Traveling to the British Virgin Islands (BVI’s) from Hawaii is a story in itself, but for Noa Ginella, Kody Kerbox and Paula Lenny, it was a last minute decision they’ll never forget. How they all managed to arrive on the same day and in the same place is what made this experience one for the books.
WORDS Paula Lenny, Kody Kerbox & Noa Ginella // PHOTOS Franck Berthuot
This feature originally appeared in the Spring 2014 issue of SUP International. Print and digital subscriptions for readers worldwide are available HERE.)
These three have a lot in common, and it’s not just this trip to the BVI’s. For one, Kody and Paula both hail from Maui, where Paula has literally watched Kody grow up before her eyes as he and her son Kai have been close friends since they were just groms. Noa was born on Oahu and due to being a part of the Naish team, has been sharing countless waves and close friendships with both Kai and Kody.
Paula Lenny, who is nowadays better known as Kai and Ridge’s mom, has been accompanying Kai around the world to some of the greatest competitions since he was a child. These days, the invitations to accompany her son aren’t as abundant as they used to be, however he recently invited her and Ridge to join him on a trip to the BVI’s to do a downwind Stand up Paddle relay race called The Painkiller Cup. The team was to consist of Paula, Kai, and his good friend and America’s Cup winner, Jimmy Spithill while Ridge was set to team up with Team Oracle’s Shannon Falcone and another female paddler.
A week before their departure, Kai’s phone and emails started going crazy. The nightly news was announcing the biggest waves in a decade were to hit Hawaii. Kai naturally decided to jump ship to surf the approaching waves and Paula was left to organize the new & remaining teams for the BVI adventure. It was a last minute scramble but nothing too severe, as Noa and Kody were immediately on board and more than excited to join in on the event. The group’s close friend and avid stand up paddler, Lori Park, was also recruited to help round out the team with the young guns while Paula mixed it up with Jimmy and Shannon.
After countless hours of air travel, numerous transfers from plane to car to boat to car to boat, the group arrived at the BVI’s about a week before the Painkiller Cup was scheduled.
Needless to say, everyone was quick to indulge in the tropical scenery and cruise the islands looking for surf, paddling runs and of course, new adventures.
Hanging out with Jimmy Spithill and Shannon Falcone naturally elevates everything to a certain VIP status. As it turns out, they are as enthusiastic and thrilled about stand up paddling, kiting and windsurfing, as they seem to be about yachting. With Shannon having grown up in the Caribbean, you cannot imagine a better crew to be hanging out with. Every corner they turned they were met by local sailing enthusiasts excited to share the stoke of one of the greatest sports comebacks of all time in winning the America’s Cup! Their excursions consisted of endless days cruising around Virgin Gorda, Tortola, and Anegada to Jost Van Dyke where they had loads of fun kitesurfing, surfing and stand up paddling. The evenings were spent winding down from their days, laughing and enjoying endless amounts of good food and wine. Kody, Noa and Lori spent their days leading up to the race out and about from sunrise to sunset, and then some! The first half of their week was spent exploring their new environment, inside and out. Early mornings were spent hunting for surf by speedboat, bringing them to countless reef breaks with no one but each other in the lineup and some glassy overhead sets.
While training one morning, they witnessed this awkwardly tall, pink flamingo standing out from the already amazing tropical setting. At first, they thought it was fake because it seemed frozen in its stance and always stood in the same place at the same time everyday, but they soon learned it was as real as they come!
For Noa, this was his first time seeing a flamingo in the wild, so one morning he decided to get a closer look and it let him paddle right up to it! Needless to say, they didn’t really give it a run for its money because it gave them one quick look and went right back to what it was doing. The rest of their afternoons consisted of good food, more surfing or wandering through the maze of islands to see how many islands they could set foot on for that particular day. One island they stumbled upon literally took their breath away – it was made up completely of conch shells about 50 feet around and 15 feet high (at the highest point). Kody and Noa noticed channels running through it, so in true honor of living in the moment, they all took their Naish 14’0” Glides and paddled all around it for what seemed like hours. When it finally came around to race day, the trip had been so much fun that the group had almost forgot it was the reason they were down in the BVI’s in the first place. Lori, Kody and Noa were literally sleeping in their chase boat right up until the race briefing just before the start of the race, prompting the team name “Team Tired”.
Paula, Jimmy and Shannon decided to refer to their team as “Team InterNAISHional”.
Conditions for the mile downwind relay began with drizzles and light winds but cleared to a perfect 12-15 knots and sparkling sunny conditions. The event, a three-person team race, which mandates at least one woman on each roster, saw paddlers head down the North Shore of Tortola and finish at the world-famous Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke. Each team was to follow a strict rule of rotation where every 30 minutes, paddlers would change (in that order), so that everyone would have equal paddling time.
Kody paddled a blistering opening leg to win “Team Tired” the title as the first team to span the Trellis Bay-to-Guana Island leg. The first few miles were surrounded by tall islands so the wind was somewhat blocked, which ended up being pretty challenging all around. Thankfully about an hour into the race, the bumps formed up nicely with a little wind and the team’s final legs were able to keep them ahead of the competition by catching more waves and gliding more with their shared Naish Glide 14’0” board. Before they knew it, Noa was paddling into the finish line with the second place team far out of sight, finishing in a short 2 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds.
Everyone at the finish line was so stoked and welcoming, so Kody, Noa and Lori joined in on the fun in cheering and welcoming the rest of the teams as they finished, including “Team InterNAISHional’s” Paula, Jimmy and Shannon who came in a righteous 4th in the event. As soon as all the teams were in, Shannon broke out the killer rum punch he had prepared the night before and everyone hydrated almost instantly!
Although the British Virgin Islands are similar to Hawaii in the sense that they are both tropical destinations, they are also very different in many ways when you consider the mood of the ocean, the diverse cultures and the size and distance of the surrounding islands. For Kody and Noa, this trip fell into the category of one of the best trips of their lives not only because of the breathtaking atmosphere and welcoming community, but because they experienced SUP racing as a team instead of the standard individual format that this sport typically features. And for Paula, she’ll be back sooner than later, but this time with her whole family.
Until next time flamingos! SUP
“ The evenings were spent winding down from their days, laughing and enjoying endless amounts of good food and wine ”