L'associazione surfski opera attività promozionale e agonistica direttamente nella disciplina della canoa oceanica (surfski e outrigger) tramite la (federazione italiana canoa polinesiana ed outrigger), collabora con la Lega Navale Italiana che ospita le attività quotidiane nella sezione di Vicenza, e con la FICK (federcanoa); è gemellata per alcune gare o attività con la società Canottieri Comunali Firenze, Canoarepublic e Canoa Club Vicenza.

If you find a bottle of wine in your race pack then you're probably in Italy. You might even find a Parma Ham as a prize!

Surfski racing is slowly growing in Italy. There are thousands of kilometers of coastline and, surprise, surprise ...there are also downwind conditions (Oscar can vouch for this).

 

Mario's car - space for EIGHT skis!

I took my first surfski to the island of Sardegna in '99 and found perfect paddling conditions and so got the bee in my bonnet about bringing surfski on a big scale to Italy.

Then I met two Ex-Olympians who had the same passion. Daniele Scarpa and Iduino Santoni.

 

Daniele Scarpa

Daniele a larger than life figure with a booming voice and paddling ability to match his voice and attitude (4 Olympics, a silver and a gold at Atlanta) Daniele had jumped in feet first in this venture and much of the credit goes to him

Iduino (Barcelona Olympics) with an impressive paddling curriculum and a HUGE passion for surfski . Imagine a heavy Italian accent saying "K1 issa lika racing bika, surfaski is like mountain bika" Imagine his partner left on the beach for hours at a time when he came to Cape Town so he could paddle and try out various skis.(Italian woman scorned for a surfski are a dangerous lot)

 

Idu Santoni and 'a Cape Town local'

So we risked, bought skis, shipped them to Italy, flogged some and use a whole pile for people to try out at our races.

In the last year we have browbeaten all the outrigger canoe clubs to allow Surfskis to compete in their events, and slowly but surely interest has grown. A lot of credit has of course got to go to surfski.info. The site has somehow bought some enquiries directly to me.

We have recently had two events where the growth was apparent. One in Sardegna, with good downwind conditions where Oscar kindly gave a clinic, drank beer and showed us what a great paddler he is (The Italians are still reeling).

The other was held in Venice in relatively flat conditions with Jaka Jasbek and Marco Lipizer (Italian marathon champion) leading the field. We had lasagna, calamari and polenta at post race lunch! There is also much interest in taking part in the events around the world and I am sure there will be a few Italians in Dubai. Jaka Jasbek for example had only paddled a surfski twice before, but was determined to go to New York. This guy is strong!

 

Venice - Jaka Jasbek and Marco Lipizer

I feel that Italy could be a great place to have a world cup race and have a dream of a race from Corsica in France to Sardegna in Italy. Warm water with downwind conditions!

Easy access from all over Europe with low cost flights and maybe the finish in one of the most beautiful coasts in the world. I'm working on it!

 

Pics from Oscar Chalupsky - Sardinia Race

 

 

In the meantime I ride around with up to 8 skis on my roof racks, waiting for the Carabinieri (the cops) to arrest me and confiscate the lot because the road regulations are very strict and don't let me carry skis of this length.

I normally whip out my International Drivers license, pretend not to speak Italian, wave my SA passport around and so far so good have managed to get to events without being bust.

The ex and present K1 paddlers are our main target at these events but we have also had some guys converting from outrigger.

Unfortunately my downwind skills are not good enough yet to impress but will bug Oscar and Dawid for lessons.

Winter is now on its way in the northern hemisphere so things will slow down but we will organize a further shipment of skis so in spring we can be ready.

A plan is to get together an important event in the New Year and invite some of the big guns, look for sponsors and try the TV networks. In the words of the Blues Brothers, "Siamo in missione per conto di dio..."

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