BlkBox Surf Building a Strong Team in Florida
*** For Immediate Release ***
February 19 2015. BlkBox Surf is very excited to announce the addition of Girard Middleton, Mini Cunha and Mary Anne Boyer to their standup paddle team in Florida.
Girard Middleton, a pioneer of SUP on the East Coast and legend in the surf & SUP communities there, is owner of Sobe Surf & SUP on Merritt Island. Sobe Surf & SUP will serve as flagship retailer and demo center for BlkBox boards in Florida. Middleton himself is an accomplished competitive SUP surfer, racer and surf contest judge. With a Masters in Education, Middleton now applies his teaching skills to introducing new people to the sport of standup paddleboarding and paddle surfing along with coaching more advanced surfers and paddlers.
Over the past few years the team of Mini & MAB, along with MAB’s bulldog, Bumps, have become an iconic presence at Florida SUP races.
Mary Anne Boyer (MAB) was a two-time All American sailor from the College of Charleston and an Olympic hopeful for the 1992 games in Barcelona for singlehanded sailing. MAB started standup paddleboard racing in 2009 and quickly became a pioneer of the sport and podium regular in the Florida SUP race scene.
Mini ‘Crash’ Cunha was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and grew up surfing and playing beach volleyball. After four years as a med student, Mini traded one dream for another and moved to Germany to study foreign language. Having become fluent in four languages, Mini continued to travel, working in the yachting industry and finally settling in Florida. After trying SUP just once, Mini entered the elite race at the East Coast Championships in Daytona Beach in 2011 and never looked back.
Mini & MAB met at a SUP race and the two quickly became friends and training partners. MAB coached Mini for racing, and Mini helping MAB improve as a surfer. Over the past several years the team of Mini & MAB have helped countless new paddlers get into SUP or improve their skills through their clinics and lessons.
Girard, Mini & MAB join BlkBox team rider Josh Smart of Ft. Lauderdale, who started riding for BlkBox last summer. Smart is a personal trainer at the exclusive Lauderdale Yacht Club, a fitness model and national competitor in the NPC Men’s Physique Division. In addition to racing in the Florida circuit, Smart leads weekly paddle outs and a paddle fit boot camp. Smart recently took 3rd place in the Sunshine SUP Series, finished 1st in the Miami Standup for the Cure event, and 6th in the Neptunalia 10-mile race.
“We are incredibly excited to have such a strong team coming together in Florida.” Says BlkBox Brand Manger, Matt Lennert. “Florida is such a vital part of the national SUP movement and we are stoked to be able to help support the scene there. Look for our team riders at upcoming events across the State!”
Learn more at
www.blkboxsurf.com.
- See more at:
http://distressedmullet.com/2015/02/22/blkbox-announces-florida-team/#sthash.abW4V7wz.dpuf
