Barcelona is of course a Mediterranean city that needs no introduction. One of Europe’s most beloved cities when it comes to tourism, Barcelona is equally famed for its climate, its architecture and its nightlife as for its cuisine, its lifestyle and its beaches. And rightly so. La Ciudad Condal, to borrow its Castilian nickname, is home to no less than 4 kilometres of city beaches situated within its urban coastal confines, and these have been regaling SUP enthusiasts since the arrival of the sport in Europe. In addition, beyond the city itself, it shouldn’t be forgotten that the Costa Brava is home to a seemingly endless supply of beautiful mediterranean surf and SUP spots, which visitors and local watersports enthusiasts flock to in their droves to take full advantage of the almost year-round favourable conditions.
As Barcelona is a city spot, urban SUP is very much the name of the game here, with largely artificial beaches, apart from Barceloneta (which is generally thronged with tourists and holiday makers in the hotter months). The city is a great base for tourist-friendly recreational paddling with a wide choice of Barcelona SUP rental shops, but it is mainly in the winter months – when temperatures don’t exactly descend to frosty levels – that you will be able to take advantage of some truly decent surf conditions, with heavier winds and stronger sea conditions than in the summertime. When taking part in SUP activities near the city’s most central beaches, you can admire views of the Barcelona skyline, including architectural landmarks like the W Hotel, the Torre Agbar, or indeed, the church at the summit of Mount Tibidabo. The biggest swells tend to come down from the east and north-east, descending all along the Catalan coast for about 130 days a year.
A number of local Stand Up Paddle riders have brought increased prominence to the sport in Barcelona, including Tomás Sánchez Vecino and Pepe Oltra, among others. Oltra has won a number of national competitions and has been part of Team SUP Spain on various occasions. He has collaborated with the likes of Quickblade and SIC in the past. In addition to these, Barcelona-based rider Miquel Roigé Ferrer has been attracting a good deal of attention as of late also. Currently associated with Infinity Europe, Roigé Ferrer notably won first prize in the 2016 Circuito Catalán, which showcases local talent in the region. As interest in the discipline has been on the up in recent years, more and more paddleboarding equipment providers have been opening their doors in Barcelona such as Makoa, SPS and RSPro. Local Barcelona SUP clubs have become quite popular too, with the Moloka’i SUP Center having opened up at Barceloneta not so long ago or SUP Barcelona founded by local waterman Marc Foraster at Forum. Barcelona is also the home of Starboard’s SUP Race and Pro SUP Surf designer Mathieu Rauzier.
In terms of local events, Barcelona is not one to be snubbed at either, with a number of local competitions showcasing the sport at regional level and bringing its most influential local riders into the limelight. The most important of these is undoubtedly the aforementioned Circuito Catalán organised by the Unió Catalana de Surf, which takes place every year.
As the 2023 ICF SUP World Championship is about to kick-off, I want to take a moment to publicly send my deep thanks to Starboard for sponsoring our TotalSUP trip to Thailand which has taken my family and I to magical places like Khao Lak, Khao Sok and Kho Pha Ngan over the past two […]
On January 28, ultra long-distance SUP Racer Miquel Roigé from Barcelona, Spain took part in his very first Ze Race, an event in Guadeloupe known as the longest downwind race on French territory (the course can vary between 40 and 52 kilometers depending on the year) and became the first non-French athlete to ever win […]
Headed by French board designer and entrepreneur Mathieu Rauzier, Rayvolt Bike has just announced the global launch of its first electric bike, the Rayvolt Cruzer. Well-renowned in the world of paddleboarding as Head of SUP Design for leading watersports brand Starboard, Mathieu Rauzier aims to introduce a whole new way of beach cruising with an eco-friendly, […]
Renowned in the SUP industry as the maker of some of the fastest boards on the market for Starboard, Mathieu Rauzier, is adding a new dimension to his design and engineering career with a project of his own in the electric bike segment. The launch of the company Rayvolt Engineering showcasing the Rayvolt Cruzer, the […]
Once again, Starboard demonstrate they have the largest range of Stand Up Paddle boards on the market … and all the promotional videos that go with it. Here we go! SUP Race The 2016 Starboard All Star This video featuring Connor Baxter proves that this year one board does it all in the SUP racing segment. The […]
Three major flatwater international events won already. The 2015 Sprint board by Starboard is the talk of the town among SUP racers. Interview with Mathieu Rauzier the brain behind the design of the new rocket. Hello Mathieu, what feedback are you getting on the 2015 Sprint? Mathieu Rauzier: So far the feedback has been extremely positive and the […]
After winning the last two legs of the Stand Up World Tour, Sean Poynter spent a week of vacation in Barcelona with Mathieu Rauzier, the Starboard designer and enjoyed touring the city, meeting the local paddlers and trying the local food. Hi Sean, what brought you to Barcelona? After the Stand Up World Tour Location X leg […]
That's it ! It took a few days to sort out the thousands of names put forward by hundreds of entrants but Caren Forbes, Mathieu Rauzier and Svein Rasmussen have made their choice. Bow-Down for some incredible, amazing, inspiring, creative, witty – but also sometimes sketchy, cheesy, dodgy and VERY FUNNY – names. We personnally enjoyed: – […]
Mathieu Rauzier, R&D Manager at Starboard talks to TotalSUP about the 2015 line of Starboard Astro boards. Interview realized at the Starboard World Dealer Meeting 2015 on the Costa Brava in Spain This year, the Astro Fun range disappeared and a new technology was introduced with a new range, the Astro Zen. With a thickness of 12 cm / […]
Use of cookies
This website uses cookies in order to make it easier to use and to support the provision of relevant information and functionality to you.
Necessary Cookies
Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.
3rd Party Cookies
We use a set of third party tools to provide information on how our users engage with our website so that we can improve the experience of the website for our users. For example, we collect information about which of our pages are most frequently visited, and by which types of users. Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.
Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!