A rare fall off his paddleboard yesterday was hardly enough to knock Australia's Jamie Mitchell off the top of the paddleboard world.

Mitchell won the Rainbow Sandals Moloka'i to O'ahu Paddleboard Race for the eighth consecutive year.

As usual, nobody else was even close to Mitchell's pace.

"I definitely like to get a lead and see if the guys want to come with me," said Mitchell, 32. "After a while, you sort of just forget about everyone and it's sort of survival on your own."

Mitchell completed the 32-mile course from Kaluako'i Beach, Moloka'i, to Maunalua Bay, O'ahu, in 4 hours, 58 minutes, 25 seconds. It was 10 minutes shy of the course record he set in 2006, but still the third-fastest winning time in the 13-year history of the race.

Kanesa Duncan of Honolulu won the women's division for the seventh time in the last nine years.

The race across the Kaiwi Channel is considered the world championship of long-distance paddleboard racing.

Mitchell was on record pace for the first half of the race, but the tide started to flow against the paddlers as they approached O'ahu.

"The first two-thirds (of the course) was pretty good — I could feel the current from the start," Mitchell said. "But then that last third, it took forever to get close ... it was tough. Probably the toughest the last three or four years."

Brian Rocheleau of Kailua placed a distant second in 5:20:53. The gap of 22-plus minutes represented a distance of around two miles.

"I was hoping to get a little bit closer this year," said Rocheleau, 33. "I was training a lot harder this year, put a lot of chores off at home that I have to do now."

Rocheleau has finished runner-up to Mitchell three times in the last seven years.

"He trains hard, he trains really hard," Rocheleau said. "We're all trying to catch up, but it's tough. He's good. I'm training about as hard as I can."

Not even a rare mistake by Mitchell made a difference. Almost four hours into the race, Mitchell said there was "lots of action, lots of swell from all direction." He fell off his board and needed a few minutes to recover.

Still, he said he never panicked.

"Experience," he said. "You know that everyone is going to hit it at some stage."

Rocheleau said: "It was really nice out there, great day. Conditions were excellent. Wind was good, swell was good. There were some areas where it got a little sloppy, but you just had to push through it."

Almost from the start, Rocheleau said he was focused on maintaining second place.

"I don't know where Jamie was; I was worried about the guys next to me," he said.

In the end, nobody came close to Rocheleau, either.

Tim Foran of Australia placed third in 5:30:45 — almost 10 minutes behind Rocheleau. Dean Hanmer of Australia was fourth in 5:31:45.

Mikey Cote was fifth overall and first in the stock paddleboard division.

Most of the elite competitors ride "unlimited" boards of between 18 and 19 feet. Stock boards have to be 12 feet long.

Cote's time of 5:32:25 was the fastest ever in the stock division.

"I feel like the 12-foot board was fitting into the bump a little better," said Cote, 22. "It just handled great. I got every wave I could catch out there."

Duncan dominated the women's field, finishing with a time of 6:29:29. It was far off the women's record of 5:53:49, but still more than 16 minutes ahead of runner-up Bianca Lee of Australia.

"I was thinking that I needed more training," Duncan said. "It was hard."

Like Mitchell, Duncan said she fell off her board when the Kaiwi Channel became sloppy off East O'ahu.

"I knew I was kind of struggling, but it's kind of one of those things everyone is in it together," she said.