This Saturday, the Naish SUP Tour stopped at beautiful Davoser Lake, Switzerland. A 12km race (14′ class) on 1560m altitude with 1200 CHF prize money. Report, Pics and Results.

I had driven there the night before from Munich and spent the night in the van right by the lake, thankfully, the “no overnight camping and parking” was not enforced. Austrian Champion Sigrid Baumgartner had driven there from Zug in the morning, Arnd Dünzinger had gotton up at his usual 3:30 to bake some pretzels and drove there from Grainau, most of the other riders were from Switzerland.

The riders were greeted by awesome scenery was totally worth the drive, check it out:

The Davos lake is beautiful, but different from Silvaplana lake not very big, so I was wondering how the 12km course would come about. It turned out to by a round-course with about 7 buoys, counterclockwise around the lake which had to be paddled 4 times. It felt like it was upwind or side-wind all the time. The race started with 9:00 AM briefing and a 9:30 AM race start and in Switzerland that means 9:30 sharp. Very little time to get changed or warm-up, so many riders, including myself were not really awake when the race began. The first lap was a drag, I was relieved when Michi and a few other riders had told me they had considered quitting the race during lap 1, that’s exactly how I felt, the early start and then getting used to paddling on 1560m was not easy.

But in lap 2 and 3 the race was getting easier and it with every lap one could improve the course around the buoys and into the wind.

After 1:22:13, Jean-Luc Malfoid (who represented Switzerland in the ISA World Championships in Peru beginning of the year) was the first to finish the 12km course securing some nice prize money. Arnd Dünzinger from Grainau, Germany finished second in 1:22:43, followed by Peter Tritten (1:23:40).

For the women’s, Austrian Champion Sigrid Baumgartner continued her winning streak and came in first, followed by Petra Offermanns (Germany) and Jeaninne Meili (Zurich).

The prize giving right after the race was conducted in very efficient Swiss manner, the winners did not get a trophy or medal or T-Shirt, they were just handed an envolope with cash. Arnd, who runs a bakery in Grainau, had however again baked and brought a giant pretzel (like for the Brombachsee race) which was very much appreciated by the riders.

In the end, the ealry start was good, as right after the race the wind picked up and then came a huge, impressive thunderstorm to top of a great day. Thanks to www.davossurf.ch for a great event and congratulations to all winners!

Men’s top 10:

  • 1) Jean-Luc Malfroid (SWI, Nidecker)
  • 2) Arnd Dünzinger, (GER, Nidecker)
  • 3) Peter Tritten (SWI, Naish)
  • 4) Philipp Knecht (Fanatic)
  • 5) Christian Mähr (Fanatic)
  • 6) Markus Bögli (Tahoe)
  • 7) Roman Lorenz (Naish)
  • 8) Bruno Walder (Starboard)
  • 9) Jürg Landert (Fanatic)
  • 10) Martin Wäfler (Fanatic)

Women’s top 3:

  • 1) Sigrid Baumgartner (AUT, Starboard)
  • 2) Petra Offermanns (GER, Fanatic)
  • 3) Jeaninne Meili (SWI, Fanatic)

More pics are here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.416938431685577.89288.163985233647566&type=1