BOGA Team riders Ben Sarrazin, Jen Fuller, Dino Wilson and Dave Meyler take home medals at this years Surftech shootout race in Santa Cruz.

 Conditions proved challenging once again for the 2012 Stand Up Paddle Boards Surftech Shootout at Cowells Beach/Steamer Lane. With huge swell, rain and strong offshore winds only experienced paddlers set the stage to battle the rough course.   In a repeat of last year, racers shot off the line in large shore break, several racers were pushed back on their large race boards in the surf while Anthony Vela raced into the lead with BOGA racer Ben Sarrazin close behind.  Team rider Jen Fuller was caught in the huge shore break and started out in dead last place, but managed to move through the pack over the 6 mile course to take and impressive 3rd place behind Candice’s win and ahead of many Elite male riders in the class.  Meanwhile Ben Sarrazin managed the lead position and made it to shore in first place on the finish.  At this point Iron Man Anthony Vela used his running skills to pass Sarrazin on the beach before the finish line.  Ben settled for a strong 2nd place in the Elite class.  

BOGA owners and team riders Dave Meyler and Dino Wilson place 1st and 2nd respectively in the short course race.  A good time was had by all and we look forward to next years event!.  Congrats to team BOGA for a amazing performance against the worlds best paddlers.

BOGA Stand Up Paddle Boards is proud to announce new Elite racer Jen Fuller took home 2 first place trophies in the biggest race of the year, Dana Points Battle Of The Paddle. Jen placed 1st in both the Open and 10 Mile Race woman’s class aboard her 12.6 BOGA Race Board. Pictured her accepting her award amongst other competitors from the legendary Surf/Pipeline Icon Gerry Lopez.

Congrats to team BOGA paddlers. An amazing fun filled day in Tahoe, CA for the Donner O’neill Classic. Ben Sarrizan took 1st place in the 12.6 Open Stock on a BOGA and Sky Robbins placed 1st in the woman’s 12.6 Open Stock Race on a BOGA. Stay tuned for more race results!

April 16th- 2011 – BOGA Team Rider Ben Sarrazin managed to once again show his amazing paddle skills with a first place finish at the scenic BlueRushBoardSports SF Gate Down Wind Race. Under blue skies and with the scenic Golden Gate Bridge towering above, racers lined up for the approx 5 Mile down wind course. Right from the start Ben Sarrazin’s SF Bay paddling experience proved hard to beat as he took the lead and paddled to another 1st place aboard the 12.6 BOGA race board.

A big congratulations to Ben and the event organizers for another wonderful SUP SF Bay area event.

BOGA Paddleboards launches the new BOGA YOGA Stand Up Paddle Board (SUP), designed specifically for SUP fitness and Yoga On Water (YOW). This is the first ever SUP board designed to meet the needs of this new – and rapidly growing – market.

As Stand Up Paddle Boarding continues as the world’s fastest growing aquatic sport, traditional activities such as yoga and fitness classes have merged with it to create exciting new disciplines.  ”Currently classes are forced to use standard SUP boards which were designed for surfing and paddling, not fitness and yoga,” said David Meyler, founder and president of BOGA Paddleboards. “For the new board BOGA worked closely with instructors active in the SUP community to design a board that handled the unique needs associated with these activities.  We managed to design a winning board shape that has strong stability and balance while retaining BOGA’s leading-edge paddling and glide characteristics.”

With their background designing specific SUP boards for racers, surfers, and athletes, the BOGA team leveraged their performance-specific design experience. Features on the new board include a unique and highly supportive Aqua Stable Bottom (ASB) shape, an integrated PVC-free Yoga pad, secure paddle stash system, and a fitness resistance kit. These innovative features combine with accessible pricing, making the BOGA YOGA the choice to take – and hold – the lead in the Fitness/YOW category.

As respected Northern California SUP racer and fitness instructor, Jennifer Fuller, notes, “The current growth of fitness and yoga on SUP boards is off the charts, and growing worldwide. The combination of the benefits of these traditional exercises, along with the benefits of SUP, creates a unique, fun core workout that hooks my clients instantly. Having a board designed specifically for my needs will grow my client base and provide a much better platform that caters to our class and fitness routines.”

About BOGA: Based in Northern California, BOGA Paddleboards was founded by a group of industry professionals with the goal of bringing to market a lighter, stronger more high-performance Stand Up Paddle Board at a cost approachable for the average consumer. See the line and learn more at www.bogaboards.com.

CONTACT:  Dave Meyler  Email Address: press@bogaboards.com

Voice Phone Number: 415.830.4630   Website URL: www.bogaboards.com

Kai Lenny just won the final event of the Stand Up World Tour at Honoli’i Beach Park on the island of Hawaii. Kai’s dream became a reality with this contest; winning each heat from beginning to end. Heat after heat, Kai’s strength and confidence grew, showing the crowd his potential. By winning the first SUP World Wave title ever, Kai Lenny joins the legends of water sports.

