Molokai musings

Good day in a pretty rough channel with props to Nappy as always! We ended up second in the 60s and 84th/119 crews. The congestion and wake city zone around the first change was pretty major. Little did we know until afterwards what was going on then. We just paddled through it all and didn't make a change until around an hour and a half into the race. Long stints in the canoe work better for us guys by far as we have trained that way and our "changes" aren't exactly speedy!

Afterwards we got the news that Luke Evselin had a serious accident during that first change. (see http://thegardenisland.com/sports/recreation/article_9e7a50d6-d5d1-11df-9092-001cc4c002e0.html). He's going to be OK but it'll be awhile before he's back in the water again. Lots of prayers and support for him from everyone in the paddling community. He was planning on going down to race in the Hawaiki Nui again; talked to him recently about his crew.

A good time for the race committee to take a a new look at ways to minimize this kind of risk, which we have all been talking about for a number of years as the number of entries have increased. Staggered starts make the most sense; others think the number of crews should be limited. And of course there's the iron route as well. However fluid and food drops are still needed but they can be spaced out better.

Thinking about Moloka'i 2010

Moloka'i 2010 countdown:

Had a good time racing on Saturday the 2nd in the Ke'ehi Ironman event from Hawaii Kai to Ke'ehi Lagoon. Only 13 canoes entered and none except us in our 60s division. A little respect! The 55s and 60s got a head start with the idea being everyone would end up around the same time. Little did we know that was exactly what happened as we pushed hard to catch a boat ahead of us near the finish. Managed to just nip those guys in a wild finish with the Hui Lanikila open girls closing fast just behind us. Pretty cool!! Took us about 2 hrs and 7 minutes so a good prep for next weekend.

Last night after practice had a chance to talk story with Manutea Owen, the Huahine paddler who supposedly was going to steer Shell in this year's race. Not! He said he trained with them for a month or so but ended up deciding against joining the "big city" boys. Non-committal about where he was going to end up on Sunday. Probably more to the story but interesting getting his take on the race. All the heavyweights will be racing and besides four-time defending champ Shell, the list includes OPT A & B, EDT, Paddling Connection and Bora Bora.

Sounded like he was leaning toward OPT to win but said Shell has a "special canoe." Should be a great race, and Team Primo sure has their work cut out.

"

Kailua Challenge

Let's hear it for Kailua Canoe Club and their annual fundraiser race especially since they included a 65+ division! Naturally we couldn't pass that up! As it turned out, we were the only crew so we walked away with the first place medals plus a good lunch. Nappy was a little miffed that he only caught one good wave between the Mokes. Overall the course was a little more mellow than last year but still as always it was a challenge battling the backwash around the islands.

States redux

Beautiful day at Ke'ehi, and the AAAA title came down to the last race with Lanikai edging Kailua by a single point! Too bad nobody knew what was happening except for the two clubs involved.

Wouldn't it be great to have somebody who could keep everyone up to date as to the points not to mention a knowledgeable play by play man. Of all the various competitions, Hamilton was the gold standard from that standpoint with a guy who kept the crowd pumped up and well-informed with his colorful comments. Not a good day for 'Anuenue crews as we fell in the "thanks for coming"category with a 21st in the A division and only 14 points.

States Race stuff

Nappy is off to the Big Island this weekend for a SUP race. It's the lull before the States storm coming up next Saturday.

Once again when the subject of the States race came up, we talked again about the lack of a level playing field because of the differences in koa canoes. In our case, we are using a borrowed older boat from Hui Lanikila as our own koa is in need for major renovation. In contrast, the bigger clubs like OCC, Lanikai, Healani and others have more than one and generally will race in a renovated, state of the art koa. So when our crews paddle out to the line, already we are at a disadvantage which we have to overcome. Fair or not that's just the way it is.

What to do? Well, we can be patient, fundraise, and wait for the day when we have a beautiful almost new boat such as Leeward Kai's. The other option and one favored by Nappy is to make the States race a real test of who has the best crew with everyone paddling in fiberglass boats of the same design just as we do at World Sprints. The beauty and tradition of the koa canoe remains during regatta season but at some point, we should turn the focus on the best crews without the handicap on some of paddling slower, older canoes. The old guard approach is that this idea is pretty much heresy and not even to be considered. However just as the 'Eono Hoe race this year, the time really has come to look at ways to improve our sport and not get mired in the past. Controversial? You bet! Opposition? Out there!! Comments??

July 28th, 2010:

Fixing up my Smugmug Photo site right now. Good fun and lots of photos added. See: pekelo.smugmug.com.