Results are in from today’s massive Hanohano Huki Ocean Challenge down in Mission Bay, San Diego.

The Hanohano race, now in its 19th year, is one of the real gems on the racing calendar. This event always draws a big crowd and seems much more about having fun and getting out on the water than any kind of serious competition. It’s one of those great community races that give our sport such a great foundation.

However it is still a race and there were some very fast paddlers out there today, with world #2 Candice Appleby the quickest of the women on her 12’6. Candice had some company today though, as Olympic gold medalist Krisztina Zur crossed only 3 seconds behind, while rising star Shae Foudy was a further 5 seconds adrift at the finish.

On the men’s side it was one of the new names on the scene that saluted. Tamas Buday Jr, who just got his call up to the Canadian team for the ISA Worlds in Sayulita, took out the battle of the 14 footers ahead of world #13 Chase Koseterlitz, Noa Hopper and Chance Fielder. Everybody’s favourite shaper/hipster/Instagrammer, Dave Boehne from Infinity boards, came home as the quickest 12’6.

 
While the Hanohano SUP Race is always a classic, this year it may have broken new ground. There were over 500 competitors in total across the SUP, prone, outrigger and surf ski divisions. There were a staggering 440 finishers in the short course race alone (there’s also a ‘Long Course’ race at Hanohano, however that attracts a smaller field and is closed to SUPs).

Of those 440 finishers, a massive 302 were on stand up paddle boards. In fact there were a few more than 302, because a couple of the boards in this morning’s race were carrying multiple paddlers. One in particular was carrying four…

“The Ark” – a monster of a creation from the DeBoer Brothers Dick and Dane, made its public debut at the Hanohano today and didn’t disappoint. With Dick, Dane, Mike Vaughan and current world number one Annabel Anderson paddling in unison, The Ark took line hours in a time of 56 minutes 28 seconds.

This is the first time a multi-person SUP board has defeated all of the unlimited guys in the Hanohano race, with trophy collector Thomas Maximus having to settle for 2nd over the line today.

At 43.5 feet in length but just 21 inches in width, The Ark is surely the world’s longest stand up paddle board. Imagine trying to ride a giant pencil… that’s kinda what this thing must be like to paddle. Fortunately The Ark comes with a couple of outrigger canoe “amas” (stabilising arms) to make the whole show possible.

This is one of the coolest and funnest looking boards I’ve ever seen. Annabel Anderson was certainly impressed, commenting on Instagram that The Ark was the “Equal most fun I’ve ever had on a SUP board.”

 
The start of today’s Hanohano race was, in what has become something of a tradition, a bit “messy” to say the least. It’s difficult to do an even water start in any race, let alone one with 400+ competitors. Though nobody suggested that took anything away from the race, with all reports saying the Hanohano has once again established itself as one of California’s true staple races.

I had the Hanohano marked down as the world’s 18th “Most Significant” Stand Up Paddle race of 2015, however in hindsight even that lofty ranking may have been a bit harsh. This truly does seem to be a magnificent event – no surprise considering the main organiser behind the scenes is Dan Van Dyck, aka the driving force behind the avalanche that is Stand Up For The Cure.

Anyway back to Mission Bay in San Diego, here are the full results from today’s Hanohano short course race.

Check out BOGA’s gallery on Facebook for some more pics. UPDATE: OnItPro have their usual five million shots posted as well – here’s Gallery #1, Gallery #2 and Gallery #3.

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RESULTS: 2015 Hanohano Huki Ocean Challenge – Short Course

[notdevice]Click “M/F” to switch between Men’s and Women’s Results
Click “Class” or “Division” to show results from the various board classes and age divisions
Click “Time” to reset the results

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(Raw results, including prone/surf ski/outrigger divisions, available on Paddle Guru)