Kaenon

OFFSHORE LOS CABOS BILLFISH TOURNAMENT – Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Following the shotgun start of the first fishing day of the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament, the 60’ BCE Bandit, fresh from its strong finish at Catalina tournaments last month, raced ahead of the fleet to the Gordo Bank where they were able to get baited up in just a couple minutes. Just as they began trolling the baits a big black picked one up and they were on. Anthony Hsieh was on the rod, and had the fish boat-side in about 5 minutes. After a tough 15 minute battle on the gaff, the 451# black was boated – the only qualifying fish weighed on day one.

Captain Tommy, Corey, Anthony (Arlo Tortoise G12), Kevin Nakamaru (Kabin Tortoise G12) and the rest of the BANDIT Team.

Day two turned out to be groundhog day for the BANDIT boys – boating a second slightly larger black and winning both days’ jackpots to take home a whopping $420,875 for their efforts. Not a bad couple days’ work.

A very stoked Anthony Hsieh with a second $200,000 black marlin in the boat. When you’re hot you’re hot.

Meanwhile team Karma, with Angler Steve Spina, and Kona Captains Kerwin Masunaga, Boyd de Coito (UPD Black G12), Shane O’Brien (Arlo Matte Black G12) and Russ Armstrong showed up at the scales with an absolutely massive 363# yellowfin tuna.

Fishing aboard TENACIOUS, Captain Gene Vanderhoek (Rhino Black G12), Sam Choy Jr. (Rhino Matte black G12 RX), Chris Choy (Lewi Black G12), Ron Tegland Jr. (Burny Black G12) and Ron Tegland Sr. (Porter Tortoise C12) finished second in the billfish release division with 3 striped marlin released.

Brothers Chris Choy (Lewi Black G12) and Sam Choy Jr. (Rhino Matte black RX) prepare to release a striped marlin aboard TENACIOUS.

SAILING
While the Swiss team, led by Brad Butterworth in Hard Kore packed up it’s Genoa, Italy training base and took their giant catamaran to the UAE race venue, BMW Oracle was back in court contesting not on the race venue but also the rules that will govern the event. The America’s Cup is slated to be raced in dusty Ras Al-Khaimah (50km from Dubai) February 8. This promises to be war of words and court challenges right up to the starting gun – where hopefully it will turn into spectacle on the water – we hope!

Above, Brad Butterworth in Hard Kore Matte Black G12, Alinghi during their last sea trials in Italy last week.

BMW Oracle training off San Diego and their skipper and CEO Rusell Coutts wearing Lewi Black Pearl G12 sunglasses while racing last week in Europe.

GOLF – Greensboro, NC
Kevin Stadler (aka Baby Walrus), playing in Lewi Black Pearl G12 golf sunglasses, tied for the win after regulation, but lost on the 3rd playoff hole just missing his first PGA Tour victory – settling for 2nd. “I knew I was three (strokes) back and needed to do something,” Stadler said. “I thought I was just stuck in neutral and the next (leaderboard) I saw, I was only one back.”

SAILING
BMW ORACLE Racing Technology Montage – No introduction needed here, this video says it all.

MAST = 185 FEET / 55 METERS – taller than an 18 story building
GENNAKER SAIL = 8400 SQUARE FEET / 780 SQUARE METERS – larger than a baseball infield
LENGTH = 100 FEET / 30 METERS – longer than a blue whale
26,000 data points collected for every second of sailing

Kaenon Polarized Sunglasses featured in this clip: Hard Kore, Lewi, Kore

SURF – PANAMA & FLORIDA

Shea Lopez has a surf camp that just started in Daytona Beach.
“No longer facing the tour’s chaotic globetrotting, this 35-year-old is looking to make surfing a better place. And he’s starting at home.

“I’ve lived here for 10, 11 years, but for the first seven I was gone 250 days a year. I didn’t really get to leave an impression with the kids,” Lopez said.

Now Lopez has a 3½-year-old daughter catching her first waves, and he wants to teach others in the next generation of local surfers the things that have given his family a lifelong love of the sport.

Shea just finished a trip to Nicaragua and Panama, with some great exposure and with a bit of fishing on the side.

