Thursday, June 25, 2009

Chuck Patterson Wins The First Annual Rainbow Sandals Battle Of The Paddle

By Mike Freedman

I couldn't sleep the night before the biggest stand up paddle event to date because all I could think of was how amazing this would be!

Pretty decent waves today with more expected for tomorrow. The event organizer Barrett Tester and Pat Huber have the beach looking like a major rock band is going to have their concert there. Slater Trout is all amped up and definitely going to give the heavy hitters a hard time.

Every one seems so focused checking each others gear out. Chuck Patterson is exceptionally focused because this is his home town, he either needs to go big or deal with the disappointment of facing them the next day. Meanwhile Ekolu Kalam shows up with his board inside of his Hummer.

Patterson is super-fit"has lost at least ten pounds. And hes gobbled up all the tech advantages he knows about, from applying a super slippery speed sheen called Extreme Cream on the bottom of his spankin new Hobie carbon fiber race board, to using the new Monster Paint traction spray on his deck and paddle shaft.

The lighter weight racers showing up like Odie and Slater began to worry Chuck. In this type of event speed is key. Board size is kept within a minimum to equalize the competition so the lighter guys will have the speed advantage.

Chuck need some crazy wave conditions to make it a fare fight and he ended up getting his wish. He earned every penny of his prize money!

The night before the big race all the competitors where practicing well into the night and psyching themselves up. Chuck did his usual, take the dog for a stroll and dream about being number one. This came true the next day.

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