WORDS:
SARAH THORNELY
Photos:
Antony Thornely &
Sarah Thornely
Sarah Thornely
Bio
After SUP racing for five years, Sarah turned her attention to running SUPjunkie, covering UK and worldwide races through live feeds and interviews.
Travelling Rocks – the picture-perfect Lake Faak, Austria
Having had such a great time travelling down to the Lake Rocks SUP Festival in Austria last year, we decided to do it all again. It’s a fabulous event, held on one of the prettiest private lakes in Austria with a great Race Director and team behind it.
This year, we headed straight to Austria with a couple of fun stops on the way, thanks to our ‘tour operator’ Sarah Perkins, Master of Research! Whilst this may seem like a travel blog, we will get to the paddleboarding later! Taking the van is a great way to travel with all your sports kit, SUP boards, and golf clubs this time, and there’s plenty of space for clothing for all the weather – we knew there was rain in the air.
Thermal spa
Just shy of Munich, the first fun stop was the World’s largest thermal spa with 38 saunas and steam baths (clothes optional!), 28 slides and virtual reality, and 40 pools and water basins. It was completely overwhelming when we walked in, but we just got stuck in and a couple of hours later came out either completely relaxed from the sauna or slightly injured from the water slides! It was a great day to spend doing something completely different – the staff were all amazing and guided you through every payment option and activity.
We drove on to Austria, south of Salzburg, arriving at the most wonderful hotel location, high up in the mountains with a direct view of Hohenwerfen Castle, an 11th-century fortress. This is where the 1968 spy thriller Where Eagles Dare was filmed, and there are now daily guided tours and bird-of-prey flight demonstrations at this mountaintop castle.
The Sound of Music
What delighted us more than anything was the fact that the song ‘Do-Re-Me’ from The Sound of Music was filmed in a local meadow with the castle in the background – you can imagine, many renditions later…
There is nothing like visiting the world’s largest accessible ice cave system to get the adrenaline flowing pre-race – Eisriesenwelt (The World of Ice Giants) is breathtaking – over 42 kilometres long, you can join a guided tour that takes you into just 1 km, but that includes 1,400 steps, some of them incredibly steep. It was worth every step; the natural ice sculptures are stunning, and the story of how the cave was discovered is completely mesmerising.
After a few days of travelling, we arrived at the picture-perfect Lake Faaker See, with its almost unreal turquoise-blue waters. Our stay for the week was right on the water, and once again the young paddlers from Italy were there too – respectful and fun youngsters who are fierce and talented on the water. The front lawn had about 20 boards on it – we were just 100 metres from the event site, and depending on your start time, the paddlers and boards would drip-feed away from the lawn every morning.
The inclement weather had caused a slight venue change for the organisers – usually their City Race time trial is held in nearby Villach, but the decision was made to hold it on the lake and run it as a 2km time trial there – a quick scoot around the island, one by one and as many times as you like. 121 paddlers took part, with some pretty good times – a nice beach start, then either catching up or being caught by other paddlers.
Lou Court (England) came in second in the Masters 40+ category, and Sarah Perkins (Wales) came in third in the Masters 50+ – great results for these two paddlers, and their medals are beautiful. Anni Ridsdill Smith narrowly missed out on a medal, coming in fourth in the Masters 60+. It was great to see 12 women on the start line in the 60+ category; last year, there were two!
Meeting international paddlers
One of the things I love most about trips to great events like this is meeting the paddlers you really look up to, your heroes – I still have them and love to grab a photo and wish them luck. Travelling and meeting international paddlers makes you realise they are all just the same as you and I, normal folk, but perhaps just a little more talented on a SUP board!
It was, therefore, another great experience to be on the start line with so many of them in the Speed Race, held the next day. Again, an individual beach start, a sprint up to one of two buoys so you can choose your favourite way to turn and then back to the beach, finishing by running through the timer with board and paddle in hand – you’d be surprised how many forget their board!
It’s a great format and very popular with all the paddlers, and some of the times were incredible. Cecilia Pampinella romped home in the Open class with a very fast time of 49:95, and for the men, it was Sergio Cantoral in 45:55.
Despite the rain and cold, the Brits had a great time – the beauty of this format is that you can be so, so close to the start and finish and watch all the action from the beach area – you really feel a part of it even if you are not competing.
On to the next discipline – distance racing on Saturday. 200 men and 100 women on the start line, spread across the lake from the beach to the island, and all hovering to keep a straight line before the Race Director blew the start horn.
Capturing the action
I had opted out of the distance, so I took my camera ready to capture the action. Sarah Perkins had also opted to stay in our apartment, some 200 metres from the start line, do some work and watch the live feed via TotalSUP. Once the men had gone, there was a three-minute delay before the women started. I then spotted a lonely paddler coming over the start line, another three minutes after the women.
