BIC SUP has won a Gear of the Year award from Outside Magazine, claiming the prize with their “Wing” range, which includes the 12’6″ Wing ACE-TEC SUP race board.

BIC SUP, a brand once known for it’s tough, all-round recreation boards, is getting more and more serious about SUP racing. The brand is home to Eric Terrien, one of the fastest stand up paddlers in the world, and launched a One Design SUP race series last year as well. BIC also signed well-known SUP identity Nikki Gregg just last month.   → READ MORE

The 2012 SUP Race rankings for Europe have been released. Unbeknownst to many paddlers outside of Euro-land, there’s actually a dedicated organisation helping to run a lot of the races in that part of the world. It’s kind of like the WPA for Europe. Though while the U.S. has the ambitiously-named World Paddle Association, Europe has the more logically-titled “European SUP Association“.

Here are some quick stats to put the 2012 EuroSUPA season in perspective…   → READ MORE

The 2012 “Championnat de France SUP Race” (aka the French National SUP Race Championships) took place this weekend in Crozon-Morgat on France’s West coast. The event was part of the Presqu’île (“Peninsula”) Paddle Race and the results will help decide who scores a spot on Team France for the 2013 ISA World SUP Championships in Peru.

Click through to see who won…   → READ MORE

There’s been a lot of talk about board classes lately (including from us).

12’6″ vs. 14′, 14′ vs Unlimited, Multiple board classes vs one class races, “One Design” SUP races. What’s fair? What’s not? What’s exciting? What’s boring? What’s good for the future of SUP racing? What’s not? A lot of talk. But talking is just that, talking. It’s not paddling (and it’s nowhere near as fun). So at the risk of armchair SUP racers taking over the discussion, someone has stepped in to call time out.

Here is European #1 Eric Terrien’s Facebook response to the debate. Trust a Frenchman to put it eloquently.   → READ MORE

BIC SUP have just announced plans for a “One Design” Stand Up Paddle race series, which they’re claiming is a world first.

The French outfit, best known in the SUP racing scene for sponsoring European #1 Eric Terrien, will be debuting their one design SUP race series at next week’s surf trade show in Orlando, Florida.

All competitors in BIC One Design SUP races will use the exact same board: the new 12’6″ Wing. Each event will also feature the same course (roughly 800m long), with races consisting of short, knockout-style, one-lap sprints.   → READ MORE