We met Joe in 2014 at the Potrero Hill Festival almost a year before we were opened for business. Immediately Joe’s welcoming persona and up lifting attitude made us realize it would be a great opportunity to have him as part of Urbano team…  Fast forward to a few weeks after we opened in July 2015, Joe showed up at our facility and started hosting his training clients with us.

Originally from Ewa Beach, Hawaii on the southwest side of Oahu Joe has been in the bay area for almost 8 years now. As a kid living in Hawaii Joe had a very active set of parents. They loved the sport of paddling and started taking Joe along with them at an early age, later inspiring him to join and compete at the High School level in his home town.

Joe’s first sprint race was at the age of 15. Now in 2015 he competed in the world championship for solo paddling, the Kaiwi Solo. Which he considers the hardest race he’s been part of. Paddling solo from the island of Molokai to Oahu. A long 32 mile event against the best paddlers in the world in the most unpredictable channel in the world.

When asked if there is an easy race, Joe chuckles and says:  “I can’t think of an easy race, I feel like they are all hard.  I do enjoy races that are downwind though, you could say that those types of races are the easiest of conditions because you are traveling with the wind and it’s a lot of fun riding swells along the way.”

During the race season Joe tries to get on the water 4-5 days a week and mix it up with interval training days and longer 10-15 mile paddles days.

Joe’s training philosophy: “keep paddling fun!”. Trying to stay consistent and paddle smart.  It’s an endurance sport that can be very physically (and mentally) demanding.  Keeping it fun helps with that consistency and continues the love for it.

Even though it’s not an official California State placement Joe is currently top 3 in Northern California.

For many athletes being ranked in the top 10 or top 5 of your sport is a huge achievement and goal, and Joe admits that improving his current rank would be nice, but more than anything else he wants to be the best paddler that he knows he can be.
 

Joe has been paddling with the San Francisco Outriggers Canoe Club for about 8 years, and even though you might think that the paddling community in the bay area is small it’s actually bigger than most people realize.  There are about 30 canoe clubs that stretch from Monterey up to Lake Tahoe.

Paddling is a great sport for everyone!  Kids from ages 10 and adults in their 70s are paddling these days.  It’s excellent cardio and it’s also a low impact full body workout that’s great for the soul and well-being.