Took a road trip from Pattaya to Phuket with a couple of Starboard SUP's, wanted to check out the Quicksilver Event at Kalim.

Blew a radiator on the way down and got towed last 70km into town. But as far as these annoyances go, it went very smoothly and I only lost a few hours.
The people in the South of Thailand are very friendly and helpful and everything looked very clean with less rubbish lying around than in other parts of the country.

Arrived on a small day which was perfect for me. Staying at Patong Beach North end about half kilometer south of Kalim Beach. I wanted to take my SUP's to the contest and let people have a play but the main event sponsor, for the next 3 contests do not want any other manufacture to promote at the events. Fair enough, it is thier cash, it is a bit of a shame though as it does shut out local businesses who have traditionally played a part in the local surf scene there.

Even the small swell we had over the contest was great compared to the tiny wind swell in I have been playing with in Pattaya. It was really great fun, to charge down some waves and try to pull out of them before they closed out.

Paddling through whitewater on an SUP is good fun. An SUP will never move like a pure short board, it is just too damn fat. But with SUP you are working your balance the whole time you are out there. Especially paddling back out through whitewater which takes as much technnique as catching the waves.

There was a good vibe at the contest and I was surprised to see that Phuket has its own very cool surf culture, with better swell comming through than many people would have ever guessed. The main breaks will no doubt get pretty crowded but with Stand Up Paddle you can surf of peak on pretty much anything that is moving.

Will come back again for sure, Thanks to Salt Water Dreaming who showed me around, and made me feel very welcome.

www.isup.asia