Kristin Foster, Kaiwi OC1 World Champion 2025

Posted on May 27, 2025

We're late on this race recap, but the Pa'a Kaiwi Solo is still fresh in our minds. Kaiwi delivered. And so did Team Kamanu. It was another amazing day on the water.

Kristin Foster surfed and battled to win, capturing her 2nd world championship title in a time of 4:12:59. She was followed closely by Lauren Spalding at 4:13:33. If you know OC1 racing, you might have some sense of what an accomplishment this is. Lauren Spalding is the Serena Williams of OC1 paddling, the goat, with something like 10 wins. We're simply over the moon for Kristin and incredibly proud she chose Noio as her canoe.

Triston Kaho‘okele-Santos traded bumps with the best, coming in a close third-place finish this year on the men's side. He finished in 3:28:11, on the heels of Kevin Ceran-Jerusalemy (3:26:57) and Tuteariimaroura Hotua (3:27:39), both from Tahiti, who captured 1st and 2nd. We're so proud of the level Triston has reached. Keep on pushing.

Travis Grant followed with an incredible performance, in 5th place, followed by Manutea Millon and Steeve Teihotaata in 6th and 7th, respectively—four Noio in the top seven.

Beata Markin rounded out the elite women with a 4th place. Markus Lizzaraga captured 24th overall and 3rd in the Jrs, and it was simply an incredible performance for a young and upcoming paddler. Hi‘iaka Aipia-White Eagle finished 1st in the 14-16 Jr Women!

And this past weekend, the Kanaka Ikaika Molokai Challenge just happened! Congrats to Kristin and Beata for capturing the women's relay!

We want to give one more huge shoutout to our Team Kamanu sponsors for supporting our athletes and sharing in the love of paddling. Mahalo Prometheus Construction, Tahiti Nui, Kalapawai Market, Coconut Traveler, and Hawaiian Paddle Sports!