HOMEEvent Reports Close-Out Finals: Right Coast Stand Up Paddle Update
Close-Out Finals: Right Coast Stand Up Paddle Update
By: Chip Bock
Friday, 19 September 2008
Hello all! Now for a Right Coast stand up paddle surf update from Chip Bock.
Summer has been great on the "Right Coast" for stand up paddle and tandem surfing. The East Coast Paddleboard Championships had a huge turnout at Ponce Inlet in Daytona Beach, FL. I took 3rd place in the Open SUP Division (7 mile flat water race) and it was a great event.
The highlight at the end of summer was the 2008 - 23rd Annual National Kidney Foundation/Cocoa Beach Surf Company PRO/AM Surf Festival in Cocoa Beach, FL. It was a HUGE EVENT. Pro and Amateur surf divisions from Short to Long boards in all age categories, including a stop for the International Tandem Surf Association and a SUP division was added for the first time this year.
2008 East Coast Paddleboard Championships
Hung out with Tandem Pro's Kalani Viera & Ali Viera
and also Bear & Krysti (All from Oahu). Kalani and Ali took first place in
the Tandem finals.
Surf from approaching Hurricane Hannah made for very
challenging conditions all weekend. The Tandem and SUP finals were held on
Labor Day with huge 3 foot overhead sets and conditions that hammered the
competitors as they struggled to get to the outside sand bars in front of the
shifting beach break.
Conditions were so powerful that only two of the five SUP
competitors in the finals even decided to paddle out for the finals. It took
the first 10 minutes of the 20 minute final for myself and Wyatt Werneth to get
our SUP's to the outside break that due to the outgoing tide was now over 200
yards off shore. (This was also coupled with a rip current that dragged
competitors 200-300 yards down the beach before they could fight outside; some
unsuccessfully)
At the contest all of the Hawaii
and French tandem teams were drilling me with questions as to how to get outside
for the finals...Wyatt and I took them down the beach and pointed out some
outgoing rips that were south of the contest area and in the middle of about
1500+ tourists....it was funny to watch the teams run their boards off south into
the crowd when the horn blew...everyone was like "where the heck are they going",
but they were so thankful to get in that rip...some of the contestants tried to go
straight out and got soooo worked...
Load up and down the line.
In the end, I took 1st and Wyatt took 2nd in the Open SUP
Division final.
Up next is the 2nd
Annual - 22 mile "Causeway 2 Causeway" Waterman Challenge paddleboard race on the Intra Coastal Waterway
on October 18, 2008. Another great event that is a true test of the
"Waterman Spirit". Proceeds will benefit the Cocoa Beach Surf Museum
and I will again wil be personally raising funds for LIVESTRONG and the Lance
Armstrong Foundation. Last year was a
huge success as I was personally able to raise ove $2K for the cause. Hers' the
link to last year's race:
Joe Bark is putting the finishing touches on my new SUP
racer that I hope to receive before the end of September. It's a brand new
refined design for Joe and I am very excited to test the results.
Event Reports 
