SUP Interviews »Basti by SUP Fehmarn
Interview with Basti
Talking to Basti is all about Board, the future of SUP and Wave SUP.
Hi Basti. Please introduce yourself briefly.
Hello! I am Bastian Wiepcke, co-owner of the surf shop Fehmarn, Kitecoach and SUP Fehmarn.
How did you come to SUP?
Hard to believe, but already after one of the first SURF Festival on Fehmarn, which must have been around 2003/4, we had the first Starboard Blend in the shop with 11’2 × 32 “in the Wood.
Smiled at that time a lot, but who tried the whole thing consciously, was equally enthusiastic. I had a lot of fun, since then I’m on board.
Especially in the 2018 season we have seen a big growth of Stand Up Paddling. What do you mean about the future of SUP? Will the sport get bigger?
I do not think that in the next few years, the same growth can be expected, you can see that with skates and longboards inliner, which were also mega hypes but that flattens off again.
In sum, it remains important that people enjoy learning to know and appreciate water and nature while doing this wonderful sport.
What is your view on the new “sub-trends” like SUP Yoga, Wave SUP or Whitewater SUP? Will they be even more popular? If yes, where do you see the best prospects?
For destinations in major cities or holiday destinations, I think the yoga theme will get even bigger. Wave SUP will spread, but will not grow significantly due to the lack of good spots in Germany or its accessibility.
I notice, however, that interested more and more often put on hard boards and leave their “air mattress” in the basement.
Which sub-disciplines (yoga, fitness, wave, surfing etc.) of SUP have you already tried?
Yoga is not my world, but my wife thinks that’s great. For me now the Denmark holidays without Wave SUP are unthinkable. You have such cool days, I do not want to miss them anymore
Let’s say I’m a beginner and 80 pounds heavy. Which SUP board would you recommend to me?
It’s not that easy! Where do you want to drive, wave, chop, only in good weather on vacation, do you have a big car, desire for performance, are you the epicure or endurance type, should your girlfriend join the board?
Can you store a firm board at home? I think we need time and more information, if you just want to “paddle”, you need no advice, then helps you a discount store, with no guarantee of fun, so be assured!?
What are your experiences specifically with Wave SUP Boards? Can the inflatable boards compete with hardboards and do you have favorites?
For the first steps, you can really do something with it, but if it goes into the green part of a wave and you want to really edge to make a turn, nothing goes past a hard board.
Here the conditions and the level of experience decide extremely on the “best” choice of the board. For the beginning, wider boards make perfect sense, as long as they have a narrower tail and enough rockers to stay agile.
The Quatro, JP Surf Wide and Starboard Wide Point are certainly a good choice.
You offer SUP courses and you also have your own water sports online shop. Can you briefly summarize your offer?
We have over 35 years of experience in this business, have been involved with SUP and kiting from the beginning, and have grown up with windsurfing. Each of our boys dies for a good session on the water, whatever sport.
This fire gives us the opportunity to advise everyone fair and in accordance with the requirements, without giving it a go. Online, we try to share our opinions on individual products and communicate. But it is better if we just talk to each other.
We are honest and competent and can be reached by phone as well as by mail. So we will certainly find the right equipment for you and those who can not decide, come by and try out the material during a tour or single-handedly and convince yourself.
We always find a solution.
Basti, thank you for the interesting conversation!
The offers of Basti and his crew can be found on surfshopfehmarn.de and on www.sup-fehmarn.de .
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Hi, I’m Manfred. For years I’ve written here on standup-experte.com about SUP and everything that goes with it.
