Iván Puente

Antonio Serrera Christian Stadler. Albert Laborda. Up Suping

IVÁN

PUENTE

I have always lived facing the sea, and since I was 8 years aged have enjoyed the waves and surfing. In 2019, thanks to the point that my uncle did SUP Waves, I started my journey in Stand Up Paddle during a family outing. I fell in love with this sport from the first moment, and I convinced my mother to buy us a 140 litre board. She has always supported me and has been by my side. So much so that she still accompanies me today in my sessions with that same board.

After 2 years of to SUP Waves in a self-taught way, I decided to go to Ondalonga during a Clinic organized by the Supmera Club with the great Guillermo Carracedo as a teacher. From that session, I took many lessons that I have been putting into practice over the years; It is a privilege to share waves with a European Champion.

Although I intended to enjoy SUP Olas, it was that weekend that I met Guille Goyanes, my current coach. Guille told me about Race, a modality that I was almost unaware of and that didn’t arouse my interest. He invited me to share a Race session with Mera, and I must admit that I said yes out of commitment.

C.Stadler A.Laborda

This is how my first day of the SUP Race arrived, I did the impossible to attend my class. My mother, always more knowledgeable than me, convinced me to go. I remember exactly what I said when I got into the car after my first Sup Race session: ”Mom, thank you, I have discovered my sport”. I never thought that I would fall in love with the SUP Race, my thing was the waves…but from that moment everything changed. I continued training with 2 weekly classes that soon became too little for me, and with the guys from the Club who were months and years ahead of me.

I started at Sup Mera in March 2021, and my experience in waves together with the support of my coach made me progress faster and faster every day. I will always say that there is no complete coach than Guille, she is one of the best people I know. And well...that’s how my first competition came in Caravia in May 2021, that I will never forget it.

In these few years, you have made a great leap to Spanish championships getting great results. How did you manage to get so high in such a short time?

Just a year and a half back started training in SUP, and I think that the speed of my evolution is because I have always been linked to sport and the sea. I have done many sports, both team and individual, and I love competing and improving myself. The key to the results depends on work and training, and I enjoy SUP so much that I only think about squeezing in each session, without realizing how sacrificed this discipline is.

It is also essential to be surrounded by colleagues who share your same passion and help you improve every day, and at SUP Mera we always come together as a team to demand each other and encourage each other to improve, both children and adults with different levels, there are always many of us at the Water. I am competitive, I like competition, and I want to improve myself. Guille always tells me that on race days I perform better, and when the horn sounds, all I think about is that.

A.Laborda

Well, let’s talk about Mera, that tiny coastal town located in the bay of A Coruña. What do you like the most about Mera?

Mera is the town of my maternal family, my great grandfather was a sailor from Mera and his whole life was linked to the sea. In my house, we always feel a strong connection with the sea. My grandfather loved the sea. I have grown up in Mera, in her park, in the lagoon and on the beach. Here I took my first steps and learned to swim, so I can’t say much more...Mera is lively in summer, sunny and full of tourists; when winter comes, everything is quiet. It is a joy to row in this bay, when the sea is calm and when it roars furiousl

Tell us where you move there in Mera and the surroundings to surf, paddle, do downwind…paddle, do downwinds…

In Galicia, we have some of the best sand breaks with well known waves. Costa da Morte and Ferrol present spots with all kinds of conditions; small waves, big waves, pipes, laying, long...You can almost always scratch a good bath in one area or another. I love Razo and Baldaio, Sabón, Louro, Valdoviño, Pantin... and also some secret place whose name I don’t want to remember. In Sabón I experienced one of the most terrifying situations of my life when part of the team had to leave the water because a 6 meter white shark had been sighted just 150 meters from us. The news can still be found on the internet.

We also have one of the longest waves in the world, the well known Ondalonga that connects with the Ría de Betanzos, and in which you get to surf the same wave for 2 and a half minutes. With the SUP Mera team, we usually go there to train Beach Race on stormy days, or paddle flat. Mera, of course, is also fantastic for rowing in the Ría de A Coruña, you can stay quietly in the bay, take a more technical route inland, or go out through the Seixo Branco and its caves until you skirt La Marola; we almost always see dolphins. There is a Galician saying that says: “Who passes Marola, all passes to the sea” because we pass it several times a year and it is spectacular.

