It was around the 44km mark that I looked up and realised, to my horror, I was quite literally paddling backwards.

After more than six hours on the water, and wearing a t-shirt comically ill-suited for such extreme conditions, my body and mind were both screaming out for me to stop whatever I was doing and immediately seek shelter from this nightmarish headwind, piercing rain and bitter cold. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Just get the bloody hell off this lake and into some dry warm clothes, you idiot.

Unfortunately for my body, mind, and self in general, that lake was in the middle of nowhere in one of the Netherlands’ most remote provinces. And I was in the middle of a race.   → READ MORE

The @sup11citytour from above by @georgiasphoto for @starboardsup. Today's second stage was the complete opposite of yesterday: In place of piercing rain we enjoyed glorious blue skies, and instead of hellish headwinds it was a mixture of sheet glass and even some merciful little downwind stretches. After establishing a mammoth lead of 17 minutes on that brutal 50km opening stage, the Hasulyo Brothers @brunohasulyo and @danielhasulyo played defense and sat alongside a strong lead pack for the first 41 of 42km. Showing frightening levels of fitness, the dynamic duo still managed to sprint away at the end to narrowly capture yet another stage win, but @martinorogai (3rd overall), @reteebb, @bruno_tauhiro, @rafaelalexandre1 and @ricardohaverschmidt were all looking good today as well. The brothers now have a gap of about 18 minutes and seem virtually unstoppable in their quest for back-to-back 1-2 finishes. Once again, the top placings in seemingly every division were dominated by the Starboard and @mistral_int teams, with Mistral's Brazilian sensation @lenagribeiro extending her lead over talented teammate @petronella_van_malsen to a total of about 20 minutes and cementing her dark horse status in the process. The former king of the 11 Cities @bartdezwart, who opted to join the amateur "competition" division this year after draining himself in the 24hr non-stop tour earlier in the week, paddled virtually the whole day on his own to handily win his class and beat most of the elite guys in the process. The competition division is by far the biggest, with about 60 guys battling for bragging rights and personal victories in this mind-boggling four day test of physical and mental strength. Battling harder than most is SUP Racer's honourary team mate @caiogebaravaz, with the 2x SUP surfing world champ showing that he's pretty handy on a race board as well after leading the division's main pack for the first 30km today before crossing in a more than respectable 5th place. There have been plenty of commendable performances all the way through the field the past two days, while everyone the simply finishes this epic odyssey thoroughly deserves a medal…

A post shared by SUP Racer (Christopher Parker) (@supracer) on Sep 15, 2017 at 12:49pm PDT

Full recap coming soon. Follow the SUP 11 City Tour on Facebook for more.

CLICK HERE for Friday’s stage results.

Congrats to the Hasulyo Brothers for smashing out a big win for Team @starboardsup in today's 50km opening stage of the @sup11citytour, and very well done to Brazil's @lenagribeiro from Team @mistral_int for claiming a massive early advantage on the women's leaderboard. Though really, anyone and everyone that simply finished today's race deserves a medal: Those were some of the toughest paddling conditions I've ever seen. The 11 City Tour has experienced more than its fair share of gnarly weather over the past nine years, but I can't imagine anything being much tougher than that. The event is billed as "The Ultimate Challenge" and today it certainly lived up to that title. The second half of today's 50km (31 mile) stage featured a seemingly-endless string of lakes that were getting battered by merciless 25 knot headwinds and stinging rains that soaked us to the bone and shattered whatever was left of the draft trains. At one point I'm pretty sure I was going backwards, and at several points my body and mind were screaming out for me to quit. Everyone I spoke to after the race seemed to have a similar experience, and most of us limped over the finish line more than seven hours after we started. Actually, I'm a little surprised I finished at all… It was a bloody nightmare out on those lakes, but it was also extremely satisfying (or at least it was at the finish). And in a weird and twisted way, I think I actually had fun out there today… I hope so anyway, because we've got three more days of this great big adventure still to come!! #sup11citytour #headwindsfromhell #cloudywithachanceofbiblicalfloods photo: @georgiasphoto ⛈️💥😳

A post shared by SUP Racer (Christopher Parker) (@supracer) on Sep 14, 2017 at 2:16pm PDT

Full recap coming soon. Follow the SUP 11 City Tour on Facebook for more.

CLICK HERE for Thursday’s stage results.

I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of team racing in sports that are otherwise an individual pursuit.

For example, I never really understood the Tour de France growing up and in turn never much cared for it. But after watching it closely one summer and understanding how it all works, I came to be fascinated by the spectacle. And there’s surely nothing more fascinating in the Tour de France than the teams.

So why don’t we see the same thing in SUP racing?   → READ MORE

“The Ultimate Challenge” is about to begin again. On Wednesday morning, a hundred odd paddlers will be gathered on the water in Leeuwarden, a small city in the rural Dutch province of Friesland. Staring down in front of them will be 220 kilometres (136 miles) of canals and lakes, along with eleven cities (or mostly towns) that make up one of the most special races in the world of stand up paddling: The SUP 11 City Tour.

Now in its eighth year, the 11 Cities has grown to become one of the true classics on the international calendar. The race occupies a unique position in the world of SUP, providing paddlers with an extreme test: Five straight days of racing with an average of more than 40km (25 miles) per day.    → READ MORE