SUP SAFE Courses
Our safety education courses cover how to choose and use your safety equipment, understanding the conditions, and what to do when things go wrong. They’re the perfect way to really improve your general water knowledge.
There are two ways you can access these courses:
Online
The online version of the course is broken down into separate (and completely free!) courses; Safety Equipment, Understanding the Conditions, and (coming soon!) what to do when things go wrong. Each course is split into numerous bite-sized lessons, offering a huge resource of information, videos, pix, analysis and commentary on all aspects of SUP Safety. You can work through each course lesson by lesson at your own pace and convenience, or just simply dip in to the bits that you want to find out about. The online courses are COMPLETELY FREE, and you can access them right here.
In the classroom
The classroom course is presented by our trained SUP SAFE presenters around New Zealand, and delivered in an interactive way, giving you examples and scenarios to work with in order to make it as interesting as possible and maximise your learning.
You’ll get some good information to take away, as well.
Check out this year’s course schedule at the bottom of this page.
Whichever version of the course you do, you will learn about:
- Choosing the right leash for the conditions, and what could go wrong
- Choosing the right PFD for the conditions, how to use and service them, what could go wrong
- Communication on the water
- Other safety options and equipment
- Understanding wind direction and strength
- Understanding tides and currents
- How to interpret weather forecasts
- Planning a SUP trip
- The SUP SAFE code
- What could go wrong and how to deal with possible emergency scenarios
There may be a small charge for the classroom course, which will depend on the local presenter (as some have support from local councils etc in order to run them FOC, while others have to recoup costs for renting rooms etc), but should not be more than $40 per person. A small outlay in return for knowledge that may save your life!
Check out also the SUP RESCUE course. With the skills you will learn in this 2.5 hour practical and classroom course, you will be equipped to save someone from drowning. It’s a vital skill that every stand up paddleboarder should have. Unfortunately, preventable drowning incidents are all too common around the New Zealand waters, and you never know when you might come across someone in trouble.
Course Schedule
We have SUP SAFE courses at a variety of locations this summer. The current schedule is as follows:
If there isn’t a course near you, check out the online course, which is completely free and you can do at your own pace .
| Date | Start Time | City | Location | Notes | More Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TO BE ANNOUNCED | tba | Christchurch | tba | A further course will be run in Christchurch some time in the new year. Watch this space for more details! | — |
| 17 Oct 2025 | 5pm | Wellington | CBD | — | |
| 18 Oct 2025 | 9am | Wellington | Mana Beach | — | |
| 01 Nov 2025 | 10am | Christchurch | 2 Scarborough Road | A full day course, with theory in the morning and practical on-water safety training in the afternoon | More info/registration |
| 14 Nov 2025 | 6.15pm | Auckland | Northcote War Memorial Hall | — | |
| 15 Nov 2025 | 09.15 am | Auckland | Grey Lynn Community Centre | — | |
| 05 Dec 2025 | 5pm | Dargaville, Northland | Kai Iwi Lakes | A 2 day SUP workshop including a number of safety workshops and on-water learning sessions. Numbers are limited; pre booking essential! | More info/registration |
| 06 Dec 2025 | 10am | Christchurch | 13 Bishopdale Court | A fun and practical Stand-Up Paddleboarding (SUP) safety day designed to help you enjoy the water with confidence. Everyone welcome — whether you’re brand new to SUP or have been paddling for years, there’s something here for you. | More info/registration |
| 07 Dec 2025 | 6.15pm | Orewa | Orewa Community Centre | What better way to spend a Sunday evening? Come and talk sup safety with our National Safety Officer. | More info/registration |
| 13 Feb 2026 | 6.15pm | Auckland | Northcote War Memorial Hall | The workshop will be led by NZ SUP National Safety Officer Bill Dawes, and will cover the essential aspects of SUP safety, the correct equipment choices for the environment that you'll be paddling in and how to use them, understanding the weather and water conditions, how to read them, what you need to know and think about, and what might go wrong and what to do about it. It’s very informal and each workshop is tailored to suit the group and the local paddling environment. It’ll last around 2 - 2.5 hours, and there should be enough time for chat about other aspects of SUP as well, again, based on what the group is interested in discussing. The venue has limited capacity so please let us know if you're going to be attending; email paddlecompany@gmail.com or hit that GOING button on the Facebook event page. | More info/registration |
| 15 Feb 2026 | 0915 | Auckland | Grey Lynn Community Centre | The workshop will be led by NZ SUP National Safety Officer Bill Dawes, and will cover the essential aspects of SUP safety, the correct equipment choices for the environment that you'll be paddling in and how to use them, understanding the weather and water conditions, how to read them, what you need to know and think about, and what might go wrong and what to do about it. It’s very informal and each workshop is tailored to suit the group and the local paddling environment. It’ll last around 2 - 2.5 hours, and there should be enough time for chat about other aspects of SUP as well, again, based on what the group is interested in discussing. The venue has limited capacity so please let us know if you're going to be attending; email paddlecompany@gmail.com or hit that GOING button on the Facebook event page. (Note also that the event coincides with the Grey Lynn sunday market which is held in the adjacent car park. However, there should still be plenty of on-street parking in the vicinity.) | More info/registration |
| 21 Mar 2026 | tba | Waihi Beach | tba | More info coming soon! | — |
| 22 Mar 2026 | tba | Waihi Beach | tba | Part of the soon-to-be-announced SUP week - more details soon! | — |
| 28 Mar 2026 | 10am | Mangonui, Northland | Mangonui Waterfront | A SUP SAFE stand will be at the Mangonui Waterfront Festival, offering free advice and training to anyone. There will also be a fun relay race and other opportunities to get onto the water. | — |
We are also looking to run some more SUP SAFE courses in the Waikato and central North Island area, so if you’re a central north island paddler and have some friends who’d also be interested, please get in touch!
We are hugely grateful to the Safer Boating Forum for their funding contribution towards the SUP SAFE program and education in New Zealand.
