The APP World Tour was founded and developed by the Waterman League, an event management and media production company with Offices in Portugal, Hawaii & London, focused on developing multi-disciplined water sports.
As founders of the Professional World Championships for paddlesurfing (also known as stand-up paddling), the Waterman League has been crowning Men’s and Women’s Professional World Champions for both racing and surfing since 2010, with flagship events across the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, now branded as the APP World Tour.
The APP World Tour is recognized and sanctioned by the IOC Federation for Surfing Sports, the ISA (International Surfing Association), as the Official Professional World Championship Tour for the sport of Stand Up Paddling.
The APP has also developed its City Paddle Festival approach to its World Tour events in major Cities across the globe, providing participation opportunities for all, regardless of age, gender or ability. With everything from competitive pro-am racing through to entry level fun races, SUP Yoga and youth clinics, the APP's flagship events deliver something for everyone from participant to spectator.
2009 – 2016: Stand Up World Series
The Stand-Up World Series launched in 2009 with Kai Lenny being crowned the first ever Surfing World Champion in 2010. 2012 then saw a full World Championship season for both SUP Surfing and SUP Racing with world champions being crowned in both disciplines. Over the next few years, the Tour expanded dramatically. 2013 saw the launch of the Women’s World Surfing Tour and the successive years saw events spanning 6 continents, with the notable introduction of the all-new XXL racing concept, Red Bull Heavy Water.
2017 – Now: APP World Tour
The Stand-Up World Series was re-branded to the APP World Tour in 2017 with the purpose to celebrate both forms of the sport, surfing and racing. In 2018, the APP launched the City Paddle Festivals concept, which set out to bring the World’s best paddlers to major cities across the globe whilst providing opportunities for the masses to try the sport in an urban setting. 2020 saw a hiatus of events due to the Covid-19 pandemic but saw the introduction of two new virtual formats in the form of Ride of the Season for Surfing and Fast Track for Racing. The online competition received an unprecedented response with over 500 participants from 54 countries and record online engagement. 2022 is lined up to be APP’s best season yet with a full qualification series as well as a global line up of events for both surfing and racing.
Contact
info@appworldtour.com
www.appworldtour.com
@appworldtour