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Sup International caught up with APP tour CEO, Tristan Boxford to check up what is going on at their HQ in Portugal during the Corona crises!

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SUP INT: How are you doing under the lock down?

TB: Trying to focus on work and catching up on things that we never have time for in normal times, although certainly not getting in the water is taking its toll. That being said, I am certainly appreciating being at home for once, and staying grounded, as well as the thought of the earth getting a breather from all the intense activity that it sees year-round when life is normal. The noticeable differences all around us are clear and the reduction in pollution, noise and general damage to our environment is an interesting lesson for us through these trying times.

SUP INT: Are you still allowed to SUP and Surf in Portugal?

TB: Unfortunately not for now – Portugal has been lucky to escape the brunt of what a lot of Europe has experienced as it took pretty severe steps early on, containing a lot of the spread it seems, so surfing has been a no go for several weeks. Earlier in March, it was still mellow – while we were confined to some extent, we could still surf our local breaks etc, but now there was a blanket ban, so definitely tougher – but I do get it and understand 100%!

SUP INT: What is a typical day in the life for you right now?

TB: Wake up, espresso and work….walk the dog and then repeat…..

SUP INT: How has the Corona virus crises impacted on the APP world tour?

TB: In the short term it has clearly impacted the opening of our season, forcing us to cancel our first two events, as we monitor to see what happens over the next 30 -60 days to determine how the rest of the season will play out. But it has also allowed us to turn our focus to other much needed areas of the business, in particular media, with a massive backlog of content to dive into and the launch of our new Immersed TV project, a twice monthly TV series primarily aired on youtube, but also across partner platforms worldwide bringing colour and excitement to the world from the APP World Tour and its personalities. It has also made us think more creatively about the future of the Tour and how we grow and develop, as there is no doubt that post coronavirus will be a different place.

SUP INT: Do you hope to be holding events later in the season?

TB: Yes, as it stands we have slated a start for the season in Osaka, Japan at the end of September for Racing, moving onto Portugal in early October for Surfing.

SUP INT: How will the tour be effected by the missing events?

TB: We have reduced the number of Racing events to 3, making it no discards for 2020 as it stands. For Surfing, as it happened, the season was scheduled to start with Portugal in early October anyway, so no change!

SUP INT: Have you heard from many of the APP athletes and how they are all coping?

TB: Everybody seems to have beome pretty active with social media, podcasts, home workouts etc. – staying as active as they can and focused on being ready when the time comes to head out to kick off the season. We have been featuring snapshots of this across our social media @appworldtour and of course with features on the Immersed TV show

SUP INT: Have you got any positive message for when we all come out of this?

TB: Well, I like to think that outside of the preparedness to combat things like this in the future, and general understandings and learnings we will take from the whole experience, there will also be a better awareness and understanding of the daily impact we have on our environment when life is what we have known as normal. Hearing the birds sing, streets quiet and no planes flying overhead and road traffic everywhere you look, brings a sense of peace and increased awareness to the real impact that we have, not to mention the recorded reduction in emitted CO2 all over the globe and air quality improvement that is a bi product of this shut down: I would hope that leaders all over the world from business to politics will take note of this and we can all work towards a more conscious future where it doesn’t take the world to come to a standstill to see the difference and appreciate it and all play our part.