Kaenon Polarized

Annapolis, Maryland — Kaenon Polarized took 3 of the top 4 spots at the 20th annual Women’s Match Racing Championship. Wearing Georgia Black G12, Genny Tulloch was one victory short of her first Grade 1 match race championship, eventually losing the best-of-5 race finale for a well-earned 2nd place overall. Behind her and winning the Petite Final for 3rd overall, was Rolex World Sailor of the Year Anna Tunnicliffe wearing Soft Kore Metallic Black G12. Tunnicliffe beat fellow Kaenon sailor Sally Barkow in Hard Kore, who finished 4th.

Genny Tulluch (above), wearing Georgia Tobacco Denim C12, driving in rear (white visor) and her second place team all in Kaenon Polarized, Georgia, Hard Kore and Kore.

3rd place Anna Tunnicliffe in Soft Kore Metallic Black G12 (above), below (driving), with Molly Van der Meer, also in Soft Kore Black Metallic G12, and Kore on her other crew.

Jenny Kalmbach and Morgan Hoesterey, two of the world’s elite female standup paddlers, completed the fourth channel in their eight channel quest, Destination 3°, to link together the Hawaiian island chain via the legendary open ocean channels that separate them.

From Destination 3°’s blog

“Welcome to our world. Here at Destination 3° challenges do not go uncontested and dreams are never not mostly reality. At least in our heads. When we sent our channel crossing idea out into the world, we thought it was a little different from the start, but we believed in it.

Crossing each of the Hawaiian channels on stand-up paddleboards is no small feat: Morgan Hoesterey and Jenny Kalmbach, will log more than 200 nautical miles across three degrees of latitude and some of the world’s most notorious and challenging open ocean waters. Laird and Dave have done it. But they’re Laird and Dave, and that’s the beauty of challenges: they’re personal.

Part of our challenge is to see Hawaii in a way that not many people get to see the islands – from the water. Each channel has a name, a personality, and a story to tell. We’ve crossed four of the eight major channels already, and after each, our adventures and perspective change a little more. From both above and below the waterline, each of the stories of the islands and the people we meet along the way are unique.

We launched from the Big Island on April 7; the Alenuihaha channel flowed between us and Maui. Dangerous, treacherous, deadly (a personal “favorite”…gulp), and impossible are usually the words that gather to describe this crossing. Roughly translated, Alenuihaha means “of very large, trough-like waves.”

We made it. After nine hours and more than 40 miles of paddling, Maui was the reward. We used Maui as a base for about a week and were able to paddle to Molokini, Lanai’i, and finally Molokai.

By linking the islands by the waters that separate them, we also see the whales, turtles, fish, and sharks that live here. We see them in their world. We see the reefs. But more importantly, we see how we influence their world.

We are paddling for plastic, or better, to keep plastic out of oceans, away from marine life, and out of the human food chain. The Algalita Marine Research Foundation is a fantastic, grassroots organization based in Long Beach, California, working to change the way we understand our impact on the ocean environment. We’ve been working closely with them to connect their messages with people who can make a difference.

In many ways, making an impact is the easy part, because everyone can make a difference at the most basic level by rethinking how they will use disposable plastic products. Strong currents carry plastics from around the world to Hawaii’s beaches and inhabited or not, no beach we’ve seen yet has been left untouched by plastic.

We’ll be on Molokai until about the 21st when we paddle the Kaiwi channel from Molokai to Oahu. The Kauai channel lies ahead as well, all 80-some miles of it. We’ll paddle that one under the full moon on April 28 and probably all through the next day.

Jenny Kalmbach wears the yet to be released, Soft Kore G12 and Morgan Hoesterey wears Georgia Ivy G12.

Jessica McMillan wearing Georgia Olive Crystal G12, finished 2nd at the extreme skiing event in Verbier, Switzerland giving her a 2nd place overall, for the season.

Julia Mancuso who wears Joss placed third and talks about the experience here.

SAILING
Sailing in St. Thomas in Beacon Tortoise C12 and fresh from Korea where she accepted her Rolex World Sailor of the Year award, Anna Tunnicliffe dominated the first three days of the Women’s Match Racing Championship racking up twenty wins to only one loss.  She met fellow Kaenon sailor Genny Tulluch, wearing Georgia Black G12, in the finals – where she was upset by Tulloch who capped off her inaugural Olympic campaign season as the US Match Racing Champion.

