ROCKPORT — Two strong and accomplished Canadian stand-up paddle board champions took the titles this year in the first-ever annual Lobster SUP Cup, a two-day race from Rockport to Camden, and Lincolnville Beach to Belfast. The race, held Aug. 10 and 11, required enormous physical strength and tenacity, and by Sunday afternoon, they all arrived in Belfast Harbor, minus just one from the pack that started at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday morning in Rockport Harbor.

“It was a great race,” said Mark Benjamin, on Sunday afternoon, after he spent hours paddling into a strong northwest breeze blowing nine to 10 knots from Northport to Belfast. “It was challenging and super fun.”

Race winners were Larry Cain and Jessica Rando, both of Canada, and both among the most competitive stand-up paddleboarders who participate in one of the fastest growing outdoor sports on the planet. Right behind Cain came Thor Emory, the avid SUP racer who organized the event with several friends and supporters.

Cain is the 1984 sprint canoeist Olympic gold medalist. Rando has also won medals as an exceptional sprint canoeist. Both are from Toronto and are also stars in competitive SUP races, as well as leading and teaching the sport to others.

Cain made the nine-mile paddle from Rockport Harbor to Lincolnville Beach in the men’s division in two hours, two minutes on Saturday. Rando’s time, in the women’s division, was two hours, 14 minutes. On Sunday, they also pushed to the lead to Belfast, with their reported times pending. The race finished at Heritage Park in Belfast, with a celebration.

“The hardest part on Saturday was the cross-wind between Rockport and Camden,” said Emory.

In all, the SUPpers tackled a 25-mile course that included a choppy west wind, which gave them a boost out of Rockport Harbor, a bumpy and unsettling wind shift as they rounded Indian Island, at the head of Rockport Harbor toward Camden, and steady west wind along the stretch to Camden Harbor. When they got to Camden Harbor, they made an inner harbor loop, only to be met by a stead in-your-face northerly breeze. But it was that breeze that just as easily and quickly, “flushed us right out of Camden Harbor,” said Emory.

And there was plenty of hooting and hollering coming from schooners and from the shore, encouraging the racers to keep their pushing their paddles into the water and moving. They complied, all except for one woman, who decided Camden Harbor was where she would be ending her participation in the Lobster SUP Cup. She was the only drop-out during the whole event, a race that drew racers who ranged in age from early 20s to late 50s.

The ride from Camden Harbor to Lincolnville Beach was a steady, long paddle on the top of swells left from a large storm system that had passed offshore the night before. And the passage is marked by several outcroppings that make a paddler think the next point represents the last one before the beach appears, but as those familiar with the stretch know, there is always one more point along the shore to get around before actually reaching Lincolnville Beach.

SUP, or stand up paddleboard, has exploded in popularity in recent years. According to  Emory, coastal Maine and the Midcoast area offers some of the best quality paddling around.

SUP Cup racers competed in a variety of board classes, including men's and women's, masters, and team — and on different length boards (12'6", 14', and unlimited, with unlimited being longer and faster boards).

All proceeds from the Lobster SUP Cup benefit Operation Rebound, a sports and fitness program for American military personnel, veterans and first responders with permanent physical disabilities. The Challenged Athletes Foundation's (CAF) Operation Rebound program provides opportunities to pursue active, athletic lifestyles by offering access to funding for equipment and training and competition expenses, Military Medical Center Physical Training (MMCPT) and sports clinics.

The race attracted competitors from around the country, as well as locals. Some came from Orrington, others from North Carolina.

For Casey, a female racer from North Carolina, it was the beauty of Penobscot Bay that got her fired up.

“I got chills looking around, it was so beautiful,” she said. Outfitted in a dry suit and smiling, she relaxed at Lincolnville Beach, paddling out to the Osprey, one of the chase boats on which her boyfriend, Richard, watched her intently from throughout the entire leg from Rockport Harbor. He dove off the boat and swam after her toward shore.

