The Saturday of the London SUP Open weekend event saw the professional long distance race take place throughout the River Thames. Starting from Tower Bridge, the course stretched all the way up to Putney Pier.

A wide selection of the Livett’s fleet were deployed to undertake various roles to ensure the safe and effective delivery of the race. Firstly, Scheldemond I was used to lay down the various markers required to map out the race course for competitors. Then other vessels including the Equity, Meridian, Lima Lima I and the Echo Lima I were utilised as safety boats and camera boats. Meanwhile, our luxury passenger vessel Edwardian carried VIPs and sponsors as they followed the race action through the heart of London in style.

We provided full marine coordination to ensure the race went off without a hitch in a safe environment which didn’t interfere with over river traffic.

Following the professional race, the Hackney leg of the festival took place on the River Lea over the course of the final two days. Here we provided full safety support, which included marshalling the paddle boarders in the designated areas, expertly led by our Marine Logistics Manager Tim Woolford.

Livett’s Group Director Ed Livett commented: “We thrive on dealing with the different challenges each and every event on the River Thames has to offer, and this was no different. City Paddle Festival’s London SUP Open 2019 was a superb weekend and the client was delighted with our level of expertise and assistance throughout.

“It’s a testament to the professionalism and experience of our team that the festival went perfectly to plan and without incident on what is a very busy river at this time of year. We look forward to helping out again in 2020!”