The Legality of Snooping Around in Charlotte, North Carolina

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It is not news that people are becoming nosier than ever before. Whether it is trying to lookup the academic history of the next-door neighbor who just moved in or maybe just stalking the Facebook profile of your best friend’s new significant other, human being have an undying curiosity that seems to be built into our nature.

While that can be very productive in finding out important information that can lead to new discoveries when channeled appropriately, all too often nowadays do we find this curiosity plowed into the most frivolous pursuits. 

Not only do people waste hours of their day looking into the most useless things possible, but people quite often get on the wrong side of the law when doing so. Surely this is something that most sane people would agree counts as going at least one step too far.

So, what exactly constitutes just being annoyingly nosy and what actually counts as a criminal offense? This is not an easy question to answer simply because the threshold of criminality differs from one jurisdiction to another. We will be looking into the specific case of Charlotte in North Carolina. 

There is actually a pretty simple way of how to find out if someone was arrested in this city. In this article, we will take a closer look at the legality in Charlotte in terms of background checks, and in specific when snooping crosses the legal line. 

The Short and Long Answer

The short answer is that it is indeed vey possible for you to be in Charlotte and look up someone’s criminal record without breaking any laws. So, if you fancy yourself a super sleuth or just really want to know more about your neighbor but are too afraid to just go up and ask, there are legal ways to do so.

The thing is, a person’s arrest record is usually the subject of public records. This menace that those pieces of information can usually be obtained through a government department, usually the justice department or the local court, without too much hassle. The first request of such kind that a person makes can be free of charge, but subsequent requests will be subject to the relevant processing fees.

Should the person in question be on some sort of sex offenders list, that information will show up as well. Not only will that information show up on a routine request, but in many places, registered sex offenders will have a marker of some sort placed on their home that anyone in the neighborhood can look up without even having to make any informational requests.

The only important issue left to consider here is not legal in nature, but rather social. Is being this inquisitive an acceptable form of behavior in your society, or do they find this level of intrusion in bad taste? This is something that can only answered by each individual observing members of their community and determining for themselves what the social norms are.

Some communities do not quite care about the concept of personal space, something which usually follows a willingness to live in compact spaces. Other communities would indeed prefer to keep everyone’s private affairs just that. Only astute and tactful observation can answer that question.

When Does Snooping Around Cross the Legal Line?

If searching public records and making a formal request to the proper authorities is perfectly acceptable, at least legally speaking, then what exactly would constitute a criminal offense? Again, what is illegal somewhere maybe perfectly legal somewhere else, but there are certainly some general guidelines that can help.

Obtaining someone’s credit history is a pretty cut-and-dry topic. It is very much illegal for anyone to obtain someone else’s credit history without their prior consent. Doing such will absolutely constitute a breach of that person’s privacy and is subject to fines as well as criminal prosecution. 

The same is true for school transcripts and academic transcripts in general. Academic transcripts require a person’s written consent prior to requesting that sort of information from any academic institution. Failing to do so will also result in very severe legal penalties for breaching a citizen’s privacy.

A person’s medical history is also something that is very sensitive. Although hospitals visited by the person in question keeps detailed records of their every visit, the hospital is obliged to withhold this information from members of the public, companies who wish to conduct targeted advertising, and even non-immediate family members without express written prior consent by the actual person.

Takeaway

The subject of personal information is one that is becoming increasingly controversial. This is mainly because what is black and white is becoming increasingly grey, requiring less and less legal knowledge and more personal judgement, which might not be the most objective of sources.

Fortunately for our prior discussion question, the issue of criminal records is indeed a remarkably clear-cut issue. The same can be said about most other publicly available records that are held at court houses across the United States.

Ultimately, the subject of snooping around is not just a legal issue. Regardless of an action’s legality, there is also the issue of breaking social norms in ways that might arouse quite a bit of pushback from community members. This is a judgement call that requires a great degree of wisdom and maturity that many unfortunately do not possess. 

