31st December 2012 UPDATE: The official 2013 SUP World Series schedule has been announced, with two new events being added to the list below.

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The 2013 Stand Up World Series schedule has just been released and includes seven races around the world. Despite a rocky first year that saw event cancellations and schedule changes, the 2012 SUP World Series finished on a high with the awesome Finals @ Turtle Bay and should be able to carry that momentum into the 2013 season.

While an official announcement is expected in the next week or so, the list of races for next season has already been spotted. There are seven events in 2013, with stops in Brazil, France, Germany, the U.S. and Hawaii between April and October.

Seven events is a much more realistic number than what the 2012 Series originally aimed for. The organisers were the first to admit how unmanageable the original, 18-event 2012 World Series schedule was, so seven races sounds like a smart move. It also brings the size of the Stand Up World Series on par with something like the ASP World Surfing Tour, which usually runs 7-10 events each year.

Making the cut next season are a couple of famous SUP racing locations…

The Maui Stand Up World Series event will be held July 20th & 21st, 2013, which is the same weekend as the Naish Maui Paddle Challenge. So it’s safe to assume the Naish race (a Maliko downwind run) will make up the Distance Race component of the event, with a SUP sprint race to be added by the World Series crew to complete their Distance + Sprint race format.

Hamburg also makes the list, which is of course the location of the Jever SUP World Cup, a beloved race that ran from 2009-2010 and was not only the biggest event in Europe, but also one of the best SUP races anywhere in the world. Whether or not there’ll be a connection to the original SUP World Cup team isn’t clear, but either way it’s good to see a major SUP event back in Hamburg.

It’s also good to see back-to-back European events in June. The Oleron and Hamburg stops should fit in perfectly with the region’s two other blockbuster races: the $10,000 SUP Race Cup on the 25th & 26th of May and the $20,000 Lost Mills race (which *should* be happening on June 1st & 2nd). That would lead to four straight weekends of international-level Stand Up Paddle races in Europe, which will make it easier to convince the top Aussie and U.S. paddlers to head over.

On the downside however, there are again no races in Australia, a country that is arguably home to 50% of the world’s best paddlers.  It’ll also be interesting to see which individual athletes actually compete in next year’s SUP World Series. The 2012 edition was dominated by the sponsored young guns and was notable for the absence of stars such as Jamie Mitchell, Travis Grant, Danny Ching and Candice Appleby. After a rocky 2012, the organisers (the Waterman League) will have to work hard to convince these kinds of elite paddlers that the SUWS is worth investing in. After all, the Waterman League’s goal with this Series is to create the “Undisputed World Champion of Stand Up Paddle Racing”, something that’s not too easy when four of the world’s best paddlers aren’t included.

We won’t know the answer to that question for a while though, with the first race not being for another five months (April in Brazil). So while you’re waiting, check out the full 2013 Stand Up World Series schedule below (we’ve also thrown it up on the 2013 SUP Race Calendar).

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2013 Stand Up World Series Schedule

2013 Stand Up World Series – Race #1
Imbituba, Brazil
13th & 14th APRIL
(NOTES: Smart choice of dates as the event will coincide with the Battle of the Paddle Rio, which is the previous weekend and will have already attracted the world’s best paddlers to Brazil)

2013 Stand Up World Series – Race #2
Oleron, France
8th & 9th JUNE
(NOTES: This was one of the few events to be successfully completed in the inaugural 2012 SUP World Series)

2013 Stand Up World Series – Race #3
Hamburg, Germany
15th & 16th JUNE
(NOTES: Home of the classic Jever SUP World Cup)

2013 Stand Up World Series – Race #4
Maui, Hawaii
20th & 21st JULY
(NOTES: This event will be part of the Naish Maui Paddle Challenge)

2013 Stand Up World Series – Race #5
Chicago, USA
24th & 25th AUGUST
(NOTES: Another of the events that was successfully completed in 2012)

2013 Stand Up World Series – Race #6
Huntington Beach, California, USA
28th-30th SEPTEMBER
(NOTES: This event saw a dramatic, last-minute cancellation in 2012 but should be a strong race in 2013, as it’ll be the weekend before or after the Battle of the Paddle)

2013 Stand Up World Series – Race #7 (Finals)
Turtle Bay, Oahu, Hawaii
11th – 13th OCTOBER
(NOTES: This is the “Finals” of the World Series, which means it carries extra points for the overall championship title – this was the most successful event in the 2012 World Series)