15 year old Benyam Bossack joins the Light Board Corp Race Team

Each year, brand announcements of signing SUP athletes serve as evidence of the condition of our sport igniting discussion and enthusiasm for the upcoming racing season. Light Board Corp, the pioneers in hollow construction, have just created buzz by welcoming Benyam Bossack, a SUPer active on the race circuit and talented 15 year old athlete from the Netherlands, to the Light SUP Race Team.

“I’m pretty happy to see the growth of the Light SUP Race Team 2024. It’s not unexpected as with the launch of the LIGHTBOARDCORP® PARADOXA model there is a lot of good talk in the core scene about the amazing weight, strength, speed and stability. First paddlers could test the board at the ICF World Championships in Thailand last year in three dimensions and lately the first container arrived in Europe. Since then many paddlers have come to our local paddle club to pick up or check out the boards and dimensions. Most sessions turned into a serious interval training.

When I look how our SUP Race Team has been developing over the years it’s interesting to see that we are kind of „the Army of Amateurs“ with a lot of success. All our Team paddlers are non-professional paddlers with real jobs, or are students… Occasionally we get joined by pros, back in time, such as  Bruno Hasulyo or Claudio Nika. I have always been extra proud when the non-pros competed at the highest possible level taking national titles, master titles, getting into the World Championship Open Finals and winning World Championship Master titles. Donato Freens is a good example of joining the Team at very young age making it to the World Championship Open Finals when he was still 16 years old. Today he is taking the next steps into his international career but he has been a good example, like our other well known paddlers, Peter Weidert, Normen Weber, Hermann Husslein to name just few, of the results our „Army of Amateurs“ is capable to deliver.

This year we have exciting new entries into the Team. Benyam Bossack is a young athlete with incredible talent and the right mindset and I can see potential for big things to come. He is already fast and technically super advanced. Although it was not certain at first that he would decide to join the Light family of SUP racers but after he tested the PARADOXA 14×21 in a long session with myself, Hermann, Peter, Arnd Dünzinger who picked up his new weapon of choice …it was a good test and a quick decision,” said Gerd Weisner, Co-Founder of Light Board Corp.

To mark this exciting announcement TotalSUP caught up with Benyam to chat about his latest pro SUP move, the new PARADOXA board and his upcoming plans.

Hi Benyam, congratulations on the announcement! Could you tell us about yourself and how did you get into the sport of stand-up paddleboarding?

My name is Benyam Bossack, I just turned 15 years old last month. I live in Makkum, a small town in Friesland (Holland). Most of my trainings I do on a big lake close to home, but whenever it’s possible our family loves to go to the North of Spain, to have fun on the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Besides going out on my race board I love to grind the waves with my wave SUP board. I got into stand-up paddling at the age of six or seven.

My dad Jörg Bossack, used to travel around the world as an Windsurfing Instructor, so our holidays were always close to the water. One year we rented a SUP, because of lack of the wind, and I had loads of fun. Not long after we bought our own boards. Because I didn’t always want to go on the water just with my dad, he founded SUP Kids Makkum, just to get other kids on board. Right now our team has around ten kids on the water, at different levels.

Since last year I started my trainings with Ludovic Teulade, he is a pro-racer with lots of experience. I like his training sessions – they are compact but very much balanced and thought through.

Could you tell us more about joining the Light Board Corp Team? What’s the story behind it?

My dad has already owned a Light Board Corp board, so I knew those boards were fast! In the past few years I’ve tried a lot of different brands. I am still small (52 kg at the moment) compared to many adults, so not all boards fit me well. Some were too heavy, others too wide. I met Gerd Weisner, the Light Board Corp Boss, during some races in the last few years. We do a lot of races in Germany, since my dad is German. Gerd is a really nice guy and he’s always complimented me on my skills and performance. Last year in Namur I saw the first prototype of the PARADOXA and Gerd told us that it was going to be available one day in the 21 inch width. That was exactly what I was looking for.

What are your first impressions of the PARADOXA and which model are you using?

I’ve been a proud owner of a PARADOXA 14×21 for a couple of weeks now. This board is something different than all other boards I’ve used or tried. It’s just under 9 kg, which makes it perfect for me to handle. It is incredibly stable, so all my energy can be transferred into speed. My top speed is a lot faster than on my previous boards. Besides that, it’s real easy to turn the board. I made a few downwind moves on the board and I was surprised how easy it was to handle. I am eager to do my first races on this rocket!

What are your SUP racing plans for 2024?

My plans for the year are still shaping up. Since school is still a big part of my week I have to fit my trainings and races in where possible. There are a few races that I will definitely go to, starting from the Lake Rocks Festival in May. Before Summer holiday I plan to compete in some EuroTour stops, probably in Namur and Nordhausen. If possible I’ll do some SUP Alp Trophy’s races as well.

We have the German Championships in open water in June, where I hopefully can get myself selected again for the ISA World Championships. Around Summer time my dad and I are joining the Sylt SUP Trophy, a three-four day race around the German Isle of Sylt. This is going to be epic, since it’s going to be all racing on open North Sea.

From there we head to Sweden, to join the ICF Skrea Strand Paddlerace in Falkenberg. This will be the 3rd time, and this year we are joining with a whole group of SUP Kids Makkum. Tommy Dee Packendorff, the Race Director and his Team in Sweden are like friends and I am looking forward to defend my titles in the junior races. The rest of the year is still open.

To find out more about LIGHTBOARDCORP® designs, visit lightboardcorp.com  and check out our full interview with Gerd Weisner

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*Images courtesy of Benyam Bossack