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Mick Di Betta

@allpaddling

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Paddling Coach and Ocean Athlete
1997 M2O World Paddleboard Champion

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Really grateful for all of the love ❤️ and experiences I recently shared with friends from near and far as we gathered on Maui to celebrate the life of Kai.

It was also super special for me to get to test drive “The Wendy” — Michael Giblinʻs prototype 🍒🛶 @outriggerzone @ozonekauai (I really like it ❤️❤️❤️) and to paddle practice Māliko with @zoe_nuu @hanahoupaddlesports — who is riding the @kaiwaacanoes Vega surfski. Sheʻs been kicking my butt in downwinders since the day we met (circa 1999 🤩), but this may be the first time she hulied and I didn’t! #mynicknameistippy #newtricks #OC1 #surfski

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APNEA SURVIVAL™ TECHNICAL IMMERSION SUMMIT

12–14 FEB 2027 | PALM BEACH, GOLD COAST

THREE DAYS. FIVE SPECIALIST COACHES. ZERO COOKIE-CUTTER PROGRAMMING.

Forget recycled surf clinics, breathwork retreats and conventional training programs.

⚡ We're tearing up the playbook!

Three days at the cutting edge of technical surfing performance, bringing together innovative coaches, unconventional thinkers and decades of hard-earned experience.

🌊 And what a location! Right on the banks of Tallebudgera Creek, with the beach out front at the Gold Coast Recreation Precinct.

MEET YOUR COACHES:

🌊 JASON RICE — Surf Apnea™, breath control, stress resilience and performance under pressure.

🏄 MICK DIBETTA @allpaddling — World Champion paddler. Technique, efficiency and paddle performance.

⚡ MIA HUPPATZ @miahuppatz @waveki — Professional surfer and Australia's only accredited WaveKi™ coach. Surfing mechanics, sequencing and technique.

🌀 BEN WATSON @ben8watson — MMA champion and WeckMethod Instructor Trainer. Rotational movement, spinal engine and rope flow.

🚑 TOM HASSALL @deep_breath_institute — Paramedic, educator and freediver. Surf-specific emergency response and first aid.

💥 Daily apnea and pool training sessions

💥 Specialist breakout sessions with our coaches

💥 Hands-on technical workshops and practical skill development

💥 Paddling, WaveKi™, rotational movement and rope flow

💥 Breath control, recovery, resilience and emergency response

Different disciplines. Different environments. One immersive experience connecting the dots between breath, movement, technique and performance.

🎁 PLUS: 12 months Surf Apnea™ Online access, Flow Rope, Shark Eyes decals, 15% off WaveKi™ subscriptions, presenter discounts and First Aid certification!

Challenge conventional thinking. Explore new techniques. Get hands-on with some extraordinary coaches.

🔥 12–14 FEBRUARY 2027
📍 Gold Coast Recreation Precinct, Palm Beach QLD

REGISTER VIA LINK IN BIO!

BE YOUR OWN DOLPHIN - BE HARDER TO KILL™

📷 @russellordphoto

#ApneaSurvival #SurfApnea #TechnicalImmersionSummit #SurfPerformance #BeHarderToKill

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Mick DiBetta @allpaddling

Mick talks about the conception of the iconic Molokai to Oahu @molokai2oahu prone paddleboard race.
While M2O has grow to include SUP and foil, and there are many outrigger and surfski events across the “Channel of Bones,” Mick talks about the very beginning of the prone race; which is widely regarded as the World Championship… an event that Mick won the inagural year; and has finished in the top 10 EVERY TIME he’s competed… all 25 times. Incredible.

Mick made a pack after that inaugural event that he would race it every year and he’d bring the best of the best from Australia with him to do it. Well, he’s brought ‘em and he’s coached ‘em, and the result is 16 world champions that were under his tutelage. Amazing.

It’s hard to define what Mick has meant to this race… and what this race has meant to him.

Find the full interview on the @mark_schulein_passion_project podcast on YouTube and all podcast platforms.⚡️

#m2o #lifesaving #prone #molokai #waterman

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Mick DiBetta @allpaddling

Mick served as a lifeguard on the Gold Coast for 40 years; retiring just a few years ago.
He talks about the impact and influence of his career on his life. It’s powerful and his emotions tell the story.

