It was the first time this season that Canadian’s from around the country connected with each other at an event South of the border.  Going back one year, I met Bodie Shandro on a flight to California – He was reading one SUP mag, me the other and we glanced over and both thought “it can’t be….someone else into stand up”?  At the 2009 BOP (Battle of the Paddle)  there were only a handful of us happy Canucks but this year, there may have been almost two dozen.  It means that the sport has finally caught on in the great wet north.

They came from Ontario, Alberta and a large contingent from BC.  Vancouver, the Island and the Okanagan were all represented well and there plenty of things to cheer.  Canada’s relay team of Norm Hann, Bodie Shandro, Lina Augaitis and Kelvin Humenny capped off a sun-drenched, surf-filled weekend of SUP’ing at one the premier spots in SoCal and helped put the country on the world sup radar.   Toss in some epic sunset surf sessions at Dogpatch, kick-off parties, and movie premiere’s (Destination 3 Degrees) and you have one wicked fun weekend of Stand Up. What does it all mean for Canada?  It was a great chance to come together as friends  and ultimately it will help strengthen the bond that we all  have to this sport. Plus, it will bring the stoke back North so that we can share it with everyone else and keep the fire lit through the winter.

The event itself filled up Doheney State Park Beach and the beach-row vendors all offered up boards that you can try in the flatwater and surf and the beach was abuzz for three days straight. Even as the vendors were all packing up on Sunday, the surf was still packed with more than 10 people on each wave.  The announcing was top-notch (entertaining and informing) and there was plenty of stoke to go around.

Watching Saturday’s Elite Race is truly one of the sporting highlights of my life.  Over a 100 men and women leave the beach and take on an ‘M’ shaped course that zig-zags in and out of the surfline.  At each buoy turn, chaos ensues as the swells and waves push and pull paddlers within the limits (and beyond) of control.  Boards flying, bodies falling, and all things in between.  Danny Ching and Candice Appleby won their respective titles and the pair had also won the BOP Hawaii stop as well.  Thanks to Surftech for lending me the Bark Competitor, Rick from Rogue for the hospitality and surfboards and Hawaii for bringing SUP to the world.

Here’s our top 10 Highlights in no specific order:

1. Surfing Dogpatch with tons of Canadians.
2. Team Canada in the relay – 20th against some of the worlds finest
3. Kelvin Humenny and his 2nd place finish in the Open Surfboard class
4. Finding out ‘Fluffy’ is in fact a Great White Shark and not some beach dog – whoa!
5. Watching Danny Cha-Ching win everything in sight….. by a good margin too
6. Checking out new boards from everyone including Surftech, C4, Naish, Rogue, 404 and more
7. Watching Danny Ching and Jamie Mitchell (2009 BOP Champ) duel it out in Elite Men
8. Surfing
9. More Surfing
10. Watching the Premiere for Destination 3 Degrees – you gotta see it!

FULL RESULTS POSTED – CLICK HERE TO VISIT ETERNAL TIMING

Saturday Elite Results:

Men:

1. Danny Ching, USA
2. Jamie Mitchell, AUZ
3. Slater Trout, USA

Women’s:

1. Candice Appleby, USA
2. Brandi Baksic, USA
3. Rachel Bruntsch, USA

Sunday Elite Results:

Men:

1. Danny Ching, USA – Unlimited Class

1.    Jamie Mitchell, AUZ – 14′ Class

Women:

1. Brandi Baksic, USA

Misc. Canadian Results

Sunday – Canadian Relay Team: 20th (44 teams)

Elite  Race – Saturday: Norm Hann – 65th, Bodie Shandro -79th, Allan Gornall – 118th, Lina Augaitus – 24th

Open Age Group – Saturday

• Kelvin Humenny 2nd      103:37 70 surfboard class
• Andrew Robinson 2nd   1:02:42 (14ft 19-29)
• Mike Darbyshire 3rd     1:01:39 (19-29 class)
• Ken Rymer 15th              107:38  (30-39 class)
• Kevin O’Brien 26th         107:44  (40-49 class)
• Warren Currie 29th       1:07:55 (40-49 class)
• Delmer Wowk 30th       1:08:01 (40-49 class)
• Ian Nelson 28th             1:17:40  (30-39 class)
• Jeff 30th                            1:24:21  (30-39 class)
• Bob Putnam 24th         1:12:11 (50-59 class)

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2 Comments

1.   Melvin Palmiano   |  Thursday, 14 October 2010 at 4:09 pm

   HEY! I’m not on that list of Canadians! =)

   
2.   Delmer Wowk   |  Friday, 22 October 2010 at 4:01 pm

   Awesome time at BOP, we should try and round up all the Canadians at BOP and have a few beverages next year . Sorry I did not have a chance to meet up with the rest of you. See you in 2011!