The Surftech Tour

I've joined the ranks of Surftech, and will join them in Hawaii for the Duke's Ocean Festival and paddleboard race on August 29th and then in California for the Henessey International Paddleboard race in San Francisco 9 Miles(Aquatic Park, around Angel and Alcatraz Islands, and back).

I'm really excited to be a part of their family! In addition to riding the paddleboards that Joe Bark hand shapes for me, I now get to try so many different shapes of surfboards that my head is spinning (Joe also has paddleboard Surftech models)!

Check out the press release below.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Surftech team riders Jamie Mitchell and Kanesa Duncan win Rainbow Sandals Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard Race

Oahu, Hi. (July 31, 2009) – Surftech team rider Jamie Mitchell (Gold Coast, Australia) is far more than simply the worlds fastest paddler. He’s a surfer who has proven himself in the big wave arena by charging massive surf in Australia, Hawaii, Mexico, and California on both his surfboards and stand up paddleboards. Last weekend in extremely challenging seas, Jamie won the 32-mile Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard race for the 8th straight time, with his closest competitor, Hawaii's Brian Rocheleau, more than 20 minutes behind. "The first two-thirds (of the course) was pretty good — I could feel the current from the start," Mitchell said. "But then that last third, it took forever to get close ... it was tough. Probably the toughest race of the last three or four years."

Recent addition to the Surftech team, Kanesa Duncan (Honolulu, Hawaii) earned her 7th Molokai to Oahu Women’s title last weekend on her brand new Bark paddleboard. Duncan dominated the women's field, finishing with a time of 6:29:29, more than 16 minutes ahead of runner-up Bianca Lee of Australia. “I especially appreciated in this years race!” said Duncan. “My work schedule and travel to conferences limited my training, which was okay as I'd planned around it and got some early miles in, but then I got pretty sick 3 weeks ago... so after resting for the past 3 weeks, I went into this year's channel a bit behind where I would have liked fitness-wise. However, I think my experience and my supporters came through for me in the end and I still managed to pull out a good race.”

Congratulations to both Jamie and Kanesa and don’t be surprised to see both of them on the starting line at various races in California later this year.

Also be sure to check out Jamie’s new 9’8” Surftech SUP model in stores later this fall.

For more info contact:
Duke Brouwer
Surftech Marketing Manager
duke@surftech.com
www.surftech.com

9x 32 miles = more than 40 hours paddling Kaiwi Channel

Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard 2009 - 9th crossing in a row. 7th win... going for a full decade in 2010!

Aloha and mahalo for all of your support!.... I especially appreciated in this years race!  My work schedule and travel to conferences limited my training, which was okay as I'd planned around it and got some early miles in, but then I got pretty sick 3 weeks ago... so after resting for the past 3 weeks, I went into this year's channel a bit behind where I would have liked fitness-wise.

However, I think my experience and my supporters came through for me in the end and I still managed to pull out a good race... conditions were definitely challenging, and it sounds like pretty much everyone wished for a bit more muscle power in the last hour!! My main man Norm, the ultimate boat driver escort, kept me in good shape, and his wife Mikala and my boyfriend Thor all backed me up in water drops and cheers.

Overall, my training partners did great - Brian Rocheleau got second overall, Mikey Cote killed the stock division and my coach Eric Abbott took 3rd stock. My friends over the years from California, France and Australia also paddled well.... so that was fun to see! And, It was pretty awesome to be able to give Jerry Lopez a lei after he finished the team Stand Up race with Sparky (from Rainbow sandals)!  All in all a heck of a day.

Now that I have the channel down (which is one heck of a training run), I'm looking to be in good shape for the remainder of the season!

Thanks for all of your support and love. I received so many comments from people who are excited that we're bringing awareness to WWW.RACETOHEAL.COM and cancer screening / treatment options, especially for those folks without health insurance.

Keep up the good work!
Here is latest press - the link to the video has expired, and I didn't archive the file (if you watched it, you got to see Iwalani and Gordon - my Pualani swimsuit sponsors in the background as I finish).

Molokai Race to Heal

3 days to go 'til 2009 Molokai Pboard channel race - we had a fabulous press conference, pre-race dinner hosted by Maui Jims and a fun registration get-together last night.

Here are links to the KHNL News 8 story (I think there was more live on TV as I'm told I talked quite a bit!) and here is a link to a write up and online video in the Honolulu Advertiser newspaper. Always nice when they help me do my job of integrating marine science in daily life. Gotta love it!

And for more on the pink board saga.... it rests safely at the repair shop. It's not done getting fixed yet, but that's okay as I've decided to go with the yellow Bark board I paddled last year (which rocks!). It has a bit less rocker and an easier entry into waves, which will be good for the channel as we're setting up for seas with lower wave height and pretty short periods - the forecast is for some light to moderate winds with an ebbing tide and a SW swell pushing against us.

Pink PINK Pink - RACE TO HEAL

Gearing up for Sunday's Molokai Channel - We did a photo shoot with Dana Edmunds yesterday for Maui Jims Sunglasses and a press conference today.

Here's a sneak preview of the pink beauty, which we are using to showcase www.racetoheal.org, a group supporting awareness for women's breast / cervical cancer and programs, like those at Queen's hospital, that provide free screening and free treatment for people with low income and no health insurance.

The board did have an accident yesterday, however, and is at the repair shop now, so it might sit out the channel. But, it will be back in no time for some epic downwind paddles - now off to the races.

Photos by Dana Edmunds - http://www.danafoto.com/

Cold California - Monterey and Carmel

ITINERARY:

Fly from Honolulu to San Francisco.
Check.
Get one very supportive mom to play taxi driver. Check.
Drive to Santa Cruz and pick up board from very hospitable SurfTech folks.
Check.
Show up in Monterey for work meetings and conference...... squeeze in as much paddling as possible.
Check.

When I got to Monterey, I thought that they would laugh at me and my Hawaii-adapted blood when I showed up with my XCEL paddling pants, a paddling top, my shortie wetsuit and my mom's booties to layer up for my cold water paddle... but then I saw that everyone else was wearing full wetsuits. IN JULY. TO PADDLEBOARD. Suddenly my layers felt more inadequate rather than overkill.

At Whaler's Cove

Nevertheless, I braved the water, the kelp and the fog to paddle with a great group of guys (the CWC, or Carmel Waterman's Club). They showed me the beautiful coastline of Carmel, from Stillwater Cove along 17-mile drive to Whaler's Bay. We scouted out the course for their upcoming (August 9, 2009) inaugural paddleboard race and they pretty much arranged all of their schedules around my conferences (National Marine Educator's Association Conference and Sea Grant Educator's Network Meeting) to help me train! They even fed me dinner (steak, salmon, chicken, artichoke, asparagus)... I highly recommend this area of CA for the good people and the scenery - next time, I'll just ask them to turn on the water heater before I arrive!

ps. Next stop = Molokai to Oahu! (hurricanes not withstanding - it looks like a few are heading our way!)

Paddling back.....

Mom, the taxi driver, takes to the water on a slightly drier & warmer vehicle than a paddleboard!

No shortage of wild life - the baby sea otters and their moms were all around us!

The sea lions of CA - this one is a BIG BOY!