Tupu King is trying to get as much time on the water as possible and today was his first day off due to weather conditions.
“I don’t think I’ll be training today, it’s not usually like this.”
The descendant of Ngāpuhi is the current National champion at 500 m in the singles race, but will take on some of the world's best in a totally different race when he competes in the Te Aito Tahiti race.
The Te Aito race is a one day marathon where top paddlers around the world compete in the 28 km race. This will be Tupu's second at this race and he aims to do better than last year.
At the age of 20, Tupu is considered one of the best paddlers in New Zealand. After this competition he'll be back in NZ for only 11 days before departing to Brazil to compete in the World Championships held next month.
Tupu will be departing for Tahiti this Thursday.