Florida Cup!

After the disaster of a race in Key West and a really trying week at school, I did NOT want to race at the Florida Cup, which is quite unlike me. I love to race and compete, especially in a fun race practically in my backyard. At first I wanted to ride tandem (two people paddling one board) with my friend Heather, but decided against it because it's important for me to only ride boards from the company that sponsors me. So instead, I got to ride the Batmobile!!! It's a super fast black carbon fiber board with "wings" going out the side and it even has a Batman logo! It's designed like a sprint canoe by my mentor and hero, 5 time Olympian and owner of Quickblade Paddles, Jim Terrell. 

The day of the race I felt like crap. It was a tough week at school, I was feeling drained, and to make matters worse, I broke my phone the previous night. Even out on my warmup I felt shaky, like I wasn't even going to be able to finish. Then I surprised myself again-I absolutely CRUSHED the race. The Batboard was fast, .2 miles per hour faster than my regular board, which is huge, especially in an 8 mile race! I wiped out both of the Women's Elite Divisions and felt great after!!

As much as I am cheered by my successes I'm even more stoked when my friends and mentorees succeed!! I could not have been more proud of them this weekend. 3 of my friends at only 14 killed the female short course race, taking first, second, and fourth!! Two of the guys around my age did really great too, taking first and second in their race :) I was so stoked for them and really proud of the kids I train with. After the awards ceremony I had to run off to collect some soil samples and meet my friends to work on a school project. I left straight from there to attend the post race party at Gator's. 

On Sunday we had more sprint races! This is awesome for me because I really like sprint race formats and it's a great place for SUP to expand into. It ended up being just me and 2 of my friends in the girls' sprints, so it was pretty fun. We all have the same brand and type of paddles and boards, so that was super cool too! It was tough and we worked hard, and I was happy to say that although I won, the girls did a great job of keeping up with me and I'm sure they'll be chasing me even closer in the near future. 

So ends another successful weekend of racing, but this time close to home, which was pretty awesome. Still busy, but I'm starting to slow down and find some balance as school comes to an end and exams begin. Can't believe I'm going to be a senior soon!!!

xoxo, 

bailey :)

Key West Classic

I didn't even get an opportunity to unpack from my California trip the previous weekend before it was time to repack again--this time bound for Key West!! I love the Keys and this trip was extra special because the Lazy Dogs of Key West had invited me to host a kids clinic after the race (sponsored by my personal favorite, Quickblade Paddles)!! It was such an incredible opportunity for me, teaching kids (especially SUP) is one of my passions. So Friday afternoon, after taking my English AP test, my mom, my sister and I piled it in the car and headed down to Key West.

Saturday morning was the 12 mile race- and it's a hugely rough race!! The Keys are super hot and the humidity is really high, and if there's any wind at all then there's a ton of difficult side chop. I started pretty strong ahead of all the other girls I compete with. I got to mile 3 and suddenly, I just stopped.

My skin was clamming and I felt like I wasn't getting enough air in my lungs. My whole body was sore and my head spun; I just couldn't take another stroke. It was like all of the stress and work caught up to me in that one moment. The endless cycle of traveling, racing, and making up homework finally got to me and I finally encountered one difficulty I couldn't push through. It was somewhat of a relief, actually. For the past month and a half I had been wondering when I would crash, because it was definitely inevitable. Well, now I had my answer. I stood out on the water in the shipping channel through Key West, not even moving, watching the other paddlers go by. I had bonked. But I knew one thing with certainty-I was NOT giving up on this race. Never have I ever quit any race, and I don't ever plan to. So I started back up, slow and steady, and watched other paddlers pass me by as I cruised my way through the race.

It must have worked for me, because I surprised myself by ending up in second place!! I was so happy to be done with the race. It was brutal, the third hardest race I've ever done. That night I got to spend time with some friends and even MC the awards!! I also had a great time meeting and talking to the Special Olympics kids. They have amazing bright spirits and I hope to be able to work with them soon :) truly incredible.

