Check out an awesome highlights reel from the weekend, courtesy of Matty Schweitzer and the Starboard crew. This clip shows just how crazy/awesome/ridiculous the 2014 Battle of the Paddle really was.
I would have posted this earlier but I’ve been watching it on loop the past half hour. Yeah, there could have been more footage from the Women’s Elite Race, but apart from that it’s a slick little production. There are too many highlights to mention so just watch above and enjoy… → READ MORE
Check out this cool little drone clip of the action on Saturday.
Anything looks good from a drone, however when you’ve got the world’s best paddlers in the world’s biggest race with some of the world’s best conditions for racing in the waves… it looks really good.
Click through to watch… → READ MORE
We’ve just wrapped up the 2014 Battle of the Paddle here at Salt Creek, California. What a weekend… Action. Drama. Heroics. But most all: Carnage.
Yesterday’s Elite Race saw some of the most exciting stand up paddle racing ever, with a solid south swell rolling into the BOP’s new home of Salt Creek and creating some very memorable moments. Today’s Distance Race was a little mellower, however the performances were just as strong.
Click through for the full results plus the archive of our LIVE BLOG, which includes play-by-play from the racing and plenty of shots of the carnage… → READ MORE
In case you were wondering what we’re in for at the Battle of the Paddle tomorrow, here’s a good preview of Salt Creek’s current surf conditions… Many of the world’s best were down there this morning, putting in some last-minute, hail-mary training at the new home of the BOP and trying to figure out how to fit 12 and a half feet of carbon down a steep wave face.
These sequences are courtesy of SUP World Magazine and feature the Aussie duo of Jake Jensen and Paul Jackson. Click through to see the full slideshow… → READ MORE
With a solid swell bearing down on Salt Creek as we speak, Battle of the Paddle organisers have made the call: Legropes and PFDs are MANDATORY for every event this year. Yes, even for the Elite Race…
Most people were probably going to wear leggies (or ‘leashes’ for you non-Aussies) anyway, rather than risk losing their board, plus the PFDs (personal flotation devices) were already a rule for the distance race. However last night the BOP crew made it an event-wide standard. And if you saw the waves at Salt Creek this morning you’ll understand why… → READ MORE
As Battle of the Paddle excitement reaches fever pitch it’s hard to go on the internet without being bombarded with BOP news/pics/videos/updates. But one little piece that slipped through unnoticed was the fact organisers have dropped the drug testing element this year.
The reason is quite simple: Money. It’s super expensive to run a professional, WADA-backed testing session. → READ MORE
As we count down the final few hours til the 2014 Battle of the Paddle at Salt Creek, Facebook is going into overdrive. It’s hard to scroll through your news feed without seeing at least eight dozen pics/videos/comments/previews of excited (and quite often nervous) paddlers, fans and brands.
But one thing that stood out as I scrolled through this morning was a simple, black-and-white, kinda-ominous looking Vimeo preview titled “Race Day.” This is Quickblade Paddles’ official pre-BOP psych up clip. → READ MORE
Mate Against Mate, State Against State: Country-by-country predictions for the biggest race of the year
Seeing how the Battle of the Paddle is going to be so tough to predict this year, I figured we should have some fun and look at the top contenders in each of the major countries and regions, rather than just the overall front runners. I’ll still be releasing my predictions for the Top 10 on Friday morning, however with conditions looking epic (for the spectators at least) it’s going to be VERY tough to get it right.
So I guess this is my way of throwing out as many names as possible and hopefully catching every contender in the net… → READ MORE
The countdown to the biggest race of the year is in full swing. Less than four days ’til Show Time. Four days til we find out who takes the glory and bragging rights for the next 12 months. Four days til we find out if 12’6 race boards can physically handle the waves at Salt Creek. Four days til the stand up paddling world stops for 48 hours…
There’s nothing quite like the Battle of the Paddle. And now, thanks to Starboard, SUPracer.com is the home of the BOP. All this week we’ll be previewing the big dance, leading up to our 48-hour LIVE BLOG on race weekend, which will include real-time, play-by-play commentary of the racing. → READ MORE
Starboard Battle Week isn’t all about serious racing and painful carnage. It’s also about having fun. And right now nothing says fun like a giant, oversized, ridiculously-large inflatable stand up paddleboard.
This beast is Starboard’s new inflatable SUP board. It’s 18 and a half feet long. It’s 60 inches wide. It comfortably fits 8 paddlers at once. It even has proper fins for surfing. It’s bloody awesome. Only problem: It doesn’t have a name yet… And that’s where you come in. → READ MORE
“Is the Battle of the Paddle gonna be streamed live this year?” “Will the BOP have a webcast?” “Where can we watch the race?” “Where’s the webcast?” “Webcast?” “Webcast?!?”
