Big wave surfer and stand-up paddler Dave Kalama spends most of his time racing between the Hawaiian islands; but paddling the length of Lake Tahoe Monday was one of his “most enjoyable days on the water ever.”

“In a race, I’m always hammering so hard the whole time that it’s hard to enjoy it,” the 12-year stand-up paddling veteran said. “Today, the weather was great, the water was so refreshing, the setting was so beautiful and the group was so awesome I just couldn’t have asked for a better day.”

Kalama was one of 27 world-class athletes who launched from Camp Richardson just after dawn at 7:10 a.m. Monday morning with the intention of paddling 21 miles to Kings Beach. Six hours and 23 minutes later the entire group, including Truckee ski racer Darron Rahlves, top snowboarder Jeremy Jones, Julian Carr, Arne Backstrom, Nate Holland and many more, landed together at Kings Beach.

Born from a chance meeting with Truckee residents James Woodruff, Rob Gaffney and Kalama this epic stand-up paddle mission across Lake Tahoe came together as a way to involve extreme athletes in a fun event to raise awareness and funding for victims suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI) and other war-related injuries.

Bob Woodruff is a TV journalist for ABC News who was injured January 29, 2006 by a roadside bomb that struck his vehicle near Taji, Iraq while he was reporting on U.S. and Iraqi security forces. Thirteen months after suffering a traumatic brain injury (TBI), Woodruff returned to ABC News with “Iraq and Back: Reports from Bob Woodruff,” an hour-long, primetime documentary chronicling his recovery and the plight of thousands of service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with similar injuries.

Seeing a need to help returning injured U.S. service members beyond what the U.S. government was providing, Woodruff and his family established the Bob Woodruff Family Foundation to assist in the long process of recovery and offer long-term support to help reintegrate TBI victims back into their communities. Rob Gaffney, local extreme skier and event organizer, chose the Bob Woodruff Family Foundation because of a friendship with Truckee local James Woodruff, Bob’s brother, and because the charity has a reputation for allocating a high percentage of the funds raised directly to the TBI victims it helps support.

Many of the athletes, like Rahlves, big mountain skier Arne Backstrom and whitewater kayaker Shannon Carroll, who stood up to paddle for the cause Monday had only tried stand-up paddling once or twice before.

“I’m just getting excited to get out on the water and find my rhythm,” said Carroll, the only female participant.

“I’m just going to try to pace myself and you know, it’s fun to put yourself through some pain every once in awhile,” Backstrom said before the launch, looking a little less comfortable standing on the dock than he does skiing extreme lines in Warren Miller movies.

The “pain” of stand-up paddling the length of Lake Tahoe (21.6 miles) is intended to symbolize the pain returning war veterans and other victims of brain-related injuries face as they attempt to re-enter life.

“We chose stand-up paddling for this event because these athletes are always up for trying something new and the learning curve for stand-up paddling is really steep,” said Rob Howard, founder of event sponsor Epic Way Sports. “But introducing what seems like an unbelievable journey becomes very symbolic of someone who is suffering from a brain-related injury. Something that seems really easy on the surface becomes much more difficult.”

For athletes like Rahlves, the symbolism was crystal clear.

“I was thinking [about the vets] when I was on the water,” Rahlves said. “And, you know, for them it’s a life-changing deal to come back and have a serious brain injury. I was just thinking about how hard it must be for them and it was like every stroke you’re taking out there on the water is for them.”

“It felt good to be out there raising awareness for the foundation, because what those guys are sacrificing for us goes a long way.”

Warren Miller film star and extreme skier Julian Carr agreed.

“I’m happy to do this in honor of these guys,” he said. Carr holds the record for the highest flip on skis, 210 feet, but how does he compare free skiing to spending six hours stand-up paddling on Lake Tahoe?

“My feet hurt from standing so long,” he said. “And I guess it’s kind of like skiing when it gets really cold and you just have to endure to get through it. Stand-up paddling we just had to endure getting tired and just keep pressing on.”

Rahlves, who has been clocked at 92 miles per hour while skiing, found it difficult to suppress his need for speed and broke away from the group to be the second paddler to land on Kings Beach in four hours and 50 minutes. Kings Beach resident and avid stand-up paddler David Defoe landed first approximately 10 minutes earlier.

“Skiing is like a quick high, it’s done real fast; sometimes it’s a couple of seconds or two minutes, but doing something like this you really have to focus on persevering,” Rahlves said after the event.

For everyone involved the event seemed like a great success.

“It greatly exceeded my expectations,” said Gaffney. “And I think the one thing that was really cool for me was watching everyone and seeing how they were really interested in this cause.”

If you would like to donate to the Bob Woodruff Family Foundation through this expedition, visit www.bobwoodrufffamilyfund.org.