Panthers Officially Place Cam Newton On Injured Reserve, Effectively Ending His Season

The Carolina Panthers starting QB has just been placed on injured reserve, effectively ending his 19-20 season with the Panthers and bumping Kyle Allen up to the official starting QB position on the permanent roster.

In an official statement, Panthers general manager Marty Hurney said, “We have said all along that it is impossible to put a timetable on this injury. Nobody is more frustrated with that fact than Cam. He’s one of the fiercest competitors I’ve been around during my 20-plus years in the League. At this time, we have decided that the best decision to reach the goal of bringing the foot back to 100 percent is to place Cam on injured reserve.”

This past Friday, Cam Newton took a trip to Green Bay to meet with renowned foot specialist Dr. Robert Anderson, who used to be the Panthers assistant team physician.

The meeting clearly went worse than everyone hoped and gave Hurney the definitive evidence to place the starting QB on injured reserve.

Cam Newton now has just 1 year left on his $21 million contract. The Panthers are now faced with the decision of whether they want to spend $2 million to release Newton early and save $19 million on the salary cap, roll the dice and resign him, or hope he heals before they have to make a decision and before another team snatches him up.

What do you think should be done at this point?

The Carolinas Rank As 2 Of The Fattest States In America for 2019

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With November being National Diabetes Awareness Month and Americans collectively spending nearly $200 billion per year on obesity-related health costs, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2019’s Fattest States in America.

To determine which states contribute the most to America’s overweight and obesity problem, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 29 key metrics. They range from share of overweight and obese population to sugary-beverage consumption among adolescents to obesity-related health care costs.

Both of the Carolinas ranked similar to how they did last year. South Carolina came in at #13 (up from #8 last year), and North Carolina #17 (the same as last year).

Fattest States in the U.S.

Overall Rank
(1 = Fattest)
State Total Score ‘Obesity & Overweight Prevalence’ Rank ‘Health Consequences’ Rank ‘Food & Fitness’ Rank
1 Mississippi 70.66 1 7 10
2 West Virginia 69.93 4 1 39
3 Kentucky 67.81 2 8 9
4 Tennessee 66.89 5 9 2
5 Alabama 64.67 6 17 1
6 Oklahoma 64.52 3 34 12
7 Louisiana 64.30 8 15 3
8 Arkansas 63.68 7 20 4
9 Delaware 63.33 14 4 26
10 Ohio 62.21 10 16 8
11 Michigan 61.92 9 28 13
12 Maine 61.90 28 2 47
13 South Carolina 61.66 12 32 5
14 Iowa 61.30 13 13 24
15 Kansas 61.13 18 6 19
16 Texas 59.90 11 43 17
17 North Carolina 59.57 20 19 6
18 Maryland 58.53 19 14 38
19 Georgia 58.18 15 36 7
20 Rhode Island 57.76 25 11 41
21 Illinois 57.75 16 37 18
22 Missouri 57.73 22 31 22
23 Indiana 57.72 24 21 14
24 Pennsylvania 57.40 21 33 25
25 New Mexico 57.03 17 39 27
26 New Hampshire 56.96 40 3 35
27 Nebraska 56.21 23 35 34
28 Florida 55.70 27 38 20
29 New Jersey 55.46 29 23 23
30 Vermont 55.43 37 5 50
31 Wisconsin 55.33 30 22 33
32 Wyoming 54.68 32 18 32
33 Virginia 54.50 38 24 15
34 North Dakota 54.28 31 27 36
35 Montana 54.12 44 10 28
36 Nevada 53.41 36 42 11
37 Oregon 52.76 46 12 42
38 Idaho 52.41 47 25 21
39 South Dakota 52.32 26 46 31
40 New York 52.16 34 41 40
41 Arizona 52.08 35 44 30
42 Washington 51.89 41 26 44
43 Alaska 51.71 42 30 49
44 Hawaii 50.18 33 49 43
45 District of Columbia 49.73 48 29 45
46 Minnesota 48.94 45 45 37
47 California 48.48 39 50 48
48 Connecticut 47.79 49 40 46
49 Massachusetts 46.95 43 47 51
50 Colorado 45.74 50 48 29
51 Utah 44.86 51 51 16

