This year’s National Watersports Festival (NWF) at Rutland Water, East Midlands, UK 8th-10th June 2018 saw a large increase in the number of paddleboarders taking to the water. There was loads going on including races, skills clinics, tours, parties, as well as making use of the large demo equipment on offer across the whole weekend from Starboard, Red Paddle Co, Fanatic, Naish, Jimmy Lewis and O’Shea.
“NWF 2018 – epic, inclusive, competitive, parties and fun for all the family”
As part of NWF, race 3 of the GB SUP National Series took place which saw paddlers taking part in sprints and a 10k distance race. For new people to the sport, there was also a Challenge Tour distance of 5k, with paddlers heading out across the reservoir and down the north shore.
Results: https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=140025
While the adults were out racing, Sam Ross ran a series of short races and skills session for juniors and there were skills clinics throughout the weekend.
Windsurfers, divers, dinghy sailors and kayakers were also keeping the water busy at Europe’s largest manmade reservoir, with foiling demos showing the future to a captivated audience.
As with last year, the weekend also saw teams of four taking part in Dragon and XL time challenges as well as SUP Polo! Points for these were added to sprint results and the team with the most points won
•1st Place Central SUP
•2nd Place SUP North
•3rd Place Bray Lake Watersports5 words – competitive, inclusive, epic, parties, families
Provisional dates for next year’s NWF is 7th–9th June 2019. So get it in the diary now to make sure you don’t miss it!