In May the wind blows North/Nordés and from Mera the Downwind season begins, with a short route of about 5k that, with little wind, is easy for medium levels, but with a swell and 30 knots you get to do “some good surfed”. This year, together with Guille and part of the team, we will try to leave Ferrol with a support boat to end up in Bastiagueiro in what can be a wild and fun Downwind. The alignment of the sea, thermal wind and the crossing of the Atlantic and Cantabrian currents are perfect when the tide goes out.

This year you went to the ICF World Championship in Poland…What are your feelings from there?

Attending a World Cup meant fulfilling a dream, it was great to arrive in Poland and be able to see the greatest of this sport up close. Competing with so many juniors from other countries was an extra motivation for me while I was still at SUB16. I was shocked to see the level of the Juniors from all over the world, and that has motivated me, even more, to keep advancing and training hard. The trip with my companions Ana and Paloma were full of fun moments together, anecdotes at the airports and a lot of nerves. We share each other’s feelings making them our own, and that union we already had will never be broken.

From Poland, I’ll take what it means to meet so many people like us, from so many different countries and corners of the world, and who love what I love. Making new friends, in that wonderful environment, and listening to their anecdotes, has been exciting.

I suppose this year has been special for you since you entered the world of wave SUP, tell us what made you try it and how you felt about it.

As I said, the waves were my first contact with SUP. I discovered it in the summer of 2019 using a plank from my uncle, but with the pandemic, I couldn’t enjoy it as much as I would have liked. After a long pandemic in which I learned by watching all the videos I could find on the internet, we got a 93 litre board and I started training and participating in my first SUP Waves competition. From then on, I was looking for material to test with fewer litres and continue advancing, although this was not easy due to the little material I found near me.

In my second competition, at the All In SUP in Gijón, I met Lander. From the first moment I felt that he would be a special person to me because he got very involved and we shared good talks and waves. I soon had the opportunity to try his colourful boards and discovered the quality and knowledge he has about surf equipment and SUP. Without expecting it, Lander proposed to make me my first custom board, which was the jump and boost he needed. It was a big surprise when he decided to selflessly support me, and he proposed to me to be the first Landboard rider…my first board! I couldn’t believe it. In addition to being a great shaper, Lander is a great person to whom all my family, and especially me, are very grateful. For me, it would be impossible to continue progressing without his support and love. That has motivated me every day and has made my progress fast.

I think that seeing how well you’ve done this year, do you already have clear goals for next year?

Yes, the truth is that I am very happy with the results of this year. I was sorry that the Spanish Beach Race Championship was not held, it is where I feel best. Now I only think about continuing to enjoy this sport a lot, and with everything that the world of surfing implies and offers. Hopefully, I can continue to have the opportunity to travel and see new places and people, and train hard to try to be the best version of myself. I want to improve myself and try to get as high as possible, but I keep every moment of the process very present, my friends and colleagues, my competitors who in the end are all friends now, and the support of those around me who support me every day and get the best out of it. better of me My goal is to continue enjoying and learning, and I am very excited to think that it will continue to be so.

Well, tell us something about your SUP team Mera, it looks like you are a great family. How have you achieved that union between the kids, fathers and mothers?

Yes, that is the reality, we are a big family and we enjoy sharing this sport. I believe that the key to making everything work lies in the values of respect and camaraderie that Guille tries to transmit to us from day one, and we in turn to the little ones who come to the Club. We share many moments where parents and children go out together to row, travel, and compete. But we also share many experiences outside of the water. This summer, I was collaborating with the Club and seeing the work that is done in the Summer Schools, and it is exciting to help children to take their first shovelfuls and observe how quickly they progress. I am lucky to have my mother and uncle, who also love what I do, and accompany me on my adventures. That union is above all. You, Toni, and Nico have been participants in those moments, for this reason, we could say that SupMera also includes those people who participate in those times of friendship outside and inside the water. Our motto, “Mera, a sentiment”

How did your parents take you to start in this world of Stand Up Paddle at a national level?

My parents have instilled in me a passion for sports since I was born, so I have always had full support from them, in all the sports that I have done since I was very young, which have been many...The truth is that my mother is always there, unconditionally, supporting me and accompanying me anywhere, with the effort that this entails at all levels. Without her effort and support, it would be impossible to be where I am. I think I am aware of the efforts that she makes, and at the same time, I know that I have no idea of everything that she does for me. I am very attached to her.

