Annabel Anderson and Mo Freitas have claimed lucrative wins on the second and final day of the Mynavi Japan Cup here in Chigasaki.
Under grey, drizzly skies, which stood in stark contrast to Saturday’s draining hot sun, Mo surged to victory on the final, 10-man lap of the short, sharp survivor course, holding off the Aussie quartet of James Casey, Michael Booth, Toby Cracknell and Matt Nottage. Hometown hero Kenny Kaneko finished just outside the money in sixth. → READ MORE
One of the biggest races of the year all time is happening in Hood River, Oregon, this weekend, with the 6th Annual Naish Columbia Gorge Paddle Challenge attracting an all-star lineup of international talent.
Click through for the full results… → READ MORE
The boards are back on the rack, the boats are back in the harbour and the trophies are up on the mantelpiece. Molokai-2-Oahu is done for another season, however the memories from this year’s epic will live on forever. The most prestigious race in the world certainly lived up to its hype this year, with the 20th annual crossing of the Ka’iwi Channel proving to be the fastest, most competitive and most exciting edition yet.
I could wax lyrical about this storied event, however nobody says it better than the paddlers themselves, the ones who were actually out there battling in the Channel of Bones for pride and glory. So to give you a better insight into what M2O really means, here’s a selection of post-Molokai reflections from the world’s best paddlers… → READ MORE
We’re just over 24 hours away from the most prestigious race of the season, and what a race it’s shaping up to be. The 20th annual crossing of the Ka’iwi Channel between Molokai to Oahu is already destined for the history books, but a record level of talent and a few last-minute twists should ensure we’ll be talking about this one for many years to come.
The Molokai-2-Oahu Paddleboard World Championships, aka M2O or just simply Molokai, has become the ultimate event of the international stand up paddle racing season. The race has taken on an almost mythical status over the years, and it’s surely one of the toughest trophies in the sport to get your hands on. Becoming a Molokai champion makes you an instant hero, while many paddling legends have built their reputations by conquering this epic, dangerous, thirty-two mile stretch of open ocean between these two imposing Hawaiian islands. → READ MORE
Just in case you couldn’t make it to Hawaii on the weekend, here’s a great clip from Saturday’s big Maui2Molokai race, aka M2M, featuring some insightful athlete interviews and plenty of endless downwind glides.
The 7th annual channel crossing from Maui to Molokai saw Connor Baxter extend his record winning streak — he has, quite incredibly, won every single edition of this event — while Devin Blish claimed her second crown in the space of 24 months. → READ MORE
Connor Baxter has won a record seventh-straight Maui 2 Molokai (M2M) title, narrowly edging out Travis Grant in one of the fastest ever channel crossings, and setting up a mouth-watering clash at the major Molokai 2 Oahu (M2O) showdown later this month.
Connor finished in a time of 2:58:51, less than two minutes ahead of Travis, with conditions firing in the middle part of the course but stormy weather preventing it from being an all-time downwinder. → READ MORE
Titouan Puyo and Annabel Anderson have triumphed over an all-star field of paddlers to claim the 2016 West Marine Carolina Cup here in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, with the infamous Elite Graveyard Race living up to its reputation by serving competitors a challenging mixture wind, waves and currents across 13 miles of ocean and flat water racing. → READ MORE
The Carolina Cup isn’t just a race. The annual pilgrimage to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina signals not only one of the largest, most competitive and most significant events on the international calendar, it’s also probably your best opportunity to learn from some of the world’s fastest and most talented paddlers.
The Carolina Cup isn’t just a race, it’s a true festival of paddling, and one of the best features of the festival are the clinics. → READ MORE
In brief: Tahiti’s Niuhiti Buillard and hometown world number one Annabel Anderson have taken out the 2016 King & Queen of the Harbour race in Auckland, New Zealand.
The annual SUP and surfski race is billed as a downwinder, however this year the water was almost dead flat, making it an absolute grind along the 23km course between Auckland and Waiheke Island… → READ MORE
The start list for the 2016 Molokai 2 Oahu Paddleboard World Championships has just been revealed, with the men’s solo stand up paddle division attracting the most competitive field in the event’s 20 year history.
Top ranked athletes including three-time champ and world number one Connor Baxter, two-time champ and world number two Travis Grant, number three Danny Ching, and number four Kai Lenny will be racing across the Ka’iwi Channel (aka the “Channel of Bones”) on Sunday, July 31st. → READ MORE
In brief: Visiting superstar Titouan Puyo has made it a clean sweep of the NZ SUP Nationals, defeating a strong local crowd led by rising prospect Ollie Houghton, while world number one Annabel Anderson claimed her 6th national title.
