Shane – FCRCC

“Go fast and have fun”…this was the reply on Saturday afternoon when
someone asked what our goal was for the Molokai Hoe the next day. At
first glance it might seem a little “light” or recreational statement
for a race such as the Crossing but it sums up the race and the whole
trip quite nicely.

During the week leading up to the race there was never any mention of
where we expected to finish, it didn’t matter. What mattered was
getting nine guys to blend together in a short period of time. What
mattered was having fun, embracing the Aloha spirit and enjoying the
Hawaiian lifestyle. On any given day there were three equally
important tasks to accomplish:
1) Go out and paddle together
2) Get some of the prep work for the race done.
3) Go out and have fun.
It didn’t matter if you went surfing before practice…it mattered that
you went surfing!

“Shut up and paddle” was Lori’s advice when I had asked her about
Moloka’i just before I flew to Oahu. Good advice when you are racing
your first Moloka’i Hoe with an experienced crew. She went on to
give me two rules to follow:
1) You know nothing.
2) If you think you know something and have an urge to say it, keep
your mouth shut and check rule #1.

Those who know me know that these are difficult rules for me but with
the liberal use of duct tape, I was mostly able to keep my mouth shut
and my eyes and ears open. I found out very quickly that Lori’s
rules were pretty much on target. The way I was used to paddling at
home and the way I needed to paddle in Hawaii were not the same and
figuring out the necessary changes took all of our practice days and
a lot of patience from the more experienced crew members.

Race Day

By 5:40am on Sunday we had forced down some breakfast, loaded our
bags into a car going to the escort boat and piled into the back of a
truck for the ride down to the Hale O Lono. It was a quiet and cold
ride down to the beach where the canoes were waiting. After a final
check, our canoe was put in the water and the starting crew sent
off. With hands full of flip flops and water bottles, we made our
way to the escort boat loading area, found our boat and quickly said
goodbye to dry land. Before we had even left the lagoon, the first
casualty of the race was reported over the radio: an escort boat
leaving the lagoon had collided with a canoe, breaking the canoe in
half. Someone’s race was over before it began.

The race itself seemed surprisingly quick. At 7:25am, 5 minutes
before the official start time, the race started…our escort boat
hadn’t even cleared the lagoon yet as we were waiting to make sure
that the escort boats for the other teams related to our host club,
Hui Nalu, were on the water and no one was left behind. We caught up
with our crew at Lau’u point as the go ahead to start changes was
given. We proceeded with a series of one-man changes to get everyone
back into their proper pairings so that we could get the regular
rotations working.

In what seemed like no time at all, we were close to the other side
of the channel, approaching Oahu. For the past couple changes we had
been running with Hui Lanikila 2 and Kawaihae in a three-way battle
taking turns leading our little pack. As we got closer to shore, we
reeled in Kawaihae and began to overtake them when a sloppy change
caused them to huli. It was impressive to see how quickly they had
their canoe righted and bailed and in no time at all, they came back
with a vengeance not wanting to give up on the fight with Hui
Lanikila and us.

Coming into Hawaii Kai, it became a battle between local steersmen as
both Hui Lanikila’s helmsman and ours considered this home turf. We
fought hard but by the time we reached Diamond Head, they had opened
up a 300-meter lead. Unfortunately we didn’t get another chance to
reel them in. As Cam, Vlad and I sat in the escort boat paralleling
our canoe, we suddenly felt the boat rise and fall hard as a large
wave rolled under us. Looking over we watched it bear down on the
ama side of the canoe and get steeper and steeper until it began to
break. Breathlessly, we watched as our canoe disappeared and quietly
counted off the seconds waiting to see if they would survive.
Suddenly the ama broke through the crest, followed by the bow as the
boat spun into the wave. The force of the wave was so great that the
boat began to surf backwards down the wave. All six paddlers paddled
hard trying to get beyond the wave, fearful of the reef behind them.
The crew successfully pulled through the wave and quickly worked
their way offshore to minimize the risk of a second wave catching
us. The wave incident cost us valuable distance over the Lanakila
crew behind us so a succession of quick one-man changes was done to
keep the boat moving quickly and maintain our lead to the finish.

