tower. I was glad I did the full race distance and had the challenge of paddling against the river flow as we went around the island. Before I knew it, the fast current of the Seine had me paddling past the finish line in 41st position in the Pro Class, on my inflatable Red elite.”

Ben Swails : “All that I can say about the Nautique Paris SUP Crossing is that it was brilliant! If you know me at all you know that I am a romantic at heart. Paddling on the Seine is illegal for three hundred and sixty-four days of the year. This race was my lucky ticket. Add in the fact that I was one of three hundred and it starts to become a really special event to be a part of.”

Chris Bates : “After taking part in the leisure class in the 2012 SUP Paris crossing we decided to try the Pro Class for 2013. The weather was milder this year and the rider numbers where up from last years 200 to 300 which made for an interesting and crowded start line. I got off to a cracking start (I’m not the fastest off the mark) and managed to make it through the start without a dunking. Things were going well until we turned off to circle Îll Saint-Louis, just as I started the up river section I fell, loosing the pack in front and being passed by the pack behind. Not good, despite trying to catch up I paddled the rest of the race alone, managing to overtake one other in the pro class and picking off some Leisure paddlers along the way. Post race breakfast was at Microsoft’s headquarters in Paris before heading back to the boat show to watch the indoor sprint finals. All in all a great day and a great event to finish the years race calendar.”

Tim Tredant : “It was my first Nautic SUP Paris Crossing experience and as soon as we arrived we were met with a warm welcome, I found the Paris Crossing to be extremely well organized and to get 300 people on the water at once well all I can say is fair play. The race its self is a must do for anyone that has a chance to do so, as it will challenge you as a paddler as you have to deal with so many different things, Temperature of the water and the air what do I paddle in?, you have choppy and clam water so what board width do I use? Down stream and up stream river flow, on the up stream be sure you don’t fall in as it could cost you a lot of water covered, you also get standing waves as you go under some of the bridges as I said it was a challenge, But hay you get to see some of the best sites of Paris whilst you can race somewhere which is never really open to sup’s apart from the Nautic SUP Paris Crossing. But most of all it is so much fun and you will get the chance to meet some really great people, If I can I will be back next year to try and beat my Time.”

Marie Buchanan : “Last year’s NAUTIC Paris SUP crossing was my perfect introduction to the international SUP racing scene and after such wonderful & unique experience SUPing through central Paris at first light its now become a must attend annual event! For me, 2012’s event was rather disastrous, with a terrible start & a fall at my first turn in the pool sprints. I was keen to make amends this year and I did just that! This year, a good start saw me amongst the leaders and while the top bunch of guys pulled ahead, I remained in the top 20 in the Pro fleet, sharing the lead in the women’s race with Slovenian hotshot Manca Notar. This year the fast flowing River Seine and choppy waters saw me reach top speeds of 12.6kph on my 12.6 Starboard Ace and the finish line approached much sooner than I had anticipated!. A sudden sprint to the finish line saw me take a photo finish with Manca. When the results were announced I was delighted to claim 1st place in the Woman’s 12km race in a time of 1’04” and a respectable 19th place overall out of a fleet of 58 pro men & Woman. Later, in the indoor pool sprints I was really pleased to avoid a repeat of last years swim at the turn buoy to win my Ist heat against France’s great Faustine Merret (an Olympic Windsurfing Gold medalist & last year’s overall event winner ) This saw me through to the winner’s final in another closely fought battle against Manca Notar. This time it was Manca that inched ahead to take the win with myself finishing second in the sprints . With the points weighted in favour of the distance race I was thrilled to be awarded with the overall event title , with Manca Notar in 2nd and Faustine Merrett in 3rd. A fantastic end to a great 2013 SUP season which would not have been possible without the support of my sponsors; Starboard, Tideford Organics, Waterborn SUP, O’neil wetsuits, a massive thanks to you all! “

Congratulations to all the paddlers that took part in the Nautic SUP Paris Crossing 2013. An amazing event for all abilities, and your one chance to paddle through the heart of one of the most beautiful cities in the world. So don’t miss out on this great opportunity… get training and take part next year if you missed it this year.

If you took part in the event this year and would like to share your experience please comment on the post below. SUPboarder would love to hear from you.