Hanohano Ocean Challenge Returns to Mission Bay in January 2027

SAN DIEGO, California - Mark January 30, 2027 on your calendar. The Hanohano Ocean Challenge returns to Bonita Cove in Mission Bay, and for a lot of West Coast paddlers that date is when the racing season really begins.

Hosted by the Hanohano Outrigger Canoe Club, the race has grown from a backyard surfski event into one of the biggest paddling gatherings in North America. The 2027 race will be the 32nd. The 2025 race had 889 registered athletes, and paddlers have traveled from across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Tahiti and beyond to line up on the beach at Bonita Cove.

Every Craft, Every Age

Few races put this many kinds of boats on the same start line. Outrigger canoes, surfskis, stand up paddle boards, prone paddleboards and kayaks all race, and the field runs from first-timers to world champions. The organizer welcomes paddlers aged 7 to 80. SUP champions Candice Appleby and Danny Ching have both raced it, and Ching won the men's open short course in 2025.

The 2027 race has three distances: a 4.5-mile short course, a long course of roughly 9 miles, and a 1,000 m junior race for the next generation.

The Short Course, Turn by Turn

If you plan to race the short course on a SUP, here is how the organizer lays it out.

The start runs in waves from Bonita Cove, marshaled by Safety Boat #1. OC-1, OC-2 and all surfskis go first. All SUPs follow two minutes later, and all prone paddlers go two minutes after that. SUPs and paddleboards start off their boards in knee-deep water, so practice a clean running mount before race day.

From the airhorn, the field heads for the left jetty at the mouth of Bonita Cove. The organizer warns about shallow rocks there, so steer clear. The course then follows the lead boat toward SeaWorld, staying to the right and passing under the Mission Bay Drive and Ingraham Street bridges. After a left turn at a buoy mid-channel past the SeaWorld tower, you hug the jetty on your right and loop counterclockwise around Vacation Isle, then return to Bonita Cove. Watch for boat traffic the whole way. The finish sits between a buoy and a boat beside the start line.

Mission Bay is mostly flat water. Still, January wind can turn the channels choppy, and in 2025 a small craft warning forced the long course to move inside the bay. Come ready for headwind, downwind and cross-chop.

More Than a Race

Ask the regulars what makes Hanohano special and the racing is only half the answer. The club has worked to keep entry costs low so price is not a barrier. The day ends with a big awards ceremony and raffle, and in past years the grand prize has been a brand-new V-1 outrigger canoe. Most of all, it is a reunion. Old friends catch up on the beach, and new paddlers find their way into the sport.

As Standup For The Cure executive director Dan Van Dyck put it after the 2023 race, "It's not all about the racing for many of us. The Hanohano Ocean Challenge is a reunion of paddlers who share a love for the sport, the ocean and our Ohana."

Get on the Start Line

Registration and race details are on the organizer's PaddleGuru page. The race is also on our events calendar. If January 30 is your first race of 2027, read our tips for first-time SUP racers and our Fall 2026 SUP Gear Guide before you go.

For a look at what Hanohano race day is like, see our recaps of the record-breaking 2023 race and the 30th anniversary in 2025.