The UK’s premier ocean race with the broadest range of craft, six man ocean canoe’s, stand up paddle boards, prone, ocean skis and Va’a canoes all at one venue and one start line!

Few paddlers have attended the fifteen years that this iconic race has run – if they had they will now have seen all the sides of what Carbis has to offer, tranquil turquoise waters, placid, safe combined with some of the best runners on offer in the UK. And more importantly, it can cope with a significant amount of wind which was vital to the success of this weekend.

Don’t want to read! Scroll to the bottom for 2024 dates, results and the all important video

As always we have to give a massive thank you to all those paddlers who supported the event this year by making the not inconsequential drive west. Water safety was provided by the stalwart crews of Hayle Surf Life Saving club and their expert IRB teams how have provided unparalleled safety cover every year of the event (hayleslsc.co.uk) – Epic Kayaks UK (epic-kayaks.co.uk) provided a fleet of skis along with all of the high vis tops many of the ocean races use. And most of all the Ocean Sports club who stepped in to help keep this event going, working along our  Youth paddlers, the Spriggens and Lighties who came down on mass to help keep things moving super slick.

Carbis bay, by and large, known as a flat water beach – not for twenty twenty three and most definitely not for twenty twenty four either. With wind speeds recorded as 20 knots north westerly gusting nearly 25 put the event into its Amber category, the only way it could safely run was to make inside loop the new outside! – turning on the eastern side of the ‘Island’; conditions were challenging to say the least!

The new one day format meant that paddlers had to dig deep if they wanted their club outrigger crew to be competitive having raced earlier that day in either single or double skis, OC1 & 2’s along with stand up paddle boards.

While the OC1’s had to back up the stand up paddle boards really earned their strips, strong head wind on the way out, confused sea state off of the point and challenging bumps on the run home. Joining the stand up’s in badges of honour were the under eighteen paddlers many taking on the outside loop in its 13km of challenging bumps and wind or working hard on the out and back inside loop – a promising sight to see youngsters not only take on difficult conditions but also excel in them.

Tight racing was to be had amongst the skis, with Scoob Lark making a last minute call to race from the big smoke make sure that Chris, Owen and several of the up and coming UK stars of the sport we kept honest. After the first upwind mark Scoob, using his vintage 2022 world championship paddles showed the field a clean pair of heels weaving his magic among the bumps. Credit where credit is due, once gapped, those chasing were close enough to keep the work rate up out in front. This makes Scoob one of the most winningest paddlers of the Celtic Cup nearly close to matching that of club paddler Glenn Eldridge.

With the wind remaining above forecast steerers of both male and female V6 (six man outrigger canoes) were relieved, albeit marginally, to feel the wind back into the west giving slightly more manageable sea state.

Many of the V6 crews travelled from around the country to race as male and female crews following the same course as the smaller craft earlier that morning – if the OC1 paddlers were feeling race fatigue, spare a thought for the male paddlers who then jumped straight into the mixed V6 crews racing with the Women.

PRCC took top honours in the all Women’s crew, with the ladies from the Ocean Sports club winning for the first time in the event history in the mixed crew race – a tall order given that Milly, only recent started steering this spring taking on arguably one of the best steerers in the country in the formidable form of Jocelyne King.

The Men’s Ocean Sports team, while struggling to retain many of its paddlers, had a fresh injection of youth with the addition of previous ocean sports club ski squad paddlers, Lewis and Jordan jumping in with new recruit Mark C to retain their long held title.

Its important to recognise how far many of the outrigger paddlers travel and the logistical challenges faced in towing their nearly 30ft trailers from around the country, Richard of Paddle Racing Canoe Club being one of the stalwarts making the long drive south.

First in best dressed as they say! We will be running the 2025 edition of the Celtic Cup on July 12th – make sure that you put the date into your diary, get your accommodation bookings sorted and get ready for even more action! Entries will open June 1st and close June 30th.