You know you've hit the big time when you see your name next to the likes of Rob Machado and Mick Fanning; but that's where Jamie Mitchell finds himself this week after signing a new sponsorship deal with Reef. 

10x Molokai to Pahu (prone) Paddleboard champion, Jamie Mitchell has recently taken to stand up paddling as his career, and very quickly took the world by storm winning several big races and putting his name to a stand up paddle school in QLD. Currently, Jamie's over in Peru leading the Australian SUP team in the ISA World Stand up paddle boarding championships at Miraflores, Lima. There's over 100 paddlers entered over there from all over the world, and Jamie's sure the Australian team is not only going to be successful in their own events, but as a team for Australia. Something previously not really experienced in the world of Stand Up Paddling. 

Back to the sponsorships however; Reef, One of the biggest names in surf accessories and clothing, just signed Jamie to put his face to their premium range of leather sandals. We know they're actually called thongs, but you can't tell those yanks anything. Hopefully Jamie's giving the marketing team an education on what's what in the thong/sandal/jandal/flip-flop universe as we speak. Rival (Australian) company Quiksilver also sponsor the professional stand up paddler, it's believed that Mitchell's under strict guidelines to only support the Reef footwear lines, while giving his full attention to the other accessories and clothing from Quiksilver.

Mitchell was pretty excited about the new deal, here's what he had to say himself about it: 
“I’m honored to be joining the Reef team. Reef has an amazing group of athletes, many of which I have looked up to for a long time. To have the opportunity to share what I do with the rest of the Reef team is really exciting. I’ve always set out to be adaptable and to enjoy the ocean in as many ways as possible, to have Reef’s support means a lot to me and inspires me to chase my dreams and push them as far as I can.”

It's an ethical minefield and generally complicated world when it comes to corporate sponsorship... Someone's gotta do it I guess! Look out for the new adverts coming online this winter (US summer) starring Jamie Mitchell, we'll post them up here once we find them. 

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