2013 Spring – Summer Recap

Planning a season is not an easy thing. In 2012 I planed my trips so that I stay a long time in each places. More time away from home but less travel time.
This year I tried another strategy with shorter trips but more travel time.
Both have good sides and bad sides. I like coming back to Fuerteventura as much as I can to train in the best conditions. Eat good food, sleep in my bed, spend time with my friends. But sometimes it is better to spend an extra week away than having to go back and forth meaning lot of time wasted in airports and planes.
With so many events to take part in, it is not always easy to make the right choices.

One thing for sure, Time is flying !

I did not post anything on this page since April. I know that most people follow me on Facebook ( www.facebook.com/E.T.SUP ) or Twitter. But for those who don’t, here is a short recap of what I have been up to in spring/summer 2013.

May 2013 :
Back from the Carolina Cup I was feeling ready for the european season. Most of the pros were heading to Europe so I knew I’d better train hard !

– GPEN (Grand Prix Ecole Navale) : I first took an express trip to France for this race. A great opportunity to race against the top french riders just before the start of the season. I won the open race and then took part in the Bic One Design race on Bic Wing 12’6 and that was lot of fun.

I also tested my UL board for the M2O race just before we send it to Hawaii

Then I flew back home.

- SUP Race CUP : I was very excited before this race. This is a classic race in europe. This year the field was staked : Connor, Travis, Beau, Casper, Jake, Chase etc… and I had lot of pressure, I had to do good in this race, in France.
But things are not always working as expected and I did not reach my goals. I finished 6th and 8th of the races..

So I decided to focus on the following race, the Lost Mills International SUP Race.

June 2013 :
After finishing disappointed from my result at the SUP Race CUP in France I made my way to Germany for the Lost Mills SUP Race.

- Lost Mills International SUP Race : This race is the biggest and best organized race we had this season. Despite the rain and bad weather everything was prepared for the riders to enjoy. The Elite men field was stacked, no other races in europe have had so many Elite paddlers including world champions at the same time on a race.
In 2012 this is one of the only race in Europe that I did not win. Chase Kosterlitz did.
So in 2013 I wanted to WIN… And even more after not acheiving my goals at the SUP Race CUP.
At first I was planning on doing only the main race, Saturday’s long distance. But I thought i’d be fun to do Thursday’s 200m time trials as well. I got the 2nd best time behind Connor and that was a good news, my confidence came back.
And for Saturday’s long distance I had a plan. I did not want to take part in “one more” drafting race. So I planned to take off at the start and not look back. And so I did. By the time the chasing group started to get organized it was too late and I was gone. It could have not worked out this way. But it did and I won the race with a huge lead. Do you know how I was feeling ? HAPPY !

And then it was time to go to Oleron and Bilbao SUWS and then Hawaii.
But before that there is something I wanted to try for a long time but never did : sprint canoe.
Not easy at all but very interesting to understand why SUP is not and will never be canoeing and how our stroke is different from a sprint canoe stroke. Great experience, I’d like to repeat.

July 2013 :
July in my calendar means Hawaii. And Hawaii in my mind means Molokai2Oahu !

This year the goal for the Molokai2Oahu was to do it on a board we would have designed and built in France with Bic SUP shaper Patrice Remoiville. This is the 1st time we have worked on an open ocean unlimited board and it was an exciting challenge.
I have spent a month in Hawaii testing the board in downwinds on the infamous Maliko Run and taking part in the Molokai2Oahu race.
This year it has been a tough one. Light wind, very strong current, bad choice of line. It took me “forever” to finish it. It is not only a physical challenge. This race is mental.
I got 8th (1st in my age group) and this is an awesome results.
As usual I have learnt a LOT from the time I have spent in Hawaii with the greatest downwind paddlers of the world.
As for the board I had great sensations on this 1st prototype and we now know what to improve, what to change, and what to keep as it is to design an awesome open ocean UL board.

August-Sept 2013 :
Best thing after the M2O Race is to fly back home, get a couple of days of rest and then start training again as the Battle of the Paddle will come fast !
I surfed, I paddled my canoes and I got back to training.
There was also a cool SUP event in Fuerteventura at the beginning of September with SUP Surf and SUP Race. It was good to take part in a contest really just for fun and to spend time with the local paddlers community.

And this is what I have been up to… Oh, wait a minute, I have also taken part in the Stand Up World Series : Oleron and Bilbao in June, Germany in August and San Francisco in September.
I will probably write a full post about the world series after the final in Turtle bay.

For now, more training and soon I will fly to California for the BOP Dana Point 2013 !