Ok, I realise that probably the most important posting would have been the one immediately after the race, and that it is pretty late, but here’s an abbreviated rundown of how Sunday went down.

We woke up at 4am in complete darkness and made our way to our last buffet meal of the trip, to carefully choose this ever critical meal. After being fed and packed, we boarded the bus down to Hale O Lono harbour to the boats, where about 1000 paddlers were congregating. Then commenced the task of finding escort boats, and loading them with all our gear. Paddlers stood on the beach by their hulls, watching others to see when they were putting in. Eventually a max exodus began, and everyone was getting their warm up started. The line up forms very quickly, and 15 minutes before the start, the boats are essentially lined up…94 boats total. The starter holds the orange flag up, and as we see his hand imperceptibly move closer to grab the green flag, the race is already going…it is an all out sprint, and there is some surf to grab.

For the remainder of the race, each has his own story, or interpretation, so getting it first hand from someone is recommended…

We headed along Molokai, and it seemed the top crews were already bee-lining towards diamond head. Then, it is a matter of just dealing with the ever changing conditions, and optimizing your boat run. All in all it was an absolutely amazing race, with all the challenges you would expect. We hulied early in the race, and eventually broke wide
open the 4 seat zipper….at times the boat would fill with water so quickly it was frustrating, but then you would turn around and put together two great 15 minute pieces where you would be passing bushels of crews at a time. The last hour or so of the race is to this day the most memorable bit of paddling I have ever been involved in, as we took the inside line around diamond head through the reef breaks…I have never been told to ‘let it run’ in the middle of a race, only to see a large wave crash just ahead of the boat, and then hear Paul say ‘Ok, back on!’ as though everything was normal again…There were times sitting in the escort boat, when you would see your boat disappear behind a set, and you would sit there visualizing the worse, only to see the boat lurch back into sight seconds later…definitely got the heart pumping. Then, the sprint
to the finish on turquoise water…amazing.

Anyhow, a great race, plenty of lessons learned, and many areas to improve, we will surely do better next time…and that’s what it’s all about.

Ok, thanks for reading….!
~ Briac – FCRCC

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…