2016 was one of the most exciting years ever in the 20 years that the Molokai 2 Oahu Paddleboard World Championships has been held. This year saw record breaking performances in both stand up paddling and prone paddle boarding and the field of athletes to compete was packed with standouts. This year Kai Lenny and Sonni Hönscheid claimed victory for the stand up paddlers.
When the last athlete crosses the finish line on Sunday, July 31, 2016 at the Moloka’i-2-O’ahu Paddleboard World Championships (M2O), two decades of outstanding performances and personal accomplishment will be recorded by a lineage of the world’s strongest paddle boarders. Presented by Kona Longboard Island Lager, the 2016 event welcomes a host of athletes from 16 countries who will test their navigational skill and athletic strength across 32-miles of open ocean in the disciplines of stand-up (SUP) and prone paddle boarding.
Legendary long distance stand up paddler Bart de Zwart just finished up the MR340, a 340-mile paddling race on the Missouri River, and he just set the new record for fastest time, beating the previous record by a whopping 10 hours! Here he recaps the race and how he got to the finish.
Stand Up World Tour star and Starboard SUP athlete Iballa Moreno has been enjoying her downtime at home in the Canary Islands. From windsurfing to stand up paddle surfing Iballa has it all and she’s all about having fun in the water. Check out this new edit Iballa just released of her spring sessions at home.
The 11th stop of the EuroTour presented by Starboard brought us to beautiful Noli, Italy. With its breathtaking cliffs that come straight out of the sea and the old medieval town literally sitting on the beach Noli proved to be the perfect setup for the first stop of the EuroTour Italian leg.
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.
It’s no secret by now that Shakira Westdorp is one of the best female SUP surfers in the world. She’s got loads of talent and a big bag of tricks. Heck, she even makes it looks easy (which it isn’t). With it being in the middle of winter in Australia, Shakira decided to escape the busy lineups in her hometown of northern New South Wales and head 100km’s south to find a couple uncrowded beach breaks. Check out the video from her little trip here.
Olympic Gold Medalist Larry Cain dives deep and does a showdown to see whether the 2016 All Star from Starboard SUP is as fast as the 2015 model in flat water. Here, Larry gets pretty techy and gets deep into his testing methods and how he came to his conclusion. Check it out…
Maximizing glide and stability, the inflatable Touring stand up paddle boards from Starboard are designed to carry supplies and accessories for all adventures with it's bungee-tie downs, multiple FCS inserts and a paddle holder on the tail. Check them out on this cool sup trip in the incredible settings of Tofino, Canada!
Did you ever think collecting trash could be so much fun? With the help of over 200 people, the areas of Bang Phli, around Wat Laung Por Toh Temple and the surrounding river were cleaned. 2,500kg of trash was collected, filling one and a half garbage trucks!
After a successful launch on World Oceans Day and joining the Starboard SW Tiki Tour across California, Arizona & New Mexico, the SUPKids team are heading to Noli, Italy to run the first European SUPKids training program. They’ll be joining forces with the Noli SUP Race to run a 2-day training program for the founding SUPKids Delivery Centres in Europe. The training will take place on the 13 & 14 July, prior to the official start of the Noli event.
The 2016 SUP World Cup in Scharbeutz Germany was a huge event. There was a huge crowd on the beach and a stacked field of competitors. After five weekends of racing in Europe, it was finally coming to an end as this was my sixth and final event in Europe for the summer.