we Released the Kraken!
2025 Winners
Men’s Open/a nrt champs: tOMAS cHRISTIAN & rAFAEL a. cOUTINHO
Men’s B champs: BRENDAN PATERNOSTER & RYAN CARR
Men’s B2 champs: ROB GEARY & JEFF SUSSMAN
Women’s Open/a champs: ANA ZUBORI & KRISTIN TREADWAY
wOMEN’S B CHAMPS: MELISSA BIRNS & JULIE FRIED
2025 Photos: Capacity draws (256 PLAYERS) & record crowd pond-side at THE KRAKEN
2025 Men's Open/A nrt finalists: gARCIA-nIETO & qUINTANA (l-r) champs cHRISTIAN & cOUTINHO
2025 MENS b cHAMPS (l-r): pATERNOSTER & cARR finalists:CURREN & HERSCHEL
2025 men’s b2 CHAMPS (L-R): GEARY & sUSSMAN FINALISTS: STRAUSS & DIAZ
2025 WOMENS B FINALISTS (L-R): ZIEGLER & JAMALI CHAMPS: BIRNS & FRIED
2025 WOMEN’S OPEN/A CHAMPS (L-R): ZUBORI & TREADWAY FINALISTS;WILKENS& CLARKE
Sun setting on kraken 2024
we ReleaseD the Kraken!
CELEBRATE ST. PADDLE'S DAY !
40th ANNIVERSARY !
Date: Saturday, March 15, 2025
Time: Matches begin at 8:00 A.M.
Host: Riverbrook YMCA (Wilton Y) and 20 local/partner clubs
Format: 32-team draws: Men's Open/A (NRT), Men's B, Men's B2 & Women's Open (A/B) - SOLD OUT
3 match guarantee
BBQ lunch, live Irish music, player favors, team prizes, sponsor gifts, charity raffle, St. Patrick’s celebration, Kraken sightings, vintage Wilton Open wear and St. Patrick’s outfit contests, and more…
Not PTI point-bearing except for Men’s Open/A Draw (NRT)
Cost: $220 per team (same as last year)…only one partner needs to register team…Y membership not required…select “non-member”
Waitlist/Cancellation: Teams must register to hold waitlist spot, fully refundable if we’re not able to accommodate. Registered teams withdrawing after March 1st will not be refunded unless substitute team is secured from waitlist.
Benefitting the Riverbrook Regional YMCA’s Annual Campaign — Children’s Charities earmark
2025 Tourney Sponsors: Athleta, Aventine Hill Importers, Kraken Rum, Nod Hill Brewery, The Tennis Spot, The Vital Stretch, Wilton Physical Therapy, Xenon Paddle
Release The Kraken!
Our
Sponsors
Thanks to our loyal sponsors for making the Wilton Open the longest-running annual charity paddle tournament in the country -- and to our knowledge, the largest one-day, co-ed paddle event on the planet. Now in our 40th year, the Wilton Open celebrates our great game, sportsmanship, the broader paddle community, Kraken fortitude and St. Patrick's Day. Net proceeds directly benefit the Riverbrook Regional YMCA’s Annual Campaign.
Wilton Open sponsors in 2025 include Proximo Spirits/Kraken Rum, Athleta, Wilton Physical Therapy, The Tennis Spot, Nod Hill Brewery, Aventine Hill Importers, the Vital Stretch, and Xenon Paddle.
Our host The Riverbrook Regional Y is an APTA member club. We thank the APTA for their management of the Wilton Open Men’s Open/A NRT event in 2025.
For sponsorship information, contact paddlekraken@gmail.com
Paddle with Purpose
wilton open supports:
Riverbrook Regional YMCA’s Annual Campaign
Proceeds from the Wilton Open directly benefit the Riverbrook Regional YMCA’s Annual Campaign. The Annual Campaign provides crucial finacial aid and scholarships to children and families in the communities of Norwalk, Wilton and Redding. These funds support campers, free swim lessons, and families who could not afford the Y without this generosity and much more.
Please consider donating to the Riverbrook Regional YMCA’s Annual Campaign below.
Gordyland Summer Camp Counselors at the Y paddle hut
The Kraken — Modern Mythology
The story of the Wilton Open's beloved mascot -- the Kraken -- finds its origins at our 2010 annual event. A powerful nor'easter with 70 mph winds & producing 10+ inches of rain descended on the Wilton Y and partner clubs that memorable Saturday. Incredibly, of the sold out 32-team field, only one tandem cancelled their participation, all others persevering in nearly unplayable conditions and demonstrating fearless commitment to the sport and tournament. The intrepid spectators and finalists braving the elements recall during the championship match (APTA national champions Albrikes & Fried prevailed) witnessing an enormous, eight-limbed, menacing creature emerge from the adjacent Y pond. The playful Kraken appeared to be paying its respects to the participants' valiant spirit -- an esprit de corps the Wilton Open has fostered for 39 years and celebrates to this day.
The Wilton Open Committee honors the Kraken in a myriad of ways including the awarding of Kraken Rum and medallions to all finalists, serving up charred kraken at our annual BBQ lunch, providing krakenized player gifts to all participants, etc. In 2019, we released a look-alike cephalopod to celebrate its first tournament appearance (below).
Location
Riverbrook Regional Y
(formerly Wilton YMCA)
404 Danbury Road
Wilton, CT 06897
Phone: (203) 762-8384 Ext. 286
Email: PaddleKraken@gmail.com
“Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides; above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages, and will lie
Battening upon huge sea worms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.”