Battle of the Paddle 2013

What an amazing whirlwind weekend I had!! Crazy to think that this time last week I was madly packing and worrying about the biggest race of the year-Battle of the Paddle! I left St. Pete on Wednesday night with excitement, ambition, and plenty of butterflies. But as I sit here now and reflect on the weekend, I must say that I’m pretty happy with how I did!

My mom and I arrived in California late Wednesday night at the Quickblade house in Dana Point. Just staying there was a cool experience in itself. My mom and were the only Americans, the other paddlers hailed from Italy, Spain, Denmark, Austria, and Canada!! It was so fun to spend time with such an international team.

Thursday morning I was up and ready to go! Quickblade Paddles booked a spot on the SUPConnect live show, so I drove down to San Diego with Sylvia and Gabriele, from Italy. Mark Athanacio from Florida joined us as well. It was so fun! Andre from SUPConnect asked me lots of good questions about my paddling and how I was passing it on to other kids. It was cool to see how things worked behind the scenes at SUPConnect. From there we drove to San Onofre State Beach for a SUP Session! It was windy, but the waves were fun and it was so great to get out on the water!! I hadn’t seen surf that big since Hawaii, so it was definitely good practice for the race on Saturday. I felt pretty confident in the waves, much more so than last year.

That night was the SUP Awards. It was an awesome ceremony and I had a ton of fun reconnecting with some great friends. Gerry Lopez gave an interesting speech, as did Laird Hamilton. I didn’t win any awards, but I honestly didn’t think that I would! There’s a lot of athletes that have been paddling longer, and frankly, deserve it more than I do. But I was stoked for a nomination and had a great time!!

Friday was practice, and more practice! I started the morning with an early session at Doheny catching waves on my race board. I was happy with my surfing, and it felt good to get some of the pre-race jitters out. From Doheny I paddled to Baby Beach for a Performance Paddling team practice. The kids on the team are absolutely awesome, and solid paddlers even at their young age. It was also fun to have a couple mini-competitions with kids my age, like Vanina Walsh and Giorgio and Izzi Gomez. They are so fun and I love being around them!!

We paddled pack to Doheny and I surfed a little while longer. After a quick pit stop at the QB house, I headed over to the Maui Jim dinner party!  They make the best glasses and always make sure I’m fed and happy at BOP J I went to bed early that night full of anticipation for the Elite race the next day.

It was race day. I arrived at the site early and had all of my gear ready to go. I even set my board up at the starting line almost an hour early so I knew I would have a good spot. I watched the heat before me go with my board hander Brett Huf, who gave me some great advice on the infamous Hammer Buoy. 

Finally it was time for my elimination heat. I had to be in the top 50% of female finishers to advance, and that's not easy in the most stacked race of the year. The horn went off earlier than it was supposed to, which was a shock to me and some of the other competitors. I got caught at the start because my friend Zane momentarily lost his board in the confusion. But he got right back up and I still managed to get an okay start! I put my head down and paddled hard for the whole heat. I was so nervous about making it through! At one point I was finishing a lap and I heard the announcers yell "Anyone that's not in yet is right on the bubble of making it to the next round--better hurry up!!" I panicked! It was only after that I realized that they were probably referring to the guys, because I finished 7th overall in my heat, easily advancing to the final!

I tried my best to rest up (in the fabulous Quickblade tent), but I was pretty spent. Still, I was happy just to be in the final!! At the start I was pretty in awe of the amazing field of Elite paddlers I was racing with. Funny enough, I got caught by another board at the start, so I fell in at almost last place. But I caught a lucky wave at the Hammer buoy and managed to make up some time. Through both my races I got super lucky at the buoys and coming in, and I didn't fall once! I definitely felt very confident in the smallish waves. I ended up as the 23rd female finisher. Not as good as I could've done; a lot of girls beat me who I almost always win against. But I was happy overall with the result and had a blast! 

The next day was the 10 mile distance race. Again, I was feeling pretty tired, but once I got out onto the course, I started feeling much better. Almost all of the female paddlers this year were on 14 foot boards, the new Elite class. I've never raced a 14', so I decided to stick with my 12'6. Pretty soon into the race I formed a draft train with Halie Harrison and Vanina Walsh. They are excellent paddlers and I think we made a great team! It's always fun to draft with people you know and like. Halie passed me at the end (I was beat), but we made good time and I was stoked! I was also relieved, it was my last race of the weekend :) It was a real pleasure to watch the kids race, I'm always so proud of those kids! Their perseverance and enthusiasm was matched by none. 

I was lucky enough to be able to spend an extra day in Cali thanks to my mom!! We spent the day surfing and hanging out at SanO. The waves were perfect and the company was prime. I even scored a new board, thanks to Candice Appleby! I was stoked to be able to take it home with me. That night I went to dinner with the Terrell family and some of my Quickblade teammates. I am so overwhelmed by their support. Quickblade not only makes the strongest, fastest, lightest paddles, but they go above and beyond to support me and make me feel like family. I don't know where I'd be without them <3

I am really grateful for everyone who supported me this weekend in big and small ways. My mom, Lizzie and Jim Terrell, Candice Appleby, the Hufs, the Gomezes, Vanina, Zane Schweitzer, the Trouts, Martin Lenny, Ashley Baxter--I could go on and on, these are just a few people who encourage me to be my best and chase my dreams. It means a lot to me, and it makes it fun for me to compete. I had an incredible weekend and a lot of success.

Now it's time for me to take a little break from paddling, my elbows and shoulders are really bothering me after this weekend. But I'll still be cross training and I'll be back on the wagon with paddling in no time! Hoping to head up to Tennessee to support some friends in the Chattajack, and maybe even go to Paddle Royale in December!! For now I'll be concentrating on school and healing up. I had an incredible time, and I'm so grateful for the support of all of my friends and sponsors. Can't wait for next year!!

Bailey