SUP Summer Series Concludes in St. Pete

By Pete Williams

Helga Goebel en route to victory in St. Pete

ST. PETERSBURG – Nick Bjork and Helga Goebel won the 6-mile race at the finale of the three-event SUP Summer Series this morning.

A competitive field of fifty paddlers, wielding mostly race boards, showed up for the event at Blind Pass put on by Chase Kosterlitz, owner of the Water Monkey SUP shop and a rising star on the SUP race scene.

Bjork, owner of the Solstice Sports SUP shop in Tampa, was the overall men’s winner. Goebel, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, added to her hardware as the female winner. She’s dominated Florida SUP this year, winning the Key West Classic, the Florida State Championships, the Sunshine SUP race series, the Komona Paddle, and the Orange Bowl Race.

Kosterlitz will be hosting his second-annual Fall Paddle Festival on Oct. 22-23 in Treasure Island. The WPA-sanctioned event consists of an OC-6 outrigger canoe race on Oct. 22 and SUP races on Oct. 23.