“I’m really stoked,” said Kai. “It feels great because I worked my whole life to achieve this goal; but I still have so much to learn. It’s only the beginning and I want to be ready for next year.”

At the beginning of the year, Kai was not selected to compete in the first event at Sunset Beach. He was given a last minute wildcard and as one of the youngest contestants he wanted to prove that he belonged amongst his watermen peers. Kai ended up winning that first event and followed the circuit to France, Tahiti, Brazil and eventually back to Hawaii, where he was crowned the World Champion of SUP.

Kai also loves to give back to the community. Today he offered his prize money to ‘Na Kama Kai’, the non-profit organization founded by his Oxbow team mate and ASP 2010 World Champion, Duane DeSoto. Na Kama Kai’s mission is to empower youth by creating, conducting and supporting ocean-based programs, specifically targeting ocean awareness & safety in order to increase the capacity of youth in the community through cultural & environmental education. This organization represents Kai’s values as a waterman.

In the Hawaiian language “Kai” means “Ocean”. This name seems to have shaped the destiny of our young waterman. Kai’s enthusiasm and passion for the ocean is without limits. Born on the island of Maui, Kai is naturally gifted in all kinds of board sports; excelling in Windsurfing, SUP, Kitesurfing, Surfing, Longboarding and Tow-in. Only 18 years-old, Kai has already earned the respect of Laird Hamilton.

Kai is an outstanding waterman who lives according to the rhythm of the ocean, using different boards each day. He simply cannot resist spending time in the ocean, playing with the waves, constantly adapting his equipment to suit each days’ particular conditions.

Kai explains, “I wake up at 5:15 in the morning to go surfing until 7:30, I study from 8 to 12:30, then I go windsurfing or kiting, whichever is better. Then I go surfing or stand up in the late afternoon.  I have a great life.  I love to go to bed early.”

Attention all San Francisco Stand Up Paddlers, come on out Sunday Dec 11 for the Race 2 of the Blue Rush Board Sports Winter series.  Race right on the bay area’s scenic Richardson’s Bay.  Easy parking and only $20 entry fee including a free shirt!  Registration begins at 8:00am race at 9:00am.

We are super stoked to have NorCals largest dedicated SUP store feature BOGA paddle boards.  Blue Rush Board Sports is located in the heart of Sausalito, Marin, a paddle boarding mecca of the bay area.  The shop features passionate/dedicated owners and a line up of Jimmy Lewis, Starboard, C4 and BOGA Paddle Boards all within about 50 ft of the SF Bay.  Demos are available right outside the door and they host races in the bay with low entry fees, good aloha and competitive paddling.  Go check them out and tell them you want to demo a BOGA Paddleboard.

The world of competitive surfing is mourning Andy Irons, a three-time world champion and one of Hawaii’s best-ever big-wave riders, who was found dead Tuesday in a Dallas hotel room.

His death is being investigated as a possible methadone overdose, according to Honolulu’s Star Advertiser.

Irons, 32, had been suffering from dengue fever, a tropical illness whose symptoms include severe headaches and joint pain. An autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday. Results of toxicology tests to determine the exact cause of death could take 60-90 days.

Irons, the world champion from 2002 to 2004, had just returned to competitive surfing after a year off. He had been on his way home to Hawaii on Tuesday after withdrawing from a contest in Puerto Rico.

The surfing world reacted with shock to the news of his death. “The kind of surfing he did was so creative and so different from any other surfer,” pro surfer Evan Valiere told the Star Advertiser. “He was real fluid, but real powerful at the same time. When he was on, I don’t think anybody could match him.”

Valiere said news of Irons’s death spread quickly Tuesday on Kauai, where he grew up. “Nobody could believe it,” he said. “You expect somebody like that to live forever.”

One of the great things about SUP is the variety of boards available and how different they all feel.  When designing the BOGA brand of boards I demo’d many styles from Naish, C4, PSH, SurfTech and many more.  All great boards and all provided a really unique feeling. One place that offers demos of many of these boards is Covewater  Paddle Board shop in Santa Cruz, CA.  Unlike some shops that only rent soft top Lairds, this place is stocked with PSH boards, Naish’s etc that you can rent and surf locally just 5 minutes away at some of NorCals best breaks.

Part of the motivation to make the BOGA bullet came from my demo of the Naish Mana, a good board once on the wave but I felt it was a sluggish  paddler, making it hard to catch waves and slow to get out into the sets.  So thanks to shops like Covewater, both board shapers and board riders alike can check out what works and what doesn’t for their particular styles. Covewater Paddle Surf shop in Santa Cruz, a cool resource for NorCal paddlers.