(See more photos by Nick Meistrell, Brian Kingston and Brent Broza at end of story)
A head down, straight ahead strategy paid off for 32-year-old, Hermosa Beach paddler Adam Buckley, who had an unremarkable, 19th place finish in his first Catalina Classic paddleboard race last year. Despite a headwind, bumpy water and taking what he afterwards acknowledged was too high a course, Buckley arrived at the Manhattan Beach pier finish line Sunday morning 23 minutes ahead of his last year’s time and seven minutes ahead of second place finisher Brian Rocheleau, of Hawaii who finished fourth in the Classic last year.

by Andrea Ruse

Early Saturday morning, before the droves of Six-Man attendees arrived, bodysurfers from throughout the state met at the Manhattan Beach pier for the International Body Surfing Championships.

by Kevin Cody
In 1997, rookie Los Angeles County Lifeguard Kyle Daniels won the Catalina Classic Paddleboard race stock division by narrowly beating out his lifeguard mentor Mike Inscore. Following the race, Inscore extracted a promise from Daniels.
“You have to race my son,” More

If Manhattan Beach Middle School 8th grader Noah Collins felt any type of pressure from the International Surf Festival, the infectious grin on his face didn’t show it.

The 49th International Surf Festival begins Friday when the Venice lifeguard team vies for its fourth straight title in the Bud Stevenson Intracrew Medley Relay at Avenue C in Redondo Beach. Thousands are expected to converge on local beaches for the three-day festival that includes competition in swimming, surfing, paddleboarding, running, beach volleyball, sand soccer and more.