The Dragon World Championships 2018 promises to be the most entertaining SUP event on the planet with headline partner Nike Swim joining the ride and a total prize package of over £7,000/$9,000 up for grabs, this event will be a true celebration of SUP and style.

After more than six weeks of deliberations and intense evaluations we are pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 Supconnect Awards. After nominating 30 or so men, women, groms and blogs per category, and an abundance of brands and shops in the stand up paddle industry we've finally narrowed down the extremely talented pool of nominees to the final chosen winners.

After 6 weeks of deliberation the staff here at Supconnect is excited announced the 2018 Gear of the Year Awards winners from our 9th Annual Supconnect Awards. As a brief background of the Gear of the Year awards, there were 9 categories for products to be nominated and an additional Overall gear winner.

The Yukon 1000 is the world’s longest canoe race and takes place every other year. The Yukon 1000 is a 1,000 mile, self-supported race from Canada into the Alaskan backcountry and finishes in the Arctic circle. This year Bart de Zwart and his teammate Ike Frans finished the race in first on their stand up paddle boards. Here, Bart recaps the race and what it was like to paddle for 18 hours a day, 8-days straight.

On December 8th & 9th, the APP World Tour finishes its racing season with the World's Largest Participatory Race in Paris. This third and final stop on the 2018 World Tour will be where the 2018 APP World Champions for SUP racing will be crowned.

Naish SUP just released a look at their 2019 line and we’ve got to say: it looks awesome! The crew at Naish have given their 2019 line a complete makeover. Check it out!

In just a few weeks the 2018 Naish Gorge Paddle Challenge returns to the Hood River Waterfront Park for an action-packed weekend of course and downwind racing for SUP, foils, and small boats (new this year!).

At the request of the Portuguese Surfing Federation (FPS), the Portuguese Court of Arbitration for Sport decreed an injunction against the Portuguese Canoe Federation (FPC), ordering it to refrain from organizing, collaborating or giving support to the 2018 ICF Stand Up Paddling World Championship, scheduled for August 30th to September 2nd, in Viana do Castelo and Esposende, and that circumvented the laws of the sport.

Red Bull Heavy Water, quite possibly the most intense stand up paddling event in the world, will showcase top performing athletes in the ~12km (7.5 mile) course, with an event window from October 15th – November 2nd and prize money totaling $75,000.

At the start of the 22nd annual Molokaʻi-2-Oʻahu Paddleboard World Championships (M2O), presented by Kona Brewing, favorable winds appeared to be creating promising conditions for todayʻs racers, but the Kaʻiwi Channelʻs fickle personality created a puzzle board of mixed swell for athletes to navigate.

In just a few days voting will close on the 9th annual Supconnect Awards. With thousands of votes already submitted for athletes, brands, gear, shops and sales reps the input from the SUP consumer and industry has been great.

On September 15th, 2018 East Coast and world traveling paddlers will have a unique opportunity to partake in one of the most iconic paddles imaginable: a historic 11KM race from the Freedom Tower in NYC to the Statue of Liberty and back.