Radio Check with Noah Mayne

3x Catalina Finisher, Newport Lifeguard, and all around good guy- we're not sure if we've ever seen Noah Mayne without a smile on his face. According to Noah, "I was first inspired to hop on a board by Spencer Pirdy- who started the Ben Did Go memorial channel crossing in honor of Ben Carlson, and Mark Schulein- who is a multi-Classic legend from Newport. Since being part of the Ben Did Go in 2020, I was hooked. Since then I’ve had the opportunity to train alongside Steve Shlens and Nick Bobroff, with the Los Paddleros crew in SB." Here's Noah.

Where do you keep your paddleboards and other gear?

This zone goes by many names: The pain cave, Noah’s Arc, Meat Shed to name a few.

What does your dream paddle look like?

The 2024 Catalina Classic was about as dreamy as it gets. You always hope for the best and expect the worst when you’re going for distance and luckily we got ideal conditions. A couple things made that race so special. First and foremost the people. The prone paddle community is the absolute best. You see the same faces throughout the season and create amazing friendships. You’re guaranteed to be surrounded by world class watermen and women at the classic, but something you can never count on is the forecast. In a rare strike of fortune, we were blessed with great conditions across the board. Calm to start quickly turned into an epic downwind bump fest to finish. Ask anyone what their dream paddle looks like and you’re guaranteed to hear the phrase “downwind” in some form or another but it rarely occurs on race day. The combination of amazing people, phenomenal downwind conditions, and a channel crossing make for my dream paddle.

If you had to listen to one song on repeat for the whole Catalina Classic, what would it be?

If I didn’t spend so much time paddling, I would probably be doing _______ more.

Recovering but ain’t nobody got time for that!

What inspires you?

Everyone who trains to cross the channel year after year. We’re all out there to test ourselves and see how far we can push mentally and physically. There are no awards for those 4 am wake up calls to train throughout the week, just pure passion and love for the game. Knowing there are tons of people out there putting themselves through it pushing themselves is what inspires me most.

Who is your paddling nemesis?