 

In addition, South Carolina was ranked as having the 5th fattest children in America;

To view the full report and your state or the District’s rank, please visit: https://wallethub.com/edu/fattest-states/16585/

Sweet and Schatz About To Make History at This Weekend’s Can-Am World Finals in Charlotte

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Historically close points battle will be decided at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Nov. 7-9

The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will make history at the Nov. 7-9 Can-Am World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte. For the first time since 2013 the championship won’t be decided until the checkered flag flies for the final time this season.

Brad Sweet, of Grass Valley, Calif., leads reigning champion Donny Schatz, of Fargo, N.D., by eight points after a novel-worthy season of dueling for positions every race and trading the points lead about every month. They’ll have two races – Friday and Saturday – to put a period on that story and try to be the champion it’s written about. (Teams will qualify for Friday and Saturday’s races on Thursday.)

Sweet is searching for his first World of Outlaws championship – second for Kasey Kahne Racing – and Schatz is going for this 11th title – 10th for Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing. It would also be Schatz’s sixth championship in-a-row.

GOING FOR THE TITLE

“It’s great that we’re in a position to win the points,” Sweet said. “We’ve never been in that situation. Obviously, we’re going to go in there and do what we’ve been doing all season, try to win each night. Hopefully at the end of the night it goes our way and be crowned the champions.”

There was a point in the season Schatz wasn’t sure if he would be in contention for another champion, he said. But now that he is, he knows exactly what needs to be done.

“It’s going to take us getting to victory lane to have an opportunity to win it,” Schatz said. “It’s not putting too much emphasis on it (the points). We’ve had a great year, win or lose. We’re going to finish it the best we can. We’re really building toward the future. To be able to be in this position at the end of the year… at one point in the year we thought we wouldn’t be. We’re excited. We’re happy with it. We’ll continue on what’s got us ten championships in the past and hopefully it works for number eleven.”

Sweet and Schatz have been the most consistent drivers this year. Both have finished outside the top-10 only seven times in 70 races. They also both have more than 40 top-five finishes – Sweet, 45, and Schatz, 46 – with the majority of them being podium finishes.

TEAM EFFORT

However, with 11 wins, Schatz hasn’t had his typical season of winning more than 20 races and having the championship locked up long before the World Finals. He’s put his performance on his shoulders, giving his season a C grade. However, he gives his team an A. Schatz called 2019 a building year. Long-time crew member Steve “Scuba” Swenson was promoted to being Schatz’s crew chief this year and new, younger, crew members were added.

“We’ve jelled decently,” Schatz said. “We haven’t jelled exactly like when we’ve had success in the past. That’s all part of building. When you take a group of guys who have been together as long as we were, and you make changes, you change one thing it’s like changing ten.

“I’m proud of them guys. We’ve had a lot of fun. It’s just been a different dynamic for me and Scuba. It’s always been an older core team. The guys in the past, we were all about the same age. We added a couple of younger guys to the team and they’re really motivated. They’re really excited about doing good. They like winning races. We just wish we could win more races together. And we will. It’s something we just keep working on. At no point did anyone give up on anybody.”

Sweet is having a career year with 16 wins, so far – breaking his record of winning at most nine races in a season. He’s in his second year with crew chief Eric Prutzman – who helped bring Sweet his first Knoxville Nationals win. In their short time together, Sweet said he has already seen the team grow from good to great.

