Sports

UPDATE: Nearly 90 Stand Up Paddle in Windy Rain to Honor Friend and Help his Son

Steve Adler was an SUP racer who died of an aneurysm like John Ritter's. Racing pals braved downpour for nearly 3 miles.

Updated Monday with amount raised.

Undaunted by wind and driving rain, some 90 stand up and belly down paddlers launched off the Leeway Sailing Center beach Sunday in a race honoring Steve Adler, a well-known SUP who died suddenly last March.

Dubbed the Adler Paddler, the 2.8-mile race around Naples Island raised $8,000 through sales of t-shirts and raffle tickets for high end SUP gear like a $1,700 racing board donated by Riveria Paddlesurf, and other donated prizes from water sport manufacturers. The money will go to a college fund for Adler's son, Clark, and to the John Ritter Foundation, created after the actor died of an aortic aneurysm.

Find out what's happening in Belmont Shore-Napleswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Braving miserable weather for a vertical row, the group of 90 paddlers--plus towel- and blanket-draped supporters on the sand huddling under the eaves of a lifeguard tower--vowed to honor Adler, 40, rain or shine.

True grit and love drove them off the beach and paddling through a race on the Alamitos Bay, where the surface chop and gusting winds made it a slow but meaningful effort. 

Find out what's happening in Belmont Shore-Napleswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Adler was a long-time surfer, stand up paddler and  well-known surfboard glasser from Sunset Beach. Friends and the website PaddlewithPurpose.com said. Adler had been competing in SUP races for about five years and was well known in the sport that has rocketed in popularity, especially on the coast. With its placid glassy surface, Alamitos Bay is usually a primo SUP spot, but not Sunday.

As the paddlers launched on SUP boards and surfboards at about 10 a.m., the rain started pouring down. The water was gray and churning, but paddlers seemed exhilarated to be part of the first annual Adler Paddler. Surfing legend and SUP racer Micky Munoz was photographed on the beach by Orangecounty.com.

After Adler's death, his partner in a planned business called SUP Spot, Jodie Nelson, made international news by becoming the first woman to stand up paddle from Catalina to Dana Point. She did it as a fundraiser for breast cancer research foundations and raised $120,000. It was not clear, amid the downpour, how much money had been raised Sunday. Monday afternoon, Jodie Nelson said $8,000 had been raised.

"Actually," she added Monday, "more is still trickling in."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Belmont Shore-Naples