6-time winner, QSE Molokai to Oahu paddleboard race
It's been said that life’s an outside set, so paddle hard. And paddling hard is something that Jaime Mitchell knows something about. When the 29-year-old Aussie won the 2007 QuiksilverEdition Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard Race—his sixth consecutive victory—he cemented his reputation as the sport's greatest. As the best paddler ever. What else could you say about an athlete who over the past six years can count the number of times he’s been beaten on one hand—with the index finger of one hand. Who took out 2007's Hennesey’s U.S. Championships, the Hennesey's Maui International Championships and the QSE Molokai race all in one summer of supreme effort. And who lately has decided to apply those paddling muscles to a more, let's say, consequential arena: giant waves. This year Mitchell became a regular at heavy-water spots around the world, like Hawaii's Sunset Beach, where in 25-foot surf he rode his way to third place in the Core Fitness Standup Paddleboard Championships, Mavericks in Northern California, where he impressed even the locals on the biggest day ever ridden there and Isla Todos Santos in Mexico, where he hand-paddled into a massive peak that earned him a XXL Big Wave Challenge nomination. If life really is that outside set, you can bet Jaime Mitchell will be there to meet it.