SUP Connect has announced the winners! Starboard has won a ton of awards, including the coveted SUP Connect 2021 Brand of the Year – making Starboard the winner 2 years in a row.
“It’s all about building local communities, getting kids on board, seeing our sport blossom from the first paddle stroke while aspiring towards future Olympic medals”
Svein Rasmussen – Chief Innovator at Starboard
SUP Connect is the common link between everyone in the stand-up paddle community. A leading SUP Magazine and Social Network for all SUP enthusiasts around the world. At Starboard we have continued the hard work into making the best boards possible, and we are honoured to be recognized again in 2021 for these highly prestigious awards amongst other excellent brands! We are sending a huge thanks to SUP Connect and all of our networks for making this happen.
2021 SUP Connect Awards
On Monday, 9th August 2021 SUP Connect officially published the 2021 Awards of the Year. Excitingly, Starboard won 5 of the 6 crowns, broken down to the following:
- Starboard is Brand of the Year
- Man of the Year for Michael Booth, our World Champion SUP Athlete. His standout outstanding sportsmanship, attitude and community involvement. Michael’s mission is to encourage people to believe in themselves, pursue success & live a healthy & active lifestyle. Well done Michael!
- Woman of the Year for Fiona Wylde, our unstoppable water woman, she’s proven herself as one of the most decorated athletes in our sports industry. Powering through a life-changing diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes when she was 18-years-old. Rather than being slowed down from this diagnosis, she’s done the exact opposite. Being an inspiration for millions of people who face the same challenge while aiming to continue to live that outdoors athletic life. Keep up the good work Fiona!
- Sales Rep of the Year for Kevin Krohn. Passion for the sport shines through his work. There’s no doubt that Kevin goes above and beyond for the brands that he represents but also the shops that he works with.
- Gear of the year in the following categories:
— Overall – Starboard Generation
— Technology – Starboard Carbon Top Construction
— Race – Starboard All Star
— Inflatable – Starboard iGO - Shop of the Year for 101 Surf Sports, based in San Rafael, California. Recognized for premium quality products with incredibly knowledgeable and friendly staff. Extremely active in the SUP community and putting on annual race series.
Selection Process
Supconnect goes through an extremely rigorous process in selecting the winners. Consultations and feedback sessions with their advisory boards help them decide. All members are passionate about stand up paddleboarding and have their unique take on the sport. Considerations from their thousands of interactions with fans and consumers allow them to have a wider scope for selection choices. Whilst also adding in their own feedback from the editorial board. Finally, the mix of extensive feedback from brands and retailers in the industry, with the hundreds of back and forth emails and calls allow for the best nominee feedback!
Supconnect policy on the Athletes Award:
Ambassadorship: conveying the cheerfulness and inclusiveness characteristic of the sport.
Involvement: attending events and gatherings, having a finger on the pulse of the sport.
Performance: showing proficiency in the sport, though top results are not a requirement.
Support: having a following and votes to show you have support to validate your credibility.
Brands, shops and reps who are chosen for the SUP Connect Awards all went through the same criteria, based on four qualities:
Involvement: supporting the local SUP community by having demos, putting on events and educating consumers.
Performance: great customer service whether it be through sales, warranty or knowledge of the products.
Support: having a following and votes to show you have some support to validate your credibility.
Quality: quality of the products is superb.
2021 People’s Choice Awards
SUP Connect announced the 2021 People’s Choice Awards based purely on audience votes, all you need to participate is an email address and an internet connection. Voters simply click on their choice and the website does the rest – and only one vote can be registered per email. So the People’s Choice Awards is where the big news is, winners in this category have the largest support from their friends, family and SUP Community.
In the 2021 People’s Choice Awards, Starboard has won in the following categories:
- Man of the Year with for Mike Shoreman, our Stand Up Paddle rider who’s diagnosed with the Ramsay Hunt Syndrome and lost his sense of balance. He not only returned to paddle boarding but continues to inspire and teach in the SUP community!
- Woman of the Year with for Fiona Wylde, again!
- Grom of the Year for Thien-Cathrin Tusche, 12-year-old super grom from Germany, winning with 6,276 votes, what a future ahead Thien!
- Shop of the Year for South Shore Paddleboard, not only the largest paddleboard shop on Long Island but a space where people feel at home.
We strongly believe it’s all about building local communities, getting kids on board, seeing our sport blossom from the first paddle stroke while aspiring towards future Olympic medals.
Starting with the SUP kids program, supporting the ICF (the International Canoe Federation) in their 2021 World Championships and also partnering with them in environmental projects. Awarded the only Olympic Windsurfing Class by World Sailing Committee for 2024 and 2028, Starboard also won the 2020 World Sailing sustainability award.
Our journey does not stop us from our ambition to create a better playground.
Starboard is 10 X Climate positive and will sequester up to 1 million-ton CO2 over the next 20 years, with the 1 million Mangrove trees in our Myanmar Climate park. We run plastic footprint reports and also a plastic offset program (POP), which will collect 100,000 kg of beach ocean plastic this year. However, Starboard is first and foremost a technology company holding multiple patents and developing gear that has won 8 out of 10 ISA SUP surfing gold medals.
While seeing our Dream Team Riders capture most first places SUP race world championships over the last 10 years and 13 out of the 14 PWA constructors titles, we are really just getting started on a never-ending journey to go that extra mile.
Starboard is certified B Corp, meeting the high standards of verified social and environmental performance, accelerating a global culture shift to redefine success in business and build a more sustainable economy. And now, also included in the newest FLA (Fair Labor Association) affiliate.
We want to make a positive impact on the future through watersports by converting negatives to positives.
Come join us and lets all paddle for the people, planet and fun.
For more details on the 2021 SUP Connect Awards, please visit:
https://www.supconnect.com/news/2021-supconnect-awards-winners-announced
Big thanks to Supconnect for making this happen, always working on fresh ideas to make every brand, product and people involved special and memorable.
See you on the water!
The Starboard SUP Team