Thanks to…

For everything you have already read, I am especially grateful for the support of my mother and the rest of my family, my coach Guille who is always there giving me advice or pulling my ears, my teammates and friends from the club who are my second family, to Lander who with his Landboard brand has believed in me from the beginning to the great family of Juniors from the North whom I met in Caravia in May 2021, in my first competition, and who made me feel like one of the family from the first minute (Toni, David, Manu, Corripio, Ricardo...) and to all of you who in one way or another support me and encourage me to continue growing in this sport, and lastly to you, Nico, for doing the great job you do for all of us and the great SUP Community, and for the opportunity to count on me for this very important issue of Up magazine. THANKS TO ALL!

Sevilla SUP Festival 2022

Up Suping Pedro Sanz

On October 22 we had one of the great Stand Up Paddle events in Andalucia due to its attractive format, its promotion of the sport and its location in the heart of the city. The edition of the Sevilla SUP Festival hosted more than 130 participants, who participated in the last stage of the Costa del SUP 2022 circuit and also scored for the Fesurfing Spanish Cup. And as a great novelty, this sports festival also hosted the ¨Sevilla City Office¨ grand prize, an exciting 1mile competition under the sunset of this wonderful andalusian city.

From the early hours of Saturday morning, the Lonja del Barranco Market area was full of SUP Race boards with all their athletes preparing the necessary material for the competition. The long distance competition of the Sevilla SUP Festival has been highly recognized thanks to the flat water conditions that this area of the Guadalquivir river has, which makes it easier to promote this sport, which is the main objective of said event.

There was a lot of expectation since this competition would close the Costa del SUP 2022 circuit and there were great points at stake in its different categories. Participants from all over Andalusia and even from other regions of Spain did not miss this great event, who were also participants in one of the most iconic images of our sport: all of them prepared to start with the Triana bridge as their banner. It is spectacular!

Exceptionally conditions for the SUP Race competition where we highlight the high participation of the Amateur category with all kinds of boats, with the simple objective of enjoying the tour and always with a smile on their faces. The Andalusian SUP academy was also noted, with the company of many clubs from different parts of this community together with their coaches and families. And of course, with an exciting race in charge of the Elite category that was delivered to the maximum.

The Dutch Petronella Van Malsen won the women’s category ahead of the young Ainhoa Rivas and Ángel Nuñez finishing in the third position. Also, highlight the splendid performance of Rocío Bensaid in the SUB 18 category.

On the part of the boys, we witnessed a fantastic final fight for first place between Fernando Pérez and Antonio Morillo from Cádiz, members of the SUP National Team. After an impressive final sprint, Fernando took victory by a few seconds ahead of Antonio. The rider Augusto García would get the third position, where he also got on the podium proclaiming first place in the SUB 18 category.

The high level of the local competitors in the Master and Kahuna categories is indescribable, being great connoisseurs of these waters and obtaining satisfactory results in the general classification, where we highlight the participation of Sergio López and Daniel Parres from Alicante, among others. The juniors also offered us a great show, showing that the future of the andalusian SUP Race is stronger than ever.

After the awards ceremony with the local authorities at the Mercado Lonja del Barranco facilities, there was a break to latest enjoy the first edition of the Sevilla City Office, where around 40 competitors rowed with great effort a total distance of 1 nautical mile. The cash prize for the first 3 places, for both girls and boys, was more than enough motivation for all the audience present to enjoy a fabulous performance by the selected competitors.

On this occasion, the boys would repeat a fantastic final sprint with the same competitors as in the long distance in the morning. But Antonio Morillo claimed the first position ahead of Fernando Pérez and the young Augusto García. On the part of the girls, Ainhoa Rivas was the fastest in this mile forward of Ángela Nuñez and Rocío Bensaid.

The final for this edition of the Sevilla SUP Festival 2022 was the Octoberfest party with drinks and live music at the Mercado Lonja del Barranco facilities. A remarkable season finale for the Costa del SUP circuit and the great satisfaction of once again enjoying Seville and its great possibilities for this sport, its great atmosphere, tourism and hospitality.

Thank the Junta de Andalucía, Sevilla City Office, Mercado Longa del Barranco, Fesurfing, Costa del SUP, Starboard, Heineken, Coca Cola, Eusa, Up Suping, Covey Seguridad, Club Deportivo Triana, Club de Windsurf Isla Cristina, Mercedes-Benz Concesur and Fervial and Seville Municipal Sports Institute.