Anni Ridsdill Smith, mastermind behind the Frangipani SUP Instructors workshop, gives us the low down of the first ever BSUPA Women’s SUP Instructor workshop that we introduced to you earlier in the year.

SUP Workshop, Hadleigh Park, Essex

Our first BSUPA Women SUP Instructors Workshop held last month at Hadleigh Park in Essex was a great success. The agenda was influenced by a survey on Facebook, where female SUP instructors voted on topics of interest & the most popular ones were included in the day. SUP Instructors from different schools then met to share & learn, firstly enjoying presentations in the centre’s modern activity room in the morning, followed by paddling micro teaches on the lake in the afternoon.

Guest Speakers

Teen Holly Bassett spoke from the heart about her experiences of representing Great Britain in two SUP surf World Championships & gave insight into her 2018 competition plans.

Anu Aladin from Active 360 explained the intricacies of stand up paddling on the Thames Tideway & everybody was fascinated to see an image of a hand written tide table for London Bridge dated 1220 & written at St Alban’s Abbey, that she discovered in the British Museum.

Belinda Smith from Suffolk SUP drew upon her deep experience of teaching to give practical insight & advice on teaching SUP to people of all abilities & Candice Betts, from Bray Lake Watersports, gave examples from that busy & successful inland centre on keeping SUP activities interesting for everybody.

Host Anni Ridsdill Smith from Frangipani SUP shared with the group how their school structures & delivers BSUPA level 2 courses “Ready to Race” & “Ready to Tour”. She was then delighted to introduce Lucy Ward, a crew member of the RNLI in Burnham-on-Crouch, who gave a fascinating presentation on SUP rescues in the UK & details of the important FLOAT campaign. She very kindly distributed waterproof phone cases with emergency instruction tabs, as well as floating key-rings & adhesive board identification labels.

The sun shone in the afternoon & everyone had a very pleasant time at the lake, where Lucy Burns talked about the work of Water Search & Rescue service, of which she a member. Participants were then split into 4 groups to go paddling & share experiences across a range of areas, including getting clients out of the water.

Q  & A Session

Back in the activity room cups of tea were enjoyed & an open Q&A session facilitated, where some time was spent discussing the new GDPR. Huge thanks to everyone involved for their support of this inaugural BSUPA Women SUP Instructors Workshop & we look forward to bringing you more networking & learning events in the future, including a National BSUPA Instructor Conference. Watch this space!