The 2nd Asian Canoe Ocean Racing Championship 2022 took place this month in Pattaya, Thailand — close to the home of Starboard and our testing centre. Dream Team rider Daniel Hasulyo completed in the SUP division to take the win.
87 registered competitors from Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China and Indonesia had participated in different categories, i.e. OC 1,SS1 and SUP in 2 courses (20 km & 10 Km).
The sea condition was clam, with all competitors enjoyed the sunny morning in the race. Congratulations to the Organizering Committee and RCAT in running a successful event between 11.06 and 11.08. Thanks for the support from all stakeholders including HOC, ITOs, NTOs, volunteers, supporters, commercial support, Pattaya City, RCAT.
Daniel Hasulyo recaps the day’s event;
“The event was great with many participants, in all categories (SUP, Ocean Ski, Polynesian Canoe), with more than 40 participants in SUP only coming from 6 different countries, including, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Korea. As a foreigner living in Thailand for more than 2 years, I was allowed to race, as “Thai” which made me really happy as it’s always a pleasure to battle it out with some of the best athletes in the region and to see their evolution over the years.
The course was a 10km lap along the beach of Jomtien, 5km one way – 5km back. Clean water, Blue skies and the insane heat definitely set a particular tone for the event, where hydration was key.
I went in the race with the plan of setting the pace and not dropping till the end as I knew my competitors and didn’t want to leave a chance for being drafted, so after the start, I had a good 2km push which secured a good lead. From there I was focusing on maximizing the efficiency of every stroke and executing the plan. I was on the new 2023 ALLSTAR 14×20.5. The best Alls Star we have ever made. It was just perfect how fast it kept the glide even through the flat sections and it really felt like the board was propelling forward alone as soon as there was some texture to ride. Stable, fast and reliable, definitely the best choice of the day.”
The Men Podium was as follows:
1st Daniel Hasulyo – THA/HUN
2nd Pluem Natapat – THA
3rd Lukas Gallu – IND
4th Ying Lunalan – HK
This was a very interesting podium, as in 2019 the athlete from HK, was actually still keeping up with Casper Steinfath and myself at our last international race there, and both Thailand and Indonesia was still far behind, and on Tuesday, both Lukas and Pluem, beat the strongest paddler from Hong Kong, which is a very solid statement of their work in the past years and shows a very good direction of growth in both countries.
That’s a wrap – amazing atmosphere, perfect course and lots of smiling (and evaporated) faces, looking forward to next year’s edition!
I will be going to Korea at the end of the month, to help their national sport development, then from there will head straight to Singapore the days of December, both for a clinic that i am coordinating with Loh and then 2 days of racing, so still lots of good action to come!
All the best,
See you soon,
– Daniel”
