This July at the Hermosa Beach AVP Open, Tyra Turner and Angie Akers, again proved that they are contenders, finishing again in third place. Both wearing Hard Kore, Tyra and Angie knocked off reigning Gold Medalist Misty May Treanor to make the semi’s, but ultimately lost the semis in a 21-16, 13-21, 15-12 match.

The girls get to rest easy for once, staying at home in So Cal and getting ready for next weekends go round in Long Beach. Maybe that little less bit of travel will help them overcome their third place rut and power through into the finals.

On the men’s side of things, Beach Volleyball’s #1 player in the world, Todd Rogers donned a pair of Kaenon Polarized Hard Kore sunglasses on Sunday to complete in his championship match, and ended up with a decisive win in the finals. Nick Lucena, wearing Jetty Seaweed G12 finished 5th.

As reported by Scuttlebutt.com:

The Hague, Netherlands — Mother nature played ball for the last day of the Delta Lloyd 470 World Championships taking place in The Hague, with brilliant sunshine and a 12 knot southwesterly breeze for the Men’s and Women’s medal races, held directly off the beach at the Hague.

In the Men’s race Australians Matt Belcher, wearing Hard Kore Black G12 and Malcolm Page, wearing Kore Black G12 M had secured gold through their 20 point lead yesterday to claim the Men’s World Championship title. ‘This is my fifth World Championship win and every one of them has been hard,” commented Page.

The class act of this regatta has been the newly crowned Australian World Champions, Beijing Gold medalist Malcolm Page and his new helm Matt Belcher. ‘They are really good, especially when it is windy,” said Charbonnier. ‘We have a lot of work to do if we want to compete with them.”

Mal (left) wearing Kore M G12 and helmsman Mat wearing Hard Kore Black G12 after securing Gold.

Their coach, the very legendary Victor Kavalenko wearing Hard Kore Black G12 (he’s not only won Olympic Gold himself back in the old days of Russia, he’s shaped and coached 15 world champions in this class.

While Belcher and Page were secure in first place going into today’s medal race, the case was the opposite in the Women’s medal race where the powerful Dutch defending World Champions, Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout secured their win only after beating New Zealand’s Jo Aleh, wearing Kore Black S C12 and Olivia Powrie in Kore Black S C12, who held a slender point advantage going in the medal race, ultimately taking the Silver Medal.

Voted in by the fans and starting for the National League will be the Los Angeles Dodgers’ outfielder Andre Ethier, who wears Beacon Matte Black G12 and Soft Kore Metallic Black G12. Ethier will be making is first appearance on the All-Star roster. 

He’s joined by National League’s starting short stop Hanley Ramirez (Hard Kore Tobacco G12). In the American League, the Seattle Mariner’s ace pitcher Cliff Lee, who favors Jetty, was voted on by his fellow players.

The All-Star Game will be televised nationally by FOX and around the world by Major League Baseball International. ESPN Radio will provide exclusive national radio play-by-play, while MLB.com will offer extensive online coverage.

On beautiful Lake Tahoe, competing in the Tahoe Nalu SUP race was anything but easy. There were well over 200 SUP competitors paddling the 7.5 mile course. It was a beautiful sunny day with slightly bumpy challenging conditions from an East wind and waves from several boats on the lake making for a great race. Jay Wild finished 2nd overall and 1st in 12′6. Anik Wild was 1st in the 12′6 women and 3rd overall. Jay wears Hard Kore Black G12 and Anik wears Soft Kore Black G12.

From TahoeSUP.com:

“Event #2 of the Quicksilver Tahoe SUP series, the 8 mile Thunderbird Run, was held along the eastern shores of Lake Tahoe starting and finishing at Sand Harbor State Park. Finally arriving back to the area was the brilliant blue Tahoe sky and the warm Sierra sunshine to create an eye popping backdrop for this inaugural race. A four mile trek down the rugged state park coast, turning at the historic Thunderbird Lodge, 4 miles back to the finish.

A series of buoys were strategically placed inside each cove and the racers were blind to the location of the next buoy until rounding each point. Tahoe SUP’s Ronnie Ayres, who finished 1st in the 14′ and 3rd overall had this to say. “I really liked the discovery aspect of finding each buoy. From the starting line looking down the course you couldnt see any. But as you came around each point there was the next buoy to round and pull you all the way into the crystal clear shallows. I had never paddled this side of the Lake before so for me it was exploring uncharted waters”

The men’s race unfolded with a pack of unlimited boards moving to the front and setting the pace. By the mid point and turn around Ronnie had reeled most of them in followed closely by fellow Tahoe SUP rider Jay Wild on his 12′6″. With 2 miles to go Jay pulled even with Ronnie and they passed all but one of the unlimited boards. “The final mile we really pushed each other,” said Jay. “Ronnie and I train together so it was like a whole new race there at the end”. Jay was able to find another gear in that last quarter mile and pulled ahead. Jay and his 12′6″ Z Elite finished 1st in stock, 2nd place overall and are raising quite a few eyebrows thus far in the Tahoe series.

