Led by perennial world number one Connor Baxter, and with exceptional support from vice-captain Fiona Wylde and deputies Michael Booth and Olivia Piana, Team Starboard absolutely blizted our VMG Battle of the Brands leaderboard this season.
That Starboard won a fourth-straight Battle of the Brands title is no real surprise. Anyone that follows our sport with more than half an eye could tell you how dominant the blue boards are. But this wasn’t just a victory, it was a massacre. → READ MORE
While most paddlers are taking a well-earned break now the season is finally over, not Michael Booth. The Aussie powerhouse has just completed a five-day, 226km (140 mile) paddle along the coast of Western Australia with a few mates. And all in the name of charity.
The Starboard dream team rider and current EuroTour and Australian marathon champion completed the journey from Dunsborough to Fremantle in about 28 hours. He was paddling alongside mates Luke Hallam, Cam McKay and Alex Fossilo, with the group raising money for the Ocean Heroes charity. → READ MORE
Highlights from the big ‘King of the Cut’ downwind showdown in West Oz on the weekend, where Jake Jensen and Angie Jackson made it a clean sweep for Team ONE. → READ MORE
James “Jimmy” Casey has shown once again why he’s considered a world-class open ocean paddler, taking out ‘The Doctor’ race in Western Australia in record time today ahead of Jake Jensen and Michael Booth.
Jimmy’s victory adds to his impressive run of results in Hawaii earlier this season, where he scored victories at OluKai and Maliko plus a podium finish at M2M. The Sunova team rider didn’t have it all his own way today though — he hit the beach just a minute clear of Jake, while Michael Booth was close all day to finish just another two minutes adrift.
All three of the boys finished under the magic two hour barrier. → READ MORE
In brief: Lincoln Dews has taken out the second race of the Aussie Titles on the Gold Coast today, winning the beach race ahead of James Casey and yesterday’s marathon champ Michael Booth to secure a spot on Team Australia for the fifth time in six years.
It was pretty close between the top three guys all the way, but Linc showed why his runner-up finish at the PPGs beach race was no fluke to add another national title to his collection. Yesterday’s runner-up, Matt Nottage, was kept down in fifth after the unheralded Ty Judson snuck onto the top four podium with a determined effort. → READ MORE
“It was f#$%ing nuts! I’ve never felt so alive and focused in my life…”
That’s how Casper Steinfath described today’s epic Red Bull Heavy Water race to me shortly after he triumphantly crossed the line in San Francisco Bay, with the Danish Viking surviving massive surf at Ocean Beach to claim victory in what is surely the craziest SUP race ever witnessed.
Casper picked up a record $20,000 prize money after beating home a small but all-star field of paddlers, many of whom didn’t even finish after the event lived up to its name and delivered arguably the biggest waves ever seen in a SUP race. → READ MORE
In brief: Michael Booth has defended his Japan Cup title on the black sands of Chigasaki this weekend, overpowering a small but elite field of internationals that raced alongside hundreds of weekend warriors in one of Japan’s biggest paddle events.
Boothy was too good for compatriot and PPGs podium-getter Matt Nottage, who continued his meteoric rise over the past few months with a solid runner-up finish to give Starboard yet another 1-2 result. Local hero Kenny Kaneko rounded out the men’s podium for Team JP after the results were mirrored in both the 18km marathon and knockout Survivor race. → READ MORE
Annabel Anderson and Connor Baxter have highlighted their respective world number one statuses here at today’s 7th Annual Battle of the Bay in San Francisco, claiming this morning’s race around iconic landmarks Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate Bridge before backing up with victories in this afternoon’s beach race.
Here are the overall results. Check back in the morning for a full recap and some stellar photos of the scenic course… → READ MORE
We’re still coming down from the high of the Gorge but there’s no time to rest: we’re already moving on to the next race on the international calendar.
One of the (many) things I love about the SUP racing world is just how far and wide the community has spread, and I’m always up for an adventure to some place new. So I jumped at the chance to be part of this weekend’s 3rd Annual Hong Kong International SUP race. → READ MORE
As a mix of light rain and sporadic sunshine drifted in across the Baltic Sea and onto the sands Scharbeutz, Germany late Sunday morning, Australia’s Michael Booth could be seen doing what he does best: paddling away from a group of other world-class paddlers to record yet another win on the European Summer of SUP, aka the EuroTour.
With his victory at Scharbeutz on the weekend, Boothy added an exclamation point to an incredible European campaign that saw him win almost every major race en route to claiming the overall EuroTour champion’s title. Along the way, he defeated the likes of Connor Baxter, Titouan Puyo and a dozen or so more of the world’s best in addition to virtually all of Europe’s finest. And he did it in style. → READ MORE
In brief: Michael Booth and Olivia Piana have put an exclamation point on their European summers of SUP, with the Starboard duo taking out week 9 of the EuroTour here at the SUP World Cup in Scharbeutz, Germany.
