The Shellharbour SUP Festival is back on the first weekend of November. Download the magazine layout here or read the Spring 2024 cover story below…
When she’s not running her business (Stand-Up Paddle Boarding Shellharbour), or starring as a TV extra, or in the boxing ring raising money for Convoy, local legend Rebecca Dunning is organising the Shellharbour SUP Festival.
The three-day festival, from November 1 to 3 this year, attracts the best of SUP talent and showcases our beautiful region, including the new promenade area at Reddall Reserve.
The festival is a big win for Shellharbour, as it promotes local businesses, brings in tourism dollars and is an all-round fun day for anyone of any age or ability.
“I started the festival originally for the SUP community – to bring paddleboarders together and enjoy some outdoor fun,” says Rebecca, founder and owner of Stand-Up Paddle Boarding Shellharbour. “Now it’s for everyone, SUP riders and the general public.
“It’s exciting to get to enjoy the new promenade area and drive tourism to Shellharbour doing something that I love.”
This is the fourth year the festival has been held, and there’s lots of activities planned in the water and on land for competitors and non-competitors.
For serious SUP athletes, there are Men’s and Women’s SUP Surfing races across a range of categories, with the 9km race being held on Sunday, November 3 on Lake Illawarra.
“This is the big race that attracts competitors from interstate,” Rebecca says.
“It is a real test of stamina and fitness and offers enticing prize money at the end for the winner.People seem to really love the fun atmosphere the festival generates. Mates can get together whether competing or having fun in the novelty races.
“The competition is great for the more serious SUP rider but the novelty races and the atmosphere on land creates fun for everyone.”
The BOP Tech race (BOP stands for Battle of the Paddle) will be staged again this year. This is an international, more technical style of SUP racing in which competitors start on the beach, launch themselves into the waves and paddle around an ‘M’ shaped course.
There’s mayhem and chaos as they manoeuvre as fast as they can around buoys in the breaking waves. It’s an event favoured by many elite SUP competitors and is very popular around the globe. It’s much harder than it looks!
Rebecca says she’s always been very sporty, but discovered a love for the ocean at 13 and started bodyboarding. By the time she was 20, she was very successful at the sport, winning a couple of national titles and earning a place at the World Surfing Games in California (she was flagbearer).
“I love sport and have tried lots of different watercrafts over the years and SUP surfing is my latest love, which I have been enjoying for around 10 years,” she says.
“I started the business when an opportunity presented itself to start SUP in Shellharbour. My husband Justin runs the business with me – we met on the water as surfers and are still surfing together outside of the business, which I think is incredible.
“One of my proudest moments running the business has been the realisation that SUP really is for everyone – even for those with a disability.
“I received a fair bit of media coverage when I took a client out SUPing who had cerebral palsy. She actually came to an indoor pool SUP yoga session and told me she had her own SUP board but no one to take her out.
“I took her out and figured out a way for her to eventually SUP by herself.
“Since then, I have had numerous clients that require that bit of extra help – wheelchair-bound participants, for example. When presented with this type of challenge, 100 ideas go through my head, I might throw out 99 of them but that one idea that sticks to make it possible is gold.”
Last year more than 70 competitors took part in SUP surfing events and over 50 in the novelty events.
At this year’s festival, Sunday, November 3 will be the ideal day for flatwater racers and SUP surfers to enjoy a day of fun and competition.
Sunday’s events will be for everyone, whether you’re an experienced paddle boarder or a weekend warrior. There’ll be Dragon Boat racing (four people on a board, paddle out and back), a 2km novelty paddle where competitors often dress up in costumes (previous races have included Buzz Lightyear and The Joker) and SUP yoga.
There will also be live music by Roxzon, a classic Aussie cover band playing hits from the ’80s and ’90s and plenty of Billy Idol.
Food trucks will be serving delicious bites – a $30 ticket will get you $20 in food and $10 in drinks. Numerous market stalls will be at the festival, selling surf-related fashion, Bali-style clothing, crystals and more. An over-18s area will feature local business Bass Point Brewing with a range of locally brewed beers and ciders.
The festival presentation will also be held on Sunday during the day, rather than Saturday night as in previous years. There will be cash prizes for the winners and giveaways.
Visit www.supshellharbour.com/supfestival, email supshellharbour@bigpond.com or contact Rebecca Dunning on 0427 667 938.
