Glad that India was at the podium in Hungary: Stand Up Paddler Sathish

It has been an exciting month for stand up paddler A Sathish Kumar. The 48-year-old SUP coach has just represented the country at the ICF Stand Up Paddling World Championships held in Balatonfüred, Hungary, between September 9 and 12 and his excitement knows no bounds. “This is my maiden attempt in the championship, but I am more excited about the fact that this is the first time India was at the podium at ICF. Also, I was the lone paddler from the country,” says the International Surfing Association-certified instructor.
Sathish battled it out with 130 paddlers from 51 countries and bagged the 60th position in the Inflatable Open Men’s 7km race. “The race was held in Lake Balaton, which is said to be the largest lake in Central Europe. Since I had competed in the open category, men of all ages were part of it. The wind was rough on the race day. My equipment was heavy compared to those from the other countries and I lost oodles of energy, merely pushing it.”
Sathish also cashed in on the opportunity by training under SUP World Champion, Michael Booth during his stay in Hungary. “The water there was extremely cold. The Australian paddler doled out some tips on paddling — especially paddling against the wind and in different weather and water conditions.”
All these days, I had only seen his videos online, so to finally meet him and to train under him, was an exciting experience altogether,” says Sathish, who had earlier represented the country in the SUP Dragon World Championship in Austria (2018) and in France (2019).
Sathish is also the founder of SUP Marinaa, a club that has been training aspiring stand up paddlers in Chennai, especially from the fishing community. “There are many talented youngsters in the community but they do not have the avenues to channelise their energy. By introducing them to stand up paddling, they not only get a platform to showcase their talent, but their involvement in the sport also helps them steer clear of illegal activities. They are now taking part in paddling competitions and winning medals. Since the boys are accustomed to the sea, they take to the sport like fish to water. India is blessed with so many water bodies, but we have not put them to good use. Paddling is an attempt to use the shoreline in an effective manner.”
And that’s not all. His students are also spreading awareness on the need to conserve water bodies across the state. “In 2019, we did an Ocean clean-up in Bay of Bengal spanning 5km and collected 32kg of plastic waste. In 2020, we embarked upon a Plastic Awareness Paddling drive in Bay of Bengal from Pondicherry to Kovalam, covering 122km in 18 hours. We also did a Save the Buckingham River Paddling drive for 124km in 2020. We not only collected plastic waste, but also spread awareness about conserving water bodies.”
Sathish, along with the Tamil Nadu Coastal Police, has also been training members of the fishing community to work as marine volunteers. “These volunteers are also trained lifeguards, who assist marine police in beat patrolling, rescue operations, helping during natural disasters and collecting coastal ‘intelligence’.” Sathish’s biggest dream is to take stand up paddling and surfing to as many people as possible. “With such a huge population, India has a lot of scope to do well in the sport. And I want to do my bit for that,” sums up Sathish.