We paddled hard, we went fast and we had fun. I can’t wait to go
back.

Shane

2003 FCRCC Molokai Crew
Bruce Blankenfeld
Cam Fagrie
Dave Jensen
Don Irvine
Greg “The Legend” Poole
Shane Martin
Terry Lewis
Tony Van Buren
Vlad Tucakov

Sabrina Schwanebeck Jericho

A huge Mahalo to everyone who sent us a good luck wish and thought of us on our race day. To the ladies who paddled for us back home Sunday morning, we heard your blessings and prayers. We did pieces for you all. All your energy helped us cross the channel to a great finish and we are now basking in the glory of a 4th open and 6th overall finish.

It was smoking hot and there was very little wind. The seas were to our advantage,on average they were 2-4 ft and we could pick these up well. It is unfortunate the water wasnt bigger, because we get this at Jericho, but in the end we were greatful. Also to our advantage our primary steerswoman was Carol Shick from Santa Barbara Canoe Club.It was tough to look outside the club but it was agreed upon earlier on in the season. We were so pleased with her and she was very proud of the Canadian team that COULD!

We came out strong off the start in Jericho fashion and battled with Outrigger, Kai Opua Masters and Eyecatcher to be second reaching La’au Point. Still a great distance from Mooloolaba but second over all. Needless to say our coach Rick Nu’u was in shock that we were up so far with crews hunting US down! Some time after, Outrigger, Kai Opua and Eyecatcher passed us with different lines and we held fifth overall. Then Offshore masters gained on us and we were pushed back to sixth overall. We paddled hard hammering the whole way across the channel to stay with them and not lose any ground on the crews behind us.

Tahiti was way out south and we thought they would maybe converge at Diamond head and make things interesting, but they fell way back and that was that. Here we stayed for the whole channel keeping 6th over all and in the end finishing 4th Open. We were so dialed in and solid the entire way across that we never let up once. We had to stay tough and determined to keep top 10 and hopefull for top 5 that we way exceeded our own expectations. After the race we were in total shock until late into the evening. I think that in our minds we could always do this but it was still a shock.

During the race a pod of dolphins surfaced around us and we surfed together on the swells. They were playing around the canoe and so close Shannon could have touched one. They came up in pairs on either side of us and seemed to be leading us the right way for easy surfing. They stayed with us for about 5 minutes crossing in front and underneath and then disappeared as quickly as they came. What a beautiful sight to see and this gave us so much energy.

It sounded like Michelle was the driving force behind her crew Lokahi from Oahu. She had a great experience and came away with some excellent knowledge of what to expect for next time.

Rick Nu’u was a blessing to have with us and he didnt let us stray for a minute. He would tell us where all the crews were around us and let us know what we happening at all times. The whole race ran so smooth and his line for us was perfect. We owe him alot and thank our lucky stars he was on OUR team. Again thank you to everyone who helped with fundraising, sponsorships, and in general your support and belief in us. See you all soon then we’ll party!

Sabrina

Reg Kao FCRCC

Rather than explaining my phenomenal experience at the US
Championships Catalina Crossing, over and over again, here is a
quick synopsis of My experience this weekend. If you’ll notice, I
also titled this “The big picture”. I really think that this
international race has Opened my eyes to the true nature, culture
and excitement of the sport.

The local races are fun but they are only a drop in the pool
compared to the huge oceans of international races, and this average
sized in perspective.

Imagine taking a ferry ride on a fast moving Catamaran looking boat
across the ocean, following a similar course to the one you would be
racing the next day. Imagine blue skies, 27 degree temperatures and
an empty horizon until you see Catalina Island. Imagine palm trees,
green villas, small cottages lining the streets, no cars, just
commuter golf carts (like a little resort town) everywhere.