Boothy won the 10k distance race here on Sunday morning in impressive style, while Olivia fought all the way with her team mate Sonni Honscheid before pulling clear in the final few hundred metres. → READ MORE
In brief: Michael Booth has firmly cemented his reputation as the strongest paddler on the planet, with the Aussie powerhouse taking out the showdown in San Sebastian this afternoon to make it four wins in the past five weeks and cement his spot on top of the 2017 EuroTour Leaderboard
In a race that had a bit of everything – flat water, open ocean, waves, downwind bumps – and which was described by most finishers as the funnest contest of the year, Boothy outlasted Connor Baxter and Bruno Hasulyo to salute for the third week in a row, while defending champ and early race leader Titouan Puyo fought hard in the second half after getting unlucky in the waves to eventually finish just off the podium but just ahead of Trevor Tunnington. → READ MORE
Michael Booth has taken a virtually unassailable lead in the race for the 2017 EuroTour championship title, with the Aussie powerhouse claiming his second straight win at the Bilbao Paddle Challenge as key rivals Connor Baxter and Titouan Puyo faultered.
After a hectic start in front of Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum, where several of the main contenders were boxed out by a deep field of European dark horses, Boothy soon moved to the front and controlled much of the 14km course up and down the central city river. → READ MORE
In brief: Michael Booth has cemented his reputation as the strongest stand up paddler on the planet, taking out week 5 of the EuroTour in impressive fashion after breaking an elite field that included Connor Baxter, Titouan Puyo, Georges Cronsteadt, Mo Freitas and many more of the world’s best.
After the opening stages of the race were marked by the presence of rival draft trains spread out in parallel, the contest soon settled down into a more traditional draft train, with the front pack at one point turning into an unsustainable 21-man convoy.
Boothy broke the field relatively early today – at about the 4km mark of the 18km crossing between Switzerland and France – and would never be caught, slowly extending his lead all the way back to the finish line in the host town of Thonon-les-Bains. → READ MORE
Connor Baxter has just won the Beach Race to make it a clean sweep of the weekend and claim the 2017 Hossegor Paddle Games overall title ahead of his key EuroTour rivals and fellow world-beaters Michael Booth and Titouan Puyo.
In the women’s, Frenchwoman Olivia Piana showed her true potential to take out the beach race ahead of yesterday’s winner Sonni Honscheid. But Olivia fell painfully short of the overall title, losing to Sonni by just 3 seconds on the tie-breaker time countback. → READ MORE
Australia’s Michael Booth has proven yet again that he’s the strongest distance race paddler on the planet, overpowering world number one Connor Baxter and Carolina Cup champion Titouan Puyo to claim the 18km event on day 2 here in St. Maxime, France, earning the overall ‘SUP Race Cup’ title and gaining an early advantage on the EuroTour Leaderboard in the process.
With beautiful blue skies and flat, glassy conditions greeting the assembled field of international stars, European dark horses and local contenders this morning (which stood in stark contrast to the cyclonic winds in Saturday’s beach race), this was always going to be Boothy’s type of race.
It was 12 months ago this weekend that the Starboard rider announced himself as the strongest distance racer in the world, and after a few disappointing results early in season 2017 he was clearly keen to reassert his dominance. → READ MORE
In brief: Michael Booth and Sonni Hönscheid have saluted on day two of the 5-star Maui Pro-Am after winning a long, hot, windless Maliko downwind run that tested the endurance and stamina of the small but highly elite field of assembled athletes.
Despite the relatively flat conditions, there was just enough texture on the water to break up any draft trains, with Boothy powering away from the field early and crossing the line about a minute clear of Connor Baxter. Mo Freitas was another minute further adrift in a strong performance that saw him claim the overall event crown. → READ MORE
World number two Michael Booth has started Season 2017 much the same way he finished 2016, claiming this weekend’s 3-star Noosa Festival of Surfing after a see-sawing battle with Team NSP’s Titouan Puyo and the highly under-rated (and under-ranked) Lincoln Dews.
The human machine from Team Starboard lived up to his reputation as the world’s strongest distance racer by claiming Saturday’s 14km race, however Titou showed he’ll once again be a favourite in every event he enters after an impressive and somewhat unlucky performance. → READ MORE
Jake Jensen has taken out the 6th Annual 12 Towers Ocean Race this afternoon, defeating Titouan Puyo, Michael Booth and Beau O’Brian in firing downwind conditions on Australia’s Gold Coast.
Paddling for the new ‘ONE’ race team, Jake stormed home to finish almost a minute clear of Titou (NSP), while Starboard teammates Boothy and Beau were locked in a near photo finish for third. The big surprise came from 14-year-old New Caledonian Noic Garioud, who out-shined several seasoned veterans to finish top five. → READ MORE