The win for Tulloch is especially sweet after losing to Tunnicliffe in the finals of last year’s USWMRC. “It feels great to win this championship,” Tulloch says. “We enjoy racing in St. Thomas. The conditions are great.”  Shifty conditions and a breeze barely reaching six knots set the scene for the final two matches of the semifinals and, what turned into a four-race Final Match.

The finals were now set up between the Disney Documentary film star Genny Tulluch vs. Tunnicliffe, the 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist in the Laser Radial and newly named World Sailor of the Year, who had gone 3-0 against Team Tulloch in their first three round robin matches. But it was Tulloch who came out of the blocks to win the first and third match for a 2-1 edge in the  best of five finals.  The fourth race turned into an epic battle with the lead changing several times on the final run, before Tunnicliffe fouled Tulluch only a few boat lengths before the finish, securing the victory for Genny Tulloch and her crew.

GOLF
Morgan Pressel, wearing her favorite women’s sunglasses in Georgia G12 had a strong Sunday final round to finish 3rd overall at the Orena Ochoa Invitational in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Watch for Morgan as she plays in the season-ending LPGA Tour Championship this weekend.

SAILING – BUSAN, KOREA

This week in Busan, Korea, the venue of The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Annual Conference, US Sailing Team member Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.) was named the recipient of the 2009 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award, the most prestigious individual recognition in the sport of sailing.

Tunnicliffe was chosen based on her outstanding achievement in a variety of boats and multiple disciplines during the qualifying period of September 1, 2008 to August 31, 2009.

“I’m honored to win such a huge award,” said Tunnicliffe after the awards ceremony in Korea. “I’m honored to now be on the list with all the amazing sailors who won the award before me. It’s a great way to top off a fantastic year, and I’m very excited!”

At the 2009 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards dinner, the HRH Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Rolex’s Lionel Church presented the male and female winners with a marble and silver trophy. The male recipient of the award is Brazil’s Torben Grael, the winning skipper of the 2009 Volvo Ocean Race.

“Anna’s record on the water over the last year speaks for itself, and this award is just the latest proof of her talent, motivation and dedication,” said Olympic Sailing Committee Chairman Dean Brenner (Wallingford, Conn). “Everyone at US Sailing is proud of Anna.”

The 2008 Awards were presented to four-time Olympic medal winners Ben Ainslie (GBR) and Alessandra Sensini (ITA), also Kaenon Polarized long-time sponsored sailors.

Anna Tunnicliffe and Torben Grael, the 2009 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year

Anna Tunnicliffe, aft and standing in Georgia Tobacco C12 at the 2009 Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta in Weymouth and Portland, UK.

Read the entire storyhere.

KAYAK – BRITISH COLUMBIA
Recently, Christie Glissmeyer headed to British Columbia for a self-support trip on the Clendenning River. She flew into Clendenning Lake on a float plane with 6 other paddlers and all of their gear. The plane dropped them off and from there, they paddled out of the lake and down the Clendenning River (Class IV, V) to the confluence of the Elaho River near Whistler. Christie wears Kaenon’s Women’s Sunglasses in Georgia Tobacco Olive G12.

Want to track Christie’s adventures? Check out her progress on her SPOT Adventures page.

Straight from Christie…
“I decided that this year I would like do more expedition/self-support wilderness whitewater trips. I chose the Clendenning River in British Columbia as a good warm-up because it is known as a very manageable 2-day class IV-V read and run river. To top it off, it starts out with a float plane drop off on a remote alpine lake. Wow, did we get a whole lot more than I had bargained for! High water levels combined with the remoteness of Clendenning Provincial Park made for an all out epic adventure”…read more

GOLF – CALGARY, CANADA
LPGA TOUR – CANADIAN WOMEN’S OPEN
Morgan Pressel, playing in Kaenon’s women’s sunglasses style, Georgia Olive Crystal, shot a final round 66 to share 2nd place in this lucrative LPGA Tour event.

SURF – SANTA BARBARA, CA
Competing against girls much older, 14 year old Lakey Peterson placed 3rd in the 18 and under girls division at the SIMA Pac Sun Surfing America event in Huntington Beach and took 2nd place in the 16 and under girls division.

