Cali Paddler is proud to collaborate for a 2nd year with the premiere winter race in Southern California, the Hanohano Huki Ocean Challenge on January 26, 2019 to help the event be as environmentally friendly as possible. Cali Paddler will be handling the collection and proper transfer out of recyclables at the event. Ensuring that paddlers have piece of mind after enjoying the day.
"We have been a vendor at this race for four years now, and always are stoked at the turnout", according to Clarke Graves, co-founder of Cali Paddler, a paddling lifestyle brand with a focus on community and conservation. "Last year, we reached out to the race organizers about how we can collaborate to make it better, from an eco-standpoint. We set-up recycle opportunities and took care of the issues races often face of a lot of plastic water bottles ending up in the trash due to inadequate recycling bins." Graves shared.
Dan Van Dyck the race director and fellow paddler shared the desire to make a positive environmental impact. Eager to continue improvements and solutions moving forward and knowing Cali Paddler has been at events and beaches helping on this front before, the collaboration was born. Cali Paddler's Blue Buckets are found at beach cleanups around the state, both organized and impromptu. Van Dyck and Graves decided the presence of these buckets again in 2019 at the event would be an effective recyclable container. Paddlers will see the CP Blue Buckets next to all trash cans so that plastic, glass and aluminum items can be placed and eventually recycled. "At the end of the day, Cali Paddler will assist the organizers and volunteers to gather all contents and transport them to proper facilities. This frees our volunteer staff up to focus on race-day logistics, and keeps our costs down so we can continue to have low registration fees for the paddlers" explained Van Dyck.
Additional eco-efforts include a second year of encouraging paddlers to bring their own water bottles which can be filled at Gatorade and water stations on-site. "Cali Paddler is thrilled to see races care about the environment as much as the paddlers do. We hope this is just the start of collaborations with events and races to take stewardship to the next level," concluded Graves.
Also, stay tuned for collaboration news with local paddle companies to give away re-usable water-bottles to take advantage of the refill stations.
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The 24th Hanohano Huki Ocean Challenge is Saturday January 26, 2019 at Bonita Cove Mission Bay. SUP, Prone, Outrigger, and Surf-ski racers can compete in 5 mile or 10 mile courses, as well as kids races.
Paddlers are encouraged to pre-register at Paddle Guru.
Cali Paddler was founded in 2015 for paddlers, by paddlers, with the hopes of uniting all the paddle craft on the water. They will have a booth at the event where paddlers are encouraged to come visit, learn about the 5% Paddler Pledge, and check out their paddling themed apparel. Learn more at www.CaliPaddler.com.
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