The Netherlands Antilles is a group of five islands located in the Caribbean. Curaçao and Bonaire near South America and St Maarten, Saba and St Eustatius further north in the Caribbean Island chain. Our canoe federation was established in 2003 to enable a small but committed group of paddlers to compete internationally and to have both ICF and IOC recognition.

Since then, our paddlers have represented the country in both flatwater and ocean racing events. Active encouragement from the ICF in the form of material and educational assistance have ensured a steady growth of our sport, with particular attention being paid to youth development programs.

Although our islands lack the topography for slalom, wild water and freestyle disciplines, our warm oceans with constant trade winds provide excellent conditions for ocean racing and our calm lagoons allow flat water racing in controlled conditions. We host an Ocean race, the Soualiga Challenge, annually to expose our local paddlers to international competition and to showcase our perfect racing conditions to the world at large. The Soualiga Challenge has grown in stature since its inception in 2004 and now attracts top international paddlers to our island nation.