May 5, 2014
by Christopher Parker (@wheresbossman)

RESULTS: Connor Baxter, Andrea Moller Win Paddle Imua As The Downwind Season Gets Moving


Paddle Imua race Maui

Paddle Imua starts at Maliko Gulch, the beginning of the world famous “Maliko run” (photo: Jimmie Hepp)

Maui’s Paddle Imua race kicked off the 2014 downwind season on Saturday, with locals Connor Baxter and Andrea Moller showing their class in less-than-ideal conditions. With light winds turning the race along the famous Maliko run from a downwinder into a bit of a grind, the 150+ paddlers (including 97 on stand ups) had to dig deep to find the bumps.

And finding them better than anyone was Connor Baxter. In a further sign that he’s not human, Connor beat the entire field on a 12’6. That’s five feet shorter than most of his rivals. Granted the light winds blunted much of the advantage of the unlimited boards, but even Kody Kerbox on a 14 footer could only get within a minute of Connor.

The win puts Connor in great form ahead of next week’s massive OluKai race and shows that his shocker of a result in Carolina was an anomaly.

However perhaps even more impressive was the performance of Andrea Moller. Though she’s the Queen of the Maliko run and most would have expected her to win comfortably, Andrea made things difficult for herself… Less than 24 hours before the race, Andrea was sitting in California at the XXL Awards, where she was nominated for her oustanding performance riding ridiculously large waves during the winter. After the awards Andrea hopped on the red eye back to Maui and, with very little sleep, proceeded to blitz the field for umpteenth time.

Andrea Moller stand up paddle downwinder

Andrea Moller on her way to yet another victory in Hawaii. (photo by Standup Paddle Magazine)

Coming home second in the women’s race was Andrea’s SIC team mate Sonni Honscheid, who finished 4th in Carolina last week and is possibly the most under rated all-round paddler in the world of women’s SUP racing right now.

Paddle Imua, presented by Bluesmiths, has grown into quite the race since its inaugural edition back in 2012. The event is the first major downwind race of the season and while it’s traditionally acted as a warmup for OluKai, Imua is now beginning to make a mark as a great race in its own right. Plus it’s all for a good cause, with proceeds going to Imua Family Services, which provides child development and therapeutic services to the island.

But back to the weekend’s action: Full results are below (click here for raw results, including outrigger divisions) while there are more pics of the event on Facebook thanks to he always-on-it Jimmie Hepp and some very classy water angles from Standup Paddle Magazine.

2014 Paddle Imua Race Results

Click “Class” to show men’s and women’s results from the different three different board classes
Click “Time” to reset the results

