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SUP safety and ‘Simon’s legacy’ take a major step forwards.

SUP safety has been an ongoing concern for McConks. Even before stand up paddle boarding’s growth spurt of the last few years we’ve been committed to raising awareness about paddling safety and educating as much as we can. Since the pandemic led SUP boom, however, there have been a number of incidents where new stand up paddlers have ended up in life threatening situations. In some cases it hasn’t ended well.

It’s for this reason that Sam Foyle set about lobbying the government and brands in the wake of his friend Simon Flynn losing his life in August 2020. Since then there have been some positive moves forward by a number of stand up paddle boarding brands, individuals and organsisations. A recent Westminister event, where McConks’ own Andy was in attendance, shed more light on the subject. But in the last few days things have taken a bigger step forwards.

Greatest Hits Radio issued a news piece about the situation which saw Sam Foyle and Andy McConkey asked to comment. The item ended up on the station’s website as well as being tweeted by the station’s social media feed. You can see the news article via this link. And the tweet is here so you can have your say.

More good news as British Canoeing has released a SUP safety advice video around SUP leashes. They’ve also updated their guidance to combat misinformation. You can see the video below.

We appreciate there’s more to SUP safety than just an awareness of leashes. But this is very positive and we hope the awareness can be raised significantly. Stay tuned for more SUP safety articles from McConks. And don’t forget to check our SUP safety page for more advice.

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