10 minute(s) de lecture
The Fehmarnbelt Crossing between Denmark and Germany is one of the busiest shipping routes in Europe.
But this didn’t stop German SUP athlete Bastian Grimm from Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUPing) 22 km across the channel, making him the first person to cross the Fehmarnbelt on a SUP.
In October 2024, after two years in the making, Bastian achieved his most significant project to date. In search of clean downwind runs across the open sea, Bastian found the perfect place close to home in Germany.
Working with photographer and videographer Frithjof Blaasch, he documented the historic experience, creating a 40-minute film, Fehmarn Bælt Crossing.
We were fortunate to catch up with Bastian to learn more about his incredible achievement and film.
Congratulations on becoming the first person to cross the Fehmarn Belt Crossing on a SUP! What was your goal time, and what was your actual completion time?
So it was 20 kilometres and in the end it took two hours and 22 minutes.
I was hoping to be a little bit quicker, but with the traffic through the shipping line, we had to stop a few times to let big container ships pass.
So there's some improvement there for sure, but you have to get lucky to find the gaps, as you just have to let the container ships pass; otherwise, it's way too dangerous.
There is still some time-saving still to do, technically, but I'm really pleased with the overall time for sure.
How did it feel when you made it to Germany?
It was really great that everything worked out because, overall, I think we spent two years preparing.
We had eight slots where my cameraman and I both had time to coordinate, and for those slots, we needed the right weather conditions because you want the wind in the back.
After finally finishing, it was a big relief to have completed this massive project and everything that came with it.
I was also really pleased with the time it took. So overall, it was a really good experience. I was really, really happy with how it turned out and how the crossing itself went, and that everything went smoothly. It was just a big relief that we finally managed to get everything together.
Why did you want to do this incredible challenge?
The best thing you can do on a stand-up paddling board, for me, is downwinders. It’s basically going long stretches over open sea and has to have wind from behind, pushing up the waves. So, for example, if it's a 10 km downwind, you're constantly surfing for 10 km.
I've had friends of mine who have done Lanzarote to Fuerteventura. They went over with the ferry and then paddled back home, and I was trying to find similar crossings that could replicate similar conditions without having to fly over half the globe, and I found something that was about two hours away from me. My friends surfed there quite a lot, so I know that place really well. It was the obvious choice where something like this would be possible.
How did you prepare for this?
It's like with the English Channel, and people swim that distance, there's always one boat that’s stationed that accompanies those swimmers.
The year I started the preparation, they had an incident where the authorities said, “No, it’s too dangerous; you have to get out.” So a big part of the preparation was clearing all of the legal stuff so that we were allowed to do it, and that just took so much time.
Still, last year in August, The Skipper rang me up and was like, "Yeah, I'm ready to go. Do you have time next week?" And I was like, “Wait, stop. I need a little bit of time!”
Three or four weeks later, we found a time slot with decent weather, and we were able to capture it as well.
The biggest part was just getting everyone around the channel and convincing them that it's possible with a SUP. And, that it's not overly dangerous, and that with a boat accompanying you, obviously, it's not 100% safe, there's always stuff that could go wrong, but it's as safe as possible.
That was the big challenge because lots of people who know stand-up paddling know it from inflatables that are going through the channels on a nice stroll. And if they have that image in mind, and you tell them, “I want to paddle 22 km from one of the busiest waterways in Europe”, they'd be like, "Well, that sounds kind of insane!” So it was quite hard to convince everyone that it was not impossible to do.
What was the training like?
We use a similar approach for racing, but we did some more low-intensity, longer stuff, like two hours plus easy stuff, to get used to the time in motion.
The race on the weekend in Wales was about 16 km, which is usually the longest it gets on races.
People are doing all sorts of longer stuff, but for all our races, 16 km seems to be the limit, and no one wants to go further.
So for 22 km, it was getting used to the longer distance and doing a little more work beforehand.
Did you manage to train on location?
Technically, you're allowed to train on the channel, but you will be fished out relatively quickly!
But I live really close to the River Elbe. And it can get quite tricky there, especially when it's windy, so I had some good preparation there.
I also did my winter camp in Spain on the Atlantic, where I had some really rough conditions to get used to whatever the channel might throw at me.
Those were like places that I paddled the most in advance of the crossing.
What was the most challenging part of the crossing?
When we went over, the wind was still a bit stronger, so the waves were maybe a metre high. I think during the crossing, the waves were up to half a metre. So I hoped for a little bit higher, but you have to take what you can get!
But the most challenging part was the waterway with the big ships, because their waves are one and a half metres high, and they interfere with the race, and it gets quite choppy and not so clean anymore. Those were the times when I had to really concentrate to not fall off and keep myself on the board.
Fortunately enough, I think we encountered four really big boats on the seven km stretch where the shipping line was. So we got quite lucky, but those parts were definitely the trickiest.
Were there any standout moments?
After finishing through the shipping line, it was like, “Okay, now it's only 7 km of pushing,” and you don't have to think about anything anymore—just paddling all out to the finish.
That was the part that I enjoyed the most. In the first part, you still have to pace yourself. 22 km is long, and if you overdo it at the start, you don't have anything left in the tank in the end. Then the shipping line was intense, like how to navigate it. Do we go now, or slow down? We had to do quite a lot of back-and-forth there, so everything went really quickly.
Then afterwards, it was like enjoying the ride and knowing the hard part was done. You can now just push to the finish, try to get everything out, and go for as good a time as possible.
What has the challenge taught you about yourself?
It taught me about staying focused on projects like this, following through with them, and having the determination to do so, even if it seems hard to convince everyone that it’s possible.
I'm really happy that over those two and a half years, from thinking about it to having the finished film, I can pull through a project like this, and that it’s possible to build stuff like this up even if you are not from a film background. Also probably a lot on how to approach people and to make stuff like this work. And how a lot of that stuff works, let’s put it that way!
How did you approach your safety team to support you?
It was basically lots of research, and then getting to know the right people through that. I found the people who did the swimming and contacted them. Then they got me in touch with the guy who drove the boat. Then it was convincing the guy on the boat that what I was doing was possible and achievable!
What advice would you give to anyone who dreams of challenging themselves similarly?
Preparation is everything. You can't just show up there at the channel and just go for it.
Mostly from a safety point of view, you have a three-man crew: one person paddling, one person driving the boat, and one person keeping in contact with the boat traffic controllers, who tell the boats where to go.
So that was the only way it was possible because otherwise, if you didn't have that contact, it would have just been like, “Let's try and hope!”
So, there are a lot of safety preparations that go into stuff like this, where you have to be really careful. But the experience was really amazing if you can pull through with it and finish something like this.
It’s something good to maybe do once, like a personal goal or whatever; it's definitely a cool thing to do.
What’s next for you?
So there are still some races- that’s always busy, but there are still things I want to do at home. Such as Helgoland to Cuxhaven, which is a small island in the river mouth of the River Elbe, and from there, you can paddle a direct way back to Cuxhaven, which is really at the river mouth.
And the other thing is kind of ambitious, but who knows? It’s from St. Kilda to Lewis and Harris, but that will be 100 km plus, so it will definitely require advanced planning!
Follow Bastian
Instagram: @bastiangrimm
Follow Fehmarn Bælt Crossing
Instagram: @fehmarnbaeltcrossing
#dryrobeterritory
Published on June 25, 2025