Imagine sun tanned bodies, a slow relaxed atmosphere and beautiful
clear water. Then you walk up to COCC, Catalina Outrigger Canoe
Club, with a huge backyard/ park as a backdrop with tents lining the
green grass like a city and a big patio area with a big bar and
clubhouse with people sun bathing and drinking colourful drinks with
umbrellas.

Then you look to the beach and see row upon row of 6-man canoes
liningthe beach, with huge Samoan, Californian, Tahitian and
Hawaiian bruddas everywhere. Beautiful coconut tans everywhere, (Wahines) women with
Sarongs and Bikini’s, all strong and beautiful female paddlers
getting ready for a night of drinking and partying cause they just
paddled over from Newport beach 47KMs into the horizon.

Imagine the grin on my face as we prepare our own Bradley (the boat
we would race in) for the race the next day. Double check, triple
check the rigging, strap down the bailers, duct tape the
seams…everyone else doing the same thing.

Race day, the nerves are running wild, so our coach boat a good sized
speed boat with plenty of space for chilling out turns on the music,
how fitting that it would be “The Beach Boys…I wish they all could
be California girls…”

Imagine the sight from the ocean, with 46 crews lining the front of
Avalon, the resort town we will depart from. 28 degrees today, with
Blue skies. Team California is a crew with the biggest guys I have
ever seen. Huge Rippling muscles, gigantic reach and incredible
catch when they pull. Then in awe I get a glimpse of a team wearing
all black mesh with Excel logos on their shirts…its team Hawaii/
New Zealand, the number 1 crew in the world, with Karel Tresnick (#1
paddler in the world) steering. Incredible seeing them on the water,
timing, technique, catch, exits…like buttahhh. And for fun there
is even a canoe with only four guys, but two amas, one on each
side and outboard motor and a big sail…crazy fun!!!

I won’t go too much into the race as this would take forever, but
here are some of the high lights…there was a false start that
lasted about 1km before the boats were ordered to stop, way too much
bravado and testosterone on the water…but that’s how it goes.

From what I understand the lead pack was racing amongst a pod of
whales, how crazy is that, imagine doing a change, with men jumping
into the ocean and others pulling themselves up into a fast moving
canoe and next thing you know a whale surfaces and breaches spitting
out and taking in fresh air…how can I describe how this must feel.

Imagine water turbulence everywhere and canoes riding the wakes of
escort boats as they jockey for better lines and superior positions.

Imagine people straining with every fibre in their body to get the
canoe moving as fast as it can before they make the next change.

magine support helicopters flying overhead to watch for “men in grey
suits”…that’s Sharks for those who don’t know. Catalina Island is
famous for having the biggest shark population in the world.

Imagine the finish of the race, weaving through New port beach break
water, passing leisure boats, yachts and other recreational craft as
we race to the finish. Imagine all the tired faces, the exhaustion,
the elation and big grins when we finally cross the finish line.
Crowds everywhere screaming “great job False Creek, well done!!!

Then imagine the sense of camaraderie that occurs as guys from
differentclubs help you get out of the water, and trailer your boat.
Imagine all the stories we share about the race, can you see the
grins on theirfaces as well?

Now we move to the pig roast and awards ceremonies…once again,
coconut tans, bikinis, grass skirts and hats everywhere!!! big
smiles and laughter is contagious as we enjoy the rest of the
festivities. There are Hawaiian dancers honouring the racers with a traditional hula, live Hawaiian singers. Little booths with trinkets and souvenirs to remember the race by. Free beer all night long and friendly faces everywhere.

This was the biggest race I have ever been in. 46 men’s crews, 35
women’screws and 15 mixed crews. one of the people I met told me
that Kona had 130 men’s crews this year and that Molokai’ Hoe would
have 102 crews. I can’t even imagine a line of boats stretching
across the horizon for a km or more. Well, I hope this little email
has left you with the same taste in my mouth…a hunger for more.
More culture, more race, more good times…

aloha,
Reg