The Tahoe SUP ladies have continued their dominance winning the 14 and 12′6 divisions.

Anik Wild took 1st place womens stock division, 2nd woman and placed herself 3rd overall in stock including the men.”

A global contingent of Kaenon’s Olympic sailors walked away with Silver medals and a Bronze at the third European Olympic Spring Regatta of the season. Sailed in cold and stormy Holland waters, the Delta Lloyd regatta dished out mostly blustery strong breezes to the former Olympians and all aspiring London 2012 campaigners, after windless Palma, Spain and Hyeres, France. Led by Olympic Gold Medalist Malcolm Page (Kore), and new teammate Mat Belcher (Hard Kore), the Men’s 470 duo from Australia took home Silver, along with Spanish Olympian Rafael Trujillo (Kore), in the manly Finn class.

The youngest sailing competitor at the Beijing Olympics, Peter Burling, who was 16 when he competed for New Zealand, has switched classes, has a new teammate and is fully committed to his goal of London 2012. Burling, now 17, wearing Hard Kore, along with crew Blair Tuke (Hard Kore), took Silver in the Open 49er skiff.

Reigning Beijing Bronze medalist and decorated women’s windsurfer, Bryony Shaw – sailing in the new Soft Kore, again took Bronze as the Brit prepares for her hometown Olympics and a podium repeat.

In the internationally-televised Crown Seoul Open gold medal finale, Brazil’s top-seeded team outlasted fourth-seeded Angie and Tyra, 21-11 and 21-18 in the 33-minute championship final. Angie Akers and Tyra Turner, winning their third FIVB career medal and second silver in fifteen tournaments together, finished with a 5-2 record in Seoul, and will split a $21,000 purse in addition to their silver medals.

Watch for the duo to bring lots of momentum and enthusiasm to Huntington Beach this coming weekend as the American-based AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour resumes at the famed Pier in Surf City.

To view this weekend’s schedule and ticketing info, check out the AVP site here.

Kaenon’s golf pros have been pushing hard this season and have made their collective presence especially evident over the last few weeks. Robert Allenby, playing in his go-to Hard Kore, Black, C50 lens, battled hard and won not only a well-deserved second place at the recent PGA Players Championship, but also glowing accolades from a host of golf writers on his sportsmanship and skill.

A globe trotting Morgan Pressel (wearing her now-beloved Sequence in G12 lens), beat an internationally talented field in the Salonpas Cup on the Japan LPGA Tour.

Brian Gay (Jetty, Matte Black, G12 lens) shot a stunning 7-under 63 in the final round of the HP Byron Nelson PGA tournament to tie for second. What is it that gives these players an edge on the course? Superior vision courtesy of Kaenon’s Light Transmission Levels.

To learn more about our light transmission levels, click here.

Tyra Turner and Angie Akers, both wearing Hard Kore, were knocked out in round two of the first FIVB Grand Slam of the year in Rome last weekend.

Fellow Kaenon players Brooke Hanson wearing Hard Kore, and Lisa Rutledge wearing Jetty, were knocked out in the first round.

The girls are now off to Korea for the next leg of the international FIVB Tour in search of wins and ranking points.

The AVP Beach Tour returns to action next week just down the PCH from Kaenon HQ in Huntington Beach.

US SAILING: You’ve won the America’s Cup, a Volvo Ocean Race, and a silver medal in the Olympics… What is your favorite sailing achievement and why?
JOHN KOSTECKI: Each of those achievements were very important to me at the time. They’re all very hard to do and take a lot of time, energy and focus. I still enjoy all types of racing in our sport and I’ve been around for a while now, so that means you start to have achievements across the sport. It’s satisfying now to have won the America’s Cup, won the Volvo Ocean Race and to have an Olympic medal. As far as we know, not too many people have done that. So certainly, that’s a point of pride. But for me, sailing different classes and different types of events is fun and keeps it exciting.

US SAILING: What did it mean to you as one of the few Americans competing for the America’s Cup?
JOHN KOSTECKI: It’s been a goal of mine for a while, so it’s very satisfying to achieve that goal and bring the cup back to the U.S. I know Larry Ellison has been very keen to win it and bring the America’s Cup back to the U.S., so it is very satisfying.