Shea Lopez in Jetty Black G12, and dinner. Shea also wears Kaenon’s Lewi Black G12 Men’s Sunglasses.

SAILING – LANGENARGEN, GERMANY

Wearing Rhino Tobacco G12 and representing the British America’s Cup group, Team Origin and 3x Olympic Gold Medalist, Ben Ainslie start the year off with a bang in their first event on the Tour this year. The win puts Ainslie in 4th place on the World Tour standings with 25 points, as an estimated 45,000 people took in the event on the shores of Germany’s Lake Constance. His tactician continued to be his Team Origin mate and 2x Olympic Medalist Ian Percy who was wearing Lewi Tobacco G12 sunglasses. Next stop is Match Race Korea in a few days time. Read the full story here.

PADDLING, CRYSTAL PIER, SAN DIEGO

The Kaenon Canoe paddling team placed 2nd in the 14 mile Crystal Pier race. The following weekend, placed 1st in the Rin Run Race in Santa Barbara.

Lead by Ruben Ruiz, the team wears an assortment of Kaenon shades, but while paddling several of them wear Hard Kore, Jetty and Lewi. The team also sports Kaenon t-shirts and hats, which are now available online at Kaenon.com

KITEBOARDING / SURFING
Josh Mulcoy “Whether it is getting deep barrels surfing or throwing buckets kiteboarding, Josh Mulcoy rips, plain and simple. Check out his latest video creation from main land Mexico and his home in Santa Cruz, California.

SUP

Chris Gutzeit and Genelle Ives score this week’s south swell. Chris wears Lewi Black G12 and Genelle wears Leila Black G12.

FISHING
COSTA RICA – LOS SUENOS BILLFISH SERIES – LEG 2
Fishing in Costa Rica is usually pretty good….but nobody ever remembers it as good as it was last weekend for the second leg of the Los Suenos Billfish Series. A patch of cooler water brought in a concentration of marlin never before seen in Costa Rican waters. 40 boats released 391 Marlin and 172 Sailfish in 3 days of wide open fishing.

Hooked up to a powerful blue marlin on light tackle Pat Healey in Kabin Black G12 reels like a madman as Captain Tony Carrizosa throws Game On’s twin 1365 horsepower diesels in hard reverse.

Pat’s Blue Marlin lit up next to the boat

Game On eventually took third place overall, helped along by a Grand Slam Triple Header on day 2. Catching a Grand Slam = Stripe Marlin, Blue Marlin and Sailfish all at the same time is a once in a lifetime occurrence- something that has only happened a handful of times in history.

Controlled Chaos as Don Gemmel, Carmine Galati and Drew Mcdowell fight 3 fish simultaneously.

Carmine Galati, Lewi Tobbacco C12, works on a striped marlin

The first fish released on the triple header was a Striped Marlin

Followed by a blue marlin which went ballistic next to the boat

Hans Alvarado, Rhino Black G12, finally releases the third fish of the slam- a sailfish.

Happy Hookers- Carmine Galati, Hans Alvarado, Pat Healey and Jim Nestor celebrate after 3 days of record setting fishing.

SAILING

Emirates Team New Zealand tactician Ray Davies and navigator Kevin Hall both wore Kaenon Polarized Hard Kore Sunglasses.

Auckland, NZL (Feb. 14, 2009) – On the final day, Emirates Team New Zealand laid claim to the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, convincingly beating the Swiss team Alinghi with three consecutive wins on a grey, rainy and windy day on the Waitemata Harbour. The home team’s come-from-behind 3-1 victory marked the end of a 15-day match racing regatta in modified America’s Cup boats that drew praise for its format and its originality from all of the nine international teams that took part. Click here to read the full press release.

The Best Friends, former team mates and now bitter rivals, Brad Butterworth the skipper of Swiss team and Cup Defender Alinghi, and Russell Coutts, the skipper and helmsman USA’s BMW Oracle lined up to see who would challenge the Kiwis for the first ever Louis Vuitton Pacific Cup making it through to the Challenger Finals. Butterworth, alternating between Kore and Hard Kore, beat his longtime friend and former teammate Coutts who was wearing Lewi. Butterworth then lost in the finals to Team New Zealand, which left Auckland all a buzz with excitement and gossip over Valentines weekend.