Couple his career with his passion for prone paddling and competing at the very highest level while coaching others to be their best; and you get a pretty good understanding of the impact Mick has made on those that love the ocean… all over the world.

Find the inspiring interview with Mick on the @mark_schulein_passion_project on all podcast platforms, YouTube and wherever you get your content.

#lifesaving #goldcoast #prone #molokai #coach

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Mick DiBetta

For nearly four decades, Mick DiBetta @allpaddling has dedicated his life to the ocean; saving lives, racing across it, and coaching some of the world’s greatest paddlers.

Raised in Brisbane, Mick grew up competing in Australia’s fiercely competitive surf lifesaving scene before becoming a professional Gold Coast lifeguard, a career spanning nearly 40 years. Along the way, he captured multiple Australian and World Surf Life Saving titles and developed a deep, lifelong connection with Hawaii.

In 1997, Mick made history by winning the inaugural Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard World Championship (M2O) and made a pact to do the race every year… and to bring some of Australia’s best paddlers back with him. That’s exactly what he’s done. He’s done the race 25 times and… brought the best with him.

Through his experience and his science-based AllPaddling @allpaddling coaching program, Mick has guided athletes to 16 M2O victories, including Jamie Mitchell’s unprecedented 10 consecutive championships.

In 2026, Mick tackled the iconic Catalina Classic for the first time, finishing 9th in his 60s. That performance extended an extraordinary record: 26 channel-crossing races, every one completed in under six hours and every one finishing in the top 10! Truly incredible. Will anyone ever be able to touch that? Doubtful.

Lifeguard, world champion, elite coach, and lifelong waterman, Mick hasn’t simply competed at the highest levels of prone paddling. He’s helped define the sport and shape generations of its greatest athletes.

You can find the full interview on the @mark_schulein_passion_project podcast on YouTube and all podcast platforms.

#elitecoach #molokai #m2o #lifesaving #legend

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A Legacy of Paddle Racing 💚

We’re incredibly proud to have Hennessey’s return as the Title Sponsor of the second annual Hennessey’s Green Buoy Battle.

For Hennessey’s, supporting paddle racing isn’t something new. It’s part of a history that goes back decades.

In this reel, longtime paddler, racer, and board shaper Russ Coble shares some of the history behind Hennessey’s Racing and the role it played in our paddling community.

We also want to honor Tim Ritter, Hennessey’s former race director, who passed away in 2021. Tim dedicated so much of himself to the sport and to bringing paddlers together through racing. His impact and the legacy of Hennessey’s Racing are still felt in our community today.

That’s part of what makes this partnership so special. As we continue to build the Green Buoy Battle, we’re proud to have Hennessey’s behind an event that carries forward that same spirit of competition, community, and fun.

Thank you, Hennessey’s, for continuing to support paddle racing and helping us honor its history while creating something special for the next generation.

Hennessey’s Green Buoy Battle | November 14th 💚

#GreenBuoyBattle #Hennesseys #PaddleRacing #PaddleCommunity #OceanAcademy

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Nui ka ua! Grateful to be emerging from the storms #nolo #lowell and feeling the joy of downwinding on my personal wa’a! 💜🤍

@ozonekauai @puakeadesignshawaii cantare @kaiwaacanoes ama @keonedanakauai mahalo

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Nā wahine @kanaka_ikaika race! Yeah ladies 💕

Paddling — its for the girls 💕! Mahalo for such a fun event with over 150 ladies on prone paddleboards, OC1, OC2, OC6!

Mahalo @ilovemy2birda for everything!

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Jack Bark - Adventure

@catalinaclassicpaddleboardrace record holder and 15x competitor.

2x Molokai to Oahu @molokai2oahu stock world champion.

Multiple adventure paddles across channels, around islands, and across oceans. Big and long and badass adventures. Hard adventures.

Multiple ultra distance runs with friends.

All in the name of fun.

And a father and a dad and a fireman and a member of the iconic Bark @barkboards family.

Jack is as cool and as humble and rad as they come.