US SAILING: How important was it for the U.S. to re-claim the America’s Cup? What does it mean for sailing in the U.S.?
JOHN KOSTECKI: Hopefully it will mean a lot. I know it is part of Larry’s (Ellison) vision to elevate the profile of the sport and use this as a chance to educate people who don’t know too much about our sport. If it’s done the right way….Read the entire interview.

Davis Love III also placed well finishing tied for 4th place after a strong closing round.

Kaenon enjoyed massive coverage for all four days of the tournament between Robert Allenby and Davis Love III who both played in Hard Kore.

“Great day on the water. The weather was nice to start in the 60’s, shorts and jacket, then the storm rolled in, but, it didn’t seem to bother fishing! We ended up with about 30 fish a piece!”

As the weather conditions deteriorated the fishing improved. Ben shows off a huge 8 pound calico caught in the rain.

Florida Marlins SS Hanley Ramirez in Hard Kore Tobacco G12, and accepting his Silver Slugger Award on opening night in Miami–signifying recognition as one of the National League’s best batters last season.

The Phillies’ Jayson Werth wearing Hard Kore Matte Black G12

Seattle Mariners OF Milton Bradley wearing Klay Matte Black G12, signing for fans.

Philadelphia Phillies OF Raul Ibanez wearing Hard Kore Tobacco C12

LA Dodgers outfielder and emerging star Andre Ethier wearing Beacon Matte Black G12

Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis in Hard Kore Matte Black G12

Greg Stotesbury spotted this one deep wearing his Hard Kore Y35.

“All of the bass were just starting their move to the shallows to spawn. We were at the lake last week and many of the males were just starting to clear nests in anticipation of the females moving up during the full moon period. Skinner has extremely clear water with at least 20 feet of visibility, with the proper Kaenon lenses!

“Yesterday we were targeting the larger pre-spawn females on the outer edges of spawning flats in 15-30 feet of water. As soon as we got on the lake I was able to identify several areas where the shallows were loaded with males guarding nests. We knew the females would be located on the edges adjacent to these flats and immediately started targeting those edges with jigs and plastics. The key was locating the flats with the most male bass guarding nests. Even though we weren’t specifically targeting the males by sight fishing, it was a huge advantage being able to see them in the clear-green water. Most of the nests with bass on them had small white freshwater clam shells and other debris in them which I could easily spot with Kaenon’s Y35 lenses, even before I would see the male bass guarding the new nest.

“After identifying the key edges and flats we started scoring on a beautiful grade of pre-spawn female bass in the 3-6lb range. It wasn’t easy fishing but we were able to catch over a dozen nice fish throughout the day. This 6.25lb pre-spawn beauty was our best of the day-

“She fell for a Texas-rigged, 8” hand-poured purple/neon blue worm in 22 feet of water. We released all of our egg-laden female fish in the areas where we caught them.”

Australian defending Olympic Gold Medalist Malcolm Page (front) wearing Kore, with new partner Matt Belcher in Hard Kore G12, driving, in the two-man 470 class.

One of Spain’s top Olympic sailors, Rafa Trujillo in the one-man Finn Class, wearing Kore C12.

Golf lenses and designs are based on personal preference, and require inherent technology and engineering of high quality. Only Kaenon Polarized can offer the variety of performance frames with patented SR-91 polarized lenses, for both men and women, to meet the requirements of the world’s best golfers—and demands of world class athletes across the spectrum of sport.

Kaenon Polarized On The Tour This Week

Milton Bradley, now with the Seattle Mariners is now wearing Klay Matte Black G12

San Francisco Giants Manager Bruce Bochy wearing Spindle S3

LA Angels Starting Pitcher Ervin Santana wearing Jetty Tobacco G12

Boston Red Sox All – Star first baseman Kevin Youkilis wearing Hard Kore Black G12

Ryan Garko batting in Hard Kore Tobacco G28, now playing for the Seattle Mariners.

Tampa Bay Rays Manager and our Rx Freestyle poster-boy, Joe Maddon wearing his new Klay Matte Black G12 Rx Freestyle Progressive.

Florida Marlins All-Star Short Stop Hanley Ramirez wearing Hard Kore Tobacco G12

San Diego Padres Manager Bud Black wearing Basis Black Chrome G12

Philadelphia Phillies All-Star outfielder Raul Ibanez in Hard Kore Tobacco C28

San Francisco Giant’s Manager Bruce Bochy wearing Spindle S3 G12