Surfladle

This weekend sees the return of Brighton's now infamous Paddle Round the Pier.
The event started in 1996 when Dave 'Sandals' Samuels and a few of the local surfers got together to organise a fun race around Brighton's Piers (or what was left of the West Pier..) in aid of charity. Since then the event has grown and grown, and is now recognised as an International Surfing event, but FUN is still the basic idea and that is how Dave promotes it (although due to it's size, I think fun is sometimes a long way away from his mind..).

There are so many different On and Off water events going on over the two days of competition that it's worth taking a look at the Official Website to find out exactly What and When, if you can only make it for one day.
This year there are two firsts for the PRTP, which are the gruelling Maritime Marathon (yes, 26 miles!) for SUP, Ocean Ski's and Traditional Paddleboards, and the second new event is oddly enough Round Five of the UKWA British Slalom Series, which is a Windsurfing competition (first time in the PRTP event boundaries, as it has taken place down the road at Hove Lagoon during the Paddle Event). I say oddly as wind is really NOT what the rest of the event wants as it plays havoc with the weekends paddling competitions, but I guess Dave reckons that if that does happen there will at least be something going on for spectators to enjoy. The one and only thing that NO one wants is RAIN, so let's hope it doesn't make an appearance or stay to long if it does!

So, plenty to do down here this weekend and the forecast is currently... well.. we won't go into that right now.. just in case they have got it wrong!

Next weekend it is Worthing's turn to host a big event... The BIG AIR Kitesurfing Competition which is being organised by none other than Mr Pier Jumper himself, Lewis Crathern , who recently, and incidentally, was one of the guests at the wedding of an old school friend of mines daughter .. it's a small world !.. but more about that later.

Pictures courtesy of PRTP, Mpora.