September 6, 2013
by Christopher Parker (@wheresbossman)

Memory Lane Trip: 2008 Battle Of The Paddle Results + Videos


Tiki Racing Month

Only 22 days and counting until the 2013 Battle of the Paddle… On September 28th & 29th hundreds of paddlers from all around the world will converge on Dana Point, California for the sixth annual edition of this iconic SUP race.

But where did this whole BOP craze begin? Well I think it’s a good time to take a stroll down memory lane, waaaay back to 2008 and the first ever Battle of the Paddle…

BOP 2008. This was the event that kicked off the whole SUP racing revolution.

Back then the sport was still totally in its infancy. Everybody else in the water still thought of Stand Up Paddling as some bizarro form of surfing on giant, oversized surfboards, with an even more bizarro group of guys trying to race on those giant surfboards… SUP surfing wasn’t even accepted yet, let alone SUP racing.

In fact the sport was so new that up until this day (October 11, 2008) there wasn’t even such a thing as the 12’6″ class. The Battle of the Paddle invented it right then and there.

So this is the day Stand Up Paddle racing became legit. Granted there’d been guys racing on SUPs as far back as 2004, but up until the 2008 Battle of the Paddle it was pure novelty. The BOP set the standard on that day and has largely continued to do so for the past five years.

So what went down on that fateful Saturday afternoon in Southern California?

Well, as any die-hard SUP racing fan will tell you, the first ever Battle of the Paddle was won by none other than Mr. Chuck Patterson. That’s kinda written into Stand Up Paddling folklore. Also winning way back then was Jenny Kalmbach, who took out the women’s Elite Race ahead of a young Candice Appleby. And just look at some of the other names on that results sheet, there’s a whole bunch of SUP racing stalwarts who were there… Those guys and girls definitely deserve our respect for being there on “Day One” of the sport.

Interestingly, the prize money back in 2008 was $25,000, the same as 2013. For the past five years that’s been an unmtched, most-lucrative-prize-purse-in-the-sport figure, meaning the Battle of the Paddle obviously went big right from the start.

So there you go. The 2008 Battle of the Paddle. Where it all began.

But for those of us that weren’t around that landmark day, fortunately the moment was captured on video, so we searched YouTube and found a couple of good highlight reels.

(yes, believe it or not, YouTube already existed in 2008… I know five years is an eternity in the world of Stand Up Paddling, but our sport really hasn’t been around for very long in the general scheme of things)

So without further ado, here it is, video footage of the first ever Battle of the Paddle (oh and scroll past the vids for the FULL RESULTS from the 2008 Elite Race – total memory lane trip).


One of the smoothest edits we could find of the first ever Battle of the Paddle. Slow mo footage and all. It’s also available in HD (yes, apparently HD existed five years ago).


This one is the kicker though: The 2008 Battle of the Paddle Elite Race with voice-over commentary from none other than Chuck Patterson himself. It’s like some bonus easter egg you find on your favourite DVD. Check him out at the 1 minute 05 second mark – looks like the freakin’ Terminator in those sunnies.

*****

Looking at those vids I can’t help but notice: Just how many non-race boards were used in the first year?! You’d never see anything but a slick-looking 12’6 in the Elite Race these days, but back then guys were on all sorts of shapes. Classic.

You may also have noticed that the course was totally different in the first year. The famous “M-Shape” course didn’t debut until 2009. Back at the first event it was a simple rectangle course (with plenty of wind to make things difficult).

So there you go. That’s what the 2008 Battle of the Paddle looked like.

But if the videos weren’t enough we’ve even dug up the complete results from the first ever BOP…

There are plenty of famous names in there: The Mad Scientist came home 5th, a (very) young Slater Trout finished right beyond San Clemente stalwart Colin McPhillips, Dan Gavere got top 10, Rob Rojas paddled something other than an Unlimited, Andrew Logreco paddled the most stylish board ever to grace the Elite Race (the fluro orange thing), while plenty of other BOP regulars can be found on the inaugural results sheet as well.

2008 Battle of the Paddle Elite Race RESULTS

Click “M/F” to switch between men’s and women’s results
Click “Time” to reset the results…

#M/FM/F #NameTime
1M1Chuck Patterson1:12:06
2M2Thibert Lussiaa1:13:48
3M3Aaron Napolean1:15:34
4M4Kyle Mochizuki1:16:50
5M5Jimmy Terrell1:18:40
6M6Bryce Saeman1:19:53
7M7Rob Pelkey1:20:03
8M8Guy Pere1:20:07
9M9Dan Gavere1:20:11
10M10Brandon Denos1:20:36
11M11Tj Saeman1:20:47
12M12Robert Rojas1:21:42
13M13Mike Murphy1:22:20
14M14Mark Raaphorst1:22:33
15M15Ben Wilkinson1:22:45
16M16Jared Vargas1:23:10
17M17Andrew Del Greco1:23:18
18M18Tony Mueller1:23:27
19M19Odie Sumi1:24:58
20M20Mitch Kahn1:26:16
21M21Cary Acord1:26:21
22M22Kalani Vierra1:26:23
23M23Brad Rambo1:26:26
24M24Jeremy Riggs1:27:11
25M25Sol Morey1:27:55
26M26Jay Butki1:28:00
27M27Raimana Van Bastolaer1:28:08
28M28Duane Desoto1:28:21
29M29Brandon Rambo1:28:27
30F1Jenny Kalmbach1:28:40
31M30Chris Koener1:29:21
32M31Kevin Shaughnessy1:30:39
33M32Colin Mcphillips1:30:54
34M33Slater Trout1:30:54
35M34Mario Melendez1:31:10
36M35Ernie Johnson1:32:00
37M36Jordan Malloch1:32:55
38M37Noah Shimabukuro1:33:50
39M38Blaine Morgan1:35:11
40F2Candice Appleby1:35:16
41M39George Loren1:35:42
42F3Morgan Hoesterey1:40:50
43F4Christina Powers1:43:14
44M40Campbell Ferell1:45:51
45M41Robby Ellingson1:47:30
46M42Clayton Wright1:47:40
47M43Brian Fernandez1:48:23
48M44Gene Smith1:49:13
49F5Tiare Lawrence1:55:11
50M45Makamae Desoto1:56:18
51F6Jennifer Koki1:57:00
52M46Tom Jones1:58:21