Brighton Longboarders

Paddle Round The Pier 2010 Skate Race and More

This year’s Paddle Round The Pier Beach Festival plays host to some fantastic water-based events, all helping to raise thousands of pounds for three deserving charities.

The action kicks of for professional paddleboarders early on the Saturday morning with the Funky Puffin Euro Enduro SUP race. A gruelling 20 mile stand-up paddle to Worthing Pier and back - seeing competitors from across Europe and beyond.

Another race for watermen (and girls) is the Errant Surf Holidays Pier2Pier challenge. This sees both ‘amateurs’ and ‘pros’ paddle from the eastern side of the Brighton Pier across to the west side of the West Pier - a tough paddle of over 2 miles against the current.

Also a favourite with the crowds is the ‘Paddle Something Unusual’, where teams paddle ‘unusual’ rafts they have built around the West Pier and back. The past few years has seen a floating island, pirate ship, Dodgeball court and even Thunderbird 2!

And of course at 2pm on the Sunday it’s the event that started this all back in 1996 - the ‘Paddle Round The Pier’. Hundreds of people will take to the water on surfboards, bodyboards, paddle boards, canoes etc and paddle around the West Pier. Having collected sponsorship money each will make a massive difference to the amount raised for the charities.

Other water based events include: the Neilson Sailing Regatta, Inshore Rescue Boats, Outrigger Canoes, The British Ocean Ski Series, Wakeboarding displays and a Fishing Contest (held at Brighton Marina).

If you want to have a go at some sports yourself then you can head to the beach and try out the likes of wakeboarding, kayaking and Stand Up Paddleboarding.

Over 40,000 people are expected to attend this year’s event, which takes place on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 July at Hove Lawns in Brighton and is completely free of charge to visit.

And organisers are hoping to raise over £30,000 for this year’s chosen charities from donations made by visitors. The charities are the Royal National Lifeboat Institute, SurfAid International and Whoopsadaisy.

As well as all of the water activities, there is a lot going on in the ‘Paddle Village’ on Hove Lawns and the promenade next to the beach. Hundreds of stalls, children’s entertainment area, main arena and big top with live bands, plus tons more fun.

More information at the website at : www.paddleroundthepier.com

email us

stignet@hotmail.com

who we are

 We are a dedicated team of long boarders from Brighton Sussex. We are continuously searching for better rides and to improve our long boarding skills.

We are particularly looking for long smooth rides on concrete and gentle carving slopes.

We also experiment making our own boards out of ply, trying out different cool shapes and lengths. We also really enjoy making stencils for each different board.

We also ride a few pro boards too

We would also like to hear your ideas on cool places to skate to help us find new runs to improve our art.

Keep on truckin’ 

Skating Photos

surfer sam - putting the board through its paces

this is Stuart who we met about to burn up some tarmac in Langdale gdns

match point

handstand-can he pull it off ?

High Noon

trouble in town?

This is a stencil we made onto watercolour paper- if you’d like one get in touch and we can send you one in exchange for a few quid

The Best Places To Skate

Palmiera square- one of our best rides so far gives a long smooth ride, from the floral clock down to the sea. Gets pretty fast towards the end.

The Drive – ok it’s in the cycle lane so watch out for cyclists but it’s never that busy. Really long gentle ride from the top of Davigdor Rd. Make sure you stop at the lights at Church Rd!

Brighton sea front in front of the Metropole Hotel. The ramp leading down to the esplanade above Brighton Sailing Club – Its pretty fast down to the new flat tarmac they have put down now the old pool has gone. But a nice flat ride once you’re down. Really busy at weekends.

Making Longboards

First you need a plank of plywood. Then you need to draw a picture of how you would like your board. Then you need to cut it out with a jigsaw. And then you have to sand the edge of the board. Once you have done that you need to sand and varnish it once. Then you make or buy stencils of anything and you can do it on the front of the board. Then you varnish three more times. Once you have done that you can buy 2 pairs of trucks and wheels. Then you can put some see through or normal grip tape over it. Then whoow! you have FINISHED. Hope you have good time.

the woody