SUP pioneer Peter Bartl (www.paddelsurfen.at) a jack of all trades and always up to something new. He founded the ASF, Austrian SUP Federation, developed the first German-language SUP-Instructor training , wrote the first German-language book on SUP and much more…

Now he is planning a big trip, of course, by SUP. He and his friend and shaper Abel Cathelineau plan to paddle from Graz in Styria (Austria) to the Black Sea. Ironically, in the cheerless November. Why? Because he does not like mosquitoes…..

He has already proven that he is up for cold temperatures for example in last winters  200km tour with Roman (picture above) and when we surfed Eisbach together last winter in 1.5 ° C water temperature and -7 ° C air temperature.

We spoke to him after the Chiemsee SUP Marathon, where he finished 3rd, to find out more about the upcoming adventure.

Congratulations, Peter on your third Place. Tell me about your next adventure!

I am just preparing a major tour, beginning November I’ll paddle from Graz in Styria, Austria to the Black Sea.

Wow. How far is that and how long will it take?

1850km, should everything go well, we will arrive after 25 days.

Isn’t that going to be cold?

My reasoning was, the sun and mosquitoes are greater evils than the cold temperatures … That’s what I say now. We’ll se about that….

And you are taking everything you need for the tour with you?

Basically, this is the idea. That we have everything with us, that we sleep on the shore, but of course every 3 days or so we will stay somewhere to freshen up and document the trip.  We will take tent, sleeping bag, etc. We are still researching the most appropriate equipment. I think it won’t be a down sleeping bag as that can be tricky with the water. More like plastic.

Brrr, That’s gonna be fresh…

We’ll see about that….

 

And what kind of board will you be using?

Custom Boards, which Abel is shaping. 17’ boards, 29” wide, specially made for luggage.

And you paddle along the river Mur. How about obstacles?

Yes, the Mur. The whole journey is more or less open water. Nearly without dams. There are only two dams, somewhere in Bulgaria or Romania.

How many kms per day?

We are planning 80-100km per day, which sounds more than it is. We go with the flow of the river Mur., 4, 7, 8 km / h. So we will hopefully come to 10km / h per hour.

But the temperatures are a little warmer than here?

Well, it’s rather colder. I think it will be more or less like today (4 ° C at Chiemsee). At night, temperatures will most likely drop to -5 ° to -8 ° C….

Oh dear, well then, good luck and keep us posted….

 

Full interview (German):