Carolina Cup

I got home from the Carolina Cup at 1:30 in the morning yesterday, and boy am I glad to have a day off school today!! I definitely need some rest after such a busy, fun weekend.

My mom and I flew over to Wilmington on Thursday morning and caught a ride to the Blockade Runner in Wrightsville Beach. Already racers were starting to arrive from all over the world! I got to see friends from Hawaii, California, New Zealand, and of course my Florida buddies from back home. Jimmy Terrell, the owner of Quickblade Paddles, was putting on a stroke clinic with legendary wat


erman and 10 time Molokai2Oahu winner Jamie Mitchell, and they asked me to help!! I learned a lot myself and it was awesome to be a part of a clinic with such accomplished paddlers.

On Friday, a bunch of board companies put out their tents and boards for paddlers to play with on the beach! A bunch of the local girls walked up and introduced themselves to me. They actually knew who I was, and they wanted to paddle with me!! I even signed some autographs!! It is so incredible to have kids come up and tell me that I've inspired them and that they look up to me because of my paddling. I even had parents introduce themselves and thank me for being a role model to their kids!! No matter what race I may win, place I will travel, or event I will compete in, nothing will mean as much to me as hearing that from a bunch of girls stoked on paddling. It's amazing that I can touch other people's lives just from living my own life to the fullest and doing what I love. Those girls were the ones who inspired me!!

The next day was race day!! Looking out at the conditions, it seemed a lot like last year's course--a fun 2 miles downwind, a looong flat water slog against current and wind, through a tossing, breaking pass, finishing with a side wind, choppy paddle back to the start; in total more than 13 miles. I got caught up at the buoy in the beginning after I had a great start because my leash got caught in the buoy string and I had to jump off my board, detach my leash, get back onboard and put my leash back on. I was kicking myself for making such a silly error!! All of the girls I wanted to beat were already starting ahead of me. But this motivated me to put my head down and make up the lost ground. I passed all but four girls, but I could feel the racers behind me creep up on me, then fall behind. I worked really hard to make sure they never passed me. By the time I got to mile 12, my body had just about quit on me. My legs were cramped and stiff and I couldn't feel my toes!! But my muscle memory kicked in and my arms just kept going like I have done almost every day for the past couple of years. I fell on my way in to the finish because my legs weren't working, but I managed to make the run up the beach more than 2 minutes ahead of my closest competition!!

The cheers at the finish line and passing the demo beach along the course were undoubtedly the best part of the race. I got a little teary thinking about how many people were rooting for me and cared about my place in the race. The stoke and enthusiasm just radiating from the crowd is awesome and so humbling. One of the other highlights for me was staying the the Quickblade house with some of my paddling teammates and heroes like Matt Becker, Jimmy Terrell, Candice Appleby, Krisztina Zur, Brandi Baksic, Joe Bark, etc. To have my name next to such amazing paddlers is so incredible. 

I ended up in fifth overall in women's, which counts as a podium position in a big race like the Carolina Cup!! I'm stoked to have reached my goal and placed in the biggest East Coast race. Big congrats to all the racers who competed. Also very proud of the Carolina/Georgia girls who raced this weekend, Lindsay, Audrey, Macentire, and Betsy!! I was asked to give a "Most Inspirational" award to one racer from the weekend on behalf of Standup Paddle Magazine, and I was honored to present it to Anna Blackburn, a 13 y/o girl who killed in the 6 mile race!! She and the other girls inspire me to keep paddling and reach out other paddlers across the world. 

HUGE thank you to Quickblade for putting me and my mom up at the Blockade Runner and for their endless love and support <3 Also to Bark for setting me up with the best boards, and Maui Jim for keeping my eyes shielded during the race. Suncoast Surf Shop paid my entry fee, which is huge for me! SUP race fins gave me the best fin for all of the Graveyard course conditions, and Sweet Waterwear helped me with much needed compression pants for the race. I had so much fun, cannot wait til next year!!

xoxo Bailey

Siesta Key Classic

Where did this month go??? Seriously, I cannot believe that it's already April and all of the sudden I'm neck deep in SUP season and, naturally, tons of homework. 

I missed the Florida State Championships this year, which was a bummer, but I had a family event that was way more important :) lucky for me there was another race on April 14, the Shark Bite Challenge. It was a super fun day, it felt really good to race again! I went pretty hard and ended up with first, so I was stoked :)

I'm going to have to be a bit more careful, though. I recently discovered that I have some tendinitis (tendon swelling) in my shoulders from paddling so much. It's not a huge deal, but I have to make sure that I take it easy and don't overdo it---and I haven't done a very good job of that so far, between the couple of epic downwinders we've had, plus races, plus SUP surfing.

It didn't help that there was a big race on April 20th, a 12 miler called the Siesta Key Classic. Normally I may or may not race the weekend before a huge national race (this weekend is Carolina Cup!), but this race was unique. The first place female 12'6" got a free round trip ticket to Hawaii!! There was no way I was passing this up. 

But I also didn't want to skip my Junior Prom! So rather than choose, I just decided to do both, and just wing it and see what happens. Prom night was really fun and I left a little bit early so that I could wake up before dawn and head down to Siesta Key. So on 4 hours of sleep I arrived with the crew from Suncoast Surf Shop in tow to an overcast day with threatening wind. I knew there wasn't going to be any big competition, so I decided to just go for it. By this time I must have been running on fumes, after writing a 4,000 word essay in the week before as well as my usual homework and responsibilities!!

It was one of the most brutal races of my life!! They tried to shorten the course to make it only 8 miles, but I had to go way far out of the way through the channel to escape the shallow breakers, and it ended up being 13 miles!! It was totally upwind the whole way there and to my dismay, the wind had died a little on the way back. I didn't really push it because I was solidly in first. I spared my shoulders, took it slow, and just had fun with it!! It was great training conditions and I feel more confident now about Carolina Cup now that I've pulled a longer paddle.

I was so exhausted after the race. My toes felt like they were going to fall off and my shoulders were super sore. But I looked over to the water about 10 minutes after the race, and the waves looked SO FUN. Within 20 minutes I was back out on the water catching the BEAUTIFUL waist high peelers in the crystal water, with stingrays swooping underneath me and a ton of friends around me. 

Unfortunately I didn't have time to stay for awards, it was my little sister's birthday so my mom and I hurried home to her. We celebrated for her at home and I promised to take her out to lunch to make up for being gone on her actual birthday. She and my brother are so understanding, they were happy for me!! 

And now I have a $1000 voucher for a round trip ticket to Hawaii!!!! I'm so excited!!!! I'll be there sometime within the year, but for now it will have to wait. This weekend is the biggest race on the East Coast, the Carolina Cup!! Next weekend I'll be heading to SoCal to tour colleges, volunteer with Stand Up for the Cure, and compete in the Performance Paddling Jr Pro!! I'll also be taking the SAT while I'm there, hahaha!! Then it will be Key West Classic, Florida Cup, Standup for Cancer, exams, the ACT, the SAT... the list goes on. But I'm excited and I feel ready for anything!!

As always huge thanks to Bark, Sweet Waterwear, Suncoast Surf Shop, Maui Jim, Surftech, Coach Mike, my family, and also to Quickblade, who sent me a new paddle to help with my tendinitis. These people are the best, wouldn't be where I am without them!! 

Until next time, wish me luck!!

xoxo bailey