News from On It Pro, LLC

Many of the best Stand Up paddlers in the world came to the beautiful waters of Hawaii, June 12 & 13 2010 to compete in the Rainbow Sandals / Gerry Lopez "Battle of the Paddle". Over 600 SUP racers, entered this first class event staged at historic Duke Kahanamoku Beach at Ft. DeRussy Park.

It was the perfect location for the first BOP outside of Southern California; Waikiki Beach with Diamond Head in the background, how could it get any better! An exciting beach start, took the competitors on a three lap (approximate five mile) course out to the reefs, around a few buoys then back to shore again. It was an amazing spectacle for anyone who was lucky enough to be there! I'm sure a lot of the tourists enjoyed it as well!

The beach start was awesome!
Chuck Patterson-2009 BOP winner, Danny Ching, and Australian, Jamie Mitchell were among the stellar group of paddlers who were vying for the prestigious Title of "2010 Hawaii BATTLE OF THE PADDLE CHAMPION". Byron Kurt, Colin McPhlillips, and Scott Sanchez from Team Hobie; Team Ohana with Rob Rojas and Thomas Shahinian. Travis Grant, Aaron Napoleon, Scott Gamble, and Slater Trout were also there representing for their respective teams like; Bark Surftech, Naish, Team Starboard, and Paddle Surf Hawaii.
BOP Elite Course
Danny took on the tough BOP Elite course on his new 404 Branded SUP and finished in 1:22:42 just thirteen seconds ahead of Travis Grant (1:22:55) who came in second. Aaron Napoleon (1:26:31) was third with Jamie Mitchell (1:27:01) and Byron Kurt (1:27:21) following soon after.

The first lap of the Elite race was neck and neck.

Connor Baxter

Matt Becker

OnIt Pro's younger team members; Connor Baxter from Hawaii (1:27:33) and Matt Becker (1:28:39) from Santa Barbara, finished a respectable eighth and ninth place in the Elite race against all the master paddlers. The group consisting of Will Reichenstein (1:30:49), Colin Mcphillips (1:30:52) and Chuck Patterson (1:30:59) just missed placing in the top ten.

Note: A protest was made at the end of the event because of a course discrepancy on the final lap of the race. This caused many competitors to round an additional buoy. Gerry Lopez and Rainbow Sandals apologized for the problem and have taken note, but the results will stand.

Candice Appleby

Congratulations to Candice Appleby from Hawaii who took the woman's title in 1:35:25, with Verra Kalani (1:36:31) 2nd.

Brandi Baksic

                  Brandi Baksic (1:37:52) finished close behind
                              for 3rd place.

Karen Wrenn
Karen Wrenn from Oregon, came in at 1:44:26.1st place for Team Naish.

I was speaking with some of the competitors after the event, and they were all commenting on how grueling the Elite course was in Hawaii. Many were battered and bruised after the event, but they were already looking forward to next year!

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Danny still in perfect form at the end of the distance run!

On Sunday, the distance course (approximately ten miles) from Hawaii Kai to Waikiki beach, once again saw Danny Ching get the hole shot and never look back with a time of 1:25:50 ahead of Scott Gamble (1:28:47). Sixteen year old from Hawaii and newest OnIt Pro team member, Connor Baxter, turned in an incredible time of 1:29:26 for third place!

The winning Board from the Distance run. check out rudder system!

Candice Appleby was the first woman to come in at 1:53:41 with Karen Wrenn (2:05:56) and Brandi Baksic (2:09:11) both winning in their divisions.

John Becker arrives in 1:48:36
Garret Macnamara tells Sparky he's in for next years BOP!

Thomas Shahinian from Team Ohana (1:44:45) took a different line in the distance run.

THE RELAY

Danny takes off for his last lap of the relay!

Danny chose his team wisely for the relay; Jamie Mitchell, Travis
Grant and Brandi Baksic, beating out the Bark Surftech team (2nd)
and Team Hobie (3rd) with Chuck Patterson.

HOBIE TEAM Riders, Byron Kurt and Chuck Patterson during the relay.

Colin McPhillips gets a needed boost from
Byron Kurt in the relay.

Brandi Baksic anchors for the winning team in finish of the relay.

Byron Kurt, Rob Rojas and Chuck Patterson, happy it's all over!

We congratulate all of the competitors for putting on such a great show!

BOP relay start part 1

BOP Relay part 2

Danny interview

onitpro.com

Photos by: erik@onitpro.com