HanoHano Race recap

Had a good week of training at the Sports Performance Institute with both Rob Rojas and Brandi Baksic of Team Waterman's. The weather did not allow for any paddling as the wind and rain were to much for my old bones, I chose to spend the week training in the gym. My boys Mike C. and JT took good care of the team.

Saturday was the 14th annual Hanohano challenge. All types of paddlecraft hit mission bay. 294 competitors hit the short course on OC, Surf ski, Stand Up paddle boards and paddle boards. The short course was 4.8 miles inside Mission Bay. The water was calm and the sun even broke out for us in the morning.

The Stand Up Paddle stock race was awesome. Master paddler Danny Ching decided to paddle in the stock class making for a great paddle between two of the local paddle masters Byron Kurt and Ernie Johnson (EJ) going against Danny. Danny had an equipment malfunction (broken paddle), so the fans did not get to see what might have happen between the big three. The result was Byron first, EJ second and Danny third.

I had a great race dual with my bro Wally for about 3/4 of the way to turn buoy (half way Point), surged ahead a bit and then gassed as we came into the turn buoy, before I knew it I made a bad turn and Wally was gone. I got my second wind, but it was too late the space between us was too big. I pushed hard to the end and took sixth out of 39. Wally finished fifth and pushed one of the better paddlers in the field Dan Gavere for most of the race. Dan eventually got Wally in the end, but a good showing for Wally.

The lesson learned here is fight through the pain and start practicing your turns.

Brandi dominated the woman's field as always and Rob did the same in unlimited.

The other big news is Byron and I have officially launched our paddling association. The World Paddle Association or WPA. The WPA will go live in March. Stay tuned for more info on the WPA. You can follow us on Facebook in the meantime.

Sancho