‘Always have fun and never give up!’
– 2019 ICF World sprint Race Champion
– ISA Worlds Gold Medal
– 3x APP World Champion – SUP World Series – 2017 | 16 | 14
– 5x Male Paddler of the Year – 2017 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 11
– Ranked #1 in SUP Racer World Rankings – 2017 |16 |15 |14
– 3x PPG Champ Overall – 2017 | 16 |15
– Fastest Paddler on Earth – 2016 | 13
– 3x Molokai- 2- Oahu Paddle Board World Champion – 2014 | 12 | 11 (World Record Holder)
– SUP Athlete of the Year – 2013 | 12
– 8x Maui-2-Molokai World Cup of SUP Champion – (World Record Holder)
– 1st Place RedBull Heavy Water – 2016
– Battle of the Paddle Champion – 2011 (Youngest Champion Ever, 17 Years)
Connor Baxter is a water sports phenom.
Raised on the water, Connor began competing in Windsurfing and Surfing events at the age of 8.
By 14, he was surfing the biggest waves in the world – becoming the youngest person to ever windsurf the infamous Jaws break.
At 16, Connor shifted his focus to Stand-Up Paddle and immediately became the sport’s prodigy after setting a world record at the Molokai-2-Oahu World Championships, 4 minutes ahead of the closest competitor.
Now 24, Connor’s accolades have only grown more impressive. He is the Stand Up Paddle World Champion, the Fastest Paddler on Earth, five-time SUP Athlete of the Year, five-time Male Paddler of the Year, Battle of the Paddle Champion, Pacific Paddle Games Champion and has more than 100 first place finishes.
Connor has been riding for Starboard since he was 5 years old, currently 19 years on board!
Nationality: Hawaiian
Lives in: Maui, Hawaii
Favorite discipline: Downwinders for racing and big wave for SUP surfing
APP World Tour Ranking: currently 13
SUP Racer Ranking: currently 4
Hobbies: Surfing and Windsurfing
Favorite SUP Locations: France, Italy and New Zealand
Other Sponsors: Salt Life, Black Project
Foreward by Bart de Zwart STARBOARD TEAM MANAGER “I am proud to introduce our 2024 Dream Team to you. We have an incredibly diverse and talented group of athletes. Diverse because our riders, men and women, cover the whole SUP spectrum from race, wave, sprinting, adventure, and expeditions to big waves, with World Champions in…
The 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile was an experience of a lifetime. As SUP has not made it into the Olympics yet, this is the closest thing we have to feeling like an Olympic athlete. The Pan Ams is the second largest sporting event that is sanctioned by the Olympics. The event took…
The 2023 Gorge Paddle Challenge was an absolute blast and such a classic grassroots event. The weekend kicked off with the famous Viento Road. It’s an 8-mile downwind up-river race that typically has some amazing bumps and glides to catch. Unfortunately, the wind wasn’t cranking for Saturday’s downwinder but just enough to make some fun…
After several years of hiatus and disruptions to paddleboarding events around the globe that were onset by the pandemic, the 2023 season is looking set to be a big year for the sport as things ‘normalize’, with many classic events being re-invigorated while some exciting new developments with the likes of the ICF World Tour…
The 2022 ICF Stand Up Paddle World Championships hosted by Gdynia, a northern port city in Poland, was a fantastic event that absolutely blew everyone away. Multiple SUP World Racing Champion Connor Baxter returned to stamp his name as the worlds best by taking home 2 gold medals, 1 in the exciting Technical Course race…
The US Open of SUP at Santa Monica was the first stop of the 2022 APP season, consisting of both a Sprint and Long Distance event, using the rider’s combined positions from both events to determine the overall winner. The Sprint race featured a 2-lap technical beach race format, with a beach portage on lap…
Connor Baxter and Noic Garioud are on top of 2022 Carolina Cup Technical Race Podium. Here are some words from the king of SUP Sprint, Connor Baxter: “Sunday was the Sprint Races and we hadn’t had much waves, but some solid wind, which put some texture and swell on the ocean. I had to make…
The 2022 Sayulita SUP Open was such a fun event and brought back some amazing memories like winning the Gold Medal at the 2015 ISA World Championships. This fun little surf town hosted a distance race, technical race and surf event. To make life easier and not have to travel with a 14 foot race…
