From rookie SUP mistakes to race strategy: Pro tips from SUNOVA’s Bastian Grimm

Nothing is quite as compelling in our line of work than uncovering the philosophy and mindset that determines pro athletes’ style and perspective on the sport of stand-up paddleboarding.

When we first reached out to Bastian Grimm, the 2024 German SUP Long Distance Champion and SUNOVA, and Black Project SUP Team Rider, for some pro tips, his humility and disciplined focus on both training and coaching immediately stood out. We decided to dig deeper into Bastian’s training philosophy, which can be distilled into straightforward, no-nonsense advice that could easily serve as a SUP creed: “Train with faster paddlers, in tougher conditions.”

TotalSUP caught up with the Hamburg-based athlete right after the German Flat Water SUP Championships in Brandenburg, where he claimed every podium spot across all race formats – claiming respectively, Silver in Long Distance, and Bronze in both Tech and Sprints. And it looks like he’s just gearing up for a strong season finish!

Photo by Uros Kekus Kleva

Hi Bastian, welcome to TotalSUP and massive congrats on a great season to date and the National Long Distance Championship title! What are your biggest takeaways from this season so far?

Thank you Anna! Yeah, it was a packed year so far with great local and international races with big steps towards the professionalisation of the sport. The European Championships together with all the other canoe disciplines was a great platform for sharing our sport outside of our own competitive bubble. I think we are on the right track. The World Championships are set till 2027 which so far in advance was unheard of. So there is big interest in our growing sport.

For me personally it was my most successful season so far, finally grabbing my first National Title in Summer, getting 4th at the ECA Tech Race and finishing 16th at the ISA Worlds Long Distance race where some of the highlights.

Photo by Andy Klotz Photography

Could you tell us about your personal journey into the competitive side of the sport? How did you find the scene as a beginner and how do you find it now as an elite athlete?

I basically slipped in to the racing sport during COVID, coming from windsurfing and not being allowed to go to the coast was tough, so I lend a race board from a good friend to still be able to do something on the water. And then it escalated from there. The same year I did my first local race and found the community really open and welcoming, and I think that didn’t really change going up through the competitive ranks. Of course on the water everyone wants to win and it’s always elbows out, but after the races we mostly get along really well.

Photo by Andy Klotz Photography

Could you tell us more about your collaboration with SUNOVA? What’s your go-to board set up?

It’s really awesome to have SUNOVA on my side. I do lots of watersports and SUNOVA  is able to provide solutions for everything. And if there isn’t a solution for that specific use case yet, there is always a custom solution due to the special way the factory works and has control over every single aspect of the boards. So from windsurfing, SUP foiling to SUP racing there is always a perfect board for you.

In SUP Racing for me that’s the 14×22 Allwater Faast Pro for Open Ocean and Tech Races Racing where the 14×21 Flatwater Faast Elite is for flat water racing.

You’re actively involved in the training aspect of the sport. Could you share more about your coaching activities?

This Summer I was asked to do my first clinics, and share some knowledge. It was a great experience, because to be able to teach paddling technique in depth and to be able to answer all the questions thrown at you, you have to self reflect quite a bit and have to work out what works for you and why it works for you so you can differentiate between what is a good idea or a bad idea to teach a specific student. That in the end helped me a lot with my own paddling.

Image soource: Bastian Grimm

We really appreciated the hands on tips you recently shared for fast progression: “train with structure and diligence, train alongside faster paddlers, and always prioritize technique and board handling”. Would you add anything else to this bullet point list?

I think the only think I would add is challenge yourself and train in hard conditions. I try to do as much of my training in rough conditions and already can’t wait to train with Manu Hoyuela again in Suances and look like a complete beginner next to him in the ocean! But in the end that is what makes you better and faster, even on flat water.

Could you share your perspective on:

Rookie mistakes: What are some common mistakes you see paddlers entering the competitive side of the sport make, and how can they avoid them?

What I mostly gathered from conversations I had with new competitive paddlers is that they sometimes miss a structured approach to training. There are some fundamentals for endurance sports that you kind of have to follow (if you want to really get into the competitive side). Those are not really big secrets and don’t really differ from for example training for running or cycling competitions. So there is plenty of literature out there to help you structure your plan. The other option (which I follow) is get help from professionals like Chris Taucher who uses those principles to great effect and is even able tailor them to your specific needs which is really helpful.

From left: Chris Taucher and Bastian Grimm at the 2024 ISA Worlds in Copenhagen, Denmark

Progress Tracking: How do you recommend paddlers track their progress and measure improvements in their performance?

That’s a really tough to answer, because we are always dependant on external factors. A few degree difference in water temperature and the same route with the same effort gives different speeds. We track Training Intensity with a Programme called TrainingsPeaks, but that might not be useful for everyone. So that is actually quite an interesting thing that we are still working on quantifying.

Race Strategy: What strategies do you employ during a race to maintain speed and endurance?

Every race is different and racing has changed a lot even over the last few years. There is very little maintaining speed anymore, a lot is trying to tire out your competitors with lots of pace changes. So you really have to make sure to not power out yourself to much in those races within the race.

What else have you got going before the season finish?

Mid November, there will be the ICF Worlds in Sarasota as my last big event of the season, before taking a little bit of and preparing for the new one.

And there is one more project that I’ve been working on for quite some time that I was finally able to do beginning of October, I can’t share too much about it yet, but you’ll learn soon enough about it!

From left: Manuel Lauble and Bastian Grimm | Photo by Andy Klotz Photography

Thank you for your insight Bastian and we’re hoping to learn about your project first!

To find out more about SUNOVA, visit sunovasurfboards.com

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