Paddle Articles

A little while back Cali Paddler did a thorough race preview of what paddlers could expect with this race. But to be honest nothing is quite as exciting as getting to hear what it was like by one of our own. Who doesn't like to talk paddling after spending all day paddling (#ifyoupaddleyougetit). So one day after finishing this 41 mile journey, Micah Winslow shared his experiences with us. Take a few minutes to get the scoop and see if it is a good fit for you in 2019.

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Without a doubt the most prestigious outrigger event in all of California, the Catalina Crossing is the US Championship race. Paddlers from all over the world travel to participate, and certainly from all over our great state.

We thought back to our experiences, and reached out to a few veteran Catalina Channel crossers who shared with us some tips for the first time crosser, as well as reminders for those who are doing the race a second, third, or thirtieth time. Enjoy...and we encourage you to share your tips in the comments as well (because we know there are more)!

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[This was written by Team Writer Clarke after his Molokai Hoe journey across the Ka'iwi Channel in October 2014. Good luck to all the Cali Paddlers who will be taking on this special journey in the coming days and years. ]

I didn’t really set out to do this race when teams were first being discussed months and months ago. In fact it took some pretty amazing support and encouragement for me to even think it could become a reality. But it did. Conditions were described by several local Hawaiian clubs as “challenging” “fun” “rough”. I had some amazing teammates, some were in the canoe, some back home, help get me across. And I will be putting this down as one of those achievements that makes me a better person, nevermind just a better paddler.

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I decided to really challenge myself and compete in the OC1 category. Looking back, I think a bit of “crazy” came over me when wanting to do the crossing. Training for the race was difficult.  I often trained alone, putting in a lot of early mornings and late nights. Training for more than 2.5 hours was new to me and presented many new challenges that I had to overcome. A lot went in to being 100% ready for the race, from the millimeters of adjusting the ama, to the miles and hours put into training and getting ready. My goal had been set from previous training sessions. I wanted to complete the MBX in 4 hours. I felt ready.

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