Rainbow Sandals Battle of the Paddle Hawaii
Another Battle of the Paddle has come and gone. As always last weekend was a whirlwind of activity… racing, parties, catching up with friends and family, rushing to catch our flight home. The year’s Hawaii Battle was lots of fun (at least for me and Dad, Mom got food poisoning and spent the first day and a half in bed). Friday night was a big Maui Jim dinner for their sponsored athletes and staff at Duke’s, it was great to see everyone and meet some new people too. After dinner we cruised over to the Quicksilver store for the pre-race party where everyone was catching up with friends and getting excited for the event the next day. Saturday morning, race day, is always a bit nerve racking so I just try to hang out and relax. The race started at 3pm when high tide was due so it was a long time to sit and wait. The race was hot, long and grueling! Danny Ching and Travis Grant battled it out the for 1st and 2nd (Travis crossed the finish line first for his first Battle win, congrats Travis!) and Connor Baxter and I traded off 3rd and 4th for most of the race but in the end it was Connor 3rd and me 4th, way to go Connor, you paddled a tough race! Congratulations to all the competitors who took part in the two day event and a big thanks to Rainbow Sandals, Sparky and Jerry, for their continued support to this race and SUP. Candice Applebee captured another Battle win in the women’s division to add to her list. Sunday was the distance race ( I did not race, Danny Ching was first to the beach, congrats Danny) and Sunday afternoon was the relay, which is always a crowd favorite. Team SUP CO took third, C4 second and Team Starboard took first. Then is was a mad dash to get to the airport for the flight back to Maui. Dad and I had just the next day to get packed up for our long summer trip so the next day was a busy one. Tuesday morning we left Maui for Tampa and the Gulf Coast Championships, we won’t be back home until sometime in August. I already miss it! We have a summer packed full of races, travel, visiting family and friends…it should be fun! Aloha, ST
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