Author: CORA Admin

Likely a final posting, since we are off to Molokai in the morning, I’ll try to recap the last couple days, and guess at what’s in store for us in the days ahead.

We’re going to have a favourable tide, and the wind is blowing mostly our way, but if it holds like this, many teams will likely bee-line towards Diamond head….still a little early to tell. The locals are thinking this may well be a record breaking year. If you have a look at the new links on ocpaddler.com, you will see there’s a lot of stiff competition showing up this year.

Yesterday we had a bit of an easier practice as we entered the final taper (of the year!)….and it looks like Steve has come into his own quite nicely as a helmsman over the last 5 days. Today he caught a monster wave and surfed right past our crew…he has definitely earned the trust of his crew, and everyone is feeding off of this pleasant result. Being a down day yesterday, we essentially stayed out of the sun and relaxed all day (minus a very competitive cannonball competition in the pool). We had an early dinner: spaghetti with a meat sauce, which had 7.5lbs of meat, and 6 jars of classico….ridiculous. We gave Scott the night off.

Paddling in Vancouver, it is easy to really relax the grip on your paddle. Out here, in big water and heavy winds, you really have to hang on, as it can quickly get whipped out of your hands. The good thing is that the exceptionally salty water seems to improve the grip on the paddle, but the downside is the extra salty water seems to do a trick to your skin. Guys are applying remedies to places they aren’t used to….

Another thing that is very obvious here is how big outrigger as a sport is. There are clubs everywhere, and you even see big brands endorsing the sport. Yesterday, looking at the beer selection in our local “Foodland”, at least two brands had outriggers depicted in some fashion…the bottles of bud have a picture of the islands with little outriggers. You hear that the Molokai crossing is the ‘superbowl’ of outrigging. Actually, this being the 53rd crossing, the Superbowl is kind of the Molokai Crossing of
football….

Ok, back to reality: today we had our final training runs, and we ran different combinations up and down the channel to finalize crews. The boats are running quite well, and you can start to feel the race around the corner. Speaking of crews, we ended up losing an escort boat and a paddler, so we’ve have some last minute scrambling to deal with….but it doesn’t seem to be a major problem at this point. To celebrate this final practice of the year, we headed directly after practice to Makapu, for some team body surfing. Very odd, as I distinctly remembered that we had all agreed not to, as you run a fairly good chance of injuring at least one person…but anyways….everyone is feeling pretty good right now…

Tomorrow, we head out to one of the local airstrips, and we’ve chartered a small plane, who will transport us and our gear to Molokai in two shifts. Should be an amazing flight….with a good arial view of the course. Once on Molokai, we are staying at the Molokai Ranch, where our only responsibilities will be to remain hydrated, loaded with food, and to rig and float the boats.

newsflash: we just at this instant secured a second escort boat…so now we just need a paddler…no sweat…

Ok, this is going to be fun, and everyone is getting pumped…see you all next week….and we’ll look forward to hearing stories from all the other clubs.

Thanks for reading….! Briac, FCRCC

Briac – FRCC

Every practice ends with a similar scene: instead of heading down through the cannal towards the shed, each boat picks its own line through the reef trying to run in the crashing surf and see how fast the boat can go. With mixed success I might add….actually I’ve heard the spot has a special place in Jericho’s heart….but maybe they can post the story.(Speaking of Jericho, we just caught a glimpse of Paul yesterday as we were driving through Waikiki).

As we run these boats down, I wonder if we’d do the same with Mirages,or Bradley’s….but typically Paul (our local helmsman) takes the most aggressive line, then Dave and Steve stay just wide. The conditions are very odd. Paul says he’s rarely seen these types of mixed conditions, which will make for a very different approach to Diamond Head (final turn in the race). The swells aren’t huge…and the forecast is still a little too long term to start relying on.

Tuesday morning started with the usual 7am surf session. Everyone is starting to get the hang of this, and as each wave comes through,it’s not uncommon to see multiple ‘Creekers’ running side by side shocked at this result. You can buy rides in an outrigger on the beach, and it’s something like $15 for 3 waves, and I call these guys “the surfer mowing machine”. You have to see it to believe it. These guys line up their 600lb canoe outside the surf break and wait for a big one. Then, they tear through the 60+ people waiting for a wave. If you don’t see them….to bad….Today is a down day for surfing.

Ater surfing, we head to “Island Paddler” a store dedicated to paddling….a store probably visited by every single Canadian paddler visiting…to admire the amazing wooden paddles….good only for hanging on a wall in our part of the world. Everyone buys books, shirts, hats, whatever…

So about now, it’s been at least 2 hours since breakfast, so we should go for a massive lunch, or whatever it is you eat at 9am. We’re up to 4-5 meals a day. The Costco run was a massive load, and chances are we’ll be back tomorrow. On the topic of food, Scott needs mention: Scott Booth ladies, can cook like you wouldn’t believe. He’s been the chef these last three nights, and everybody’s wondering how he will outdo himself tonight. The man works magic with a bbq.