Brad Butterworth, skipper and tactician about Alinghi wore Hard Kore and Kore.

FISHING

WORLD SAILFISH SERIES – Los Suenos Signature Series Leg 1– Costa Rica
42 boats participated in the first leg of the Los Suenos Billfish series last week, a record turnout despite a tough economic environment.  Costa Rica is known for some of the greatest concentrations of Sailfish in the world, and this year’s conditions didn’t disappoint. Over the course of 3 days fishing, the 42 boat fleet released a staggering 788 billfish, including 44 Marlin.

Los Suenos Resort’s 250 slip marina boasts some serious big rigs and being only a 2 ½ hour flight from Miami, it is a top destination for East Coast fishing nuts. The majority of professional crews running the boats in the marina hail from Palm Beach, Maryland and New Jersey. Will James was invited to ride along with Kaenon Ambassador Captain Tony Carizoss, wearing Hard Kore Black C12, and his crew aboard the new Viking 50 “Game On”.

The new Viking 50 and 60 sitting pole position at the A dock. These two boats (left) are the fastest in the marina, topping out at over 50 mph. Don’t bother asking about the fuel bill. (Right) Back window of the Viking 50 demo boat.

Anglers Pat Healey, wearing Kabin Black G12, Bill Hixon in Spindle S2 G12 hooked up to double sailfish.

Mate Jimmy Nestor, UPD Matte Black G12, prepares to release a Striped Marlin (left) and later releasing a sailfish (right).

After gorging themselves all night on baitfish in the cool depths, sailfish can be seen in great numbers in the morning sunning themselves, sails up, on the surface. The sail on a sailfish serves two purposes, herding baitfish while feeding, and in this case collecting the warmth of the sun in order to aid digestion. Fish seen sunning in this manner are rarely in the mood to feed.

A sailfish attacks a hookless teaser pulled from the outriggers. Teasers and rubber squid chains bring fish into the spread behind the boat, the teasers are then pulled out of the water with electric reels from the bridge and the crew drops ballyhoo equipped with circle hooks to excited fish for the hookup.

Jimmy Nestor again face to face with a ballistic sailfish.

A Wahoo, the fastest fish in the sea (many consider the best tasting), is a welcome catch. At Los Suenos all billfish are released…but Wahoo aren’t so lucky. Mate Hans Alvarado, Rhino Black G12, brings in dinner over the stern.

Will James, Lewi Black Pearl G12, earned his supper spotting fish coming into the spread behind the boat. Perched 50 feet up, spotters can see fish well before the crew on the back deck, and are crucial in coordinating how and when the baits are dropped back to the fish and how many fish are in the spread. ADVANTAGE = Kaenon Polarized and SR-91. The head wrap, in addition to hat and Kaenon’s, helps cut out the extreme glare and harsh sun reflecting off the water. In contrast, for those who prefer the warm rays of sunshine over fishing, there’s always the bow cushion.

EXPEDITION

Adrian Ballinger Takes Kaenon Polarized to the Top of the World

Reaching the top of one of the planet’s highest mountains, Kaenon Polarized adventurer and AMGA and IFMGA mountain guide, Adrian Ballinger (Lewi G12) just returned home from 5 months of guiding in the Himalayas, where he summitted the world’s eighth tallest peak, Manaslu – 26,775 feet. Adrian, who requires serious protection from high-altitude exposure, chose to take Kaenon Polarized sunglasses along with him for the superior optical clarity of SR-91 and its ability to provide unsurpassed protection from wind, sun and glare. As a cool-down, Adrian decided to bag another major peak, Ama Dablam, which stands at 23,000 feet.  To learn more about Adrian and what he’s up to, visit his guide service, Alpenglow Expeditions at http://www.alpenglowexpeditions.com/.

On a different front, world-famous South African adventurer Mike Horn, who wears Kaenon Polarized Hard Kore, Lewi, and Jetty sunglasses, is trekking to the South Pole after sailing his boat the Pangaea across the Drake Passage from Ushuaia, Argentina to Antarctica. Horn’s four-year expedition will take him around the world by boat as he brings a highly diverse group of teenagers to the world’s most critically endangered and most beautiful habitats.