Find the full story of his adventures and his life on the @mark_schulein_passion_project podcast on all media platforms ⚡️

#bark #paddle #prone #catalinaclassicpaddleboardrace

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Kudos to the @catalinaclassicpaddleboardrace @blacklinelogo for pulling off the livestream of the event complete with vignettes of paddlers and @genec.rink Dickie and rest doing an amazing job making a really boring and non-spectator friendly sport like Paddleboarding really entertaining. I think talking for 7 & 1/2 hours is almost as hard as paddling for that amount of time and you guys crushed it! Thank you for sharing one of my greatest athletic accomplishments of being on the Camel Riders Perpetual trophy which is right up there with also being on the Catalina Classic one for me! 😜

(Swipe for more 👉🏽)

Photographic Evidence my ability to “jump on that camel and finish it” 😂 shot by me with a remote camera I was triggering while holding on for dear life in the 2009 Virginia City Camel Races! 😂 🐫 💨

(Swipe for more 👉🏽)

Best part of the sport is watching the community grow with good people and seeing young new paddlers come into sport and get bitten by the paddle bug. From SD locals like @gagehingeley @tristan_sully over the years getter faster & faster landing on Catalina podiums, to watching hammers like @amathison_ @spencestagramin become elite paddlers, and young and humble athletes like @finnaune quickly rise to the top of the sport is so rad. I remember all these guys first races and to see all their progress or to have them pass you mid channel is amazing! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

(Swipe for more 👉🏽)

One of the top moments of this year was having a pod of dolphins swimming with us for a good mile. Before the R10 when shit started to get tough, a pod of dolphins swam under my board looking at me, jumping all around me, as I was hooting and hollering. I tried to get the attention of the my escort boat to take a photo with my camera I gave them but Mike was peeing out the back and I think Aaron was taking a nap 😂 I’m happy the media boat captured legend @allpaddling dolphin encounter in his 1st classic which must have been special. For decades he’s had a positive influence on so many paddlers, myself included and our entire @northcountypaddlers through his training and coaching programs. To be 63 years young and get top 10 in your first crossing and

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THE CATALINA TIME MACHINE

(Some words + photos attempting to express something profound but not too serious about the experience of another Catalina Classic)

I think the most unique thing about the Catalina Classic is time. The amount of time needed to properly prepare for it, and then how much time it actually takes to cross the 32-mile channel. During the race time slows down and seems non-linear while you’re in the water with a roller coaster of emotions, managing expectations/reality, midway cramping/doubt, all while the clock and the arms keep moving forward. But most interesting is how quickly time passes in between each year of doing the crossing and how that accumulation of time in the water are like rings on a tree…

(Continued to next slide)

📷 @aaronfongarelli

The first year I did this crazy race, I was past my athletic prime at 36, my sons were toddlers, and I had a full-head of hair. At that point I was competitively paddling for a couple years for fun and I thought to be considered a legit paddler I needed to do the Granddaddy of Paddleboard Races. The plan was a one and done deal and it tripped me out to see these older, salty paddlers doing their 15th, 20th, or 25th Classics. Like why the hell would you wanna go through such physical and mental excruciation year after year? Suddenly in a blink of an eye I’m one of those older salty guys still paddling, my sons are adults, and I don’t know where my hair went…

(Continued to next slide)

📷 @sdprone

But I do know why (we) old guys keep on coming back, and it’s to be part of the amazing paddling community. I’ve been part of swimming, surfing, yoga, and photography communities and none come close to the paddling one. Whether it’s your local paddle club like our @northcountypaddlers in Encinitas, or the #Donkeys in South Bay, or the hip young @prones_brigade in Newport w/their strong Insta-game, we’re all small parts of the larger community spanning the globe to Australia, Hawaii, Europe and even Japan. And that’s the reason I keep coming back when I said I wouldn’t after several goes by 2015, but then it took me almost losing my ability to paddle in an accident in 2019 to want to get back in th

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Jack Bark

In the spirit of the @catalinaclassicpaddleboardrace that just went down this last Sunday in August, as it has for the last 49 years, this clip is about Jack’s record breaking win in 2024.

But more than that it talks of the paddling community and how amazing it is.

To all my friends that tackled the Classic this year, or any year, a huge congratulations on doing something hard, and rad 🔥

To those of you on, or soon to be on the @catalinaclassicpaddleboardrace perpetual trophy, like Jack’s sister Emily who just took🥇again, an extra huge congrats!!

Find the full Jack Bark story on the @mark_schulein_passion_project podcast on all platforms

#prone #catalina #gohard #community

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