Opinion: Kai vs. Connor at BOP 2014

 

If you were at the 2014 Battle of the Paddle Elite Race last Saturday at Salt Creek Beach, 

or if you read a recap or talked to anybody about it, 

you inevitably heard about “The Wave,” where now-two-time champ Kai Lenny and 

2011 winner Connor Baxter played an aggressive game of 

bumper boards until they both went down. 

Lenny was able to regain his composure and go on to win the race. 

The beach was alive with chatter. Was it fair? 

Do there need to be rules in place for this sort of thing? Who’s at fault? 

Now that we’ve received press releases from every conceivable source on the matter, 

read page upon page of forum posts and heard all sorts of industry insiders opine on the hot topic, 

here’s our take:

An episode of this magnitude has been brewing for some time. 

Baxter and Lenny have been at the forefront of racing for a couple of years now and there’s a lot of insider talk about how these two ...more