Everything you need to know about the Head of the Dart SUP Challenge – from categories, fees and prizes, to bibs, cancellations and waiting lists. You’ll also find a wealth of information on our Rules and FAQs pages.
2027 Date
The next event will take place on Saturday 17 April.
How to enter
Entry for the event will open early January 2027. Please familiarise yourself with the following information before registering.
The event is capped at 300 boards and places offered on a first-come first-served basis once registration opens.
The deadline for all changes (which includes adding anyone else as places become available) is 2 weeks before the event.
Who can enter?
Participants must:
- Be over 16 years old.
- Be able to paddle comfortably in varied conditions (wind and chop).
- Be able to complete the 14km in 3 hours.
- Have a leash, a quick-release belt (QRB) and a CE-cerified personal flotation device (PFD).
- Have a Webscorer account (we advise setting this up in advance).
Please read the event Rules, and check out our FAQs.
Paddler ability
Due to varied and possibly choppy or windy conditions, everyone taking part must be able to paddle at a minimum of 4.5kpm consistently for 3 hours. Even in the leisure category, it’s essential that you are able to paddle standing, unaided, continuously for 14km, in all conditions.
The event has a 3-hour time limit and paddlers who have not reached specified points at the appropriate times will be picked up by a rescue boat.
If you are new to paddling, we strongly encourage you to:
- Book a lesson with a qualified instructor before the event.
- Watch these videos.
- See the tips from Watersports Coach Sam Ross, in partnership with the RNLI and Lagoon Watersports.
And if you need any further advice, contact Haywood Sports.
Bibs
Everyone taking part in the Head of the Dart Stand-Up Paddle event must wear an event bib. To ensure return of bibs, all participants need to pay a £10 cash bib deposit at registration. Deposits are repaid at the finish (when you receive your finisher medal), once the bib is returned. Everyone safely returning a bib will be given the option to donate their bib deposit to the RNLI (in 2025, we raised £1,600 for the charity through this scheme).
What’s included?
All entries include:
- Water safety provision for the length of the course.
- Professional photography.
- Timings.
- Finisher medal.
- Tote goody bag.
- 1 voucher for a G&T or non-alcoholic drink (from Salcombe Gin).
- One month’s Paddle Logger access.
Optional extras:
- Technical t-shirt – £20.
- Hoody – £40
- Beanie – £15
- Sun Visor – £15
- A space on the shuttle bus – £10.
We’re always on the lookout for support, so if you’d like to provide branded gifts for the paddler goody bags, we’d love to hear from you! Get in touch.
Categories
The Head of the Dart SUP Challenge welcomes a wide range of paddlers from intermediate ability through to experienced racers. Roughly half the fleet take part in the Leisure Class.
For most paddlers on a board less than 12’6 or wider than 29’ hardboard, we would recommend the Leisure Class.
Leisure class – £55 per person
This is for those looking to take part for fun, maybe raise money for charity, and to enjoy the atmosphere. It is purely non-competitive, with no podiums, so the following boards are not permitted in this category:
- 14’ hardboards narrower than 29’
- 14’ inflatable boards narrower than 26’
Anyone with a board that falls into the above will need to enter into one of the race categories.
Race categories
These are for those looking to test themselves against others and race, as well as enjoying the atmosphere. The race fleet is split into two categories based on board type
- up to 14’ hardboard race – £55 per person
- up to 14’ inflatable board race – £55 per person
Podium prizes are available for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners (men and women) and 1st Starboard Airline across the 14’ inflatable race fleet (men and women).
Multi-person board – £55 per person
If you’re on a tandem, XL board or another brand of dragon board, this is the category for you. All teams will set off with the leisure fleet. No prizes or podiums are currently offered, but we review this each year. If we start to see more than three teams on the same board type, we will look to offer a 1st place prize.
Dragon – £55 per person
This fleet is for teams of four. Teams often dress up for extra fun! [photos] Podium places are available for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. If you wish to enter using your own dragon board, please email headofthedartsup@gmail.com before entries opens.
Equipment
It is important that all paddlers dress appropriately for the conditions and we recommend the following:
- Layer up – it is better to be able to take a layer off than be too warm or cold.
- Wind/waterproof outer layer – if it’s windy, consider wearing an appropriate layer to keep you warm.
- Sunscreen / visors – if it’s sunny, it will be easy to catch the sun while on the water
- Hydration – make sure you hydrate in advance and if you are looking to carry a drink, think about a hydration pack.
- Please bring hydration packs filled as we will have limited access to free drinking water.
- Booties – we recommend wearing something on your feet.
- Waterproof pouch – if you are planning on taking your phone with you, please remember a waterproof pouch.
- Snack – although a short race, some of the leisure fleet may take over 2 hours. Consider taking a snack for the end.
- As the event is early April, we highly recommend having something warm to change into at the finish (e.g. changing robe). We will have no access to indoor spaces.
Cancellations and refunds
We appreciate that circumstances can change after paddlers have registered. However, to run the event we have numerous expenses that cannot be recouped if paddlers pull out or the event is cancelled.
If the event organisers (SUP Event Management Ltd) need to cancel, refunds will be discretionary once expenses already incurred have been paid.
If a paddler cancels (regardless of the reason), refunds will be offered as below:
More than 1 month’s notice | Full refund OR transfer of place to the following year only* |
4 to 2 weeks’ notice | 50% of entry |
Less than 2 weeks’ notice | No refund |
Optional extras | Once orders have been placed, we are unable to refund. We can arrange for postage and/or collection. |
*Event organisers may use their discretion to transfer places for more than one year, but this is on an individual case and will be for exceptional cases only.
Requests must be submitted via email to headofthedartsup@gmail.com. All refunds may be subject to booking fee charges.
Waiting list
Once all 300 places are full, we operate a waiting list. As and when places become available, paddlers are given up to 5 days to register. If they don’t register within this time, the place is offered to the next paddler on the waiting list.
In general, places become available from early March up until the cut-off point (two weeks before the event).
Changing your details
We will always try to accommodate changes, but an event of this scale has to have a cut-off point. We can therefore only allow changes to registration data (such as moving between a category, e.g. 12’6 Race to Leisure) until 5pm on Friday 27 March 2026 No changes can be made after this time.
Prizes
The prizes for each category are as follows…
Leisure fleet & Multi-person board
Instead of prizes, we operate a raffle based on bib numbers with prizes from sponsors.
14′ race and 12’6 race
Prizes for 1st, 2nd, 3rd Men’s and Women’s winners (trophy and a sponsor prize from Salcombe Gin)
Dragon race
Prizes for 1st (perpetual trophy), 2nd and 3rd places (plus sponsor prizes from Red Paddle Co), plus a Dragon finisher medal.
We also provide the following overall prizes:
1st Inflatable – this is a perpetual trophy from Starboard SUP UK and with the results taken from across both race fleets (12’6 and 14′) for both men and women.
Airline Cup – A brand prize will be available for the first man and first woman to finish on either an Allstar Airline or Sprint Airline (all models, up to 14ft). Airline Cup results will be taken from the race fleet making additional prizes; paddlers on All Star and Sprint Airlines will still be racing other inflatables in the inflatable race division.
Best Fancy Dress – this is a spot prize by the Race Directors for the best fancy dress outfits seen on the water.
A prize is also provided for the 1st Youth to finish (to qualify as Youth, competitors must be aged between 16 and 18 years old on the 1st January of that race year).
- Race rules
- Race route
- Parking & transport (including coaches and shuttle bus)
- Facilities (toilets, shelter, catering)
- Accommodation
- Race results
- Race schedule