Lakey has made the US team, and is headed to compete in New Zealand and continues to make an impression on fans and sponsors alike.  Lakey was recently added to the Nike 6.0 team and is gaining quite a bit of exposure on upcoming sports oriented TV shows. Filming began recently for the Fox show, The Winning Edge, expected to air in November and she’s also been invited to appear on Fuel TV’s New Pollution. New Pollution features up and coming action sports athletes. Lakey wears Kaenon women’s sunglasses in Georgia as well as Burny.

WATER – Maui, Hawaii

Whether it is surfing, Stand up Paddling, Outrigger Canoe, or Paddle Boarding, Talia Gangini has it covered. At only the age of 16, Talia completely charges in every aspect including competing in the Molokai Chanel Crossing (32 miles) and finishing 1st in the women’s team division with the original Kaenon water woman Lauren Bartlett in 2008. Talia wears Leila Black G12, Zaza Tortoise C12 and Georgia – on and off the water.

FISHING – Malibu, CA

After finishing runner up in the mixed division and 3rd in the Women’s at the 2009 US Spearfishing National Championships in Malibu where her Kaenon choice was Georgia in Almond, Kimi Werner returned home to Hawaii shoot another Women’s Spearfishing record – this time an 8.1 Mu, shown above.

GOLF – Sugar Grove, IL

The American side took their third victory in a row over the European side in the women’s most prestigious team / country event – the Solheim Cup.

The US Team was led by Morgan Pressel in Georgia Olive Crystal G12 and her victory-clinching singles match yesterday in the final Sunday singles play.

Christina Kim playing in Klemm G28, also won her singles match Sunday and played extremely well all weekend, as well as emerging as a vocal team leader.

Sophie Gustafson wore Jetty Tobacco C28 and played well for the European side.

SURF – HAWAII

Just a few shots of Paige Alms late spring on the island of Maui. Paige wears a variety of Kaenon’s women’s sunglasses including Georgia, Eden and Calais.

GOLF – LPGA Tour Toledo, OH

Morgan Pressel, playing in Georgia Olive Crystal Fade G12 played great for the second week in a row, forcing a playoff only to lose on the first playoff hole and finish 2nd. She’s on a hot streak and wouldn’t be surprised to see her take a win sometime soon – the Women’s US Open is this week.

KAYAK – OREGON
Here is a nice shot near the home of Christie Glissmeyer in Hood River Oregon – where she is just “playing” – with Kaenon shades on and logo’ed up. Christie wears Georgia Tobacco C12 on and off the boat, mixed with Eden off.

GOLF – Corning, NY
Morgan Pressel played in Georgia all week, favoring our new colors of Olive Crystal G12 and Tobacco Denim C12.

FRESH PRESS
In the June 2009 issue of Marie Claire’s Celebrity Lifestyle section, “Danica Patrick’s Essentials”

Danica Patrick: “I Can’t Get Through August Without My…” – Among Danica’s must have essentials, are Danica Patrick’s Sunglasses of choice, Kaenon Polarized Sunglasses. Featured here and worn frequently by Danica, is Burny in Tortoise C12.

Danica also wears Georgia, Calais, Eden and Kabin.

PADDLE/KAYAK Update From Christie Glissmeyer –

Way to go Christie!
On Mother’s Day, May 10th 2009 Kaenon Polarized’s Christie Glissmeyer dropped in – and in the process – proceeded to set the bar to a whole new level. “I had a clean run of Metlako Falls on Eagle Creek in Oregon last Sunday, setting a new women’s world waterfall record at 82 ft. It is a 100 ft. waterfall with a 82 ft. freefall,” said Christie in an email alerting us how crazy she really is. Luckily, she’s more skilled than crazy! She also looks hot in her favorite Kaenon’s, GEORGIA and EDEN.

Said Christie in an interview after the drop: “After I had made up my mind to run Metlako, I pictured myself sitting in that top pool over and over in my mind. Still, it took some serious concentration not to freak out when I was actually there. As soon as I paddled up to the lip and starting to accelerate over the edge of the drop, the bottom pool looked ridiculously far away.”

