Archive for the 'Pro Updates' Category

Dave Kalama discuses the E3 boards, foiling and downwind best practices

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I caught up with legendary waterman Dave Kalama to talk about all things foiling. Dave shares his knowledge about foil boards including construction, design, weight, size, and more. We also talk about foiling techniques and skills, as well as his lineup of the Kalama E3 Performance foil boards. These are his newest designs for SUP downwind foiling, Wind wing foiling and SUP foil surfing. I’ve been using the E3 model 6′ and it’s a big improvement over the custom that Dave shaped for me in 2018. We get into the nitty gritty details and if you’re into that then I think you’ll like this interview.
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Connor Wins Gold at the 2019 Pan American Games – Event Recap by Connor Baxter

Connor Wins Gold at the 2019 Pan American Games

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The 2019 Pan American Games is an event that made history for Stand Up Paddling and Surfing and is forever engraved in my mind. For the people that aren’t familiar with this event – it’s a mini Olympics that happens every 4 years that’s always one year before the Olympic Games, but it’s only for the America’s, so from Canada to the bottom of South America. This year it was hosted in Peru and it was the first year Surfing and Stand Up Paddling have ever been included.
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Connor wins the Overall Title of The New York SUP Open – Event Recap by Connor Baxter

Connor wins the Overall Title
of The New York SUP Open
Presented by the APP World Tour

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The New York SUP Open was an incredible event and definitely a bucket list of a race. This was the second stop of the APP World Tour after London and they did it again with an amazing race around the Statue of Liberty.
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Connor takes out the Kerama Blue Cup in Japan – Event Recap by Connor Baxter

Connor takes out the Kerama Blue Cup in Japan

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The 2018 Kerama Blue Cup was an event to remember, with its stunning blue water and amazing island life style. It was definitely a mission to get here for me coming from Hawaii with 20 hours of traveling to Okinawa. Then jumping on a 3 hour ferry ride to some incredible islands that reminded me of back home.
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Connor Baxter Wins the 2018 OluKai Ho’olaule’a – Event Recap by Connor Baxter

Connor Baxter Wins the 2018 OluKai Ho’olaule’a

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The 2018 Olukai was another great event with some crazy conditions that we will be talking about for years to come!

The race was originally supposed to be on Saturday, but with the crazy north winds and lots of rain it was postponed until Sunday. I woke up early to have the meeting about doing either a course race or the traditional downwinder. The decision was made and I headed towards Maliko for an 11:30 start. Continue reading ‘Connor Baxter Wins the 2018 OluKai Ho’olaule’a – Event Recap by Connor Baxter’

Connor Baxter Wins The Battle of the Bay – Event Recap by Connor Baxter

Connor Wins the “Battle of the Bay”

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This year’s Battle of the Bay in San Francisco was an epic grind. The day started off beautiful without a cloud in the sky and the conditions were ramping up to be super fun for the afternoon with some wind. It was going to be a full day with the a 8 mile distance race in the morning and then a 4 mile course race in the afternoon.
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Connor wins the 8th Annual Maui-2-Molokai – Event Recap by Connor Baxter

Connor Wins the 8th Annual Maui-2-Molokai Event
Making it 8 Straight
And the Longest Winning Streak in SUP

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Recap by Connor Baxter

This years 8th Annual Maui-2-Molokai was another Epic Battle and Channel Crossing.
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Connor Wins the 2017 Hossegor Paddle Games – Event Recap by Connor Baxter

Connor Wins the 2017 Hossegor Paddle Games!!

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The 2017 Hossegor Paddle Games was a great event in a sick town here in France for my second stop on the Euro Tour.
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Connor wins the Red Bull Heavy Water Event and Clinches the World Title for 2016 – Recap by Connor Baxter

Connor wins the Red Bull Heavy Water Event
and Clinches the World Title for 2016

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The 2016 Red Bull Heavy Water race was by far the hardest and gnarliest race I have competed in.
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Interview with Travis Grant at the 2016 Cline Mann Memorial Paddleboard Race

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I caught up with Travis Grant at the 2016 Cline Mann Memorial Paddleboard Race. Travis shares his thoughts on the race, his preparation and training, as well as his new “Tahitian-Style” paddle stroke technique.
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The 2016 Quiksilver Survivor Race – Recap by Connor Baxter

The 2016 Quiksilver JM Survivor Race

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The 2016 Quiksilver Survivor Race was a huge success – with very tough competition. It was a one day event and had the survivor format – which is the hardest race format for short sprints. The first heat started with 44 men and the bottom 10 were eliminated. This was the worst round for me and I got stuck in the back of the pack. I finished in 11th and made it through to the next round, but this year each round you get points for what place you get and at the end you want the smallest number of points.
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The 2016 Molokai-2-Oahu – Recap by Connor Baxter

Molokai-2-Oahu Championships

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The 2016 Molokai2Oahu Championships was a big turn out with some tough competition. This is one of the biggest events in Hawaii for stand up paddling.
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Interview with Robert Stehlik and Jimmy Fitt at the 2016 Blue Planet/Wet Feet WPA Race

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I caught up with Robert Stehlik and Jimmy Fitt at the 2016 Blue Planet/Wet Feet WPA Race. They shared their thoughts about the race, gears they used, as well as some tips for those looking to participate in the same SUP/paddleboard race.
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Connor wins his 7th Straight Victory at the Maui-2-Molokai Crossing – Recap by Connor Baxter

Connor wins his 7th Straight Victory
at the Maui-2-Molokai 28-Mile Crossing

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Connor’s victory extends the longest winning streak in the men’s sport. Not only has Connor never lost this race, but nobody else has ever won it. Connor took out the inaugural event as a scrawny teenager at 15 years old back in 2010, and he has triumphed every year since.
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The 2016 SUP World Cup – Recap by Connor Baxter

Connor Baxter secures Victory at Stop 2 of the 2016 World Series

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The 2016 SUP World Cup in Scharbeutz Germany was a huge event. There was a huge crowd on the beach and a stacked field of competitors. After five weekends of racing in Europe, it was finally coming to an end. This was my Sixth and Final Event in Europe for the summer.
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