MY TAKE ON THE 2010 BOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well what a way to finish off the end of the paddling season. Its definitely time to hang up my paddle and shoulders for some R&R. If you haven't been to a Battle of the Paddle yet do yourself a favor and make it to one.. What a EPIC event.. If your a paddler this really is a Paddlers weekend.. From Elite Race carnage to Team Relay Spirit and anything and everything u need to SUP is right there you just have to look. If your not careful you will find yourself getting lost and spending hrs just looking around at all the exhibitors tents in the whole scene that is going on.But what a great thing we have going on right?? What other sport can u think of where any Tom,Dick or Harry can just show up pay $200 and be on the start line next to a Danny Ching,Chuck Patterson,Gerry Lopez etc in what is one of our sports most important and elite race?? Sort of crazy hey. Its like jumping on the court with Kobe and shooting hoops in the Finals or walking around 18 holes with Tiger at Augusta? But u know that would never happen in a million years. So lets enjoy what we have going for the moment cause i can sense things will change in the Future. But its cool that you can be side by side with your Idols or heroes and they are most likely to say what's up and shake your hand.

As for the my weekend at the Battle i was very happy with how it went down. Of course i would have loved to defend my title at Doheny but it wasn't to be this year.. Danny was solid as usual and deserves everything he achieved this year.. Congrats mate . I made one crucial mistake which hurt me really bad in the race. Going out in the 2nd lap me and Danny were pretty neck and neck and i had the inside run to the turn buoy but i missed a stroke which put me a half a board length back and Danny took full advantage and i was blocked getting around the buoy and Danny got the wave i missed it and all of a sudden a gap of 200 yards was opened up. So when i look back that was what really hurt my chances of going toe to toe with Danny. I had to hammer to try and catch back up which i made some ground up coming into the changeover into the 3 rd lap and ran as fast as i could and got back onto Danny's tail but i had used everything i had and he realized and put the gas on and dropped me like a bad habit. Good racing by him. By that stage i was trying to recover and flush all the lactic acid out of my body the rest of the lap and that's where the final margin was made and stayed till the end of the race. Funny how when you break it down it came down to one lazy stroke that hurt me.. But as long as you can learn from your mistakes and take something away from it you are always evolving. So all in all it was another exciting year at Dana Pt. We had waves again great weather and exciting tight racing. 3rd, 4th and 5th was a sprint up the beach with Slater ,Travis and Andrew and that's exciting for the crowd(which i must say was awesome). Its nice to hear the cheers to keep u pumped while your racing.

Then you had the Age group race which was like looking out at 500 people walking on water. It was crazy. The Distance Race on Sunday morning which is a flat out slugfest in flat water and topping it off is the Relay Race which personally for me is the funnest race of the weekend. Everyone having a great time but also a little bit of Bragging rights to the team who comes away with the win.. This year was a epic Relay. I was lucky to be in Team SUP CO/LA HUI KAI with Brandi,Kelly and Slater and we were stoked to get the win. What a way to finish off a great weekend for everyone. I want to thank Sparky,Gerry, Barrett and all of the helpers and behind the scene volunteers that make this race happen. I'm stoked to be a part of it. This year it was also great to see so many Aussie's over here. Many who were from The Gold Coast where i live. Mick,Kelly,Travis,Jacko,Angie,Peasey to name a few.. Well done guys on some awesome results.The future looks bright for us Aussie's.. Also a HUGE thanks to my Sponsors for all the help and Support while we are in California. Quiksilver, Kaenon Polarized, SUP CO, Surftech, La Hui Kai, Futures Fins, Waterman's Applied Science,Quickblade. You guys are all legend's and im stoked to represent you guys.

Below is a video of this years race that Joss took and have a look and check it out... Take care everyone and make sure to get some rest and don't burn yourselves out..JM

BOP Dana Point 2010(www.jamie-mitchell.com) from Jamie Mitchell on Vimeo.