Chuck
Patterson
On paper, SUPCO team rider Chuck Patterson is intimidating. With a nuclear physicist father and a professional European ski racer for a mother, you could say that Chuck came into the world with superhuman DNA. Raised in Germany and Northern California, he started skiing at the age of two and a half, and grew up competing in ski racing events.
Mom was also a professional windsurfer. She toted Chuck to windsurfing competitions during the summer months, and he followed her into that sport as well. “Sports are in my blood,” he says. “Because of my mom’s career, I was exposed to a lot of different board sports. I ended up getting into snowboarding, windsurfing, kite boarding, surfing, tow surfing.”
In 2006 in Maui, Chuck got on a SUP board for the first time. He added that sport to his repertoire and started winning contests, including the 2008 Battle of the Paddle and the YOLO Seaside Celebration 14' class in 2010. One of his proudest accomplishments, however, isn’t a contest win, but the experience of riding huge waves on a SUP at the Cortez Bank with Kelly Slater and Greg Long.
Of SUPCO and Tommy Donnelly’s entire team, Chuck says, “I’m super stoked. Tommy is a visionary with a go-for-it attitude. Laguna Beach SUPCO is a great store that’s big on customer service and educating people, with the best product and location.”
Chuck loves to compete. But what he loves most about SUP reveals the humble human inside his superhuman exterior: “There are so many aspects to standup paddling. I love the fitness aspect, and also just being able to enjoy nature in new ways, to explore the ocean, rivers and lakes. It opens your eyes to care about the environment. And no matter how good you are, you can still fall in the water!”
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