The 2016 National Titles, which act as the sole selection event for Team NZ ahead of the ISA Worlds, consisted of a 15km downwinder on Saturday and a beach race in and out through the surf on Sunday. → READ MORE
It’s taken us a few days to come down from the high that was D-Day at Doheny, but now that the dust has settled and dings have been repaired, it’s time to sign off on this amazing event by posting the full and final results from the 2015 Pacific Paddle Games.
Click through for the full results, plus changes to the SUP Racer World Rankings… → READ MORE
Connor Baxter and Candice Appleby have won the inaugural Pacific Paddle Games at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, California.
After an amazing weekend of racing, Connor just edged past Casper Steinfath for the overall win, with a heroic Mo Freitas in third after he blitzed it in the course race final. Meanwhile Candice made it a clean sweep of the women’s ahead of Annabel Anderson and Fiona Wylde.
Click through to for the full recap, results, webcast replay and all the other good stuff from this amazing weekend of racing… → READ MORE
Wow… What a weekend of racing we’ve just witnessed. We’ll have a full recap from the 2015 Naish Columbia Gorge Paddle Challenge up shortly, but in the meantime here are the results from the Elite Races and changes to the World Rankings (the Gorge had a massive impact on the Men’s Top 100 Leaderboard). → READ MORE
And just like that, it’s August. This year has flown by. Seems like only yesterday we were getting excited about the first major race of the year, the Carolina Cup. That was four months ago.
We’re now halfway through the international stand up paddling “season,” which loosely runs from April to October (with a couple of outposts in December). Carolina, OluKai, the Worlds, the Euro Tour, Payette and Molokai have already been run and won, while we’ve still got the Gorge Paddle Challenge, Pacific Paddle Games and a few World Series races to look forward to.
So because we’re halfway through the year, I thought it’d be a good time to analyse the best paddlers of 2015 so far. → READ MORE
Despite there being no big races this weekend there have still been a few changes to the SUP Racer World Rankings.
Why? Because it’s been exactly 12 months since the 2014 Ultimate SUP Showdown was held, which means it’s now time for that event to be purged from the system. And considering it was the second highest scoring race of 2014, the Showdown’s removal has had a big impact on the Men’s Top 100 and Women’s Top 50 Leaderboards. → READ MORE
Molokai 2 Oahu is the most prestigious race in the world. The 32 mile crossing of the Ka’iwi Channel (aka the Channel of Bones) is steeped in history, with each new edition producing countless heroic stories both in front of and behind the scenes. And this year’s race probably created more highlights than ever before…
With brutally slow conditions out in the channel and overhead surf to greet paddlers near the finish line, Molokai 2015 will be remembered for a long time to come. Now that the dust has settled, I’ve been looking back at some of the amazing photos from this year’s classic race and wanted to share a few of the best. → READ MORE
Travis Grant and Sonni Hönscheid have just won the most prestigious race of the year: The Molokai 2 Oahu Paddleboard World Championships in Hawaii. Travis claims his second title in three years to stamp himself as one of the greatest paddlers in the sport, while Sonni Honscheid deserves she belongs up there with the best after going back-to-back.
With some of the slowest and most grueling conditions in recent memory (there was virtually no wind at all), Travis outlasted Kai Lenny and Lincoln Dews for the men’s solo unlimited crown, while Sonni held off an impressive Annabel Anderson, who took second place over the line despite paddling a stock 14 footer. → READ MORE
And so Downwind Month continues. At the same time Connor Baxter was winning his sixth straight Maui 2 Molokai race on Saturday, one of his key rivals in ocean racing, Travis Grant, was dominating the Cline Mann Memorial Paddleboard Race over on Oahu.
Perhaps it was symbolic that Connor crossed the line first on Molokai while Travis won on Oahu, as these guys are the two favourites for next weekend’s Molokai 2 Oahu showdown. Connor has won three of the past four M2O showdowns, while Travis is the 2013 champion and went very close to beating Connor twelve months ago. → READ MORE
Last weekend saw one of the biggest and most beloved races in America light up South Lake Tahoe: The 2015 edition of Race The Lake of the Sky.
In what has become a true festival of stand up paddling, Race The Lake again attracted hundreds of competitors to one of the most scenic paddling destinations on the planet. As in years past, the crowd was an interesting mix of first timers, weekend warriors and a few very high profile international stars of the sport. → READ MORE
