Jack Bark and Toa Pere, both FLORENCE Test Pilots, are readying themselves for one of the world’s most iconic paddleboard race, the Catalina Classic. Photos: YouTube//Screenshot
The Catalina Classic Paddleboard Race is one of the most historic paddle board races on Earth. On August 25, the 47th annual event will kick off, and FLORENCE team members Jack Bark and the young Toa Pere are preparing for it. To pay homage to just how historic it is, the FLORENCE team put together an ode to the race. FLORENCE’s namesake, John John Florence is, of course, an avid paddler himself.
Organized by the Catalina Classic Paddleboard Association, paddlers race from Catalina Island to the pier of Manhattan Beach, California. It’s 32-miles in total, and is known as the “Granddaddy of all paddleboard races.”
First established in 1955 as The International Paddleboard Race, the Catalina Classic attracts competitors from all around the world. It came after legendary waterman Tom Blake first paddled across the Catalina Channel in 1932.
“This is a race by paddlers for paddlers,” the Catalina Classic Paddleboard Association wrote in a release.
The FLORENCE film that you see here is called Hands in the Pacific, and it’s an artistically rendered look at what the race is all about. Bark has 13 Catalina Classic races under his belt, and he’s not thinking of stopping any time soon.
“I think the allure of the Catalina Classic for me is that I’ve grown up looking across that channel my whole life,” Bark says. “Some of my earliest memories are of being at the finish line watching my dad paddle across that channel… You might win the race, but you’re not going to conquer the channel.”
