This week’s news starts with an update on how Sebastian Szubski is doing 5 days into his attempt to break the record for fastest circumnavigation of Britain by kayak. As Betsy and Billy were recording, Sebastian was out on the water for a 105 kilometre crossing of the Moray Firth from Wick to Fraserburgh.
Not only does this crossing give him a huge boost in time and distance on the circumnavigation, it is, on its own, the longest known open water crossing by surfski without an escort boat.
Sebastian’s approach is informed by the experiences of those who’ve come before him, including significant advice from Mike Lambert who completed his circumnavigation in 58 days last year. His mileage so far is incredibly ambitious and impressive, but precisely where it needs to be to beat the current record of 40 days as set by Dougal Glaisher in 2023.
Sebastian was able to film a video for Paddlecast and Paddle Daily on his rest day, and talk about how the paddling compares to his expectations, the hardest part so far, and his goals.
On the race calendar, last weekend was marathon national championships in South Africa featuring some of the best names in the world including Hamish Lovemore, Andy Birkett, Hank Mcgregor, Uli Hart, Nick Notten, Jade Wilson, and more. The video version of this episode features footage from a couple of the races, including an incredibly tight sprint finish in the men’s K2 race where Hank Mcgregor looks like he’s got his strategy hat on…
There were three different major ultra paddling races last weekend including the Texas Water Safari (USA), Loire 725 (France), and Eliminator (UK). Annette Baum and Linda Tetsmann join Paddlecast briefly to talk about their experience on the Loire 725, what made it different from the many other ultra races they’ve done, why they did it in a canoe instead of a kayak, and what’s next for them (spoiler: it’s the Yukon 2000).
Betsy and Billy wrap things up with quick previews of the next stop on the EuroTour, the Nordhausen SUP race, and the European Championships for Sprint Canoe/Kayak in Racice this week/weekend.
01:19 Sebastian Szubski’s Round Britain Circumnavigation Record Attempt
12:53 Interview with Sebastian
23:34 South African Marathon National Championships Recap
27:56 Ultra Paddling Recaps: Texas Water Safari
33:38 Ultra Paddling Recaps: Loire 725
37:19 Interview with Team Tetsmann-Baum about Loire 725
43:35 Ultra Paddling Recaps: The Eliminator
46:17 USA SUP & Surf National Championships Recap
50:04 Nordhausen EuroTour SUP Preview
25:01 European Sprint Canoe Championships in Racice Czechia
#standuppaddleboarding #supracer #icfmarathon #marathoncanoe #marathonkayak #worldchampionships #racerecap #surfskikayak #guinnessrecordattempt #kayakingaroundbritain #gbsup #theeliminator #ultrapaddling #ultrapaddleracing #sebakayak #texaswatersafari #loire725 #teamtetsmannbaum #usasup #eurotoursup #sprintkayak #sprintcanoe
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*Since apologies for the audio issues in this episode.
Useful Links:
Sebastian Szubski’s GPS tracker: https://eur-share.explore.garmin.com/sebakayak
Sebastian’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sebasz81/
USA SUP Nationals footage / Soryn’s broken board: https://www.instagram.com/p/DK5tdQrv4AY/?img_index=1