Soquel High’s Ryder Walding places 7th at paddleboarding world championships in Hawaii

When Ryder Walding, 17, crossed the finish line at the Molokai 2 Oahu Paddleboard World Championships on Sunday, he was so tired it barely registered. After the arduous 32-mile paddle across the Ka’iwi Channel in Hawaii, known as the Channel of Bones, the incoming senior at Soquel High paddled up to the shores.

Walding dismounted the board he rode for nearly seven hours, was greeted by his friends and slowly began to realize the magnitude of what he had just accomplished amid his complete exhaustion.

“It’s one of the coolest feelings I’ve probably ever had,” Walding said. “Just all the hype building up to do it and finally just getting out there and, like, doing it.”

Walding finished 7th out of 38 competitors in the men’s prone paddleboard stock division. He was the second-fastest American in that race, with a time of six hours, 37 minutes and 35 seconds. He placed 4th out of four in his age group of males 19 years old and under — the youngest competitors dominated, all finishing in the top ten.

Walding said he expected his age group placement since his age group had some known strong paddlers, but it never occurred to him that he could finish in the top ten overall.

“I definitely surprised myself,” Walding said.

During the race, he could see escort boats, a requirement for each competitor, around him, but he didn’t know which athletes they were following or where he fell in the rankings. All he knew was the pain and exhaustion he was paddling through.

“I was more focused on pushing myself as hard as I could and not really worrying about how others were doing because if you try and race people too much, you can lose energy, and kind of end up running out of steam at the end,” Walding said.

He said he learned to remind himself that every current, wave and spot of backwash he encountered, every other competitor had to get through too. Close to a year of training prepared him for this, he said, but once on the channel, he had no idea how the race would go.

The toughest part of the race came in the last 30 minutes, when Walding could see the point where the finish line was and it felt like it was so close. Mentally, to keep paddling was a challenge. and physically, he had already been exerting himself for the past six hours. 

“That was where you’re really pushing yourself because you’re tired, your body’s like, ‘please stop’ but you gotta go and finish it out,” Walding said.

This year’s Molokai race saw less windy conditions than usual, he said, forcing paddlers to propel themselves nearly the whole race, rather than being able to surf wind waves for close to 100 yards at a time in order to rest. This is closer to the conditions he’s used to in California, which could have given him an advantage.

Walding recently received his official acceptance letter to compete in the Catalina Classic, another renowned paddling race that spans the 32 miles from Catalina Island to Manhattan Beach Pier in Southern California. He had been anticipating the acceptance after completing several qualifiers earlier this year.

Now that it’s official, he and his dad, Jacob Walding, have started fundraising to help cover the costs of competing in the Catalina Classic, including hiring an escort boat and a captain that he needs to accompany him on race day. 

Following his success at Molokai 2 Oahu, Walding feels self-assured going into the Aug. 24 Catalina race, which is typically a flatwater grind. 

“Honestly, paddling most of the 32 miles made me confident that I’ll be able to do it at Catalina,” Walding said. “It just boosted my confidence in knowing that I’m up there with these guys who are super fast and have been doing it a long time.”

Even though the paddling was the main event, Walding enjoyed meeting all of the other paddlers — and some legends in the sport. He was on the same flight to Molokai as Jamie Mitchell, who won the race for 10 years in a row and revolutionized the method used for paddling by switching from lying down to kneeling to get more power. Mitchell gave him advice about the race on the plane and hung out with the Waldings for a bit after the flight, too.

Walding also said Hawaii’s warm water was a nice change from California’s frigid seas. He spotted new wildlife such as flying fish and tropical birds that he’s never seen before, and he said looking across the water at the island of Oahu was a beautiful new perspective to view it from.

Jacob, Ryder’s father, said they received an outpouring of community support before his race that fueled them on their trip to Hawaii.

“I never thought that that many people would be behind me for that,” Walding said. “People were very, very supportive of this, it was really cool.”

For those looking to keep up with Walding’s journey to Catalina next month, the Waldings will be posting updates on his instagram account @chasinsalt.