covering hawai'i's state team sport since 1996 - Pacific Paddler

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Gold Coast Cup AustraliaOC1/OC2 Relay RaceThis race is always fun no matterwhat the conditions, and this year wasbigger and better again.Hard work from the OutriggerAustralia Club and Club President JohnStewart for lining up several top sponsorsfor the event made it a must do forall paddlers. The race was also open toSurfski and Stand-up Paddling which istaking off 'Down Under' too.The race had a bit of everything,even getting out to the start line wasinteresting. There was a small channelto paddle out, but some support boatstimed it wrong and took on the middleof the Tweed Bar.Paddling conditions were a bit tuff;there was a little swell to catch, but wasa little side-on with very little wind assistance.The Stand-up Divisions took offabout a half-hour before the outriggersas it was going to be hard for themtoo. In the OC1s, it was clear from thestart, were going to be the teams tobeat. Team Hinano/Hurricane comboof Travis Grant and Chris Maynardwould have an epic battle against GregLong and Mike Millsthom. Both teamswere never separated by more than50 yards. It came down to the last 5kms in the flat water where a lot ofsurfing took place funny enough. Theywere going head to head when thismassage 70 foot luxury boat went pastcreating the best bumps of the day.They went runner-for-runner, bump-forbumpuntil finally Millsthom got therun to the line to take the win. Thirdwas some six minutes back with ToddCohen and Andy Weatley still beatingsome top local crews. But the big newswas the effort of two under-18 guys,Nick Wendt and Andrew Mcaleenan,coming in 5th in the open men only afew minutes behind and beating somecrews who have won the race before.Most other divisions had closefinishes; the mixed OC1 was separatedby one second in a sprint finish, andWoogie Marsh and Danny Sheardwon the Stand-Up by 10 seconds.Complete results can be found at www.sqcanoe.org.All-and-all it was a great day forpaddling along 'the Strip' on the GoldCoast. The strong winds we werelooking forward to were back two dayslater.Matt Carter36 December ‘08, Pacific Paddler
Na Pali adventureWe were approaching the end of theNa Pali kayaking season and decidedto embark on a weekend camping trip toMiloli’i, an amazing beach on the Na PaliCoast which is accessible only by water.The first step was to get our campingpermit, as only a few people are allowedto camp there. We were making it a ‘familyouting’ with our 15 year old daughter, Anabelle, and her 16 year old friend,Vanessa who had never kayakedor experienced the Na Pali on thewater (she had only hiked). Wewere also including our nephew,Aaron who would leave two hourslater on a OC1.The logistics of a Na Pali kayaktrip are a challenge. Departingon kayaks from the North Shoreand ending up on the west shorerequires leaving a vehicle atthe very end of the road at PoliHale. Rick drove his truck with hismotorcycle in the bed, left it there and rodeback to our house. Once he arrived home,we packed up the kayaks and minimalcamping gear and headed out to Ke'eBeach on the north shore of Kauai.There was a small N.W. swell, and thelifeguards told us that earlier in the daya couple on a kayak had gone ‘over thefalls’ as they attempted to get outside thebreaking waves. He said we needed tohead out through the 'keyhole' instead ofstraight out like we would on a calm day.We waited for a lull in the surf and thenpaddled hard to make it out beyond thewaves. Once clear of the reef, we stowedour front seat paddles and set up ourBreezer sails.We had a sustained 25 knot windat our backs and sailed along at a goodspeed, making it to Kalalau, 6.5 miles, inabout 50 minutes. Paddling would havetaken us two-and-a-half hours, at least.Once we passed Kalalau, the wind starteddying and we switched to paddling.Although there was a fair amount of surf,we landed on the beach at Miloli’i withoutincident. On the beach, we met the son ofone of our friends who is a local fireman.They were also having a family adventurewith another couple who, it turned out, werethe ones who went over the falls at Ke’e.They had an arduous trip since their kayakswere overloaded with tents, inflatablebeds, food and gear for a five-nightstay. The Na Pali Coast can be verycalm one moment and the next, turntotally treacherous. The first time yougo, you should definitely go on aguided tour with guides that are wellversed in the different challenges youcan expect. As soon as we landed,we looked back and right on our tailwas Aaron who had caught up withus after leaving two hours behind us.Aaron was smiling ear-to-ear andcompletely excited about his paddle/sail experience.Miloli’i is known for it’s abundanceof precious shells. We alwaysfind purple, pink and coral coloredcone shells and the occasional KauaiSunrise shell. The trick is to keepwalking the shoreline as the tide comesin and goes out. It isn’t as easy as itsounds since the sand is deep, theshoreline rocky in places and the sunis typically blazing. After we filledour shell bags, we took a short hikeup into the valley to rinse off at ourfavorite little waterfall. Hearing thegoat hunters' shots in the valley, wequickly made our way back down tothe beach and prepared our campsite.We ate cold chicken and edamame fordinner and then slept out on the beachwith our sheets. As we lay countingshooting stars, we were energizedby the full moon andcould hardly believe that wewere so blessed to be havingthis unique and wonderfulexperience. We all eventuallyfell asleep to the sound of thewaves.After a wonderful day andnight at Miloli’i, it was time topack up and head on aroundto Poli Hale where Rick hadleft the truck. We were blessedwith a nice wind that took us therebefore we knew it. The surf was big,and landing the kayaks on the beachseemed daunting. We sat offshoreand watched the sets until the timewas right 'to go' and then paddledreally hard managing to ride theshore break to the sand. It is always arelief to get safely back to civilizationand at the same time sad to leave themagic of Kauai's North shore behindyou. After packing everything ontothe truck we immediately started planningour next adventure down thespectacular Na Pali Coast.By Amy Marvinpacificpaddler.com Deccember ‘08 37
Page 1: D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 8F R E E i n
Page 7 and 8: The start of the 30th Annual Na Wah
Page 10: Hui Lanakila dedicates their race t
Page 14: Lae'ula O Kai (11th, 5:47:05)Pu'uwa
Page 20 and 21: asterisk beside it. "After we got t
Page 22 and 23: Eighth across the line was Hawaiian
Page 24 and 25: Waikiki Beach BoysKaiola Canoe Club
Page 26 and 27: Kaulua Canoe Club-2 (22nd 5:22:37)N
Page 28 and 29: Kalani Irvine, Molokai Hoe Race Dir
Page 30 and 31: Coffees of Hawaii Pailolo Challenge
Page 32: First race of the seasonI can't com
Page 35: Surfski. Will I hear from any ofour

covering hawai'i's state team sport since 1996 - Pacific Paddler

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