Sure, 2021 wasn’t quite as bad as 2020. But let’s be honest – it wasn’t great either. Constant events cancellation, new travel restrictions, logistic delays and many other challenges. But our Dream Team Riders never stop. We are proud of every paddler who keeps charging and growing within our sports. With that said, our team…
The 10th Annual 2021 Carolina Cup did not disappoint. As always, the Graveyard Course was a long-distance race in brutal conditions. And to put a twist on things, on day two of the event, the APP World Tour brought in the famous Surf Race Sprints in some heavy weather conditions. Things kicked off with the…
After more than a year and a half of no racing – Connor comes out on TOP! The 2021 Gorge Paddle Challenge welcomes paddleboard racers after a long hiatus in the SUP events calendar onset by the pandemic. Starboard Dream Team rider Connor Baxter shows he hasn’t taken his foot off the pedal, maintaining a…
Starboard’s Dream Team riders earned a triple gold this past weekend at the APP World Tour’s SUP Paris Crossing, the biggest mass participation SUP event in the world which took place in conjunction with the Nautic Paris Boat Show. In the Long Distance race, we witnessed Fiona Wylde out paddle her competitors to take the…
Missed the action from the recent 2019 ICF SUP World Championships that took place in Qingdao, China? You can rewatch all the live feed stream here: Wednesday, 23rd October 2019: Pre Event Interview with Connor Baxter & Fiona Wylde Friday, 25th October 2019: Long Distance Events Saturday, 26th…
The exciting action has just wrapped up as a historic few days of SUP racing took place at the inaugural 2019 ICF SUP World Championships in Qingdao, China. With so much news out there we thought we’d just wrap up how the amazing Starboard Team performed with a few highlight performances and results from last…
The beautiful City of Osaka played host to the World’s very best Stand Up Paddle Athletes this past weekend, as the 2019 Osaka SUP Open Long Distance (LD) Race events took center stage on Sunday 22nd September. Day 2 kicked off bright and early in Osaka with the ‘Around the Island’ Race that would see…
Red Bull Heavy Water, a highlight on the Pro Stand Up Paddleboard circuit, is headed back to San Francisco after weather condition requirements were not met at last years event. The City by the Bay will host the event as part of the 2019 APP World Tour circuit, with an event window from October 15th…
The 2019 Gorge Paddle Challenge was an exciting race with many of the top paddleboard athletes from around the world battling it out for top podium spots and a very well supported open division. As normal, it was a two-day event that consisted of a Double Downwinder on Saturday and a Technical Course race on…
The 2019 Pan American Games is an event that made history for Stand Up Paddling and Surfing and is forever engraved in my mind. For the people that aren’t familiar with this event – it’s a mini Olympics that happens every 4 years that’s always one year before the Olympic Games, but it’s only for…
It was another incredible year at the 2019 Salt Life Columbus Cup in Columbus, Georgia. Dream Team rider Connor Baxter, armed with the 14′ Airline, takes the win and successfully defends his title. The Maui native recaps his experience of river SUP racing in Colombus, Georgia; “It was a one day race but jam-packed…
Sunday, 9th November saw the highly anticipated APP World Tour stop in Paris for the APP 2018 Paris SUP Open take place where Dream Team riders took home a clean sweep of podium positions for Team Starboard. Micheal Booth finished in first, with teammates Connor Baxter in 2nd and Leo Nika in 3rd. Paddling together in…
The Pacific Paddle Games once again delivers some of the most exciting SUP racing of the season, and the 2018 PPGs was no exception. Starboard’s Dream Team riders All-Star cast lined up shoulder to shoulder with the biggest names in SUP racing and once again delivered fantastic results, with stand out performances by Fiona Wylde…
New York, New York, USA – Connor Baxter announces he is back and in fine form by winning this weekend’s Wins APP’s 2018 NY SUP Open Overall Title in what was surely one of the most stacked fields of elite racers that we have witnessed this year. Connor placed 4th in the ‘bucket list’ Freedom Tower…
The 9th Annual Maui to Molokai was another grind but as always one of the best channels to cross. From the first time I crossed this channel windsurfing at 8 1/2 years old, I fell in love with the big open ocean and how you can really just be present in the moment and…
