The new custom hand shaped 12'6" SUB9 Battle Board from Dave Parmenter was amazing (just wished I had more than an afternoon to train on it the day before the race, but I have all year to get it dialed in for 2012). At 18lbs with all new lines (taken from Travis Grant's BOP - HI winning board), SUB9 race boards will be a design to be reckoned with in 2012 and beyond.
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| Had a good start in my 2011 BOP - CA Elite Heat (Green Shorts - Orange Board) / Photo: C. Randazzo |
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| Headed to beach exchange - 2011 BOP - CA Elite race / Photo: C. Randazzo |
Got to spend some time training and hanging out with one of my C4 team mates Travis Grant and the rest of the C4 crew. Had a great start in my Elite Trial Race and was in the top 30 headed into the last lap, but took a wrong line at a buoy turn and got hung up with five other boards (while watching about 15-20 paddlers blaze past us around the buoy on the outside by the time we got "un-stuck")...but THAT is what the "Battle" is all about...Hero to Zero in one wrong move or mishap...gotta love it!
Huge Mahalo to Ty; C4's new Global Sales Manager. Ty ran boards back and forth for the HI and AU team riders and made sure we all had a place to park for the event (as many of you already know, C4 parted ways from their multi-year relationship with Boardworks about 2 weeks before BOP-CA, so myself and the rest of the team were nomads for the event this year). The separation has now spawned 12 x new SUP Surf and Race designs under the S9 logo and will also include all of the legacy shapes we have all grown to love under the C4 logo. More on that soon...
I want to thank Sean Cook and the crew at Premier SUP Apparel for letting myself and Travis grab some sand at their tents the first day of the Elite races. Premier is a new clothing sponsor of mine this year and seriously have THE BEST boardshorts on the planet. If you want subtle bordies that are so stretchy and comfortable you would swear you were naked...click on Premier's logo on my Blog page and order a pair. I surf them, race them, run in them, train at the gym in them and relax on Sunday's in them (my wife has started to ask if I burned all of my other shorts...lol).
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| Headed to beach finish - 2011 BOP 10 mile race - 14ft Class / Photo: C. Randazzo |
Larry Allison (Allison Race Fins and Pro Box Fins) and I hung out at his "Lair" while I was in CA and it was so cool to see his "covert" operation. His fins have made a HUGE difference in my performance over the past year and I now see why NO ONE can copy what he does. Hand Made, Hand Engineered, CUSTOM all the way. Each fin a work of art and performance. As his new Team Rider shirts say..."Perfection in Direction"...Nuff Said.
Check out Larry Allison and also SUP Race Fins on Face Book and find out what FAST is all about.
Lastly, big thanks to On It Pro, Indo Board, Connected Fitness Sports Performance Training, Watermans Applied Science Sun Protection, H2O Audio, SPY Optics, GoPro Cameras and Hammer Nutrition for their sponsorship and support as always. Without them I could not continue to compete at a Pro/Am level in SUP.
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| 2011 BOP - CA Buoy Turn / Photo: C. Randazzo |
As always, my wife Nancy and Daughter Gaya (my biggest fans) allow me the opportunity to attend events like BOP-CA each year and express my passion everyday. I love you.
Training now for the 2011 22 mile Causeway 2 Causeway in Cocoa, FL on November 5th. This will be my 5th C2C (2007 was the innauguration of this 1st class event). It is on the Indian River Lagoon in FL. No current, No swell, sometimes head wind for 1/2 of it (hate that), NO support boat. You carry what you need and paddle flat out for 22 miles. Each year I am asked; "was it fun??"
NO.
But it is one of the BEST tests of who you are and what you are made of in SUP racing. I HATE EVERY minute of it and will be back every year...lol.
More updates later this week on the training and prep for this type of extreme enduro "Paddle Battle" race later this week...
Aloha, see you in the water...
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