Louis Kirchell Joins The Loco SUP Race Team
Louis Kirchell Joins The Loco SUP Race Team. Hi, I’m Louis and a huge water sports enthusiast. My love for the water began as a child on dinghies before moving into windsurfing where I managed to make the GB squad and competed in a vast number of national and international race competitions. After a number of years away from the water, where I played representative rugby and completed 3 Ironman triathlons I was looking to get back on the water. Last year I took a SUP lesson to learn the key skills and self rescue techniques, since then I’ve been hooked!
I intended to learn paddling with the intention of moving towards racing but have been blown away by the amount paddling has to offer, whether it’s messing about on the river with friends, exploring new places, learning to surf or indeed racing. I’ve been fortunate to meet a number of people who have helped and offered assistance, through kit advise or paddling advise.
Louis Kirchell Joins The Loco SUP Race Team - At the end of last year I entered a couple of races to see what the deal was and whether it was something id like to pursue, I managed to come second in the 6km AV race as part of the UKSUP series which has made me want to progress with racing and develop myself within the 14′ class.
As a bigger guy (around 100kgs) I wanted the extra width to be able to paddle with the extra stability and the Loco motion board provided this, in a shape which makes sense. This year is for me a year to develop both my racing (14′ carbon motion) and my surfing (loco 9’11“), although this all comes in the same year that my partner (Jemma) is expecting our first child, so free time will be curtailed somewhat!
I’m fortunate to have the river Hamble within 5 minutes of my house for beautiful scenic flat water paddling and Hayling Island for small but regular waves approximately 30 minutes away.
I will be targeting a number of the UKSUP national races, as well as local race series with the main intention being to develop myself and progress to being competitive within the national series.
