Each May, OluKai holds its annual premier paddling festival on Maui’s north shore to celebrate Hawaiian culture and the traditions that surround this community. The event brings together both elite athletes competing in the world’s best SUP and OC1 races (highlighted by the legendary Maliko Downwind Run) and is also a gathering of friends and family-friendly activities in a celebration of the ocean and cultures that surround it. This year, the Olukai will take place April 29- May 2, 2016 at Kahana Beach Park on Maui.

The Ultimate Waterman is partnering with Dolphin Surf Craft to give its athletes the opportunity to ride boards developed and manufactured using world leading technology by New Zealand company Kinaroad.

Purps is excited to announce the signing of SUP World Champion, positive role model and health spokesperson, Candice Appleby.

Congratulations to Starboard’s Michael Booth from Australia who dominated the Forster Island Paddle Festival last weekend.  Michael won the BOP and the 10km race portion of the event while coming in 3rd in the 200km sprints.

Congratulations to two of Starboard SUPs top US racers Fiona Wylde and Quintin Chiapperino along with Kieren Grant for winning the BVI Pain Killer Cup. The team spent four days on a catamaran cruising the islands, taking in the beautiful scenery and scoring the best wave in Tortolla before taking on the pain killer race.

SIC Maui is extremely proud to announce the selection of Tommy Buday to join the ranks of its elite team of Global Athletes. Tommy Buday is one of the hardest working athletes in SUP and as a 3x Olympian he is certainly no stranger to competing at the highest levels of international paddle sports competition.

NSP is very proud to announce Titouan Puyo (TI2) from New Caledonia, has signed with NSP. 2015 French Champion and 2015 world number 5, Titouan Puyo is excited to join NSP as he continues his climb up the world leaderboard rankings.

P-Australia has officially signed professional stand up paddler, Chase Kosterlitz, to the international SUP team. During his five years as a professional paddler, Chase has competed across the United States and around the world. Throughout his paddling career, he has won some of the sport’s biggest races including the Battle of the Paddle distance race and the Lost Mills SUP Championship.

Once again, Mission Bay in San Diego hosted the 20th Annual Hanohano Huki Ocean Challenge and the event did not disappoint. With gloomy skies for the majority of the day, the attitudes and demeanors of the athletes and spectators were anything but. Every direction you looked you saw smiles and heard laughter and cheers. The Hanohano is notorious for being a classic event with nothing but fun on offer and this year it once again lived up to that reputation.

Hanohano Outrigger Canoe Club and Huki Outrigger/Surfski present the 20th Annual Hanohano Huki Ocean Challenge to be held in Mission Bay, San Diego, California on January 23rd, 2016. The Hanohano Huki Ocean Challenge, a WPA sanctioned points race and flagship event for the SoCal Winter Racing Series, is one of the Longest Running Paddlesport Races in California offering access to all paddle crafts including OC-1 & 2, Surfski, Traditional Paddleboard, Standup Paddleboard and Kayak.

It was 1980, long before the days of modern Stand Up Paddle Boarding. Rand Perkins was standing to paddle as he raced canoes down class 3 and 4 rapids. Everyone else was kneeling. In those days, paddling in a canoe was executed on one side­ your dominant paddling side. Not so for “the Alien”, as Perkins is affectionately known by his competitors…

2015 was a stand out year for the young Mo Freitas. Mo traveled across the globe and was a top performing athlete in practically every race in which he participated. To get the perspective from a top stand up paddle professional athlete on the best SUP events in the world we called up Mo and talked to him about his top SUP event picks for 2015 and his reasoning behind his picks.