SurfingSports Standup Paddle Surf & Standup Paddling BLOG

Here's another round of images from the 2009 Battle of the Paddle...130 or so images...
Still lots more editing to do...

EJ heading home to victory after making the buoy turn at the halfway mark...



Distance race shot from the end of San Clemente pier...L(©¿©)King towards Dana Point...



Friday afternoon practice before the contest...from our hotel room...



L(©¿©)Ks like a woodstock SUP festival...;-)



OUCH!!!



Chuck Patterson, last year's BOP winner...running for the finish line...
He took 4th in the distance...and 5th in the Elite event...



Testosterone man!...;-)



Battle of the speedo winner...;-)



Naish team rider, Jerry Bess, gets a soul ride on the new 17' Naish Glide...



Jim Drake (co-inventor of windsurfing) with Ashleigh Parducci...her grandfather Allen Parducci, was also a co-inventor of windsurfing...also pictured is David Drake...Jim's youngest son...



More pics in this GALLERY...

Labels: Battle of the Paddle, Battle of the Paddle pictures, Rainbow Sandals Gerry Lopez Battle of the Paddle, standup paddle racing, SUP paddle racing

After initially being called a fad (like rollerblading...etc) the sport of standup paddling, and paddle surfing, is now undeniably chiseled into legitimacy...

It will take several days to go through all the images we have...so until we get the galleries up, I'll start by putting up a few that capture interesting moments for us...

Beach scene at the start of the open race on Saturday...around 300 people finished...



Brian Syzmanski...he has really stepped up the R&D on his unique L@@King SUP race hulls...he has produced over a dozen new racing hulls for Starboard and their new SUP racing team...



I think the results that Brian achieved throughout this 2 day event has definitely elevated his profile...

14 year old Zane Shweitzer wins the stock division with Brian right on his tail for 2nd...Brian's partner, Matt Friedman, finishes 3rd overall stock...that's a sweep...also, Nikki Gregg wins the women's division on a Starboard/NCP prototype...







Matt Friedman...



Nikki Gregg with Nui...1st place Women's Open stock class...



Nikki's SO...Dan Gavere...snags a nice wave on a Starboard/NCP proto...



New Starboard team rider, Brandi Baksic, firmly established herself as one of the top elite women standup paddlers in the world by taking 3rd in the Elite race in the waves...and, 1st in the distance race...she only has a few months of SUP under her belt, yet she smoked (and humbled) many so-called "top notch" racer dudes...quite amazing...even more amazing, is the fact that she beat 2nd place finisher, Candice Appleby, who was riding an unlimited SUP with rudder, in the distance race on the stock Starboard/NCP...





Ernie (EJ) Johnson guts out a win in the distance race stock division despite a shoulder injury...that nice new contract with Starboard will buy him a few beers to ease the pain...;-)





The start of the men's elite race...



The inside buoy turn log jam...



Typical carnage at the inside turn...bowling pins...the sickening crunch of carbon...kaching...kaching...;-)







Impressive wins by the Aussies...Jamie Mitchell 1st place Men's Elite...



Shakira Westdorp 1st place Women's Elite...



A shout out to one of our great SUPsports staff, Adam Kirkcaldie, for winning his age group in the open race...(Open Age Group Race - STK M30-39)...

There were 35 contestants in his grouping...

Labels: Battle of the Paddle, Rainbow Sandals Gerry Lopez Battle of the Paddle, SUP paddle racing, SUP racing

Fun SUP race and social paddle today at Leadbetter Beach...6:00 P.M.

Leadbetter SUP Cup...

Labels: Santa Barbara paddle racing, Santa Barbara standup paddle sports, standup paddle racing, SUP paddle racing

We've been so busy at the lately, that I'm just barely getting around to telling ya'll about the JEVER SUP World Cup...a 3 day international SUP race / event that took place in Hamburg, Germany July 10 - 12 with 27,000 spectators...major sponsorship from Jever beer...the biggest standup paddle race to date, and a harbinger of things surely to come...

Video(s) credit: JEVER SUP World Cup website...

Photo(s) credit: standuppaddle.site-forums.com and SUPfrance.com

Mahalos to Eric Terrien for bringing us these killer images and vid clips...and congrats on his 2nd place finish...



SUPsports team rider, Ernie (EJ) Johnson was one of the 20 pro invitees...we're really stoked for him, and proud that he was representing...he did great considering he only brought his 12'6"...finishing 5th in the long distance race...and, 6th in the sprints...



We've been getting lots of web traffic and requests from Germany for our tshirts and stickers, so we know that he was representing...;-)

Here's EJ battling 3rd place finisher, John Hibbard...Starboard team rider...





EJ is such a humble guy with a good heart...stoked to know him and his wife...
Here's a copy of an email he sent to a bunch of folks in the SUP universe...

"I recently competed in a world class event representing my sport of SUP.
What an Honor, for me to be involved in this first time event,
representing the U.S.A!

Thanks to my friends and family and sponsors , for their support over
the last two years of racing.

Special thanks to Wardog and Debbie from StandUpPaddleSports for their
moral and financial support.

Mahalos
E.J"

We hope to be able to announce some more exciting news concerning EJ soon...;-)

1st place went to Starboard team rider Ekolu Kalama...he was riding a prototype Starboard K-14...we've been helping to design and place the production version in the Starboard lineup...



Ekolu checking out EJ's 12'6"...shaped by Brian Szymanski of NCP...



The Starboard K-14...2 piece model!!!
Nice job, Svein and team Starboard...





Here are the final results and rankings...

EJ loves standup paddling and beer...but, not necessarily in that order...;-)


Video clips below...

Labels: JEVER SUP World Cup, standup paddle sports santa barbara, SUP paddle racing