Overall #NameTimeClassClass #
1Conner Baxter1:14:27Men's 12'61
2Kody Kerbox1:15:35Men's 14'1
3Livio Menelau1:16:39Men's Unlimited1
4Jeremy Riggs1:17:29Men's Unlimited2
5Josh Riccio1:17:51Men's 14'2
6Scott Trudon1:19:37Men's Unlimited3
7Ralf Sifford1:19:43Men's Unlimited4
8Andrea Moller1:23:46Women's Unlimited1
9Bart De Zwart1:24:42Men's 14'3
10Sonni Honscheid1:24:59Women's Unlimited2
11Amir Arbel1:25:53Men's Unlimited5
12Mark Raaphorst1:27:12Men's Unlimited6
13Devin Blish1:28:18Women's Unlimited3
14Art Aquino1:28:51Men's Unlimited7
15Bill Hofmann1:29:31Men's Unlimited8
16Neil Turpin1:30:08Men's 14'4
17Christopher Pagadalio1:30:33Men's Unlimited9
18Bojan Bernard1:30:50Men's 14'5
19Gregg Leion1:31:26Men's Unlimited10
20Randy Royse1:32:00Men's Unlimited11
21Braly Joy1:33:03Men's Unlimited12
22Ron St. John1:33:28Men's 14'6
23Kathy Shipman1:34:41Women's 14'1
24Loch Eggers1:35:02Men's 14'7
25Martin Giroud1:38:20Men's 14'8
26Shep Nelson1:38:48Men's Unlimited13
27Manny Ruiz1:39:22Men's Unlimited14
28Glenn Tremble1:40:24Men's Unlimited15
29Gregory Harbottle1:40:40Men's Unlimited16
30Yarn Lauletta1:40:58Men's Unlimited17
31David Bond1:41:02Men's Unlimited18
32John Zevenbergen1:41:05Men's Unlimited19
33Josef Erlemann1:42:22Men's Unlimited20
34Gavin Ferguson1:42:54Men's 14'9
35Mike Jucker1:43:15Men's 14'10
36William Boyum1:43:34Men's Unlimited21
37Karl Rohlfing1:44:18Men's Unlimited22
38Peter John1:44:44Men's 14'11
39Meron Akman1:46:07Men's 14'12
40Austin Kalama1:46:22Men's 14'13
41Diego Femenias1:46:23Men's 14'14
42Stephen Ross1:46:42Men's Unlimited23
43Skyler Haywood1:46:49Men's 14'15
44Rigo Sandoval1:47:20Men's 14'16
45Les Shaw1:47:37Men's 14'17
46Joseph Dratz1:48:07Men's 14'18
47Ryan Schooley1:48:22Men's Unlimited24
48Pat McCarthy1:48:47Men's Unlimited25
49Fendall Moraitis1:49:19Men's 14'19
50Lee Harrison1:49:45Men's 14'20
51Donnie McGean1:50:28Men's 14'21
52Bill Babark1:50:46Men's Unlimited26
53Vetea Ribet1:52:48Men's Unlimited27
54Marjorie Kahookele-Pea1:54:21Women's Unlimited4
55John Smalley1:54:34Men's 14'22
56Michael Melville1:54:39Men's 14'23
57Courtney Brown1:55:05Women's 14'2
58Margaret King1:55:42Women's Unlimited5
59Michae Stone1:56:57Men's 14'24
60Natalia Fon1:57:52Women's 14'3
61Steve Nothnagle1:58:43Men's 14'25
62Giovanni Jubert1:59:13Men's 14'26
63Suzie Cooney1:59:25Women's 14'4
64Jeff Hudson1:59:48Men's 14'27
65Resi Stiegler2:00:27Women's 12'61
66Rudy Castorina2:02:05Men's 14'28
67Camille Suban2:02:07Men's 14'29
68Marc Dupreez2:02:24Men's Unlimited28
69Dave Weiss2:02:29Men's Unlimited29
70Evan Lawrence2:03:17Men's 12'62
71Jill Riggs2:04:24Women's 14'5
72Andrew Dunbar2:04:43Men's 14'30
73Dani Riggs2:04:56Men's 14'31
74Jon Ammerman2:06:15Men's 14'32
75Grant Macdonald2:07:32Men's 14'33
76Lawrence Carnicelli2:07:56Men's Unlimited30
77Justin Prouty2:08:36Men's 14'34
78Sarah Hauser2:10:25Women's 14'6
79Casey Hauser2:10:28Men's 14'35
80Molly Sanders2:10:47Women's 14'7
81Michael Fitzpatrick2:10:55Men's Unlimited31
82Scott Metcalfe2:12:20Men's 14'36
83Hamiel Schorr2:13:15Men's 14'37
84Ashley Akers2:17:11Women's Unlimited6
85Jennifer Gladwin2:18:31Women's 12'62
86Nicolas Gruson2:18:35Men's Unlimited32
87Susie Grace2:18:51Women's 14'8
88Paul Williams2:19:39Men's Unlimited33
89Janet Whittick2:19:51Women's 14'9
90Adrianna Bara2:20:56Women's 14'10
91Donna Raaphorst2:21:17Women's 14'11
92Dawn Hudson2:21:31Women's 14'12
93Michael Funke2:24:26Men's 12'63
94Heather Hirata2:24:48Women's 12'63
95Jamilah Starr2:26:43Women's Unlimited7
96Amanda Emmes2:28:30Women's Unlimited8
97Jormc Rodieck2:49:00Men's 12'64


Follow the downwind racing season with SIC’s Downwind Month.
May is “Mini” Downwind Month while July is the big Downwind Month…

Downwind Month