Thank you to Erik Urdahl for this INSANE photo of Werner Team paddler Renick Woods at the Oregon Open Ocean Classic. Pulling hard with the Yaquina lighthouse in the background.
We are honored to have yet another weekend in the books with true waterman, and gentleman, Renick Woods and Matt Parker representing Werner Paddles in the Pacific Northwest SUP community. The Oregon Open Ocean Classic in Newport Oregon found them testing their skills in a combined open ocean race and flatwater race. Along with the guys racing a HUGE congratulations to Team JET members, from Big Winds in Hood River Oregon, Fiona Wylde and Alysonn Fromm for coming in first and second place in womens! Werner supports the JET Team and we are proud to have them using our Grand Prix paddles. As for the men Renick had a stout 3rd place showing in the flatwater section of the race but overheated in the open ocean leg and his overall place suffered. (I mean hey, he still had an impressive overall time of under 2 hours and was 1 of only 16 competitors to do this tough event.) Clothing is a real challenge and with water temps in the 50's your gut says go wet suit, in the event of a few swims, which can certainly be the case in the challenging waters of the open ocean. The challenge is the seas were calmer, by Oregon standards, and with more time standing and stroking hard it was inevitable he would overheat in neoprene. Parker took a different game plan and hoped he would not see too much water time and dressed light.
Although you will see Matt "Spencer" listed as the 2nd place overall it is indeed a misprint and we are stoked for Matt taking the silver.
The 8.5 mile open ocean course was a blast even though challenging. The 2 were stoked to see some whales amongst the "McDonald's" sized rocks and happily none of the great whites they were promised by the locals.
Congrats again to Fiona and Alysonn and thanks to Matt and Renick for the photos and write up. All of you guys are making the Grand Prix look really good out there!
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