By Logan Harle
Intern
Wrightsville Beach will again be at the center of the growing sport of standup paddleboard racing this weekend when it hosts the sixth-annual West Marine Carolina Cup, bringing in an expected 800 paddlers to compete in the largest race of its kind in the country.
The cup will again feature three standup paddleboard races that draws competitors of all levels from around the world, while adding a race for increasingly popular outrigger canoe.
“The Carolina Cup has become famous for not only attracting the Travis Grants, Danny Chings, and Annabel Andersons of the world,” said Australian Christopher Parker, paddleboard expert and race analyst with SUPRacer, “but also for drawing hundreds of weekend warriors and first-timers from near and far. The Carolina Cup is not just a race, it’s a festival.”
The cup includes the 3.5-mile Harbor Island race, the 6-mile Money Island race and the 13.2-mile Graveyard Race, an ocean and flatwater race that takes racers from the ocean side of the Blockade Runner Beach Resort, through the Intracoastal Waterway and around Wrightsville Beach. Depending on the paddler’s board and experience, racers are expected to take between 2 and 3.5 hours to complete the course.
Returning to the race is Annabel Anderson, a three-time champion in the cup’s elite and 13.5-mile Graveyard Race and top woman in the world in standup paddleboard.
“The Graveyard Race is just plain tough,” Anderson said. “It throws a bit of everything at you and you never really know which way you’re going until just before the gun goes. I’ll approach it as I always have — take it as it comes and look forward to making it to the finish line.”
Also returning to the cup, since 2012, is second-ranked Candice Appleby of California, who will compete in the women’s elite competition.
“Anderson and Appleby rarely meet,” Parker said. “It’s always a great battle when they’re on the same start line.”
Another returning competitor is Travis Grant of Australia, the 2015 Graveyard Race male champion, who beat three-time winner and third-ranked racer in the world Danny Ching, of Hermosa Beach, California
“I look forward to the Carolina Cup paddleboard race each year,” said Grant, the world’s second-ranked racer according to SUPRacer.com. “It’s the first big race of the season, and I think it’s great that the biggest paddle race in America is held on the East Coast.”
Grant said the conditions and length of the Graveyard Race make it a challenge for all competitors.
“The Graveyard Race is a very fitting name,” Grant said. “It is just that: a tough one. Anyone can potentially win. There are a lot of different elements to get right — surf, flatwater, inlet currents, wind — and there’s always a slight bit of luck involved.”
Ching will also be returning to compete, along with internationally ranked competitors from roughly twenty countries: New Zealand, Australia, France, Canada, Spain and Mexico, which will include Olympians, world-record holders, and champions in the disciplines of standup, prone, surfski and outrigger canoe paddling.
New on the race calendar this year is the six-person Hawaiian outrigger canoes (OC-6), which is scheduled to compete at noon on Sunday, April 24. Teams of six will compete in race heats around the Harbor Island Course.
“We believe this is the first ever OC-6 race in Wrightsville Beach,” Mark Schmidt, Carolina Cup race director, said. “One of the things we try to do with the race each year is to make it more inclusive to all the different watercraft.”
Clinics and demonstrations will be scheduled throughout the five-day event, including one by outrigger designer Johnny Puakea, founder of Puakea Designs, giving paddlers the chance to learn from one of the top pros in the industry. Organizers expect more than 1,000 registrations for races and clinics. The clinics and demonstrations will feature many of the top experts in the paddling world, including Larry Cain, Travis Grant, Lina Augaitis, Dan Gavere, Dr. Bob Arnot, Fiona Wylde and Zane Schweitzer.
Race visitors will have the opportunity to try boards, canoes, and a variety of equipment at the Demo Zone, where 60 vendors will have the latest equipment, boards, and boats on display. All races will be visible from host hotel Blockade Runner Beach Resort and the Causeway bridges on Wrightsville Beach.
“This will be a chance for spectators to watch some of the biggest names in Hawaiian outrigger paddling,” Schmidt said. “To see an event like this would typically require traveling to California or Hawaii. It will be a great show.”
