An armada of stand-up paddlers circumnavigated Manhattan on Friday to raise money for autism. Each of the 150 paddlers had to raise at least $1000 to donate to the cause, which attracted even a few Hawaiians to fly halfway around the globe for the event. No word yet on how many of the paddlers contracted hepatitis in the crystalline waters of the East River.
Happy day off, friends. This video comes from The Cleanest Line. Some lucky dude and his ladyfriend riding empty sets in Chile for 45 minutes. He shot it with a GoPro HD. Hopefully you’re doing something equally rad this Memorial Day. Me? Sitting in traffic.
Hawaii stretches across three degrees of latitude, and two SUPers decided they’d paddle their way across them this month. Jenny Kalmback and Morgan Hoesterey are on their way, and you can check-in with them on Facebook. On an unrelated note, Backcountry.com is now selling Stand-Up Paddleboard goods. Yes, this is the sport once referred to as “Rollerblading of the ocean.” That said, Stand-Up Paddleboarding is actually pretty fun. Though I guess Rollerblading was for awhile there, too.
Thanks Elias
An extremely rare shark attack in Florida ended a 38-year-old kite surfer’s life. The man was about 500 yards off-shore when a gang of juvenile great whites attacked him. It’s the first fatal shark attack in Florida in over five years. A lifeguard swam into the school and pulled the injured kite surfer out and paddled him back to shore. He was taken to a hospital where he later died.
You know how shark attacks are extremely rare, but people still worry about them all the time anyway? It’s because of these insanely freaky stories where the ocean turns turbid with dorsal fins. Sure, lightening kills way more people each year, but lightenting doesn’t creep up and try to eat you. It sounds like a freakin horror movie. Can you imagine being a lifeguard who paddled out to help the bitten kite surfer?
Looks like some lucky youngsters found a nice souvenir! The Quiksilver Eddie Big Wave Surfing competition that was last week. It takes place once a year, unless the conditions never get big enough and then it’ll be postponed until the following year. This is the first time clean waves rose to the required height in Waimea Bay since 2005.
