Stand up paddle comes to Veracruz!
My husband Ron and I stopped by Pacific Paddle the other day to pick out a new paddle for my birthday… It’s always fun to stop by to see Adam and Vero, there is always something going on. As usual the phone was ringing off the hook, the girls were chasing the cat and the cat was hiding from Charlie. Adam hung up the phone and said.. Theres a Stand up paddle race in Veracruz this weekend, want to come? The seed was planted…
I picked out the new Starboard High Aspect paddle with foil carbon oval shaft…super light, it was an easy decision.. Adam mentioned the Veracruz race again – the first one in Veracruz!! Vero told us some some stories about her home state.. and before you know it we were on google mapping out the coastline. YAY! we are going to stand up paddle in Boca del Rio Veracruz.
We discovered that on interjet we can each fly with 25 kilos with no extra baggage cost…. thats 6 Astro inflatables…Cudos to interjet for catering to the traveling paddle surfers!
We travelled with exclusively the Starboard Astro Inflatable line of boards, for their ease of travel and compactness for airline, a couple of them were the brand new 2014 Astro Race 12’6”x 26” boards.. they looked fast… I was looking forward to racing it in Veracruz.
We checked in at the airport, no questions asked..6 inflatable boards, paddle bags. Ron and Adam joked around about who was going to carry the electric air pump with battery or “Bomba” onto the airplane… and we laughed and stuffed it into one of the checked bags..
The flight into Veracruz was a little turbulent, ok, a lot turbulent for me. A local “kiter” and paddler, Alejandro, was stoked to meet people flying into his city for a SUP Race!
It was dark when we arrived at the Camino Real Hotel, host venue of the first ever SUP race in Veracruz, word was on the street! Stand up paddle comes to Veracruz! but the 35 knots of wind was sending sizable waves refracting into Boca del Rio, a beautiful site under the moonlight..none of us imagined there were waves to surf in Veracruz…. Our taxi took us past a malecon, a couple of new malls, movie theaters and restaurants, night clubs with long lines..it was a glimpse of a very good economy! We were recieved a the hotel camino real by vintage race cars, preparing for the start of the Pan american rally race, Porsches, Alfa Romeros Beautiful cars from all over Mexico, Central America. At first light when they would start the auto rally around Mexico.
The next morning we headed out to a restaurant that Vero had insisted we go to La Parroquia. Along with the event organizers, Leyla and Matt, we joined the managers of their new store Stand Up Paddle Veracruz, Jaime and Paula and local paddle surfer/instructor Diego for breakfast. La Parroquia is a traditional, local favorite. Their claim to fame is the Lechero café….strong coffee in the bottom of a class then the waiter pours steaming milk from two feet above the glass, never spilling or splashing a drop! Amazing and delicious. From there we all checked out a couple of local surf spots and met Carlos who also happened to be checking out the surf. Carlos had a Starboard 8’10” Wide Point on the car. He said he was coming to the race and demo day and was looking forward to trying a couple of the inflatables…nice!
Saturday, Demo Day. Carlos came by to try the race board and inflatable Starboard “Blend”. It was pretty rough for any race board, but the Blend handled the conditions really well. We all used it and I caught a couple of waves….always fun! A couple of the Mexican National SUP team, fresh from races Cabo San Lucas, put on a fun exhibition race. They are serious racers but always are fun to watch and pretty comical. Bicho did it again and beat the rest of the guys to the beach. There were a few people who came to the demo, but the weather wasn’t that great. We all hoped Sunday would be nicer.
Sunday morning the sky looked pretty ominous…low scudding clouds, drizzle then some rain but that wasn’t enough to stop racers and paddlers from coming down. The tents were going up, Adam had set up the Starboard ASAP board and paddle that were to be raffled off to some lucky little grom, the audio equipment was on and music blaring, Dads, Moms, kids, dogs and spectators all coming together on a small beach in Veracruz for the first SUP race ever there…it was gong to be a good day.
Paula Gutierrez shop manager of Stand Up Veracruz, an ASI certified SUP instructor, takes a Starboard 7’7 Pro for a surf..!
Adam was the MC for the day, bringing a ton of energy, fun and knowledge of the sport and the people paddling in it. He knows everyone it seems. After another exhibition by the National Team the races began with the Men’s Distance. With approximately 15 to 20 competitors it was a nice field. Ron chose the Starboard Astro Blend inflatable as his board for the race ….Cinco, cuatro, tres, dos, uno! and the group hit the beach. Diego, Jaime, Ron and another paddler made it thru the start first and headed towards the first mark. Young Diego still in the lead, it was he and Ron headed downwind for mark #2. Around that mark, Diego and Ron were right together. Paddling hard upwind with breaking windwaves on their sides, they both fought hard but Ron passed Diego and headed for the beach beating Diego by a board length. Ron jumped from the board and sprinted to the finish!!! It was a great race and I’m super proud of Ron…Go Team Starboard!
Race #2 was the Women’s distance. I’m always very nervous before any race and this was no different. I wanted to use the Blend but someone else got to it before me. I picked up the Starboard ASAP Whopper…a very stable board!!, so in choppy conditions this was a good thing. As usual I had a horrible start ( I need to really work on that), but made it to the 1st mark in third behind Paula and passed her there. Paddling downwind I made up some ground on the leader, Leyla and think I passed at the 2nd mark. I dug in upwind and made it to the beach first…my first win! There were great competitors in all the races.
Team Starboard took home another 1st in the team relay. We paddled with Eduardo from Verakite, who knew Adam from Kite Boarding. He is also a very good, aggressive paddler!
The very best part of the day after Ron’s race, a very cute, serious boy named Dany came up to Ron and asked for his autograph! I will never hear the end of that from Ron. Dany Contreras is serious about paddling and it showed. He placed first in the Kid’s Race, beating out his cousins, and some much bigger kids, and he WON the Starboard ASAP!!!! I know we’ll be seeing more of him in the future.
The kids race winners after the race… Dany Contreras (center) wins the race and the Draw for the Starboard ASAP Stand Up Paddle.. Great job Dany!
Veracruz is a fun, vibrant city with a lot to offer. Bustling waterfront with stores, restaurants and new home construction going on. Busy traffic, but it all seemed to move right along. The people were very nice and welcoming and I know we will return.
Thanks you Adam from Starboard Mexico for the opportunity. And also thanks to Stand Up Paddle Veracruz for a very fun event. We had a great time.
Val Hoskin