San Francisco Giants Paddleboard Racing Season 2014 Fires Off With A Bang!
The 2014 San Francisco Giants Paddleboard Racing season is off to a roaring start! Fans Roaring that is. (pictured Lou Seal - choked up and charging it! (photos by Ron Steinau http://www.imagesbycaptainron.com)
101 Surf Sports is on our fourth year of our Paddleboard Sprint Races in the McCovey Cove and it's all about the fans. If you haven't seen the show before you can check out this video from one of our last gigs.
The basic premise of the racing action is to help the San Francisco Giants entertain the fans in between innings by showcasing the iconic nature of ATT Park's waterside location. Where else in the world, besides San Francisco, could you find a Panda racing an Angel with 40000 fans cheering them on. While the action is tight on the race course it's all bets off and every man for himself when the fleet pulls in to the first turn. Let's just say carnage is the theme of 'the turn'. (Pictured below Lou Seal about to take out the Panda with a curve ball.)
With two races under our belts this year it was Lou Seal taking the win in race one, and Panda taking top honors in race number two. If you haven't noticed the costumes, and events, are themed along with the San Francisco Giants players and special events. On any given night you may see Panda (Pablo Sandoval), Giraffe (Brandon Belt), The Thrill (Will Clark), The White Shark (Gregor Blanco), or even Lou Seal himself on the course. As one of the paddlers myself who paddles in the big headed costumes one has to give massive props to Lou Seal for getting it done in his official costume. With the windage of a spinnaker sized sail and the visibility of a 2 inch x 2 inch screen door the Seal has got some paddling chops! This year we even had the first appearance of Crazy Crab who we can personally attest to having a legit fast ball. See below for proof.
If you want to see the action first hand here is a list of upcoming dates.
4/29: Tuesday, 7:15 pm vs Padres (Chinese Heritage/Year of the Horse)
4/30: Wednesday, 7:15 pm vs Padres (Irish Heritage)
5/13: Tuesday, 7:15 pm vs Braves
5/15: Thursday, 7:15 pm vs Marlins (Japanese Heritage)
5/17: Saturday, 6:05 pm vs Marlins
5/28: Wednesday, 12:45 pm vs Cubs
6/7: Saturday, 7:05 pm vs Mets (Super Heroes and Comics)
6/9: Monday, 7:15 pm vs Nationals (Polynesian Heritage)
6/14: Saturday, 1:05 pm vs Rockies (Gamer Babe)
7/2: Wednesday, 7:15 pm vs Cardinals
7/9: Wednesday, 7:15 pm vs A's
7/13: Sunday, 1:05 pm vs D'backs (Girl Scout)
7/29: Tuesday, 7:15 pm vs Pirates (Law Enforcement)
8/12: Tuesday, 7:15 pm vs White Sox (Jerry Garcia)
8/26: Tuesday, 7:15 pm vs Rockies (Bruce Lee Tribute)
9/10: Wednesday, 7:15 pm vs D'backs
9/13: Saturday, 6:05 pm vs Dodgers (Fiesta Gigantes)
9/25, Thursday, 7:15 pm vs Padres (Oktoberfest)
Special thanks has to go out to the San Francisco Giants and there support of Stand up Paddle Boarding. Also to Lou Seal who over the years has tuned his paddling in to some top level performance. Perhaps time to send Jeff Gilooly in to slow that Seal down. Or maybe we'll just switch out his Werner Grand Prix Paddle!
The 101 Surf Sports race is staffed by some of the area's best paddlers and we have to pass on our sincere gratitude to those of them taking the plunge. Pun Intended. Thanks as well to Ron Steinau for all the photo work!
Photo Gallery Race 1 (Ron Steinau – www.imagesbycaptron.com)