Brian Talma’s Beach Culture World Tour has partnered with the Tobago Carnival Regatta 2014 to promote the event internationally.
Event organizer Niki Borde recently visited Barbados to finalize the relationship with Talma for the March 4 to 5, 2014 racing series at Pigeon Point, Tobago.
It has the same concept as the Barbados Waterman Festival which Talma conceptualized in 2000, with competitions in windsurfing, stand-up paddling, kiteboarding and surfing.
Talma played a major role developing windsurfing’s freestyle discipline in 1999 on the professional windsurfing tour. He was the first local to bring kiteboarding to Barbados and helped establish the first kiteboarding World Cup in the Dominican Republic.
“My vision is a reality. I said in 1999 at the Barbados Silk Cup Gran Prix, these action water sports may be a sub-culture but they will become mainstream. Yes, today these sports are now mainstream and a major part of our tourist product,” Talma said in a media release.
Borde is delighted to have the windsurfing icon on board.
“The event is about establishing Tobago’s amazing conditions for action water sport and developing the event,”?he said. “Brian Talma did an amazing job this year, taking the event to another level and we wish to strengthen this relationship to join his Beach Culture World Tour to promote the event at the destination he visits and attract top pro and amateurs.”
The major objective of the Beach Culture World Tour is to utilize Talma as a personality and athlete to promote Barbados and generate international coverage for the country, partnering with different event organizers and destinations to promote action water sport.
Talma’s goal is get people to Barbados and to enrich the Bajan beach culture (a blend of the fish community and the surf society) as a marketable sub-culture. His strategy is to have events in Barbados to attract visitors and to generate coverage internationally and to visit different action sports competitions or trade shows to encourage people to come to Barbados.
After a very successful 2012 tour, Talma leaves the island tomorrow for Hawaii where he will do a travel story deAction Man vs Aloha Man, with Josh Stone from Hawaii.
There will also be stand-up paddle events in Germany, Switzerland and California in August and September.
Talma is also excited about October’s event, Last Man Standing – stand-up paddling around Barbados. He is urging interested paddlers to start their training early.
The final event will be the American Windsurfing Tour wave sailing event in Maui, Hawaii, in November. (PR/SAT)