On another note, having 14-16 guys living together in close quarters is starting to take its toll. Neanderthalisms abound. I’d love to expand here, but this is just not the place for it….

Trevor arrived last night, and our friend Gord from Australia showed up for practice yesterday and is now living with us as well. The guy definitely eats his spinach, and blends nicely, so he should slide in as a meat seat no problem. His wife was on the Mooloolaba crew that won the womens race, and like us,he jokes the heat is on him to beat their time!! Also, Sampson is moving in tonight,and I believe we’re planning a big Mahi-Mahi bbq now that everyone is here.

We saw the high-school group training surfskis, OC1’s, OC2’s again yesterday. Every single one of them is in top shape (guys/girls),and their coach is making them do push-ups and pull-ups everyday after practice. They get these boats humming….this is a VERY healthy program….definitely tough competition.

We arrived at practice yesterday, to massive drops of water crashing down …. felt right at home! We started thinking maybe if it rained hard all crossing, it might improve our odds! And maybe if the water temperature dropped by about 10-15 degrees, we’d be the only ones making changes…it’d be an all Canadian finish! If it got cold enough, we may even be able to skate across….We were talking to Gord last night about winter paddling….these guys hate training in the winter time…the water temperature drops to ~20, and the air is around 16-19degC…..horrible. Chalk up one more guy who thinks we’re nuts.

Ok, everyone is starting to mix their drinks, so it must be time for practice.

One last note, when I cruised into “Island Paddler”, the guy definitely knew the Canadian teams, and was definitely impressed with both women’s crews…. sounds like everyone was…the second crew finished well alongside many top crews. Nice work.

Yikes…these are not getting any shorter…

BRIAC – FRCC

Hmmm…just got back from a ridiculous paddle, and question whether my arm and hand controls are indeed receiving signals from my brain. More about this later. First, I forgot a few items. We’re staying and training just off of Hawai’i Kai. This is on the South-East corner of the Island of Oahu, and we are about a 20 minute drive east of Waikiki beach. During practice, we are able to observe the beckoning island of Molokai in the distance (site of the race start). It’s a ways off, and calls to you saying “come on over, I’ll be nice, but trust me you’ll sleep well when I’m done with you!”.

So last night was a nice relaxing evening. We sat around and discussed some of the finer points that we the crossing. Everyone was relatively surprised at how comfortable people feel in the boats, in the swells. But basically, we’re just trying to ignore the fact that it’s 8pm but feels like 1am. So the house is quiet, and purring by 8:30 to the gentle sounds of Reg’s snores (he wanted to be mentioned). Your days start early, so everything is shifted.

At 5:30am the next morning, everyone is up and shovelling massive amounts of breakfasts into them, and we’re off to Pearl Harbour to load the boats. After a quick security check and some bad jokes about not calling Moe by his full name “Mohammed”, we’re at the loading pallets. We see our boats alongside teams like Rai and Hawaii/NZ and wonder how long that will last. The pallets have boats packed 3-4 per, and fork-lifted onto a barge. This is the second load to go over. We see Kelowna loading their boats…good to see some friendly faces. Shane completes our registration, and we’re off for surf session #2 (Todd Bradley mentioned during a recent visit to Gibsons that surfing is essential to understanding how to catch waves, so we’re following his advice to a ‘T’). Waves are small and gentle, so no injuries to report.

On a side note here, drinking water has become the equivalent of a part time job.

Next on the agenda is some eating, a few naps, and head out to practice for 2:30pm. Our first hard practice. The water is very confused, with a very strong off-shore breeze, and swells coming the opposite way. We do a number of runs through the chop sideways, then some up and down wind sections, and then we head out around the point by some scenic cliffs (which you can see in the picture section posted by Lori). We’re paddling close to the cliff, at times less than 2-3 metres from the cliff, and waves are absolutely pounding the faces, yet the boat sits relatively calm. Very odd sensation, paddling water like back home,
yet Hell is unfolding immediately next to you. Fatigue is starting to set in, as we head back.

As we’re pulling up to the club house, 30-40 surf-skis are racing up and down the coast. The’re all being paddled by high school kids, and it dawns on us why the Hawaiians know what they’re doing. These kids are all being coached, and doing race pieces. Kind of like an after school hockey practice back in Canada….a very healthy looking program.

We pull onto the beach, and everyone is absolutely ravenous. Talk of eating horses and the like abounds. We rush home, and a scene like you’ve never seen unfolds: like a pack of wolves, the kitchen counter is swarmed by 13 wilting paddlers, meat and cheese and packaging is flying through the air. Innovative new ways to ingest more food faster are being developed left and right. Ok, we’re watching a video of the 2001 crossing, and we’ll crash hard tonight. Lesson of the day: when you think you’ve had enough to eat, have another plate, and then top up with anything else you can find…and then squeeze in a snack as soon as you can.