SurfingSports Standup Paddle Surf & Standup Paddling BLOG

Here's a video clip interview with Starboard stand up paddle team rider Ekolu Kalama, three time winner of the Standup division of the Quiksliver Molokai crossing race.
Ekolu reflects on his tour around the U.K. and big wave surfing at Jaws with Laird Hamilton. Video by www.standuppaddlesurf.co.uk

Since becoming Starboard's top standup gun, Ekolu has been traveling the world Duke style...spreading the stoke of standup by walking the walk...and then, talking the talk...

"Ekolu Kalama won the Oxbow Distance Race that was part of the famous Paddle Round the Pier Beach Festival in Brighton, England. Ekolu flew in to the UK especially to compete in the event. Using Starboard's The Point 14'8" he paddled strong in blustery conditions to take the top spot.

The evening party saw the paddlers and public come together for some live music. Ekolu rocked the capacity crowd with his guitar, playing a mixed set of Hawaiian songs and modern classics. Playing for over an hour Ekolu showed that he is not just an awesome paddler, but he can entertain the crowds after dark too. Ekolu who has been known to organize stage shows at short notice to benefit local kids in poorer countries is a big hearted man, who carries the spirit of the ocean and his people with him. Starboard is very proud to have him as a SUP team rider."

In a few days, we'll be getting some paddling tips from Ekolu in person...perhaps, we can talk him into sharing some of his world class expertise with the rest of us mere mortals here in Santa Barbara...;-)

Also, we want to share the info on the Rainbow Sandals Gerry Lopez "Battle of the
Paddle" race/event.



"That stand-up paddleboarding has become the coast’s fastest-growing ocean sport should come as no surprise. Combining surfer’s balance skills and wave riding with canoe paddler’s endurance and speed, SUP harkens back to the surfing’s Golden Age, when in the 1940s and ‘50s calling yourself a surfer meant mastering a broad variety of ocean skills.

Now come celebrate the modern West Coast waterman’s lifestyle at the Rainbow Sandals Gerry Lopez’s Battle of the Paddle, a stand-up paddle festival/exposition with a series of races and demonstrations that offer ocean athletes of all ages and skill levels the chance to experience this exciting new sport.

Staged at Dana Point’s historic Doheny State Beach, the Battle of the Paddle is more than an ordinary paddle race. For the sport’s elite paddlers it presents the first-ever championship styled SUP race featuring an offshore course that tests not only endurance but also the open-ocean and surfing skills of the world’s best men and women stand-up paddle racers. Not to mention a cash purse of over $25,000.

Invited competitors on stock (12’6”) SUP boards, will complete multiple laps on a circuit that will include beaching their equipment through the surf for a short run around a course flag on the sand. This exchange will challenge competitor’s technical and athletic skills as well as create great spectator drama. There will also be an age-group race open to all SUP craft categories (12’6” stock, 14 ft. and unlimited) that will compete on the same circuit course without the exchange.

For the recreational paddler and newcomers to the sport The Battle of the Paddle’s exclusive festival/exposition is an extraordinary opportunity to paddle with legendary watermen like Gerry Lopez, Dave Kalama, Jamie Mitchell, Kyle Mochizuki, Colin McPhillips, Titus Kinimaka and many more. You’ll meet the world’s best shapers, check out the latest board designs and paddle innovations and naturally there will be demo boards and paddles of all shapes and sizes available for those who want to perfect their stroke or even try SUP for the first time."

Labels: Ekolu Kalama, Rainbow Sandals Gerry Lopez Battle of the Paddle, Starbaord SUP

Breaking news on the coconut telegraph...

Big news for a BEEEEG Molokai boy...
The two time winner of the 32 mile Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard race , Ekolu Kalama, has signed on with Starboard...
Pic below shows Ekolu on one of the new 2009 Starboard SUP prototypes...



From the Molokai Dispatch
By Jennifer Smith

Is there anything more pure and fantastic than a boy’s dream? How about when that dream becomes a man’s reality?

For as long as Ekolu Kalama can remember he wanted to be a professional surfer, but for almost just as long, people have told him he couldn’t do it. To those people Kalama says, "if it's your dream, it's your dream-and no one can criticize it."

After several years of hard work and trying dedication, Kalama made his dream a reality last May when he became one of the first Stand Up Paddle (SUP) surfers to receive a sponsorship.

SUPing is a newly popularized sport where surfers use elongated canoe paddles to propel themselves on longboards. The oversized surfboards allow SUPers to keep their balance and remain standing whether they’re on a wave or not.

Starboard, a famous board making company in the windsurfing industry, snatched up the Molokai born paddler and surfer in hopes that he will assist in designing a signature SUP board, and help to further popularize the sport.

To understand how a former Molokai High School graduate ended up on the beaches of Maldives testing boards and taking part in photo shoots the story needs to rewind two years.

Kalama was turning 30 in a few hours, and felt what he describes as a “mid-life crisis of sorts.” Sitting on Makaha beach, waiting for midnight to hit so he could jump in the water, he saw his friend Duane DeSoto playing with his kids.

Something about the image stuck with Kalama and while out in the water catching waves and contemplating his life, he stopped. "I said ‘this is the life I want!’"

"Everybody thought I was crazy," Kalama said, explaining how people reacted when he gave up one of the best jobs on the island, as a firefighter. Friends and family argued that the 10 day per month work requirement left him with more than enough time to surf.

But, Kalama realized he had to make sacrifices if he wanted to go all the way, and it would take nearly two years, and several tries before he would realize he made the right decision.

Broke and worn, “it didn’t seem like the doors were going to open,” Kalama said. The fire department gave him three years to go back, and every month for several months he filled out the paper work to return, but each time "it was like pulling teeth for me to go back."

Now with a sponsorship and a busy summer schedule that includes stops in Bali, England, California, Spain, and France, Kalama knows his sacrifices were worth it. "I feel like I have natural abilities God gave me," and I wasn't able to use them at the fire department.

Kalama credits his cousin Dave Kalama and infamous big-wave rider Laird Hamilton for introducing him to SUPing. "Laird gave me my first board and paddle" nearly two years ago, he said.

"I was surfing before I can even remember," Kalama said. And coming from a well-known family of canoe paddlers, "it was a common sense natural match for me."

"It's been my childhood dream to be a professional surfer," Kalama said, explaining how excited he is to be doing what he loves. His experience has taught him that you can accomplish your dreams, no matter how great, and he hopes to pass on this attitude to his two young sons.

A two-time World Paddling Champion in the Molokai-to-Oahu race, he said now he just needs to earn a surfing world title.

Labels: Ekolu Kalama, stand up paddle surfing, Starbaord SUP