World-class competition with excellent weather and surf conditions ruled this weekend’s 2017 Hobie and Salt Life SUP Surf Pro-Am in Wrightsville Beach. After back-to-back qualifying heats and intense finals competition, Martin Letourneur from Saint-Malo, France, captured the coveted and overall performance trophy, the Haywood Newkirk, Sr. All Waterman Award.
In a recent interview, Annabel Anderson shared her thoughts about the upcoming Cup competition, how she maintains her dominance, a glimpse into other aspects of life in New Zealand, and how she feels about returning to the world’s largest gathering of professional and amateur racers in Wrightsville Beach.
West Marine Carolina Cup, the world’s largest gathering of professional and amateur standup paddle board athletes, has added the World Paddle Association’s World SUP Tour in 2017.
Already one of the biggest and paramount paddle gatherings in the world, the West Marine Carolina Cup is expanding in 2017 with the addition of a one-day retailer-only trade show, a nine-mile outrigger canoe race with six-person teams, and a 6.5-mile junior championship standup paddle board race for youth under 18.
A scant 6-seconds at the finish line separated Canadians Larry Cain and Tamás Buday Jr. in their exciting rematch at North Carolina's 2016 Surf to Sound Challenge. Cain, an Olympic Gold Medalist and inductee into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, regained the men's championship from fellow Olympian Buday, posting a time of 1-hour 12-minutes 35-seconds in the 6.5-mile ocean to sound elite paddle board competition. Cain has captured the Surf to Sound Championship four times with Buday winning twice.
Supconnect Contributor and media boat driver for the Carolina Cup, Haywood Newkirk, gives his take on the 2016 event and how it all went down. Get the inside scoop from Wrightsville Beach local HERE.
Today kicked off the first big race of the 2016 stand up paddle race season and it was more exciting than ever. With an incredible start and lead changes throughout the majority of the race the action was intense from start to finish. In the end Tituoan Puyo and Annabel Anderson both claimed the victory for the 2016 Carolina Cup.
Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina has been on everyone’s radar for some time now because of the world renowned Carolina Cup. After this year’s Hobie Salt Life Pro Am, the world’s paddle boarding community now has a legitimate reason to come a week early and watch the world’s best in the surf.
The time has come for the best stand up paddlers in the world to come together and face off yet again at the first major stand up paddle race of 2016, the Carolina Cup. Top athletes in the sport will be there including 3x women’s winner Annabel Anderson, Travis Grant, Candice Appleby, Danny Ching, Connor Baxter, Fiona Wylde and many, many more all going head-to-head aiming to conquer the grueling Graveyard Course.
"Yes, I can confirm that I will be back in Wrightsville Beach to have another crack at the Carolina Cup," said Annabel Anderson, three-time champion in the Cup's elite and grueling 13.5-mile Graveyard Race and top woman in the world in standup paddle board.
Every year in the men's division, and the past two years in the women's division, Canadians captured the top standup paddle board victories in the punishing 6.5-mile Surf to Sound Challenge. Now celebrating its' 5th anniversary, the family-friendly USA-Canada rivalry resumes in Wrightsville Beach, NC, November 6-8, 2015.
Australia's Travis Grant and New Zealander Annabel Anderson took 1st Place in the Men's and Women's divisions of "The Graveyard" at the 2015 Carolina Cup. In its 5th edition, it is now becoming evident that if this is not the world's largest SUP Race (750+ Racers this year,) it is probably the most technical.