Six-time Stand Up Paddle (SUP) Boarding World Champion, Kai Lenny, recently completed a challenging downwind journey across the Hawaiian Islands in an effort to raise awareness around the rising issue of plastic pollution.
The 9th annual OluKai Ho’olaule’a 8-mile downwind competition and Hawaiian cultural celebration takes place in less than a month on April 29th and 30th.
At the end of January the annual event, the La Ventana Classic, hit the shores and waters of Baja Sur, Mexico to throw a killer event that is fun for everyone, but also to raise money for the local community. In 2017 the event was able to raise $25,000 USD for local students!
Over 130 international, interstate and local competitors gathered for the World’s fastest downwind paddle race, the King of the Cut Race on Sunday, December 4, 2016 in Mandurah, Western Australia. Near perfect conditions blew in for the 24-kilometre race with southerly winds at 18 to 20 knots.
Australia’s Michael Booth (Starboard) has won the 2016 Fiji ISA World SUP Championship, a 17km marathon race from Cloudbreak to Musket Cove in Fiji. Booth will be heading back home to Western Australia shortly to compete in the world’s fastest downwind SUP race, the Stand Up Surf Shop King of the Cut.
This winter escape to warm weather and good times. Enjoy the La Ventana Classic, a somewhat raucous, adventurous and unique windsport/paddle sport event. Set for January 25-29, 2017 in Baja Sur, Mexico, at a stunning event site situated between the azure beauty of the Sea of Cortez and rustic foothills of the Sierra de la Laguna mountain range.
While on a Maliko downwind run off the coast of Maui, Hawaii with friends Zane Schweitzer and Alex Aguera, Connor Baxter found himself in a very scary situation. While on his Starboard SUP foil, Connor Baxter was attacked from behind by a 10 foot tiger shark.
As we sit in the heat of downwind season we've decided to compile a list of the top must-do downwinders around the world. We teamed up with the crew at SIC Maui who've built some of the best downwind boards on the market, so they know a thing-or-two about a good downwind run when they see it.
Connor Baxter just won his 7th straight victory at the 2016 Maui-2-Molokai race over the weekend making history as he extends the longest winning streak in the men’s sport. Not only has Connor never lost this race, but nobody else has ever won it. Connor took out the inaugural event as a scrawny teenager at 15-years-old back in 2010, and he has triumphed every year since. Hear all about the win from Connor himself here.
The 2016 OluKai Hoʻolauleʻa broke records at its 8th annual event with more than 515 paddlers competing and representing over 18 countries in front of a crowd close to 1,500 people.
Kai Lenny has always been pushing the boundaries of stand up paddling and he’s just done it again by introducing a new crossover of sorts with a hydrofoil and his SUP, making it his craft of choice for a downwinder. This project has been in the works for awhile and thanks to Go Foil, and Naish, they’ve helped Kai to make his vision a reality.
Each May, OluKai holds its annual premier paddling festival on Maui’s north shore to celebrate Hawaiian culture and the traditions that surround this community. The event brings together both elite athletes competing in the world’s best SUP and OC1 races (highlighted by the legendary Maliko Downwind Run) and is also a gathering of friends and family-friendly activities in a celebration of the ocean and cultures that surround it. This year, the Olukai will take place April 29- May 2, 2016 at Kahana Beach Park on Maui.