Brian Rocheleau didn't get to ride as many waves as he would have liked yesterday, but his last one was memorable.

Rocheleau caught a wave off Waikiki Beach to assist him to victory in the Hawai'i Paddleboard Championships yesterday.

He completed the 10-mile course from Maunalua Bay to Kuhio Beach in 1 hour, 28 minutes, 3 seconds.

"It was flat and hot all the way to Diamond Head," said Rocheleau, who is 31 and a member of the Honolulu Fire Department. "But the finish here made it worth it. It was really neat to come in to the beach like that and have all the people cheering."

The race was part of the Duke's OceanFest, and the finish line was situated near a surfing contest that was also part of the OceanFest.

Chris Owens of Sunset Beach placed second with a time of 1:30:49, and Matt Barnett was third in 1:34:13.

Rocheleau and Owens paddled near each other for most of the race, but Rocheleau broke away in the final few miles of the course.

"The first half of the race was miserable," Rocheleau said. "But there were some waves after that. Chris was right there with me, then he kind of went outside and I stayed on the surf line inside and I think that was the difference."

Owens said he deliberately took the outside route in an attempt to find more waves.

"I don't know this (course) like Brian does, so I took a chance thinking there would be bigger waves on the outside," said Owens, 47. "I think I might have got stuck in some current out there, I don't know. But I wasn't expecting to beat Brian on this course anyway. He's the best paddler in Hawai'i right now."

Rocheleau placed third in the Moloka'i to O'ahu world championship race last month.

"I took a week off after that, but I'm still training," he said. "There's at least one more race coming up, and I'm getting ready for the surf season."

More than 70 competitors in various divisions participated in the race.

Kanesa Duncan of Honolulu was the first female to finish with a time of 1:40:15.

Aaron Napoleon was the first to finish with a stand-up paddleboard in 1:34:48. Vitor Marcal was second in 1:37:12.

Kai Hall was the first to finish in the stock paddleboard division in 1:33:35.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.