Seoul SUP Open: Tristan Boxford’s Roadmap to the Next Era of the APP World Tour

After a challenging few years, the APP World Tour enters a crucial bridge year—one that lays the foundation for a bold and reimagined future in 2026. At the helm is founder Tristan Boxford, steering the circuit back onto the global stage with renewed purpose. On July 5th and 6th, the spotlight turns to Seoul, South Korea’s vibrant capital, as it hosts its first-ever Seoul SUP Open on the iconic Han River, after three years of a successful Busan SUP Open. With its flatwater setting and growing local scene, Seoul signals not just a change in location, but a clear step forward for the APP. Behind the scenes, challenges remain—from board logistics to athlete support—but momentum is building. With new formats, increased accessibility, and a global media push on the horizon, the APP is aiming to elevate the sport once again. TotalSUP will be on site for full live coverage and behind-the-scenes action across social media!

Hello Tristan! The Seoul SUP Open marks a new chapter for the APP World Tour in South Korea, following several successful editions in Busan. What inspired the move to Seoul, and how do you envision this new destination shaping the event’s future?

We loved the Busan SUP Open and KAPP created a new wave of interest and lifestyle engagement through the establishment and development of this event in Busan. However, it was the right time to head north to Seoul and from a global perspective, especially as we look ahead to a new era for the APP World Tour from 2026 and beyond, Seoul represents an iconic and premium destination for the Tour as Korea’s most high-profile and populated city.

Can you tell us more about the race formats planned for the Han River? What kind of water conditions can athletes expect, and how does this setting compare to previous APP venues?

The Han River boasts true flat water conditions, providing easy paddling for entry level and youth participation, but also very technical racing for the Pros and emerging talents in Amateur and Youth divisions.

The distance will feature a lap course with plenty of buoy turns and technical elements to keep the action close for the on site and media audiences, but also competitive for the athletes, to avoid one athlete breaking from the pack and running away with the win early.

For Sprints, it will be the traditional APP approach with an M course and elimination format to deliver exciting racing, with a water start and finish.

What are your expectations in terms of athlete participation—both local and international—for this first edition in Seoul? How would you describe the current state of the SUP scene in South Korea, and do you see it playing an increasingly central role in the growth of the sport across Asia?

It is exciting to watch the growth of Stand Up Paddling across Asia, and through KAPP’s work in the region, we have seen an elevation of standards that will support the future growth of the sport. As always, logistical challenges with board transport make international participation more of an obstacle, but we nonetheless have a good crop of athletes coming from all across the world to participate in this year’s edition.

This year is somewhat of a bridge year for the APP World Tour as we build up to what will be a truly revamped Tour for 2026 and beyond, with Seoul and the KAPP as one of the flagships of the World Championship Tour. As a result, we are excited to start building the legacy with this year’s edition of the Seoul SUP Open.

KAPP and the APP World Tour: for those who may not be fully familiar, could you clarify the roles and relationship between the two entities?

KAPP is the Korean organization managing the APP’s interests in Korea and produces all things APP in the region. They have been phenomenal partners on the ground, delivering world class events over the past 3 years and we work closely together from a global perspective to support the future growth of the sport

The APP World Tour hasn’t had a full season for a little while now. How would you describe the current health and status of the APP World Tour today, and what are some of the key challenges you’ve been navigating behind the scenes?

As referenced above, the logistical challenges faced to deliver a World Championship Tour are significant, with global board transport being near to impossible with the current 14’ board class, and financial support for the athletes diminishing year on year, as race board sales aren’t sufficient to justify the level of investment required to support an international team. At a Tour level, the costs involved are high, and we have maintained prize-money levels over double what anything else is delivering, coupled with global TV production commitments which have been a challenge to maintain financially, only made worse by a series of unfortunate events that further inhibited what we had in motion.

However, we have hit reset and are working towards an exciting new and reimagined future for the Tour and the sport as a whole. With revolutionary and exciting new formats for both race courses and equipment that will in turn be more accessible and exciting for new audiences and participants alike. In short, we have created a new business model that can deliver World Class sporting action in all four corners of the world and provide security for athletes, thereby allowing them to pursue legitimate careers in the sport and provide entertainment to global audiences.

Between the Euro Tour, the newly formed European SUP League, the ICF SUP Worlds and World Ranking circuit, the APP World Tour, and the ISA Worlds—which, concerningly, have yet to be announced for 2025—how do you view the current state of the global SUP race scene? Is there room for better alignment, and where does the APP see itself in this evolving ecosystem?

The reality is that with the current board challenges, outside of Europe even getting boards to a single event like the ICF or ISA each year is challenging and majority of the events feature minimal prize-money and media interest outside of the very core markets.

Our positioning moving forward is to re-establish a World Championship Tour that sees the very best athletes follow the global series in pursuit of a World Championship Title, much like the WSL is for Surfing and much like it was for many years on the Tour with Kai Lenny, Connor Baxter, Candice Appleby etc. This will include not only elevated prize-money and athlete subsidies and support, but also a global media strategy that can grow the competitive side of the sport beyond the confines of the current niche market. We are not just a series of events linked together loosely, we are a structured Tour that delivers a consistent and unified global representation for the sport.

While a sport making the Olympics always helps to elevate it beyond a core market, as we have seen with many of the board sports within the sector (surfing / windsurfing / kitesurfing – all of which are olympic sports), it is not the be all and end all and in fact, as has been proven, a career in competitive surfing is a following the WSL’s world championship Tour. We want to transform the sport into something young people can aspire to be a part of and pursue a career in, something that inspires and entertains. As it stands, while there is competition taking place around the world, this cohesive approach to promoting and developing the sport is missing and this is what we are focused on.

One concern in the SUP community is the limited number of high-profile SUP Surf competitions globally, especially with no ISA World Title event scheduled in 2024. How is the APP addressing this gap, and what’s your vision for the surf side of the tour going forward?

We remain committed to SUP Surfing, and have been the only organization to maintain and deliver global SUP Surfing events since 2010. For 2026, we will have a minimum of 3 events in the calendar and are looking to support in every we can to grow this side of the sport, not least because I am personally so passionate about it. However, there is no doubt that from a commercial standpoint, it is more challenging and faces many of the same obstacles that traditional surf events have to make commercially viable.

However in my eyes, it is vital to the future growth and marketing of the sport and goes hand in hand with racing to represent one of the most diverse and incredible sports in the world and reflects its core lifestyle appeal outside of just athletic performance. As a result we remain committed and are working to grow this, as well as focusing on the resurgence of surf racing events which have always proven to be some of the most exciting formats – more to follow on this soon.

What’s in store for the second half of 2025 on the APP calendar, and can you share any exciting developments or locations already confirmed for 2026?

We will have some surfing through the back end of 2025, but all eyes will be on the launch of the revamped Tour for 2026, with exciting news to come regarding the venues, the formats and other groundbreaking changes in store for 2026 and beyond.

The Racing Tour will feature a mix of flat water and surf venues as well as exciting new formats that we anticipate will revolutionize racing in all respects. For Surfing, we will finally return to a minimum of a 3 event Tour to provide a legitimate and dynamic pathway to a World Championship crown for the World’s best SUP Surfers. More to come on this, so stay tuned.

It will be a new era for the Tour and the sport and we look forward to sharing all this with you once we are ready to launch.

For more information:
www.kappworldtour.com
www.appworldtour.com
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