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Displaying items by tag: ISA World StandUp Paddle and Paddleboard Championships

#SURFING - Team Australia proved that when it comes to watersports, they're a step above most of the competition at the inaugural ISA World Stand-Up Paddle (SUP) and Paddleboard Championships in Lima, Peru recently.

The paddleboarding duo of Brad Gaul and Jordan Mercer each won three gold medals, along with the team gold medal and the perpetual Club Waikiki Trophy, which will be awarded to the overall team champion every year.

But for every powerhouse team like Australia, the USA and South Africa, there were teams like Ireland who arrived at the world championships to represent themselves well, but also to be able to say they were there for the beginning of something big.

"The event was just amazing, such a positive vibe amongst all the competitors, everybody that we met from local organizers to everyone at our hotel or the drivers," said Finn Mullen, who competed along with teammates Dave Owens, Paul Byrne, Ed O'Farrell, Keith Gorman and Jane Downes.

"They were all so stoked to have the contest and see us all here," Mullen added "and there was like this amazingly friendly vibe in the water, because really they were being super gracious to us, giving us the break for the entire week, and they couldn't be more accommodating and I couldn't me more happy that I was able to be a part of it."

Published in Surfing

Esailing & Virtual Sailing information

The concept of e-sailing, or virtual sailing, is based on a computer game sailing challenge that has been around for more than a decade.

The research and development of software over this time means its popularity has taken off to the extent that it has now become a part of the sailing seascape and now allows people to take an 'active part' in some of the most famous regattas across the world such as the Vendée Globe, Route du Rhum, Sydney Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, America’s Cup and some Olympic venues too, all from the comfort of their armchair.

The most popular model is the 'eSailing World Championship'. It is an annual esports competition, first held in 2018 and officially recognised by World Sailing, the sports governing body.

The eSailing World Championship is a yearly competition for virtual sailors competing on the Virtual Regatta Inshore game.

The contract to run the event was given to a private company, Virtual Regatta that had amassed tens of thousands of sailors playing offshore sailing routing game following major offshore races in real-time.

In April 2020, the company says on its website that it has 35,000 active players and 500,000 regattas sailed.

Virtual Regatta started in 2010 as a small team of passionate designers, engineers, and entrepreneurs gathered around the idea that virtual sailing sports games can mix with real races and real skippers.