WPA sanctioned race, $750 trials purse and $1.500 added to the gold Beach Challenge & Rogue River Race purses. Total prize money of at least $3,750. This should give everyone an incentive to come on down and paddle. This gives everyone a chance to win some money and surf against some of the top talent on the world tour, pretty cool. I plan on comping the rooms for the top 8 World Tour competitors that make it up to the Gold Beach Challenge. I hope to get the contest done before the Pistol River Wave Bash kicks in on Thursday. There sounds like their might be some interest in a race down the Rogue River. Any thoughts email me.

Stand up Showdown 2011 Final

The 2011 Showdown exceeded expectations and the Inn of the Beachcomber is planning to make this years event mo betta. The stoke is high. Current plans call for a SUP clinic at the Beachcomber on Saturday June 9th and a race up the Famous Rogue River Sunday morning. Dropping of the sanctioning application with the World Paddle Association (WPA) today! The expert 7.5 mile race course up the Rogue River will be a little over 3.5 miles up to snag patch and 3.5 miles back to the sand spit at the mouth of the Rogue River. The last mile and half of the course will be determined closer to race day based on the expect river flow. The beginner course will be 2 miles up and turn around at the cotton wood tree and back down.

The Holding period is expect to run through the end of the AWT Pistol River Wave Bash June 17th. The Wave Bash has priority so we will attempt to work around the windsurfing event for the Stand Up Paddle Surf Contest. Last year after the Showdown Zane and bunch of guys went out in front on the Beachcomber and recommended that the contest be held there. The SUP surf event will be in front of the Inn of the Beachcomber and we will run as much as we can before the wind kicks up. If we can't get the contest finished before the start of the Wave Bash we will run heats starting at 7:00 AM and end in time for the skippers meeting at Pistol. The goal is to get the SUP surf contest in the books by June 16th.

I expect last years champion, 2 time World Champion Kai Lenny to return as well as number four in World Stand Up Tour Zane Schweitzer. I have been talking with Benoit Carpentier about the contest. My hope is to get most all the west coast guys, Daniel Huges, Chuck Paterson, Mat Becker and Sean Poynter. With that kind of talent I want to make sure we have primo conditions. I invited all those guys to be my guest at the Inn of the Beachcomber during the Sunset Pro so hopefully we can get at least 8 Stand Up World Tour SUPers to the showdown.

Plans are a little fluid but stay tuned for more information and more epic news. We may make some changes to the schedule based on feedback from the Stand Up World Tour competitors. Last year I put up $1,500 in prize money and this year the plan is to double that to $3,000. I expect to have the prize money split between the race and the surf contest.

Yea I have been holding out of posting this one. Zane is just killing it. Unreal to get the chance to shoot theses guys at Pistol River. Come on over and watch theses guys at the Inn of the Beachcomber break this year in person..

iphone and MAC users can download the file if the player freezes or not flash friendly The Showdown exceeded expectations. The wind had died from the day before and Pistol was definitely rippable. Zane Schweitzer and Diego talked up the contest so we had 25 entries. Robby Naish took his board out and was shredding all day. It was not possible to not be stoked from the start. Bernd & Norm Roediger joined Zane Schweitzer and World Champion Kai Lenny in the finals. The lineup was ripping for over a quarter of mile. I will be posting more video up this week as I work through it. I will start with the first final and end with some great footage of Robby Naish. After the final Zane and Kai were tied so they had a surf off. Way stoked to get to film 2 top five paddlers all day on the Southern Oregon Coast. I've been trying to get some people out in front of the Beachcomber for a couple of years. When I was downloading the video Skyler, Diego, Josh and a ton of guys came up to the demo boards and headed out to the break in front of the inn where Zane Schweitzer was ripping it. The Beachcomber was way cleaner than Pistol and I was super stoked to film. The word back was everyone wants the contest in front of the Beachcomber. More footage on the way. After breakfast I grabbed some of the guys for some impromptu interviews. Here are some clips of Kai talking about the surf at the Beachcomber and Pistol. I have thrown in some footage of the Beachcomber and Pistol so you can see what they were talking about. Bottom line the contest exceeded all expectation. We are ripping out some walls and are ordering more boards for the SUP shop. The 9� Hokua was a hit as well at the Starboard Widepoint. How many Board Shops can you demo boards at on a break endorsed by two of the top guys on the Standup World Tour?

iphone and MAC users can download the file if the player freezes or not flash friendly

 

Yea the chance to shot Robby Naish at Pistol the last 2 years has been epic. Dana Miller came down the first year to tell me Robby was going out on his sail during the 2010 Wave Bash. That was great because I knew people were swarming and KP was filming, something was going on. Hope he makes it back this year. Here is some footage of Robby Naish SUPing during last years first Stand Up Paddle contest in Gold Beach. Charlie say's Robby's schedule is tight so enjoy this rare footage of Robby with out a sail at Pistol. On another note I got a call from Lee Murphy in Gig Harbor and he is stocked to come down to the trials. Idea of the year was to get the world tour guys to judge it and give input on the judges cards. Yo how great an idea is that. For fifty bucks you get the chance to win some money, input from the stand up world tour pros and a chance to SUP against them. I am looking for 24 in the trials and the top eight to move on. Eight main event SUPers and the Maui crew in the wave bash. Stay tuned for more and enjoy Robby in the fast lane. Can you say waterman! Video Of Robby Naish Stand Up Paddle Boarding at Pistol

For The only HD live surf cam in Gold Beach Oregon and the south coast forecast go to the source GoldBeachWeather.com