The Battle of the paddle California 2010

The next race is on in 2 days.

The current SUP top is meeting in Dana Point, California. The 5 mile race through the surf on Saturday and 10 mile long distance on Sunday. Check the life reports on

www.rainbowsandals.com/BattleOfthePaddle/CA/

I will keep you posted. Aloha ,Bart

WON the 11-city!

Sorry this post didn't get through yet.
But after hard work and 25hrs of paddeling I won the 11-city tour just 25sec. Ahhoooeha, jsut ahead of Xavier Mazdevall and 5 minutes ahead of Erwin Janssen.

Final press release Mistral SUP 11-City Tour 1-5 September.

Athletes paddle 220 kilometers in 5 days along 11 historical Frisian cities; the ultimate challenge!

The last start of the Mistral SUP 11-City Tour fires at 10 am, Sunday the 5th of September. It is the last stage Dokkum-Leeuwarden where all the final results will be realized. 15 extra SUP enthusiast sign up for the day- stage which results in the largest and most exciting start of 45 suppers sprint away to create themselves a good position in the line up.

The northeast winds, accompanied by happy sunshine, blow the participants for the most part of the day in the back. SUPporters, locals, friends and families accompany the suppers from bridge to bridge from town to town.

World champion ice skater ('96) Annamarie Thomas makes her debut on a SUP as she participates as the 'celeb' of the day. She is being accompanied by Mike van Snek; general director division Mistral Europe. Annamarie announces to participate next year with a team as she is 'hooked' after her first SUP kilometers.

The finish place in Leeuwarden is hard to miss: Tents, beach flags, banners show that there's
something going on. The Red Bull hummer tops it up with upbeat tunes and a solid sound system for speaker Amanda.

Bart de Zwart (Starboard, DAKINE, Kanaha Kai Maui) is the first to cross the finish line in 3:06:43 (over a distance of 26 kilometers). Xavier Masdevall (Rivierapaddelsurf, Ron house, Quick Blade,
PHB.es, Radz Hawaii, Crocs, Prolimit. Gaastra, Tabou, Healthsystem.es) follows him closely with a time of 3:06:48. With his win, Bart de Zwart takes the title of the Mistral SUP 11-City Tour and his winning overall time is: 23:28:55.

Erwin Janssen (Brunotti/ Holland Composites Industrials) crosses the line today in 3:13:13. He is tortured by tendinitis in his wrist and it took him a lot of mental strength to finish this stage. A large group of friends and family were waiting for him at the finish. The result of this day stage is also the result of the overall of the event.

Jenny Kalmbach (Naish, Pure Paddles, 2XU, Dakine, Watermans Applied Science, Kaenon) and
Karen Wrenn (Naish, Kaenon, Kialoa, Vitamin A, On It Pro) finish together in 3:23:26. Anne-Marie Reichman (Roxy clothing, Starboard, Da Kine, SimmerSails) finishes about 16 minutes later with a time of: 3:39:29. Karen her overall time is impressive: 25:17:53. She is actually 1 second in front of Jenny, but the girls like to tie in the overall result.

Besides the fun and pride to complete the tour, the competition is fierce beyond the teams. Team Hightide and Kite Mobile battle for first place. Kite Mobile safes their 'power house' for the last and wins the final stage – which gives them the overall team title. Their total time is 26:38:54. Team Hightide comes second with a time of 26:52:53. Starboard-SUPmagazine team is happy with their third place with a total time of 27:22:48.

The free SUP clinics, organized Starboard and Naish, are also the last day of the event a huge success. People of all ages get their first introduction to SUP.


Overall female winners:
1.Karen Wrenn 25:17:53
2.Jenny Kalmbach: 25:17:54
3.Anne-Marie: 26:45:15

The SUP 11-City Tour is proud to present equal prize money for men and women.


Overall male winners:
1.Bart de Zwart 23:28:55
2.Xavier Masdevall 23:29:18
3.Erwin Janssen 23:34:45

Drama and excitement in the SUP 11 city tour

Yesterday disaster struck when after being 9 minutes ahead Xavi and I missed a turn and paddled 9 km extra. Today was decided that the extra time will be cut in half, which leaves us with a 21 min. penalty.
Today was a new race with new changes. We had the same racers in the lead, Erwin, Xavi and I and Bellard following. Since we had to make up time we went hard and sprinted away from Erwin just before the half way break. When Xavi and I came to Franeker we sprinted to thee finish again. A long 1.5 km sprint where Xavi took off , I caught up , Xavi almost got caught in fishing line, I got the inside curve and took over and finished just ahead of Xavi. A hard long day. Erwin came in 9 min later followed by Bellard from Spain. Jenny Kalbach came in first in the women division just ahead of her friend Karen. Two more days and this 220 km race is over. Tomorrow they call for head wind, another grueling day in Frysland.
Aloha from Holland
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The 220 km 11 city race is on

Day 1
Today was the start of 11 city tour. A five day race. We started at 9:00. A few racers from last year returned and many new competitors. The maximum length for the sup boards is 16 foot. I race on the Starboard K15, made for flatwater racing.
Like last year every body sprinted away at the start. With 45 km to go. Soon we had Xavier Mazdevall from Spain, Erwin Jansen from Holland and me at the front. After 15 minute break Xavi and I took off and battled each other for hours. In the end 1 km from the finish we were still together. We decided to sprint for the finish the last 500 meters. At that piont we were allready very tired. At the finish I could the race for me with xavi right behind finish time was 4hrs and 55min. Erwin came in 3rd 7 min later. After a good massage we have to eat a lot to make up for everything lost today. Day 2. Starts tomorrow at 9:00.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry