BassSUP celebrates 10 Years: A decade of evolution from iSUPs to custom hardboards

You don’t get to celebrate a 10th anniversary every day – and certainly not with a crowd of 500+ paddlers at one of Poland’s biggest SUP gatherings, SUP Masa Krytyczna on Lake Żywieckie. But that’s exactly how BassSUP marked the occasion: with metre-long cakes (!), plenty of fanfare and a fitting tribute to a decade spent at the heart of Poland’s SUP scene.

Founded in 2016 by Jędrzej Klafkowski and Małgosia Majda, BassSUP is a premium Polish SUP brand that has been part of the sport’s development from the very beginning. Over the past decade, the brand has built its reputation around performance, innovation and a strong connection to the wider SUP community – from inflatable boards to high-performance custom hardboards.

At the heart of BassSUP is a close-knit team: Małgorzata Majda, who oversees the brand’s inflatable board division; Jędrzej Klafkowski, co-founder / shaper and the wider BassSUP team of athletes and ambassadors.

Jędrzej’s commitment extends beyond board design. As head of the SUP committee at the Polish Surfing Association (Polski Związek Surfingu), he is actively involved in developing the sport in Poland, while working within the wider ISA Surfing framework to help translate international progress into the local SUP scene.

Ten years in, BassSUP may not be chasing the title of the biggest brand – but it remains focused on the same ambition: to create the best boards possible and keep pushing SUP forward.

Hi Małgosia, massive congratulations on your 10 year Anniversary! Ten years is a big milestone. When you look back to the beginning, what did BassSUP set out to become – and how different is that vision from where you are today?

Above all, BassSUP was meant to be a passion – and that’s exactly what it has remained. Our greatest success is that ten years of hard work have only fuelled that passion. We still love boards, paddling, and creating new products. We wanted to build a premium-quality brand that would bring people together and encourage them to live healthy, active lives. And with that vision, we have absolutely stayed true to our course.

The goal was simple: BassSUP was meant to inspire and impress – ten years ago, today, and all the way to the end of the world and one day beyond. I can proudly report: mission accomplished.

Was there a particular board, athlete or moment that marked a turning point for BassSUP SUP?

All three.

The first was Hannah Lenkrach, a German athlete from our BassSUP Team, who became Junior World Champion paddling a BassSUP board. She was the one who opened our horizons to Europe and the wider world. It was the first time the international SUP community really started to hear about us.

The second was Dragon – our 12’6” and 14’ inflatable race boards, developed and prototyped over four years. We set out to overcome the limitations typically associated with inflatable shapes and prove that an iSUP can be genuinely fast, as well as a great alternative for ambitious racers who don’t have access to a carbon race board. Dragon is demanding because it was created for professionals – but those are exactly the kinds of challenges we aren’t afraid of.

The third milestone was our collaboration with Decathlon, and the moment we heard: “Hey, let’s make a board together.” We created the B Light by Bass range for people taking their first steps into SUP. Thanks to Decathlon’s trust, we continue to develop this range and our brand – and, alongside it, help grow SUP in Poland.

BassSUP has become much more than a board brand. At what point did supporting the sport itself become such an important part of what you do?

It has been there from the very beginning. Ten years ago, we first had to build awareness of what SUP actually was. Then, we wanted to share our SUPer passion and get more people excited about the sport. The natural next step was to develop the competitive side of stand-up paddling, so we began supporting athletes – both with equipment and financially – while also organising competitions.

Today, we place particular focus on the younger generation. If we truly want to grow the sport, we have to invest in the next generation of paddlers.

BassSUP crew at the 2026 World SUP Festival

The junior division has become a particularly important part of BassSUP’s story. Do you think the new generation is approaching SUP differently from the athletes who came into the sport 10 years ago?

Absolutely. But above all, what has changed is the way SUP is viewed as a serious sport. Ten years ago, most athletes started as adults and trained in their own way – sometimes only before competitions, sometimes more seriously – but still without a professional plan or structured approach to achieving success.

Today, young athletes have professional training programmes, proper nutrition, and structured preparation, just as they do in other sports. They train consistently from a young age, which means that by the time they enter their first serious competitive category, the Juniors, they already have a level of experience that many adult athletes didn’t have in the past.

After ten years, what still excites you about SUP?

What fascinates me most is just how incredibly popular SUP has become. I still can’t quite believe it, and I’m increasingly starting to think that SUP will become like a bicycle –  something everyone simply has at home.

I’m also fascinated by how people are developing and becoming more aware of what they need. True enthusiasts know exactly how they want to paddle and what kind of equipment they need. When designing new boards, I no longer have to rely solely on our own knowledge and experience. There’s absolutely no guesswork! A few conversations, my notes, and feedback from customers are often enough to tell us which direction we should take.

And that brings us to the heart of it: it’s the people and their needs that excite me most… And perhaps the most amazing thing of all is that SUP never seems to get boring  – it continues to attract new people all the time.

Where do you think the sport is heading over the next decade – particularly when it comes to board design, racing and the development of young athletes?

A lot will depend on the direction in which we develop SUP as a sport. If our dream comes true and SUP makes it to the Olympic Games, the competitive side of the sport will have a huge opportunity for further growth. At the same time, recreational SUP will continue to expand. More and more young people will take to the boards, and eventually, families won’t have just one board to share – everyone will want their own.

Young athletes will undoubtedly become stronger and stronger. By the time they enter the junior category, they will already have many years of systematic training behind them. Their level, skills, and technique will allow them to confidently compete with adult athletes.

When it comes to board construction, it’s all about Jędrek – he is our shaper, designing and producing our boards, which often stay ahead of the market. He is the creator of our proprietary LCG and RAC technologies. Perhaps one day, the world will want to draw on his knowledge to create boards that are just as fast, light, and durable.

What does the next ten years of BassSUP look like? Are there still ambitions or projects that you haven’t ticked off yet?

We see the next ten years much as we have approached the journey so far. We are not the biggest brand, nor is that our goal. Our ambition is to create the best boards in the world – and that is what we will continue to pursue.

That is our most important project: the fastest, lightest, and most durable boards and paddles – “winning machines” for athletes, and “boards to love” for everyone who paddles simply because they love it.

We will never consider this project completely finished, because we will keep working on it for as long as SUP exists and as long as there is something left to improve.

Ten years of boards, athletes, races and friendships – what are you most proud of when you look back at the BassSUP journey?

I think we’re most proud of the “orange energy” we’ve been creating from the very beginning – an energy that inspires and draws people to the water.

We’re honest, sometimes controversial, but always consistent. For the past ten years, our priorities have remained product quality and user safety.

We’re proud of our team – our athletes, clubs, friends, and all the everyday people who love SUP and continue to stand with us even when things don’t always go our way. We’re proud of our boards, of our successes, but also of our mistakes, because they give us the opportunity to learn and grow.

But, ultimately, we’re proudest of you – the entire SUP community.

To find out more about Basssup, visit basssup.com

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Follow BassSUP Founders, Małgorzata Majda and Jędrzej Klafkowski on Instagram

*Images courtesy of BassSUP