First takes fifth Catalina Classic title in race from Catalina Island to Manhattan Beach
Video by Marci Klein – Klein Creative Media
Photos by Mike Balzer
by Garth Meyer
Max First, 32, won the 45th Catalina Classic on Sunday, paddling from Catalina Island to the Manhattan Beach Pier in five hours, 26 minutes and five seconds.
Alex Merrill, 30, from Seal Beach, took second three minutes later (5:29:09), followed by last year’s winner, Scott Clausen, 26, also of Seal Beach (5:31:41).
Liz “Queen of the Channel” Hunter, 36, of Oceanside, won the female division for the second consecutive year. A total of nine women raced.
This year’s oldest paddlers were John Carroll, of Long Beach, and Mike Avery of Ventura, both 68. It was Carroll’s 20th and final Catalina Classic and Avery’s fourth.
The top stock finisher for 2022 was Kyle Smith, 39, of Encinitas.
Max First arrives alone at the inish line, three minutes ahead of second place finisher Alex Merrill. Photo by Mike Balzer
In the race’s fourth hour, from the viewpoint of Manhattan Beach, an armada of small boats appeared on the horizon; the Palos Verdes Peninsula at left, and behind, in the haze, Catalina Island.
At the lead, in choppy conditions, was First, a four-time winner. Three others were within 200 yards.
First started to pull away in mile 13, opening a five minute lead by the R10 buoy – the 24-mile point, four miles off Torrance Beach.
Turning along the coast, Merrill, in second, veered right for an inside line along the coast.
By King Harbor, four miles from the finish, he had closed the gap to two minutes.
First’s support boat crew called out updates, and First followed Merrill’s move, going inside too.
“I wanted to get an early lead, and try to hold off the other guys,” said First, of the day’s strategy. “The field was so competitive, you’re sprinting all 32 miles. That was the hardest I’ve pushed myself mentally and physically in a race.”
Liz “Queen of the Channel” Hunter, of Oceanside won the women’s division for the second consecutive time. Photo by Mike Balzer
Because of choppy conditions, and headwinds, First paddled prone (on his stomach) 95 percent of the race. Knee paddling, though faster is more physically demanding in choppy water.
First held onto the lead for his fifth Classic victory in 12 attempts.
The former lifeguard from Manhattan Beach now works in commercial real estate.
His support boat crew was his uncle, and three buddies from high school at Mira Costa.
The Catalina Classic is put on each year by the all-volunteer, non-profit Catalina Classic Paddleboard Association. It was established in 1955 and bills itself as the “oldest and most celebrated endurance paddleboard race in the world.”
It originally ran for five years, then was brought back in 1982, by lifeguards Buddy Bohn and Gibby Gibson. Each year the field is limited to 100 racers, for reasons of safety and logistics. Participants have to qualify in early summer races, or finish in under nine hours in the Classic the year before.
Kyle Smith, of Encinitas, finished first in the stock division (boards under 12-feet), and 14th overall, in 6:05:03. Photo by Mike Balzer
There are two board divisions. Unlimited boards may be any length, with or without a foot-controlled tiller. These are generally 18 feet long, weighing about 20 pounds.
Stock boards are 12 feet, with fixed fins. These originally were old lifeguard rescue boards.
The 2022 running included participants from Canada, Ireland, Australia and France (both past winners). The youngest paddler was a 16-year-old Luke Wheeler from Newport Beach. All 99 entries finished the race ahead of the nine-hour cutoff time.
Race director Bohn, a retired L.A. County Lifeguard, was a boy when the Catalina Classic began, sitting at the Pier railing with his friends, feet dangling off, watching his lifeguard heroes come in.
“It’s really a hometown original,” Bohn said.
When the race returned, after the 22-year absence, it built more history, with participants coming back each year and new people joining. Jon Loren, 50, of San Diego, paddled his 20th Classic this year like Carroll.
“There’s a lot of soul in this race,” Bohn said.
The longest streak belongs to Joe Bark. Last year was his 38th consecutive. Training for 2022, he came down with Covid-19, it disrupted his regimen and he had to bow out.
Bark’s streak went back to 1983. After finishing then, he told Bohn, “Buddy, that’s the greatest race I’ve ever been in in my life. I’m going to do it every year.”
This latest race was dedicated to the late Tim Ritter, founder of the Hennessey Paddleboard Race Series in the ‘90s, and founding member of the South Bay Boardriders Club. He died last summer at age 60.
Participants arrive at Two Harbors Catalina Island the day before the race, take in a safety briefing, get numbers for their boards, listen to course rules and mark down radio frequencies for boat drivers. Later, they sleep, many in tents at Buffalo Park.
Paddlers report at 5 a.m. for the start, looking for the lanterns at the check-in on the west side of the Two Harbors pier.
“The gun goes off at 0600 exactly,” said Bohn. “We try to get people across the channel before it gets too windy. The slower paddlers take more abuse. The longer they’re out, the windier and rougher it is.”
Each racer is required to have an escort boat. The field ends up spread out on the water and, and often out of sight of one another.
While crossing the San Pedro Channel, paddlers cross a major shipping lane. Organizers are in radio contact with freighters. The Coast Guard patrol boat “Halibut,” out of Marina Del Rey was this year’s lead boat.
“Some of the tankers slow down just to watch,” Bohn said.
One year a cruise ship asked to pull abreast in the early morning.
“All the guests sat on the decks with their bloody marys cheering us on,” said Bohn.
“You’re in the wilderness,” Bohn said. “The only thing you can compare it to is a couple-hour hike in a dense forest. Sea lions, sharks, dolphins, birdlife.”
“You don’t realize how clear the water is until you’ve seen an object,” said Carroll. “Something that interrupts that vast blue canvas.”
Dolphins frequently trail alongside the paddlers.
Most paddlers now follow a line on a waterproof GPS. Before, it was just the support boat, a compass and dead reckoning.
“Now there’s no reason not to have GPS,” said Bohn. “You don’t want to paddle any further than you have to.”
The course’s first major point of reference is the Palos Verdes Peninsula, then the R10 buoy. From there it is eight miles to the finish.
Carroll aimed to complete his 20th Classic while on a new medication from his cardiologist. Trying to prevent himself from going into a-fibrillation, he inadvertently took too many of the pills on the days before the race.
The drug’s side effects include nausea and fatigue.
“I couldn’t understand why I felt so bad out there,” Carroll said. “I’ve done 20 of these.”
He trains each year in Alamitos Bay, right in front of his house, paddling 50-60 miles per week on a 17-foot, 32-pound board.
In the open ocean, “you’re into yourself. It’s a mental game, there’s a lot of pain involved,” said Carroll, the president of a commercial real estate development firm. “You get into a little Zen.”
This year, as in others, his wife and two sons were his support crew.
Carroll paddled ashore after passing the red buoy that marks the finish line at the end of Manhattan Beach pier. His son then swam ashore, and paddled his dad’s board back to their boat for the return trip to Long Beach.
“It was a good outcome. I was happy to get to 20,” said Carroll, who got a car ride home. “That’ll be it for me. It’s been very worthwhile.”
Complete Catalina Classic Paddleboard Race 2022 results. ER