The race was challenging, if not grueling in some spots, on both days. While organizers hoped for a steady breeze from the west to give the competitors a lift up the bay, there were several instances when that just wasn’t the case, especially on Sunday. While the forecast was for that west wind, it actually shifted on the racers as they got to Northport and blew steadily out of the northwest, right in their path.

The sport originated in Hawaii in the 1950s, and has spread from the Pacific across the globe. Emory and friends who helped him organize the Lobster SUP CUP want the race to become a national annual event.

"There are very few multi-day events," said Emory, last winter, and who believes that Maine's natural beauty and coastal terrain will draw competitors from around the world and establish Penobscot Bay as a strong outdoor destination.

"Compared to most of the races in the region — even the country — Midcoast Maine is pristine, and is a perfect place to race," said Emory. "We are mostly undiscovered by the SUP community. The SUP CUP aims to change that. This race is designed to draw the best paddlers in New England and beyond."

Emory loves the sport for its simplicity and physicality, and the ability to explore waters — lakes, ponds, oceans — flat or with surf.

"I have spent a lot of time outdoors doing a lot of different activities and I tend to do the ones that suit a particular area," he said. "When I lived out West I lived for backcountry skiing and playing in the mountains. Here it has become stand up. Midcoast Maine is a world class area for the sport and as an athlete it allows me to push my personal limits. I am an avid racer but I am more drawn to engaging in some ambitious adventure paddles here in Maine and further north. Last summer, I circumnavigated Mount Desert Island (47-miles) in under 10 hours, nonstop, and largely at night. My current goal is to get the right conditions for a big downwinder from Matinicus to Vinalhaven and to film it."

While the race is a community event, as well as niche competition for outdoor adventurers, it is also a chance to raise awareness and funds for Operation Rebound, a program of the San Diego-based Challenged Athletes Foundation, which provides active and athletic opportunities for American military personnel, veterans and first responders with permanent physical disabilities. 

Race organizers, including Mark Benjamin, chose the nonprofit because of its accessibility and effective work. Benjamin, a former reporter for Time, who covered the stories and issues faced by military veterans for many years in Washington, D.C., said he wanted the Lobster SUP CUP to benefit war veterans returning with physical and mental wounds.

Emory agreed, and said he has worked various branches of the military, Navy SEALs and veterans, on Outward Bound courses, when he worked for that organization. He wants proceeds from the race to contribute to a worthy cause. Two to four athletes from Operation Rebound will compete in the Lobster SUP CUP, Emory said.

Last winter, Emory and others tested the waters for the 2013 season by paddling over to North Haven from Rockport Harbor, an adventure that took a little more than 90 minutes.

"The goal was to go for a Downwinder and film it," said Emory. "A downwinder is essentially open water surfing on a stand up paddle board. You ride with the wind/waves at your back. Penobscot Bay is perfect for downwinders because there is enough fetch (distance for waves to build up) in a variety of wind directions. The wind was westerly so we needed power vessel support to get home and to use as a video platform. The SUPs we were using are specially designed in Hawaii for Downwinders. They are long (mine is 17- feet) and have rudders that are foot-controlled."

That day, the crew included paddlers Tony Fitch, wearing shorts, and Emory, in a red drysuit. Rob Iserbyt was there with his boat, while  Jon Laurence shot video, and Hampton Kew acted as support.

The wind was blowing out of the west at 20-25 knots and gusting higher, and the air temperature was 30 degrees F. The water temperature, 39 degrees.

They paddle year-round, in all conditions. They SUP at Popham Beach, do a lot of training/touring in Penobscot Bay, generally between Rockland and Belfast, and, said Emory: "live for downwinders in the bay. We have more wind fall through spring so the dark/cold months are usually the best for downwinders. I have had to kick ice of the deck at times. We wear drysuits out in the bay in the winter and stay really warm because SUP is so physical. SUP is a year-round sport in Maine for the property equipped and skilled."

Editorial Director Lynda Clancy can be reached at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 706-6657.