Sarah P had major FOMO in the apartment and decided to race – incredibly, she caught up and overtook many, many paddlers, looking to be having a jolly good time.
I had a great time snapping over 900 photos – the buoy near the beach offered great views, as did the spectacle of the winners racing onto the beach.
Annabel Page from the UK flew in for the distance and tech and came sixth in the Open Women’s Distance – a great achievement against some of the best paddlers in the world, which can only mean that she IS one of the best. We look forward to watching Annie race again this year.
World Champion
One of the most exciting paddlers over the last few years has been Shuri Araki of Japan, who is now a multi-World Champion. This was his first time at Lake Rocks, and he took an impressive win over Rai Taguchi (Japan) and Donato Freens (Netherlands). Espe Barreras (Spain), who has been at the top of her game for many years, took the overall and Masters 40+ wins for the ladies. Duna Gordillo Rodriguez and Cecilia Pampinella took second and third place, respectively.
The weather had brightened throughout Saturday, and by Sunday, it was beautiful – the weather we come to expect at Lake Rocks!
On to the tech then, with many heats, semis and finals throughout the day. The team kept everything running smoothly and not just on time, but ahead of time. With one lap for all heats and two for the finals, it’s great to see that everyone, without exception, does exactly the same course, and that includes the 12-year-olds and 60+. There are no shortened courses; we are all expected to paddle the same – we like that!
Mathieu from TotalSUP
After watching our first UK paddler earlier in the day, I jumped on the mic with Mathieu from TotalSUP to cover the tech until my heat came up. We have a great working relationship and have fun together – he has the most incredible knowledge of paddlers from all over the world, and I have the utmost respect for him. We do have a good time whilst on the mic together, and I bring my own knowledge and views to the coverage. I was having so much fun that I almost missed my semi, thanks to Sarah P for coming to let me know I only had 15 minutes to warm up and get on the start line.
Tech is certainly not something I practice at all – the last time was probably this event last year, but I just threw myself into it – it was great fun. Two semi-finals for the Masters 60+ and only three per heat meant that Anni Ridsdill Smith and I qualified for the final. It’s been a long time since Anni and I stood on a start line together. Everyone from the UK performed well in the tech and really supported each other from the beach.
Hugely successful event
Hats off to the organisers for another hugely successful event. The medals are handed out daily, and the onsite restaurant hosts a different band for the evening, encouraging people to linger and chat – it’s a great vibe.
A social paddle the day after and a good, fun training session with the Cardiff SUP racing crew rounded off our time at the lake – where to next?
Why not Slovenia? It was only an hour away, and our tour guide booked us into a very quirky home tucked up in the old part of Bovec, home to outdoor activities in the area, including WW rafting, canoeing, climbing, and SUP. We didn’t have time for a paddle on the Soca River, famous for its clear and turquoise waters tumbling from the Julian Alps, so we decided to walk the River instead, starting in Trenta and following the edge of the river all the way back to Bovec, some 23 km.
We took about eight hours; we took many photos, navigated many swing bridges, and made around four coffee stops. It was a beautiful day, but the tree-lined walk provided shade. Deep gorges and clear shallows make this a lovely destination, and the river, further on from Bovec, is mostly where the action happens on the water.
On leaving Slovenia, we dipped into Italy and found Lago del Predil tucked amongst the hairpin bends and gorgeous mountain ranges. The cafe there is perfectly positioned to view the water and mountains and is SO Italian, beautiful pastries and rustic pasta lunches – delightful. We made the most of the weather and had the most wonderful paddle to the end of the small lake, finding a stunning golden beach – just magical and the perfect end to our paddling for this trip.
Road trips through Europe really open your eyes to finding beautiful places to paddle, especially if you combine it with a race. From the adrenaline-filled SUP sprint and tech racing, to paddling the calm waters of a quiet Italian lake, this trip will hold many memories with friends old and new and would never have happened had I not stepped onto a paddleboard back in 2012!
Shout-outs
I’d love to give a big shout-out to all the paddlers who travelled to Lake Rocks and represented the UK perfectly, and made it a very wholesome and fun experience: Andrea Richardson, Annabel Page, Anni Ridsdill Smith, Jonathan Greatrex, Kevin Hodge, Kevin Jackson, Lesley Hodge, Louise Court, Sara Maxey, Sarah Perkins, Sarah Thornely and Selwyn Pritchard
Do make sure you check out the series of races held by SUP Alps Trophy, including Lake Rocks, here: SUP Alps Trophy races website.
