This post is Part I.
About a year ago the kids joined a local youth team.
The Sayulita JR SUP Team. Local kids of all ability levels and ages come twice per week to receive coaching and get some paddle time with former pro SUP racers, Shelby Rose Taylor-Jiménez and Bicho Jimenez Lorenzo.
The program has helped Alex and Trace turn into water people. Had we stayed in Park City they would most certainly be mountain kids but the ocean is literally down the street and a constant source of fun and challenge.
Just one month before the start of
The Pacific Paddle Games some of the Team parents and coaches decided to see what kind of interest there might be for some of the kids to travel up to Dana Point, California to compete for the first time against kids from other programs. The call was answered by 9 kids. Fund raising began and the Team departed September 27 for one of the biggest competitions in SUP racing. The kids had never raced against anyone other than their own teammates so we were not really sure what was going to happen or how they would stack up to kids in their own age categories.
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| Coach Bicho at the PV airport with some of the Team |
The team all got to Dana Point anyway the could and several of us met the first day at a local surfboard builder and retail shop called
Brawner Boards. This shop had enough gear to outfit all the kids with SUP race boards. These guys made our ability to race possible and we are so appreciative. Brawner Boards also supplied boards to several members of Team Mexico who competed recently at the 2017 ISA SUP and Paddleboard World Championships. The kids train on 11' SUP boards but they would be expected to race on 12'6" length boards. A big departure from the boards the kids were use to maneuvering through a technical course and surfing to the beach when there were waves. Fortunately we arrived in time for 2 days of training before the actual race to give the kids a chance to get accustomed to their new gear to compete on.
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| Team photo just before the first practice |
The Team stayed locally in various locations. We stayed basically across the street from the beach so we could run back to our hotel room if we needed something or just needed to get out of the sun for a while. Our friends and parents of another SUP competitor have been outfitting a RV since last summer and they had it stored a short drive away. They were able to bring it to the event and it became the Team HQ and we loaded boards on top of the rig at the end of each afternoon.
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| Team HQ |
The evening of the first practice there was a sponseor, SUP The Mag, organized award's ceremony and we showed up again not knowing what to expect. All we knew was that there was going to be pizza and a complimentary bar set up. Most of us parents were in just for that.
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| The Team's "RED CARPET" photo was featured the next day on the SUP The Mag's website..RAD! |
What we found was the coolest assembly of SUP athletes in the World. Virtually all the big names were there. We knew many of the faces from watching the ISA SUP World Championships online over the years and from Youtube. When the World Championships came to Sayulita in 2015 we saw many of these athletes up close as well. Ashley and I had just enough cocktails before the event that we started asking many of the athletes for a quick photo with the kids. The athletes were absolutely fantastic! We did not get a single "No", "Maybe later" or "I can't right now". Our Team was the only "Grom"(kid) presence at the event so we stuck out as a group and were even were featured on
SUP The Mag's website recap of the event the following day.
We have so many great photos of the evening. Trace met one of his favorite SUP surfers,
Sean Poynter. He won the gold medal at the World Championships here in Sayulita.
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| Sean Poynter |
Alex really enjoyed meeting
Candice Appleby who had some great words of encouragement for Alex and her friend, Ava. Candice is another ISA 2015 gold medalist. Alex, Ashley and I also had a great talk with
Izzy Gomez. She also won gold in Sayulita in SUP surfing. She loves Sayulita and we spoke to her for quite a few minutes and hope to see her return to Mexico someday. Both of these women are SUP powerhouses.
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| Ava, Candice Appleby and Alex |
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| Izzy Gomez and Alex |
I think Ashleys favorite part of the evening was when we spotted
Chuck Patterson in the corner of the venue. We had seen Chuck attend the Punta Sayulita SUP and Longboard Classic that was held here several years ago. Ashley went over to him and asked him for a photo with the kids and he was super happy to do it. By the look on Ashley's face in the below photo I think she was equally as happy about it. The funny part was that we noticed that Chuck and I were dressed almost exactly alike wearing the same shirt and pants and got a good laugh over it. I admit he pulled the style off much better than I did. The SUP The Mag photographer loved the photo opportunity too.
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| Good fun with Chuck Patterson |
We pretty much closed the place down and went back to the hotel to get ready for another day of practice in the morning. We met tons of other people like Mo Freitas, Conner Baxter, Casper Steinfath, Fiona Wylde, Zane Schweitzer and others. When the PROs associated our coaches together with the kid's Team from Mexico then everyone was even more excited to give us a few moment of their time. Sayulita's own
Fernando Stalla was there as well and helped coach the kids during their training leading up to the event.
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| Bicho, Shelby(with baby on board), Zane and Fernando with the Team |
...and that was only day one. Part II will follow soon.
A few more pictures just for the heck of it and no, you probably won't know who any of these people are unless you SUP.
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| Conner Baxter |
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