Boards and bodies flying left, right and centre.

Since last year, the solemn promise of big waves, huge crowds and spectacular stand up paddle racing has been uttered around the world.

The controversial decision to move the iconic Rainbow Sandals Battle of the Paddle from Doheny Beach, California to Salt Creek, California has certainly paid off however.

This week, promises were kept.

There were big waves. Huge crowds lined the beach. And paddlers put on a spectacular, an oh so spectacular show. And did we mention how much carnage there was? Boards and bodies flying left, right and centre.

Navigating their way through the masses were Kai Lenny, Danny Ching, Candice Appleby and Lina Augaitis, winners of the Battle of the Paddle, and Distance Racing held on Saturday and Sunday.

Aussie paddler Jake Jensen was standing right beside Kai Lenny on the podium though, after a stellar performance in the Battle of the Paddle event, and Travis Grant was second in the distance racing.

Here’s the low-down on what went on during the Battle of the Paddle event:

Conditions were all-time, with sets running in the 6ft region and light winds. The sun was shining, the beach was pristine and competitors all of the highest skill. But no matter how good a paddler you think you are, navigating a 12’6” stand up paddle board through a 6ft shore break and back, isn’t easy. Nor is surfing the final leg home on one of the suckers with 30 of your not-so-closest mates.

The womens final was by far the most spectacular, two paddlers caught an early runner and gained a commanding lead over the pack still rounding the top mark. Nothing rolled by for a while, until a set wave picked up the back of the pack, delivering them, and what seemed like the entire pack of paddlers to the beach on a single wave. There’s a video floating around the internet of it, but the amount of carbon fiber flying through the air was unbelievable. For those who stayed clear of the wipeouts, it was a dream run home after the grueling technical race.

In the mens final, long term rivals Connor Baxter and Kai Lenny were sharing a wave with Danny Ching and Jake Jensen, when Kai decided to play a cheeky little game of ‘push your rival off the back of a wave’. Connor retaliated, turning sharply into Kai and again, boards went flying. The incident is being talked about as friendly rivalry, with Kai explaining afterwards that the to-and-fro has been going on for a while.

For the distance racing, a shorter than usual course saw sub 1hr 30min times in the womens and sub 1hr 20min times in the mens. Again the sets and shorebreak played a crucial part in the results, with Aussie Travis Grant paddling across the line in second place after catching a monster runner, finishing 45 seconds behind Danny Ching. The women suffered a similar fate as the BOP racing, with a cleanup set rolling through on the leaders. Annabel Anderson rounded the final mark with a great lead, but Lina Augaits kept her cool as the set rolled through and overtook Annabel when she wiped out. Lina had a fantastic comeback after a slow start, clawing her way back through the pack and surfing a smaller wave stylishly to the line.

So that’s it for another year, the Rainbow Sandals Battle of the Paddle has once again provided great action, gnarly carnage and shined a light on the best athletes in stand up paddling. They’ll all be back in 2015 for an even better event, hopefully with slightly smaller swell!