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.

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