Head of The Dart Stand Up Paddle Challenge

The Head of The Dart is an historic rowing event over eight miles that alternates direction annually: Totnes to Dartmouth one year, Dartmouth to Totnes the next.

Back in 2008 one of the UK’s prominent SUP competitors and Devon local John Hibbard, enquired about adding a SUP division to the rowing event.  The rowing clubs were extremely kind to allow a small group of local SUP paddlers to complete the eight mile course. 

As the sport has taken off and grown in the UK, so have the numbers of SUP racers and 2013 saw a fully subscribed event, with entry limited to one hundred stand up paddlers. Numbers were capped at 150 in 2015 and we saw a full entry. Inclement weather saw a number of pre-event withdrawals but nevertheless, a hundred paddlers made for a great spectacle!