Air France Paddle Festival 2019 Landing Soon!

We set out three goals initially in developing the event. The first goal was to become the biggest SUP race in French Polynesia, something that we succeeded doing in the first year, with the help of our main sponsor Air France.

That first event witnessed a three fold increase in paddler participation compared to other races. The next goal was to have a race within the paddle festival that would be part of the French Polynesia SUP Championship, we wanted to achieve this within the first five years, and amazingly so we achieved this in 2015. I felt that this was all done to the extraordinary 1st edition of the Air France Paddle Festival. That same year we received some amazing feedback and the Air France Paddle Festival was named the “Best SUP event of the year” a title that both the sponsor, Air France, and I were totally stoked about! Finally, the third goal was for the paddle festival to be a worldwide recognised event for the  Hawaiki Nui Va’a event, a goal we would like to achieve within 10 years.

In 2018, we became a major on the Paddle League World Tour, something that came with some added pressure, perhaps the international recognition came 5 years before we were actually ready. Now, we are working hard to stay at the top. As we have recently learnt with the cancellation of the Pacific Paddle Games, it can be difficult to maintain the level of success at each event, maybe due to the  increased demands and resources.

On a positive not, each year we see more and more competitors enter the competition, and the emergence of young paddlers. Last year we  saw some good young riders from New Caledonia and Tahiti. These young guns destabilised the senior paddlers including some very good Pro paddlers. It is good to see the the SUP succession is assured!

Can you disclose the route the elite paddlers will take?

Have any of the Top racers been confirmed?

There are several top elite paddlers who have already registered, we are expecting to see a packed event. However to be honest in French Polynesia the local paddlers are very good, I feel they can also compete at a high level and cause a surprise! That is why the foreigners have to beware of the Tahitian paddlers, especially the canoe paddlers! The Prize purse for the Elite Race is 11 7932 Euros in cash, plus the chance to wine 3 airfares PPT-LAX-PPT!