Trevor Tunnington and Georgia Schofield head out to the ISA World Championships a little early so they can soak up the local paddle scene!

Travelling for paddleboard races and surf comps is truly an experience of a lifetime. After flying halfway across the world for some events, I like to make the most of these fantastic opportunities. That’s why I like to sneak in a couple of extra days either before or after events to make sure I fully immerse myself in the locations I visit. The latest fabulous location for me was Copenhagen, Denmark. 

I received a message from Georgia Schofield - Starboard’s chief photographer, asking when I was due to arrive in Copenhagen. Luckily Georgia was in town on the 26th, and I was landing on the 27th of August. This was perfect! A full five days of exploring this beautiful city before the ISA World SUP and Paddleboard Championships were due to kick off.

Georgia and I met in the city and headed straight out to see the sites from the water with one of the local Starboard riders in town, Carsten. The locals pride themselves on the cleanliness of the Copenhagen waterways, and I was repeatedly told that the harbour was clean enough to swim in. So I did, Carsten was right too, there aren’t many places in the world where you would like to jump in the harbour, especially one as busy as this!

Luckily for Georgia and I, Carsten had extensive local knowledge and was able to show us where to paddle as Copenhagen has quite strict rules when it comes to kayaks and paddleboards as there is so much boat traffic. The original Danish translation of the name Copenhagen was Merchant’s Harbour, but this old fishing town has gradually been transformed into a trendy, colourful and attractive city with more than one million tourists each year.

There was so much life on Copenhagen waterways, making it pretty easy for Georgia to get some great shots. As the afternoon came to a close, Georgia and I parked off at a local, modern restaurant called the Kayak Bar. Within a few minutes, we were invited to dine with a friendly bunch of young Danish locals (as well as a couple of fellow travellers). Our “quick stop” at a trendy restaurant suddenly turned into a 5-hour social gathering as we ate dinner and ordered countless sides - I highly recommend the mussels - and we planned to meet up for a kayak and paddleboard tour on the following day.

Mario and Kristine were the keenest of the bunch for a proper paddle around town, and luckily for Georgia and I, they had kayak instructor permits and also knew the more welcoming places for paddle boarders and kayakers. Georgia and I pumped up the Starboard inflatables and readied ourselves for the adventure! The previous night I was told that we would head out for a “cruisy” four to five-kilometre paddle around town; this, however, turned out not to be the case.

On our journey, Mario told us some of the secrets and interesting stories about Copenhagen. One of the bridges was designed as a folding bridge to make way for boat traffic. However, the assembly alone managed to bankrupt three different companies as the temperature change in winter and summer expanded the materials making it hard to align the two sides. We also passed the famous bronze Little Mermaid Statue which is a tribute to Hans Christian Anderson, who wrote the famous fairy tale.

After a “cruisy” ten kilometres we reached the ocean wind turbines - the halfway mark. Apparently, earlier in the month Copenhagen had been able to power the whole of Denmark for two days purely on renewables thanks to a single day of crazy wind. Copenhagen prides itself on their renewable energy production with over 60% of the energy coming from renewables.

Three-quarters of the way home we came across the Trekroner Fort (which translates to “Three Crowns Sea Fortress”) at the entrance of the Copenhagen harbour. It was fascinating to have a look around the fort, which was built in 1787 and used in the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 and the First World War. After our twenty kilometre journey Georgia and I, although starving, felt a real part of the capital city! We spent the remaining three days with our new friends that we had met in the restaurant!

The evening before the opening ceremony heralded the arrival of the competitors who started flooding in. It seemed like everybody had pictures of airports and board bags on their Instagram stories! Of course, our feeds on social media were somewhat different! As competitor after competitor swarmed into the city, almost simultaneously so did the rain! All I can say is that I’m so glad I came early to explore Copenhagen…wow, what a city!

By Trevor Tunnington

Comments