Whilst the Starboard Dream team were many miles from home, Zane Schweitzer was back at his home of Maui where he was competing for the 2019 Paddle Imua Championship. Zane was juggling his InZane Clinics before heading into an already challenging race with now even tougher wind conditions. A South West wind meant race organisers had to think quick and adapted the race course with only a minor delay to the event start time.
Zane recaps his account of the 2019 Paddle Imua Championship and also adds some words of inspiration;
“Waking up to a Kona Wind day on Maui isn’t the best way to start a Maliko Run race day. Kona winds blow from the southwest where our normal trade wind direction is from Northeast – this made for a difficult call for the race committee of the Paddle Imua championships. As the race time and start were set for later in the afternoon I had time to run one of my Surfing Coaching Programs with the @InZaneClinics – so no matter what the call was with the race I was grateful to start my day with some water time surfing.
Thankfully the Paddle Imua Race Committee didn’t cancel the race and they adapted with the conditions. By 11 am the Racecourse changed from a downwind run to a course race inside of Kahului harbour where we would normally finish. The start time also changed from 1 PM to 3 PM and this gave me a little extra time and the idea to take advantage of the Epic Windsurf and Kitesurf conditions in Lahaina, which is a rare occasion! So after my early morning surf session and hearing about the change in start time, I loaded my truck with some Airish kitesurf gear and scored an epic session right in Lahaina near my home before heading to the competition area for the Sup race and Foil expedition.
I arrive at the beach just in time before registration closed and was able to participate in the hydrofoil demo where we showed the competition venue what is possible with course racing on a hydrofoil.
Shortly after the hydrofoil Division, we started up the stand up paddle pro men 14-foot board class division. I chose to race on my Starboard 14’ x 21.5 Sprint with a BlackProject “Tiger” Race Fin and my Starboard Lima sized “M” Race Paddle. The combination of my equipment along with the physical and mental state felt great, and it was refreshing to be back grinding on a race board in competition, especially after putting in work preparing for up-and-coming competition season on the APP world tour.
Success is when preparation meets opportunity, and I am grateful to find success today with my first SUP Race Win of 2019. It was tight between another Maui pro, Josh Riccio, but I was able to hit the beach moments before him and Sprint through the beach run finish in the lead!
Mahalo for following and reading my recap on the 2019 Paddle Imua Championships. Check out my Instagram and YouTube blog for more updates, photos and action!”
~ Zane Schweitzer
Pic Credits: Erik Aeder
