A crossover board like no other
We were super excited for the new range to come out as Fanatic offered a crossover board like no other. The Rapid Air Touring SUP was just what we were looking for; a board that take on distance and handle white water rapids. But more about that in the board review…
Stag and Hen SUP
Before we knew it, a busy summer was rapidly approaching with many stag and hen groups as well as family get togethers. This year we’ve really enjoyed watching our regular customers develop; investing in their own kit to bring to sessions and booking technical tuition and one to one coaching with Anthony. This has been so awesome to see! A big thank you to those who support us as a team and business year on year. Also lovely to see so many join us for our social paddles, new faces as well as old, some of which have now become great friends.
Doggy paddleboarding
Our sessions haven’t just been with humans… lots of you brought your furry friends along on a doggy paddleboarding lesson too! One of our most memorable and special SUP pup moments this year was with North West Giants water rescue team who brought 10 of their 70-95kg big breed dogs along! They were brilliant, so chilled and loved being on and in the water. Check out this Saint Bernard cruising the Llangollen canal. What a dude.
White Water SUP Fest North Wales
Come July 29th-30th we were excited to host the second White Water SUP Fest North Wales. Another fantastic turn out with board demos, workshops, wwsup social paddles, a SUPercross event and finished off by a mass BBQ! It was fantastic to see how white water SUP had grown as a sport in just a year! 2018’s date TBC, watch this space!
WSA white water SUP instructor
This year also kept Anthony and I on our toes, and a few proud high fives were shared! We’ve been writing the WSA white water SUP instructor pathway and syllabus and Ant began running the courses. He was also invited onto the BC SUP technical panel, to help guide SUP’s direction within British Canoeing. On top of this and running sessions, Ant was also headhunted for 3 films this year showcasing his WWSUP skills and knowledge. Go team! This year we were also chosen as one of the top one hundred businesses in the UK by Small Business Saturday event #smallbiz100 and I was invited behind those shiny black doors of 10 Downing Street! It was an incredible experience and awesome opportunity to meet so many other interesting businesses and represent SUP UK. As part of the #smallbiz100 event, each company hosted an experience; for us that meant our first Santa Paddle. On the 5th of December, all of our friends and fellow SUPer’s joined us on the water (fully dressed as elves and Santa’s) to spread Christmas joy and promote supporting small businesses over the UK. It was a real highlight for us and an awesome way to finish our year.
We have lots to look forward to in 2018
We have lots to look forward to in 2018. To give you a taste, we will have year three of the WWSUPFEST and involvement in a new SUPX event (more news to follow!). We will be working with our new friends at The Dog Backpacker to provide their doggy adventure activities. The brand new log cabin accommodation is currently being erected AND the new Mcconks white water SUP is arriving very soon which Ant had a hand in the design with… and guess what… ours are bright orange!!
An exciting year ahead; hope to see you all at some point soon!
All the best,
Lianne
P.s. On another note, it has been our first year on Instagram and we have 887 followers. Thank you fellow SUPers for supporting us and liking what we do!