“My main concern was to remain calm on the top pool so that I wouldn’t freak out and screw up. When I did float over the horizon I just threw in a rudder to keep my boat lined up with the green tongue. I started to roll my body forward and accelerated into the veil. I felt that my angle was primo so I tucked forward, closed my eyes and let go of my paddle. I melted into the landing just as I brought my elbows in. The hit was seriously so soft it took me by surprise. I resurfaced upside down but hit my first hand roll so I was psyched.” And so were we! Simply amazing, Christie!

Read the rest of the post in Paddling Life Magazine.

Christie wears GEORGIA, EDEN and HARD KORE.

PADDLE – Spring Run Off in Washington

It’s spring, the water is running deep, cold and hard, especially after the winter the Pacific Northwest had. With a no holds barred approach, Christie Glissmeyer drops in taking full advantage of the spring run off. Christie wears Georgia Tobacco C12 on and off the boat, supporting the brand with Kaenon logos on her paddles and boat.

Christie…dropping in!

GOLF – Kingsmill Williamsburg, VA

Carin Koch, playing in Georgia Ivory C12, finished mid-pack and was the top Kaenon player on the LPGA last week.

CANOE – HAWAII
To mark how big of an event this is in the Hawaiian culture and sports scene, Kai Bartlett’s victory was celebrated on the front page of the Honolulu Advertiser supported with pictures and features of the Bartlett’s as winners and the dominant male and female outrigger canoe paddlers.

Lauren and Kai Bartlett, married, and quite possibly the two most dominant Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe specialists won their respective divisions in this grueling World Championship. Kai, wearing Jetty Black C12, claims fourth men’s OC1 title and Lauren, wearing Georgia Tobacco C12, won her sixth women’s title at the Steinlager Kaiwi Solo OC1 World Championship Regatta. This open ocean championship is a 32 mile race between the islands of Moloka’i to Oahu.

Lauren having fun and making it look easy in the big waves and wind of the Molokai Channel.

GOLF

It was a big win – for many reasons – for Brian Gay AND Kaenon Polarized. And it appears the golf magazines agree…Here’s last week’s Golf Week cover celebrating his victory and showcasing Kaenon.

Kaenon also had great recognition and airtime with Aaron Watkins in Hard Kore, Rod Pampling in Arlo Rx, and you’ll see below, with Morgan Pressel performing in new Georgia Olive Crystal.

SAILING

ROLEX US YACHTSMAN AND YACHTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR CEREMONY

New York Yacht Club (Manhattan, NYC) – The New York Yacht Club’s renowned Model Room was the setting for celebrating Terry Hutchinson’s (Annapolis, Md.) and Anna Tunnicliffe’s (Plantation, Fla.) 2008 competitive sailing achievements as family, friends, sailing dignitaries and members of the press looked on. Terry races in Kore and Rhino, Anna in Beacon, Baton and Georgia.

Determined from nominations submitted by the members of US SAILING, a short list of nine male and five female sailors was evaluated by a panel of sailing journalists who ultimately selected Hutchinson and Tunnicliffe the 2008 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year.

Hutchinson (age 40), a first-time winner, redefined himself as a well-rounded fleet racer after emerging from his stint as tactician aboard Emirates Team New Zealand in the 32nd America’s Cup. He racked up four major European victories in the TP52 before skippering to become that class’s World Champion. He also scored major U.S. regatta victories in the Farr 40, Melges 24, M30 and Melges 32 classes, also as tactician.

Tunnicliffe (age 26), also a first-time winner, was cited for her rise to number one in the world rankings and her gold-medal performance in the Laser Radial at the 2008 Olympic Games in China. Her excellent 2008 sailing resume made her the panel’s unanimous choice for the award. Read the full story at USSailing.org

Letter to Kaenon Regarding Georgia Rx:

Hey, it’s been about 4 months since I received the Georgia frames with Rx lenses, and I just wanted to let you know they are AWESOME! Best fishing glasses I’ve ever had — the frames fit great and are killer comfortable. And the lenses are simply the best optics I’ve experienced, both on the water and off. In fact, I pretty much want to wear ‘em all the time.

So, thanks a ton. I am really blown away by the lightness, comfort and incredible optics. Can’t believe they’re not glass.

Anyway, that’s my report. I’ve been raving to everyone I know about how great your products are, especially in prescription form. Hope you are well.

Peace,

Dylan Tomine
Patagonia Fishing Ambassador