“There’s a point in the season when we had the car right on and really dialed in,” Sweet said. “Later in the season we’ve had to dig a little better to figure out how to get the car right. I think that’s what makes a good team really good is getting through adversity and figuring out when the car isn’t right and how to fix it. We’re still learning together for sure. There’s going to be ups and downs. But I feel like in two years we’ve accomplished a lot of things.”

CONFIDENCE LEVELS

Sweet has full confidence in his team heading into Charlotte. To him, they’re the team to beat. There’s only so much they can be controlled, though. Their plan is to focus on the 49 car and control their own destiny, he said.

After more than 20 years in the sport, Schatz said confidence is almost irrelevant.

“I know what my capabilities in the car are,” Schatz said. “I know what their (TSR’s) capabilities are with the car. That goes beyond confidence. That’s just an expected thing. We take it for granted probably but when you’re around someone enough and you trust them like we do, confidence is a word you have to question because it shifts.”

He added the team’s confidence doesn’t shift. Their relationship is like a marriage.

“A good marriage I guess you can say,” Schatz said. “You trust the other person to do the right thing all of the time. And even if they don’t, we make sure we all learn from our mistakes and we don’t allow it to happen again.”

PREPARING FOR THE BATTLE

Schatz has historically performed better at The Dirt Track at Charlotte than Sweet, especially during the World Finals. Schatz gained eight points on Sweet last year and 36 points on him the two years prior. However, both championship competitors stated you never know what to expect at the track with varying weather and track conditions.

“We’re going to try and get qualified well for both shows,” said Schatz, who has 12 wins at the track. “Obviously, to get on the front of the Heat and into that Dash is important. My guys have had a good ability to do that all year. So, hopefully we’ll be in a position to do that again and then we’ll focus on the race individually on race days. That’s how we’re going to go at it.”

Charlotte is a home race for Mooresville, N.C. located KKR. Sweet has yet to win at the track but had the opportunity to test at the 4/10-mile track two weeks ago.

“We just want to be as prepared as possible and we definitely have had some good runs and good notes from Charlotte,” Sweet said. “We’ll look at all that and go in there with the best possible package we can come up with.”

Sweet admitted there’s more on the line this weekend. His goal is to not let that affect his performance. As long as he and the team make good decisions, Sweet said he believes they’ll be ready for the challenge.

Several obstacles can face both drivers throughout the weekend with the ever-changing nature of racing. Schatz will rely on his experience to conquer them and try to come home with another championship.

“We don’t know what those obstacles are, who we’ll be around,” Schatz said. “You take it as it comes. That’s part of the name of the game. That’s what put us in this position. Things aren’t always premeditated. You have to be able to react when something is put in front of you. That’s something that experience takes a big part of. We’ll hope that that experience can help us in that situation.”

THIS WEEK AT A GLANCE

WHEN & WHERE
Thursday, Nov. 7 (Qualifying only), Friday, Nov. 8 and Saturday Nov. 9 at The Dirt Track at Charlotte for the Can-Am World Finals. Get tickets and more information.

ABOUT THE TRACK
The Dirt Track at Charlotte is a semi-banked 4/10-mile track. The track record is 11.880 sec. set by Jeff Shepard on Oct. 6, 2001.
Online – CharlotteMotorSpeedway.com
Phone – (800) 455-FANS

TICKETS
Tickets can be purchased by going to WorldofOutlaws.com/tix.

10 Tips for Writing Successful Essays in College

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Every student thinks about how to cope with everything while education. What is more, they want to handle all the tasks successfully. But how to do it so? Maybe, it is one of the most controversial questions among students. The number of tasks is great. And, of course, it is difficult to deal with everything. This is particularly the case for writing essays. Professors want to hear your attitude and thought about some topic and see it on the paper. However, it takes a lot of time and effort. So, students sometimes ignore doing it. But it is not the best solution. The best way out is to learn how to write a successful essay. And if you follow some pieces of advice, you will understand that it is not really difficult to write qualitatively and fast.

Is It the Best Solution to Write Successfully?

