Like many of the thousands who enjoy the ocean sports lifestyle in Hawaii, I have a love/hate relationship with stand up paddleboards.  LOVE them because they’re really fun on flat water, and are therefore very novice and family-friendly.  I own two boards, my wife and kids have a blast on them, and it’s a great way for us to share quality time together in the ocean. In addition, SUP has a distinctively Hawaiian look, feel, and origin, further cementing Hawaii’s global leadership role in ocean/surf-related sports. 

HATE them because they’ve become increasingly pervasive at prime surf spots, and depending who’s on them, they can and do take lots of waves.  Many of the people on them have absolutely no business being in the surf zone and they’re a serious danger to others.  Admittedly, the fact that I totally suck riding an SUP in the surf, is probably part of the loath factor too!  I thought that after surfing for many years, I could just hop on one and start riding waves.  Not even.  I quickly discovered that it takes a completely different skill set and aptitude.  I give those guys a ton of props (but still no love, haha!).

Either way, a couple of things have always intrigued me about them; the access they give the paddler to the open water expanses farther offshore and their use in long distance ocean racing. Wind driven surface swell in the open ocean presents the paddler with a complex and ever changing canvas.  Being successful in windy, Hawaiian conditions requires an intuitive ocean knowledge and exceptional athletic skill to make sense (and use) of the roiling interchange of crests, troughs, peaks, chops, and moguls efficiently.   All blue water paddlers; canoe, traditional paddleboard, and now SUP, call this aptitude “connecting the dots.”

With the exploding SUP presence in Hawaii and the world, it’s only natural that the best at this sport would want to compete with each other.  Distance course racing and channel crossings have always been a staple of Hawaiian ocean sports, and over on Maui, one event has become one of the showpieces of stand up paddle competition in the islands.

Local boy Rodney Kilborn, who playfully goes by the nickname “Handsome Bugga”, has lived, surfed, and paddled Maui since 1975, and after 32 years as a Maui County firefighter, he continues to be a tireless promoter and organizer of amateur and professional ocean events there through his aptly named company, “Handsome Bugga Productions”.  A perpetual visionary, Kilborn was the first to coordinate a tow-in surfing contest at the legendary big wave spot Pe’ahi, Kilborn gravitated to SUP comps as a way to keep elite ocean athletes immersed in a top shelf competitive environment during the normally sedentary summer months.

His most recent venture was the “Maui Jim Triple Crown of Stand-Up Paddle” race series held this past July, which for the rapidly evolving stand-up paddle community, is the first contest of its kind.  Kilborn explains, “It entails a series of three races, with the Elite division accumulating points towards claiming a perpetual Koa trophy along with pride and bragging rights. The purpose of this style of contest is to separate the ‘Sunday Paddlers’ from the extreme challengers. In every sport there are the elite few who push the envelope, challenge themselves, and pave the way for others to follow. The Maui Jim Triple Crown of Stand-Up Paddle is the first opportunity for such paddlers to showcase their skills through three different courses of varying difficulty.”

The first race, the Handsome Bugga Poi Bowl, took place on Sunday, July 3rd.  A  3-star course (between 9-14 miles) it’s a 9.54 mile downwind paddle from Maliko Gulch to Kahului Harbor. A field of nearly 60 competitors entered the water with light to moderate winds providing clean conditions.  Next up was the second leg of the series; a slightly more forgiving downwind course from Keane Penninsula to Baldwin Beach park. This five-star course earned the first place finisher 10,000 points.  The third leg, a 27 mile burn through the deep and windswept Pai’lolo channel from Honolua Bay on Maui’s NW tip to Kaunakakai Harbor on Molokai’s south side was a fitting and challenging conclusion to the series and would determine the overall placings and men’s and women’s winners.

SUP racing star Connor Baxter describes the experience of the 3rd race; “All I can say about the last leg of the 2011 Triple Crown is WOW!!!  This race could not have been better. The conditions were epic; east north east winds blowing 30+ knots with some swells breaking over my head in the channel. It is one of the more gnarly and challenging channels.”
 
“The race started inside Honolua Bay around 10:30 am, and before the race started, we had some technical difficulties with my water pack, so I decided to start the race without it – which proved to be a bad idea.  Around 35 people were on the start line ready for battle. When the race started I was up toward the windward buoy. My plan of attack for this race was to head downwind right from the get go – but I got stuck above two guys that decided they were headed upwind – so I had to stop paddling and let them pass so I could start going downwind. After about ten minutes of flat-water paddling, we hit the wind line and that is where the fun started. Dave Kalama, Bart de Zwart and I were leading the pack. After about a half an hour, Dave and I took the lead. And talk about a paddle battle – Dave and I did it for 27 miles, exchanging the lead at least 15-20 times.”
 
“It just got better and better the closer we got to Molokai and once again Dave was right next to me. It was so much fun racing with him. I mean it didn’t even feel like a race, it felt like a training run or something. We were talking and just having a great time, until we got closer to the finish. About 20 minutes before the finish he got a nice glide and had a good gap on me. So at this point I was getting tired and thought I might lose, but then I told myself to shut up and paddle. My mom gave me a Red Bull and I just felt like superman and I sprinted as hard as I could until I caught up and passed him. And then I got this endless glide, which gave me a good lead. So now I put him in the same position I was just in, but he didn’t get that perfect glide to catch back up. “

“I was still paddling as hard as I could even though I was in front and I rounded the outside buoy into Kaunakakai Harbor – and OH MY GOSH, I had a good 500 yard paddle with 30 knot winds on my starboard side – never a fun way to end a long race. When I crossed that finish line in first place it was one of the best feelings in the world; I had won the Molokai Crossing, and all three of the Triple Crown events.” 

Like Kelly Slater in surfing and Jaime Mitchell in paddleboarding,  the budding young superstar stamped his growing dominance over this sport with a prestigious overall first place win in the inaugural 2011 Maui Jim Triple Crown of Stand Up Paddle.  Andrea Moller-Bouwens accumulated enough points to take first overall in the Women’s division. 

Kilborn has acquired a license to hold the event again in 2012, no doubt to the delight of Baxter, Moller-Bouwen and all the other returning competitors, as he looks forward to the continuing development and legitimacy of this elegant sport.  He’s also working with the Big Wave World Tour to hold a paddle-in big wave surfing event at Pe’ahi this coming winter (which we hope to televise on Oceanic SURF Channel!).  Right on, Rodney, you Handsome Bugga you!

Coming up in September on Oceanic SURF Channel

Professional surfing comes to the Big Apple with the 2011 Quiksilver Pro New York from Long Island Beach! 

It’s the first ever ASP World Tour rated event held on the US East Coast and boasts the tour’s largest ever combined prize purse of $1,000,000! 

See it all live on Oceanic SURF Channel, September 5th – 15th.

The 2011 Hurley Pro from Lowers Trestles in San Clemente, will be televised live September 18-24. 

Last year’s event showcased some of the best conditions ever seen in the history of professional surfing, and with the recent pattern of consistent south swells in California, this is one you won’t want to miss!

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