Exciting developments unfold in our sport when nations unite to elevate the playing field. The Planet Baltic SUP Race 2024, Poland’s longest running open sea SUP race event held on 2-4 August in Kołobrzeg, is now a fully-fledged international event and is rapidly gaining momentum with athletes from around the world confirming their participation.
This year’s Planet Baltic benefits from a heightened international profile with its new role as a stop on the Czech SUP Cup, thanks to its partnership with Czechia.
As the event approaches, TotalSUP caught up with Marcin Koc, CEO, Planet Baltic’s Founder and Race Director and Petr Cemper of theCzech Federation ČFSASto talk about two nations coming together with a shared vision and ambition – to grow the sport of stand-up paddleboarding by providing the next gen of SUP athletes with high-level competitions.
Photo by Robert Hajduk
Hi Marcin, welcome back to TotalSUP! Planet Baltic is now a full-fledged international event – congratulations! What was the breakthrough moment in building the Planet Baltic brand?
Hi, first and foremost, I am very pleased that we are meeting again on the way to the kick of of the 2024 edition of the Planet Baltic SUP Race™. Indeed, once again we are hosting competitors from abroad, including three new countries! To answer your question, I will say that each new entry from a new country (outside of Poland) is a breakthrough moment for our event. It’s a great success and a reward for the entire team working on PBSR™.
Marcin Koc with Mikolaj Majdan and Marta Apanasewicz | Photo by
Could you tell us about the challenges associated with organizing an event of this scale in Poland?
I think the challenges are the same not only in Poland, it’s always about:
Having a strong belief in the value of organizing such an event
Having even greater conviction that when you meet a potential Partner or Sponsor and say –We’d appreciate your support because it’s going to be a great event, that person will ask how much and by when, rather than say – I’m not interested 😊
Besides that – seriously now, there is a lot of work involved with permits, climbing the ladder in various offices, obtaining approvals, and all the necessary documents. Let’s remember that these are regattas taking place on the open sea, in the border zone, which involves many documents and statements that we don’t show to the competitors! That’s why we start preparations for each edition already in November
There are the issues of ensuring the safety of the competitors. The Maritime Office in Szczecin requires us to have specific safety measures on the beach and at sea. Due to the conditions that may arise (let’s recall last year’s Sunday which surprised us with a storm and wind speeds up to 80 km/h). We were cleaning up the entire beach town late into the night, moving the Long Distance race to the safer waters of the port and river (yes, we all face such conditions in Kołobrzeg). Thanks to this, we avoided losses and everyone safely completed the competition
You also have to add all those “small” things that I don’t even mention, like graphics, t-shirts, medals… all these things bear the mark of our work and commitment
But to conclude… The bottom line is to host a SUPer competition and the satisfaction of the competitors who come to Kołobrzeg
What is missing from the Polish competitive SUP scene?
I won’t comment on training, club organization, and all matters related to competitive sports. As you know, I am a professional Sailing Coach and work with children in the Optimist class. However, if I were to answer this question privately, I think that as long as the organizations involved in SUP in Poland do not create a Cup series, a competition where athletes will meet under one banner, we will keep asking ourselves what is missing.
I created Planet Baltic in 2017 and a year later, I proposed creating a series called the Polish SUP Tour. Unfortunately, no one was ready for this kind of collaboration, so I focused on the event that has become the longest-running SUP event in Poland (I’m actually curious about the history of other events in Europe 😊).
This year, for the first time, Planet Baltic will be a stop in the Czech SUP Cup organized by the Czech Federation ČFSAS. Could you tell us more about this collaboration?
We’ve come together to jointly promote this event in Poland and the Czech Republic (and hopefully throughout Europe and the world). It’s like in life: you meet someone and know you want to work with them. That’s how it was with Lucie Raab and Peter Cemper. They came over in 2023, and our collaboration started as if we had known each other forever. They’ve been ‘creating SUP’ in the Czech Republic, and we have very similar thoughts and ideas for developing this discipline.
Petr Cemper
Petr, could you tell us more about your collaboration with Planet Baltic this year? Kolobrzeg has been announced as the maritime stop of the Czech SUP Cup, coordinated by the Czech Federation ČFSAS.
Petr Cemper: After a very successful cooperation with Marcin Koc and Marek Bracuru during last year’s Planet Baltic where we brought about twenty Czech riders who were excited about the ocean paddling conditions and a friendly atmosphere of event, we decided at the Czech Federation ČFSAS to extend our collaboration and adopt Planet Baltic SUP race as an integral part of the CZECH SUP CUP 2024 as a major event dedicated to racing in ocean condition, we can expect in Kolobrzeg in windy condition.
We will bring majority of the starting grid of Cech SUP Cup and also will work on processing the race with Marcin and Marek to help to handle the international communication with riders from Czech Republic and Slovakia that we are familiar with. We can apply the knowledge, we’ve gained during organisation of over 100 SUP racing events, events including two major races on the EuroTour, we delivered over the past eight 8 years. So, we will work on the beach together to prepare “Le Grand Spectacle” for plenty of riders.
Marcin, Is collaboration and creating such an international bridge the way forward?