Of course, if you are not a writer, ordering an essay is the best piece of advice for you. And nowadays ‘Write My Essays’ requests are becoming more and more popular. It saves you a lot of time and frees it for other interesting activities. If you combine working and studying, this option is for you. Also, you may be interested in fields that are not connected with writing. And, of course, you do not want to spend time handling such boring tasks. Everything you should do is to place an order on the online writing service and wait for your task to be done. It is safe, fast and qualitative. Because only the best specialists work on such services. The prices are quite reasonable. So, do not need to spend huge sums of money to order a single essay.

But many people want to learn how to write successfully on their own. And buying an essay for them is not the best way out. For such people, it is necessary to follow some tips. And if you do it so, you will succeed very fast because it really bears fruit.

How to Write a Qualitative Essay on Your Own: The Best Tips Ever

The list of such tips is quite big. Some of them are required because they refer to the structure of essays. Without following them you can not get good results for your essays.

  1. First of all, you should choose the type of essay. Because every kind has own structure and some nuances that you have to regard.

  2. The second important point is to write a good title. In most cases, you are not able to choose a topic because a professor chooses it for you. But your task is to write a title correctly. It should be neither short nor long. It should be enlightening and coherent with everything you are going to write. Write both concise and thorough title.

  3. The next tip is a good thesis. It is a sentence or two that say the most important information concerning your topic. Everything you write in your thesis should be proven and explained in the main body and concluded in the last paragraph.

  4. A good option for you would be writing a hook. It is a sentence or phrase which is coherent with your topic the best and is in the form of a quote of a famous human, a short data of statistics and so on. It should be something that can encourage a person to continue reading your essay.

  5. A very significant piece of advice is to write concisely but thoroughly.

  6. If you write some quotes, do it correctly to avoid any misunderstanding.

  7. Also, it is important to conclude everything correctly. Mind that in conclusion, you should consider everything you have written in the text. It should be in consonance with everything mentioned by yourself.

  8. The next point you should take into account is the bibliography. If you use even a single external source, you should indicate it at the end of your essay.

  9. Always follow the requirements of different styles. It will be good for you to get acquainted with them in order not to make mistakes regarding it.

  10. And the last but not less important is to reread your essay for some time. It will help you to avoid grammar and spelling mistakes and make your essay more literate.

If you take into account everything above mentioned you will understand that it is not so difficult to write a good essay on your own. All you should do is to follow those tips and advice to make your paper more literate and successful.

Van Insurance Cover to Save You from Spending Money

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Insurance is a legal necessity and if you are paying for it you want to cover as many eventualities as possible. As there are several types of cover available, it’s sensible to look around for deals that include as many as possible in your premiums. Thankfully, you can find many reliable sites that now offer a van insurance comparison service for you to identify the package that fits the bill.

Appropriate Van Insurance to Protect Your Wallet

Your van insurance covers the loss or damage caused by you to any other person or his property in an accident where you are at fault.

There are different minimum levels of insurance cover which are expressed by a 3-tier system:

  • 25 thousand is the maximum amount per person that will be paid by the insurance company to cover the medical care of each injured person.
  • 50 thousand is the maximum amount per incident that will be paid by the insurance company for covering expenses related to the injury.
  • 15 thousand is the maximum amount per incident that will be paid by the insurance company to cover the damage cost to the property.

These are the minimum limits set by the legislation and no insurance company can set limits below it. But you can always have the option of higher limits when taking your insurance contract.

Bodily Injury (BI) Liability Cover

If you have caused injury to a third person when driving you are liable for the costs of medical care and hospital bills. A claim is made to your insurance company by the injured party and the company will pay the costs on your behalf.

Property Damage (PD) Liability Cover

If you have caused damage to someone’s property, be it their car or fence or anything else, you are liable for the loss and a claim will be made to your insurance company by the third party to cover their costs of a replacement.

Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury (UMBI) Liability

If you are hurt in an accident due to the fault of an uninsured driver, they are bound to pay for your loss. But if they won’t or cannot pay, you can make a claim if you have uninsured motorist bodily injury cover. It will cover your medical bills and lost wages.

Underinsured Motorist Bodily Injury Liability

If you are hurt in an accident where you are not at fault the other driver is liable to pay for your bodily injury. But if the driver is underinsured and their insurance will not cover your medical bills, you can claim underinsured motorist bodily injury liability where you are paid for the extra expenses that are not covered by the other driver’s insurance.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Property Damage

If your car or any other property is damaged by an accident due to another driver being at fault you can expect a payout. But if the driver is uninsured or underinsured you can claim against your own uninsured/underinsured liability cover, if you have it, to recoup your loss.

Planning your insurance cover so that you are covered for as many eventualities as possible may seem like a tall order. But there is help around to guide through so that you can sort out the absolute must-haves from the ‘it could be useful’. If in doubt, use a broker or seek advice from a qualified insurance agent.

Charlotte’s First Yoga Co-Op Just Opened – The Queen City Yoga Center

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The concept (the first of it’s kind in Charlotte) was based on Gather, a multi-roomed yoga co-op and community based in San Diego, CA. On Gather’s website, they describe Yoga, “as a platform to foster community, education, inspiration and hope”.

Lori Parrish, the owner and founder of the Queen City Yoga Center, has a very similar vision for her new center.

She told me she wants The Queen City Yoga Center to provide Charlotte “with variety of yoga teachers, classes, workshops, and events, in an affordable space that’s designed to build a Yoga community that’s totally unique to the Charlotte area”.

Parrish decided the new concept was needed here in Charlotte after talking to dozens of yoga teachers who told her they wanted the freedom to teach what they want and when they wanted, while having the ability to set their own prices and develop their own brand.

The center plans on hosting sound bowl healing sessions;

yogi workshops;

and a wide variety of stretch, meditation, and power flow classes, as well as kids yoga, teen yoga, prenatal yoga, and dog yoga (Doga) classes in the future.

Several of Charlotte’s top yoga instructors, including world-renown teacher Adam Whiting have already scheduled classes at the center;

 

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How quickly we grow accustomed to all of the wonders around us…

A post shared by Adam Whiting (@adamwhitingyoga) on

The Queen City Yoga Center is now open 7 days a week 8am-10pm (except some holidays). They offer free parking, security, and key code access.

The center currently has 2 studios and several community spaces:

Studio A – can accommodate 20 yoga mats
Studio D – can accommodate 10 yoga mats

Studios can be rented for 60,75,90 and 8+ hour for all day events and trainings.

Teachers can now book 60, 75, and 90 minute time slots on their website queencityyogacenter.com or on our instagram @qcyogacenter1 under the book now button.

McCaffrey Sets Several New Records In Panthers 30-20 Victory Over The Titans

After a heartbreaking loss last week to the 49ers, the Carolina Panthers were able to take down another team to advance their winning record to 5-3.

During yesterday’s 30-20 victory over the Tennessee Titans, we witnessed some of the most consistent game play of the season, rushing for 156 yards, passing for 232 yards, racking up 4 more sacks (with 34 sacks for the season, we’re on pace to break the 60 sack season franchise record), and converting on three-of-four red zone opportunities.

Kyle Allen completed 17 of his 32 passes and Christian McCaffrey racked up a total of 166 scrimmage yards, including 146 rushing yards, 2 rushing touchdowns, 1 receiving touchdown – and he broke a ton of records in the process.

Here are just a few of them;

Here’s a clip of what might be Christian’s most impressive play of the day;

He was interviewed by the press yesterday after the game, and in spite of the records he broke, and the “MVP” chants from the crowd, he showed nothing but humble respect for everyone on his team;

Here is the full recap of yesterday’s game Panthers vs Titans game;

What did you think about the Panthers’ 5th win of the season?

