The targets worn on the backs of some competitors are bigger than others. The largest ones for this weekend’s Quiksilver Waterman Collection Waikiki Paddle Festival belong to the biggest names in the watersports world: Connor Baxter, Danny Ching, Travis Grant, Jamie Mitchell, Candice Appleby and Jenny Kalmbach.

They are the elite of the expected international field of 500 athletes vying for titles in various disciplines from stand-up paddleboard and prone paddleboard to outrigger canoes and surf skis. In addition, there is the Waterman Challenge, a swim-paddleboard-SUP event, as well as Mitchell’s Survivor Race, a knock-out format where a field of 50 is whittled down by 10s through four heats, with the last 10 "surviving" to reach the final.

"All the races are going to be fun, but, by far, the Waterman Challenge will be the most fun," said Baxter, who at 17 is the reigning Molokai-to-Oahu SUP champion. "I haven’t done too much prone, but I’ll give it a try.

"And the knock-out format for the ‘Survivor’ will be a challenge. You hope to make it to the final, then have enough energy to win."

Grant won the elite race at last year’s Battle of the Paddle-Hawaii. The change to a shorter course with the "Survivor" race "will make it more exciting for the spectators," he said. "We do this format in Australia and it’s more about speed and tactics. It will be exciting."

And then there’s Ching, who has created his own biathlon of sorts. Saturday, it’s the Survivor Race; Sunday, he and Will Reichenstein defend their Kaiwi Channel Relay title, a race from Molokai to Oahu that finishes at Magic Island.

"We gotta defend," Ching said. "I don’t think I’ll be in the Waterman Challenge (at 4 p.m.), but I’ll come check things out and, maybe, get talked into it."