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Hobie SUP Paddlers Take Top Honors at SUP Fryslan 11 City SUP Tour
Posted:9/22/2009
September 5th ,Holland – Hobie paddlers Byron Kurt and Xavier Masdevall Garçon have finished atop the podium taking 1st and 2nd place honors in what could be compared to the Tour de France of Stand Up Paddleboarding. The 2009 SUP Fryslan 11 City SUP Tour consisted of 5 continuous days of racing following the same route as the historic 220 km (132 miles) Fryslan 11 city ice skating race.
A country famous for its windmills, the course provided one of the most grueling yet most scenic SUP race courses. With daily winds anywhere between 20-60 mph, rain, lake crossings, low bridges and not to mention 4-7 hours a day standing on a board. Byron posted a winning time of 26 hours 44 minutes 19 seconds and Xavier secured a hotly contested second place with a time 27 hours 12 minutes 30 seconds.
After the race Byron mentioned that “This was a race unlike any other race I have ever competed in since it required you to utilize tactics and strategies, when to go hard or rest given the circumstances that you had at the moment or days to come. I fully believe that having a strategy coming into the event and adapting helped me have the best success. I’m sure others had their own strategies which you had to be ready to cover and respond. I went into the race with a plan, and fortunately it worked.”
Byron and Xavier were also aided by two brand new Hobie Carbon X-16 race boards shaped exclusively for this race by Hobie’s SUP shaper Mark Johnson. “My Hobie X-16 allowed me to maximize my speed in all conditions that we confronted and I would not change one thing to the board for next year. Mark and I have worked like the Chief mechanic and driver in car racing to put together the perfect combination of my specific needs and the paddling conditions to give me a perfect board. Mark and I have adapted and changed as the sport grows to stay on the very fore front in board design. This has been invaluable to have the success that we have had in a very short time.”
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