Charlotte Parents Raise Thousands on GoFundMe to Cover Teachers’ Classroom Supplies

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Two parents want to make sure teachers at Cornelius Elementary don’t have to pay out of pocket for classroom supplies.

David Judge, a local pastor, said it all started when he and his wife brought their 3 kids to open house. They noticed every teacher had an Amazon Wish List for needed supplies. That’s when they came up with the idea to “adopt” their kids’ classroom and foot the entire bill for supplies. But they didn’t stop there. David and his wife started a GoFundMe fundraiser to get every classroom at Cornelius Elementary “adopted.”

Now the community has raised over $3,000 to make sure teachers aren’t paying out of pocket for classroom supplies.

To view the GoFundMe, please visit: gf.me/v/c/v3n9/2xnqd-adopt-a-classroom

NC Surf to Sound Challenge Rebounds Following Florence Hiatus

Canceled last year following one of the worst hurricanes in state history, North Carolina Surf to Sound Challenge rebounded in Wrightsville Beach this weekend with nearly a 50-percent growth compared to 2017. “The biggest thing that impressed me about this race was the number of every-day paddlers that signed up and participated,” said Race Director Mark Schmidt.

According to Schmidt, 2019 turned out to be the largest Surf to Sound Challenge ever, with 119 participants compared to approximately 80 in 2017. The increase is due to local and regional signups and a growing interest in the variety of paddle races on the schedule, including the sport of ocean canoe (OC), rapidly increasing in popularity in the mid-Atlantic.

Weekend weather conditions were brisk and favorable as fall weather moved into North Carolina. However, racing conditions were especially challenging on Saturday in the ocean and sound. According to the US Coast Guard crew on watch from Wrightsville Beach, seas were 4-5 ft. with unrelenting winds of 15 mph. On Sunday, the winds abated somewhat, with afternoon temperatures rising into the low-60s.

(L-R) Stephanie Shideler, NY; April Zilg, CA; Laurel Kritkausky Coburn, VT

Jarrod Covington of Wilmington, NC, and Stephanie Shideler of Southold, NY, were crowned the new elite male and female champions in Saturday’s 6.5-mile Surf to Sound title race. Covington owns the outdoor recreational company Wrightsville SUP, and Shideler is a former Wall Street banker who gave it up to pursue her passion for the paddling sport. Shideler will represent the USA in the ISA World Standup Paddleboard Championship in El Salvador in late November.

North Carolina native April Zilg, ranked number two in the world by the Association of Paddlesurf Professionals, won this weekend’s OC-1 division in The Froth, an 11-mile endurance race in the ocean and sound. Terry Kent of Ithaca, NY, earned the OC-1 men’s title. Greg Flach, of Baltimore, MD, captured the 11-mile surfski honors.

Zilg, a three-time Surf to Sound Challenge champion now living in California, also finished in the top spot in the SUP 14-ft Women’s division title in Sunday’s Blockade Runner Flatwater Championship, a 9-mile race for advanced paddlers. John Batson, from Hilton Head Island, earned the SUP-14 Men’s title in this race.

OC-6 competition at 2019 Surf to Sound Challenge – Courtesy Robert B Butler

The outrigger canoe six-team member (OC-6) racing division introduced a new chapter in the paddling competition with success based on teamwork, in beautifully designed and sleek watercraft over 40-ft long. Reggie Barnes, Craig Stephens, Mike Medwedeff, Wesley Stolp, and Chris Martin won the Men’s Division; Bernadette Burton, Misty Brown, Melissa Luther, Wendy Smith, Cat Marinich, and Rebecca Grandey won the Women’s Division; and, Jack Marinich, Cameron Deisroth, Jenna Blackburn, Anna Blackburn, Barry Blackburn, and Steve Lewis won the Mixed Division.

The Big Boss Brewing Company in Raleigh captured the title in the Corporate Challenge Relay.