Charged by plenty of waves and aloha for all, the QuiksilverEdition Ku Ikaika Challenge went off on Valentine’s day and ended up producing Aaron Napoleon as the winner of the first-ever big wave stand-up paddleboard competition. On a classic, typical Makaha day, Napoleon surfed through five rounds of the contest, charging hard and getting shacked while posting one of the event’s two ten-point rides in the process. There are few settings in the world that combine surfing heritage with natural beauty and world-class waves the way Makaha does, and all you had to do was listen to Napoleon talk about his day to know how stoked everyone was with how well the contest went down. “If you could have been out there and seen how the water and the waves looked from where I was, it was so beautiful, man, I was in heaven.”

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that stand-up paddleboarding is here to stay and spreading like crazy. A short walk up to the beach for my daily surf-check today revealed as many paddleboarders as I’ve ever seen out at one time and their numbers will surely continue to grow. As it does, we will continue to witness more events like the Ku Ikaika as well as stand-up paddleboarders worldwide continuing to push the limit on what is possible for this blossoming sport.