Every year I get this type of question from hundreds of fans around the world. The Battle of the Paddle is the biggest race on earth and SUP die-hards across the globe wanna see it go down as it happens. However in recent years they’ve been frustratingly cut out. → READ MORE
Five days until the Battle of the Paddle, which means just five days until we get to see if Salt Creek lives up to the hype: Will we get the waves we’ve been hearing about for months? Will there be all-time carnage? Chaos? Flying paddles? Broken boards? We, the spectators, can only hope…
Though Salt Creek will have to really turn it on if it’s going to beat Doheny’s storied history of chaos and carnage. Each year we need to look no further than the infamous “Hammer Buoy” – the first inside turn on the Elite Race course – for an endless highlights reel of dings and destruction. And last year’s BOP gave us perhaps the most insane Hammer Buoy carnage sequence of all time… → READ MORE
Seven days until the Battle of the Paddle. That’s one whole week, which means a good chunk of the notoriously-tardy elite paddlers probably haven’t even registered yet. But while there’s still plenty of time left to sign up, I say it’s never too early to start looking at the form guide.
So with that in mind, here’s your first look at the Battle of the Paddle Elite Race heat draws. → READ MORE
Seven days until the Battle of the Paddle. Seven days til we find out who’s going to step it up and take the glory. Seven days til we get to see exactly what the waves at Salt Creek can do to a 12’6 race board.
While we’re waiting, let’s look back at some of the classic clips from Battle history that’ll surely get you amped for this year’s big race. If you’re looking for a lazy Saturday (or Sunday, if you’re in Australia) then here are a dozen of the best Battle of the Paddle videos that’ll kill a couple of hours for ya: → READ MORE
We stirred up a lot of debate a few months ago by revealing the course maps for Battle of the Paddle Salt Creek. Well forget whatever your opinion was, because every single course (Open, Elite and Distance races) has been totally changed.
Here are the NEW Battle of the Paddle course maps. Though with some decent surf expected to hit Salt Creek on the eve of the event, we could see some additional, last minute changes to these courses, depending on the size and direction of the swell. → READ MORE
The Battle of the Paddle. The BOP. The Super Bowl of SUP. It’s the biggest stand up paddle race on earth. And it’s only one week away…
The Battle is a unique and very special event: It almost single-handedly gave rise to professional SUP racing as we know it. The Battle of the Paddle is the one race where virtually every single elite paddler in the world shows up to throw down. It’s the one event that virtually every stand up paddling fan gets excited about.
And this year’s Battle – complete with new location at the wave crashing Salt Creek – could be the most exciting year ever. → READ MORE
Dust off your skimpy beach outfits and brush up on your Portuguese: The Battle of the Paddle Brazil is set to return bigger and better this year.
The 2014 Battle of the Paddle Brazil (or Battle of the Paddle Brasil for the purists) will be happening on the weekend of November 22nd & 23rd. Prize money has been ramped up to $25,000 and the whole event is moving south. → READ MORE
Well that was freakishly good timing.
Just a few hours after we posted our First Look at the 2014 Battle of the Paddle Course Maps, the crew from Riviera Paddlesurf finished uploading their special new video: A preview of the BOP’s new venue at Salt Creek.
The Riviera guys, along with everyone’s favourite man-child Chuck Patterson (plus a few other big names) recently took their boat, boards and drone camera to Salt Creek to inspect the area. On what looked to be a perfect sunny day (is it ever not summer in SoCal?), the gang captured some amazing shots and cool insights about the place we’re all gonna be hanging out on the first weekend of October.
In short: Everyone seems pretty excited about the new venue. Looks like a beautiful beach and has the potential to host an all time race if conditions play along. → READ MORE
So it looks like the Battle of the Paddle crew updated the official event website a couple of days ago. Finally. That old design had been around for years aaaages and was getting very stale… The new BattleOfThePaddle.com design looks fresh, clean and makes the event way easier to navigate. But even if you’re not a design snob like me, today’s news isn’t totally irrelevant: With the updated site design comes a lot of new info about this year’s race, including a first look at the 2014 BOP course maps.
As we announced a few months back, the 2014 Battle of the Paddle is at Salt Creek, moving a few miles up the coast and away from its traditional home at Doheny. The new location has generated plenty of debate, with a focus on how organisers would deal with Salt Creek’s heavier surf.
The new venue of Salt Creek isn’t the only major change though, with radically redesigned Elite Race, Open Race and Distance Race courses on offer. Let’s take a closer look at what we can expect on the first weekend in October… → READ MORE
