HanoHano Ocean Challenge

Hello Starboard Family,

Just a recap of our latest SoCal SUP race. After a solid week of probably the worst rains southern California has had in a decade the sunshine came out for the HanoHano Ocean Challenge. The race was a 4.75 mile flat water race held in Mission Bay, San Diego.

This weekend, EJ and I were joined by some special guest visitors. Margareta, Zane, Sean, Dan, and Brian were all here to participate in the race. OK, well actually Brian drove Margareta around on the waverunner so she could put her photography skills to work. It was so cool having a larger Starboard presence at the race. The race got off to a bit of a rough start for a couple of our team members. At 3 minutes to race start, while all the paddlers were in the water, we looked to shore to see Zane running around looking for his board. After sprinting around the parking lot for a couple of minutes he found the board and pushed off about 20 seconds behind the crowd. About 20 seconds into the race, Dan decided to go for a quick dip, but ended up being a complete immersion into the muddied bay waters. (We hope he showered After that the race was off and running and went smoothly. Sean Poynter, Starboard's SUP surfer got his first taste as a SUP racer, I think the verdict is still out if that will be his first and last race.

Zane, despite the late start, finished 8th in the 12'6" class in a highly competitive field. Dan, despite the fall finished 4th, only a few seconds behind third, EJ had a strong race with a second place finish. I finished first in the women's SUP, somewhere between Dan and Zane. It was pretty cool having Margareta and Brian on the waverunner throughout the course, especially when Brian would gas it a bit and give us some rideable wake .

We finished the day off with a team photo session at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas, those pics should be hot!!! We'll soon see. Good Times!!!!!

Men's Stock SUP:
1st-Byron Kurt
2nd-EJ Johnson (Starboard)
3rd-Danny Ching
4th-Dan Gavere (Starboard)
5th-Wally Emory
8th-Zane Shweitzer (Starboard)
16-Sean Poynter

Women's SUP:
1st Brandi Baksic (Starboard)
2nd Vicki Mills
3rd Maggie Hogan
4th Antoinette Cocoa
5th Andie Johnson (Starboard)