What an awesome weekend of action-packed racing we witnessed here at the 2018 SUP World Cup Scharbeutz for the 9th stop of the EuroTour. In men’s race, Michael Booth had a big battle with fellow Australian Lincoln Dews and Sonni Hönscheid fought hard but eventually conceded to Olivia Piana for the women’s title. “It feels amazing to…
“The 2018 Salt Life Columbus Cup was an epic event where the Southern hospitality was off the charts. It was a two-day event with a course race on Saturday and a one-mile time trial on Sunday. Travelling from Hawaii, it was going to be a nightmare to ship out my 14-foot race board – so…
Zamami Island, Japan – The 2018 Kerama Blue Cup played host to the fourth stop of The Paddle League World Tour. This was one of the ‘Majors’ and carried a 100 weighting which means there were some big names on the starting line, however, the Kerama Blue Cup is not a Pro only event and includes…
The 2018 Kerama Blue Cup was an event to remember, with its stunning blue water and amazing island lifestyle. It was definitely a mission to get here for me coming from Hawaii with 20 hours of travelling to Okinawa. Then jumping on a 3 hour ferry ride to some incredible islands that reminded me of…
Connor Baxter and Sonni Honscheid have reclaimed their OluKai crowns in tough conditions on Maui today, with light winds and big seas providing a mighty challenge for both competitors and organisers of the 10th Annual Ho’olaule’a, the third stop of the 2018 Paddle League World Tour. This year’s event took place on April…
Why do we have the Starboard ‘Dream Team’? Well, it’s simple – by living out their dreams, they help us live out ours. Whether it’s paddling long-distance challenges, winning races, catching waves, these Starboard team riders really are living the dream. We truly believe they’re the best in the world at what they do –…
Last weekend, the legendary race Molokai 2 Oahu took place for the 21st time with the grueling 32 mile crossing of the Ka’iwi Channel between the two hawaiian Islands. M2O as it’s abbreviated is considered one of the most difficult races in the world. Penelope Strickland took an amazing victory this year in the women’s…
Making it 8 Straight. And the Longest Winning Streak in SUP. Recap by Connor Baxter. This years 8th Annual Maui-2-Molokai was another Epic Battle and Channel Crossing. Coming straight from Europe after two months of flat water racing I was jumping up-and-down like a kid ready to race downwind. I got back to Maui on Wednesday night –…
This last weekend was the second racing stop of the APP World Tour so most of the best paddlers in the world converged towards Japan to race it off in the Trump Wetsuits Japan Pro Am. With very windy conditions for the first day of competition the long distance race was launched in difficult waters.…
For the second year in a row, Maui’s Zane Schweitzer has been crowned The Ultimate Waterman, prevailing in a test of skill, strength and spirit that has seen eight athletes tackle eight disciplines in nine days, throughout the Southland region of New Zealand. Needing to finish no worse than fourth in the final discipline, Schweitzer…
Connor Baxter won back to back overall victory at this years Pacific Paddle Games while Michael Booth took second place overall compared to his 11th place result from last year. Michael Booth won the long distance race on Saturday easily and finished 9th in the technical distance giving him that 2nd place on the overall…
Just before the Pacific Paddle Games 2016, SUP the mag also organises their annual SUP awards where everyone in the industry converges to celebrate the best exponents of Stand Up Paddle. This year, Connor Baxter was awarded Best Male Paddler 2016 with fellow Dream Team rider Zane Schweitzer taking second position and Kai Lenny closing…
One of the most difficult and famous SUP race in the world took place on Sunday: the 32 mile channel of bones crossing between Molokai to Oahu. Connor Baxter, who has already won four times this race finished third this year and sent us his recap of the race that you can find here below.…
Starboard Dream Team rider Connor Baxter does it again in the famous downwind race between the islands of Maui and Molokai in Hawai for a seventh year in a row and also ever since the event began. Connor arrived with almost a two minutes advantage over Australian Travis Grant managing for the second time ever…
