SUP Events in Sayulita Mexico

Normally we stay away from the crowds of the town beach, but over the weekend, we were never anywhere else.  That was because of the Punta Sayulita SUP Classic, an event that brings SUP competitors from all over the world to compete in races, and SUP surfing. Dad and I competed in one race each and we both got second place. Our races were just 2 kilometres but some people did a 10k using long pointy race boards.

Beginning of the 10k race

After that was the SUP surfing finals.  There were two heats, in the first heat the competitors were trying to get the best wave, and in the second heat it was the "most radical maneuver".  Those two scores put together were your final score. Also there were two divisions, pro and amateur, and there were two divisions inside each division, under 35, and 35 and over.  Some of the pros were getting some air and one person did a 360.  My favorite SUP trick is the "laid-back revert tailslide" which is when you stick your paddle behind you into the wave lean back towards your paddle and crank really hard pushing your back foot forward and to the side really fast making the tail slide out for definite style points. We saw a lot of of those and I'm hoping to get it down next year.

Competitors and people who organized the event.

At the end of the day we all gathered in front of the podium for the awards ceremony to find who won  which event and what prizes people were getting.  Riviera Paddlesurf donated three paddle boards with paddles, and Punta Sayulita donated $10,000 USD in prizes and cash.

Our friend Leland Pierce took 1st in a 4k race.