The next day was ten times more fun than the previous!! At first I was really nervous because the wind was whipping and pretty much none of the kids had boards. So there I was with 20+ kids, one of them a Special Olympian, all of different ages, sizes, and paddling abilities. Luckily, I had two friends with me to keep me on track. I learned all the kids' names, talked with them about paddling stroke and instruction, and we did some stretching and warmups. All of the different board companies came together to set the kids up with boards and paddles, and we managed to get in some unstructured-but fun!- water time. 

By then it was time for the race!! I wasn't really expecting to, but I kind of took a leadership position on the race, which was cool for me. The course was super cool!! It was one lap around a buoy paddling and then a run through a mini-obstacle course, two laps for the kids 10 and up. These kids crushed it!!! I could not have asked for it to go any better under the rough conditions. All of the kids had a ton of fun, and I did too!! 

After that was the Sprints, which I won-yay!- and then the Relay Races! They were by far the most fun relay races that I have ever participated in. I went with two friends around my age, Trapper and Annette, plus another super fast racer and good friend named Jesse. All of us did 2 laps, and we got to go around the obstacle course too!! We ended in third, which was fine by me. Overall it was an incredible weekend, I had a lot of success and even more fun!!

We drove back Sunday so that I could get back to school on Monday. It was tiring but I'm glad I got to do it, an excellent opportunity and one of the highlights of my year so far. It's also my last out of town trip for a little while. Thank goodness!!!

Thanks for reading :)

bailey

Performance Paddling Jr Pro

When World Champ Candice Appleby and ocean athlete Anthony Vela announced that they would be putting on a special SUP event just for juniors, I was beyond stoked!! This would be the first ever truly professional event with just kids. She told me about it back in March, and I begged my mom to let me go for my birthday, which is the same weekend :) at first it looked like a definite no. I had my SAT that weekend, and there was no way I could miss that. I was actually sitting in the Quickblade factory at the time on my way back from Mexico, bummed that I would miss an event that would bring together my friends from all of the world. But then Candice suggested that I go ahead and take the SAT--at San Clemente High School in California!!!

I checked online and sure enough, you can take the SAT just about anywhere. All of the pieces fit together and I was all set up to go on a birthday trip to SoCal!! My mom and I arrived Thursday night and settled in the house where we were staying. We woke up early Friday morning and headed down to San Diego to tour some colleges. My favorite by far was University of California San Diego <3333 it's an amazing school, super close to the water, and it's broken up into 6 different colleges (almost like Hogwarts houses (; ) so it doesn't swallow you up. I absolutely love it and it's a perfect fit for me. Hopefully I can score some scholarships to be able to afford the out of state tuition!!

On Saturday, it was time for me to take my SAT. I arrived at San Clemente High and felt a little bit like a fish out of water because I didn't know anyone there and it wasn't exactly the kind of event where you make friends. But I felt like I did well, and I could feel the presence of SUP athletes like Candice Appleby and Brandi Baksic who attended San Clemente High School back in the day. After that it was off to Newport Beach for Stand Up for the Cure!! We missed the majority of the event, but it was cool to see some friends and check it out before it really ended.

It was another early wakeup call on Sunday morning for the Junior Pro!!! Finally!! The best part was seeing my old teammates and friends as well as making a ton of new ones. Some other Florida kids were there, as well as people from California, Utah, Oregon, Idaho, Hawaii, and even Australia!! It was truly amazing to see so many kids ripping in one place. The camraderie was palpable and everyone was filled with stoke and enthusiasm.

The race was not exactly my kind of race!! The kids from Hawaii and California had a big advantage over me because it was a super short race in and out of the surf. I managed to make fourth, and I'm pretty happy with that. I hung out the rest of the day (it was super cold-brrrr!!) before my surf heat in the afternoon. Originally, I had wanted to do the Girls Pro division, which I got an invite for. I ended up going with the age group category, which I regret because it ended up being a smaller field than the pro. But it was really fun, and I ended up in first!! I also won the Ocean Minded Essay Contest :)

By Monday it was time to go home again. It was a totally fun whirlwind trip and I had an incredible time!! Cannot wait for next year. 

xoxo bailey