Spotlight Performance on Jack Bark!

This months spotlight performance comes from the 18-year old Jack Bark (California). In a span of 29 days Jack Bark crossed 2 (32-mile) channels in addition to being a key participant in the 2012 Paddle2Live Junior Waterman Expedition.

Jack Bark dropping in Mid-Molokai Channel

On July 29th, 2012 Jack Bark became the youngest prone paddleboarder to win the Molokai World Championships of paddleboarding (Stock Division) at age 18! The California born and raised athlete crossed the channel in the 2nd fastest time in the history of the event just a minute and change off of the course record in a time of 5 hours 18 minutes 16 seconds. “It was amazing to win this event,” commented Bark “there is an elite group of stock paddlers who have won this event. I am honored to join the ranks of Keoni Watson (’06 &’07) Mikey Cote (’08 & ’09) and Eric Abbott (’10 &’11) as previous Stock paddleboard World Champions.”

Paddle2Live Expedition

Relying on 10 days of rest Jack Bark returned home to California to meet up with a team of other junior waterman on the Paddle2Live 10 days mission. On August 10th-19th Jack and fellow teammates embarked on the 400 nautical mile course that span the entire Channel Islands of the California Coastline. The mission of the Paddle2Live is simple by powerful, “To Live! And to live life to the fullest! To launch, fundraise, and rally community support for our new NAC / Paddle2Live™ Junior Waterman Academy which educates, inspires and assists young individuals to lead the most healthy, athletic and adventurous lives as possible in, on and under the water.”

Jack Bark- Catalina Channel 2012

On August 26th, 2012 just 29 days after winning the Molokai World Championships, in addition to paddling 400 nautical miles Bark headed to Two Harbors, Catalina for the annual Catalina Classic Paddleboard Race. A 32-mile course that spans from Catalina Island to Manhattan Pier. This year Jack finished the event 3rd overall (stock division). An impressive finish and a top notch result to round out an incredible 2012 season performance.