Marcin Koc: Absolutely! Only in this way can we build real strength that will translate into the promotion of SUP both within and beyond a given country. Let’s be open about it: every partner wants significant promotion, and we want even greater promotion for our event. Those who think about development must build smart alliances and expand them. Perhaps someday we will succeed in transferring this idea and create Planet Baltic in the full meaning of its name? 😊
Photo by Robert Hajduk
Petr, do you think international collaboration is the way forward? We’ve been witnessing amazing results when athletes (especially in Junior Division) start to paddle and compete with their peers on international SUP scene?
Petr Cemper: The international cooperation is the absolute MUST HAVE to improve the level of racing skills. Our Central European region is suitable for organizing the international races, where athletes can meet riders from Czechia, Poland, Germany, Austria, Hungary. The travelling distances are not so far and whenever racing calendars can be synced, we can have large groups of racers on all starting grids to ensure higher level of competition for athletes, who will be inspired to improve their performance in order to achieve achieve satisfying results.
Not being aligned with international competitions (such as organising closed National Championships) is the way against the trend and will only decrease the level of racing on national level.
We’ve seen amazing talent emerging on the Czech SUP scene. What are the key factors for the growth of the discipline in your country?
We take into consideration the following key points: sufficient amount of racing events, we organize every year for all levels of riders, wide availability of kid and junior race boards (we provide them with NSP, Aqua Marina and Gladiator boards from clubs to allow young talent to use the proper racing gear fit for purpose inflatables (we produced special edition of 10’6 and 11’6 racing boards by Gladiator) and also carbon racing kid boards created on request in the NSP factory available at affordable price for SUP clubs to allow anyone to feel as a real racer.
In addition to that we focus on coaching young talent. With the NSP help we were able to collaborate with the world class French Trainer, Vincent Verhooven, on Coaching our best juniors, who (definitely not accidentally) won the Czech Championship last weekend.
Danny Parres’ Training Centre is also helping us to create enhanced programme for the top talent to grow their skills. What is probably unique in our programme is focusing on short track and technical disciplines – We organize Sprints (in the ISA format) and Tech Races with many buoy turns and contact racing to improve handling the boards by riders, rather than the less engaging Long Distance races which are absolutely non suitable in terms of growing for the young talent, which are rather attracting 50+ veterans, but not the young guns.
Marcin, certainly, Polish competitors will benefit from the international representation. As a coach and trainer, what are the advantages of “bringing international talent together”?
Marcin Koc: Just like in my main sport, sailing, in SUP it is important to have the maximum number of encounters with athletes who are at different levels of development. Everyone will find a competitor to challenge. Winning or losing takes a back seat; what matters is the moment when we can exchange experiences or observe how others do it. Additionally, workshops and regattas for the proverbial handshake from the coach. Only such meetings will bring the winning results during events like the Planet Baltic SUP Race™.
Photo by Robert Hajduk
What can participants expect from the 7th edition of Planet Baltic?
They can expect some small and big changes. I think the strength of PBSR™ is our openness to all the suggestions from the competitors. We talk, and the truth is that many of our athletes have left their mark on the organization of the competition, even without knowing it. After each edition, we write down all the comments, analyse them, and try to implement many of the ideas.
This year, we will propose a different format for eliminations, division into starting groups, introduce electronic time tracking, and a few other, hopefully good, changes compared to last year. Moreover, each competition and race format will have its own “full” day. This will allow for longer rest periods for the competitors, and we will provide more demos and side events for enthusiastic spectators. Besides, our DJ has also promised a few surprises.
Could you tell us who has confirmed their participation in this year’s edition of Planet Baltic?
This year, we will once again see “our” World Champions. Ours, because despite their titles, they find time to compete on the Kołobrzeg beach. Katrinka Trdlova, Joep van Bakel, Linus Karlsson are returning, and we will also see Kjell De Bruyn, to name just few. Of course, there will be a strong Czech Team and representatives from Poland, including Marta Apanasewicz and Mikołaj Majdan. It’s hard to name everyone but the list can be accessed here.
Mikołaj Majdan | Photo by Robert Hajduk
I would like to get back to Marta and Mikołaj. This year, Marta can tie Małgorzata Cieplińska’s record and become the MVP (Most Valuable Paddler) in the women’s category for the third time. Mikołaj is writing the history for the men’s competitors and will attempt to set this record for the men.
It promises to be an extremely exciting battle, especially since looking at the last edition, there are competitors who will definitely try to take this chance away from Mikołaj. We are rooting for everyone; the most important thing for us is the sporting excitement. The entry lists are still open, and we invite everyone to participate in the 7th edition of the Planet Baltic SUP Race™.
Photo by Robert Hajduk
Petr, could you share a sneak peek who’s confirmed their attendance from the Czech Team?
Majority of Czech riders will arrive to compete with their Polish opponents. Our Junior National Champions Linda Syrovatkova and Kuba Petrzilek as well as the U15 champion David Veis will for sure to try to win in Kolobrzeg and secure their leading positions in the Czech SUP Cup rankings and conquer the podium places in fight with Daskiran, Lagbein, Van Bakel family and the girls from RTW Raciborz.
We consider U15 and U18 Junior divisions as the future of our SUP sport and as such our main focus is on the clubs with young athletes to build up the racing scene for the next decade.
The entry lists are still open, and we invite everyone to participate in the 7th edition of the Planet Baltic SUP Race™.
Finally, I would like to thank our Partners and Sponsors, without whom it would not be possible to create another edition of the only SUP regatta in Poland organized on the open sea.
Photo by Robert Hajduk
To find out more about the event and register, visit planetbaltic.pl
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