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QuickSilverEdition Molokai to Oahu Race: A first-hand perspective. (Part 1 of 3) |
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By: Bill Ward, Assc. Editor
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Thursday, 07 August 2008 |
To be perfectly honest as a life long surfer I never gave distance
paddling or paddle races much thought. Oh sure, I always saw the
occasional big wave charger paddle up and down the North Shore,
training for the winter surf. However, since I was not going after such
insanely big waves myself, I saw no need for such silliness, not to
mention hard work. It certainly did not look like much fun. If I was
going to surf some fairly large waves each winter, wasn’t surfing good
enough training for….er….surfing?
Well, how wrong I was! Little
did I know that this was truly a sport into itself and it took stand up paddle downwind racing for my eyes to be opened to this truly amazing and most
challenging sport. Throughout the summer I watched with increasing
interest many of the downwind races on Oahu. I attended several of
these events and each time came away a little more stoked about what I
saw. I listened with fascination and intrigue as many of my fellow SUP
surfers talked excitedly about doing downwind runs all over the
islands.
With my newfound interest in downwind racing and the very generous
offer from a long time friend of 30 years, Mike Marsoun, I was blessed
with an opportunity to attend the biggest race of the year, the 12th
annual Quicksilver Edition Molokai to Oahu paddleboard race. I was to
attend opening ceremonies on Saturday and would then be a guest on the
escort boat that followed Mike and his Partner John Matsush in one of
the most grueling downwind races in the world. Mike is an outstanding
committed waterman who helped make this possible and I can’t thank him
enough for providing me a firsthand look at what it takes to cross this
most treacherous channel on a stand up paddle board.
My journey
started the day before the race on Saturday July 26th. I flew out of
Honolulu airport on a small 9 seat prop plane to the Hoolehua airport
on Molokai. As a side note, I am not used to such small plans and the
other passengers, many of whom live on Molokai and do this flight all
the time, got a good laugh as I jokingly shared my fears that we were
going to crash into the ocean with every airborne bump we hit. Of
course, they thought crossing the channel, even by boat, let alone
paddle board was even crazier. But I assured them that I preferred 7
hours of the Molokai channel to 30 minutes of airplane terror!
Once
I landed and acknowledged my fear of small planes was for naught, I
headed for the shuttle area where I instantly ran into a familiar face,
Bernie Baker. Bernie is one of the hardest working, most intrepid
journalists in the surf industry. We both were surprised at seeing each
other, since the day before, we both were at the China SUP surf contest
at Queens, where he judged and I competed. Thankfully I lost out early
and got more sleep than he did. Bernie is always a great to converse
with and on the 20 minute drive to Kailuakoi he regaled me with tales
of his early Molokai surf adventures.
Bernie also
introduced me to Bianca Salazar from Kahala, Oahu. Bianca is a 22 year
old prone paddleboard racer who was competing in the relay division
with her partner Jocelyn Kempe. After seeing the immense challenge,
dedication, training and fitness required to prone paddle this channel
and the wonderful manner in which they have welcomed SUP to what has
always been a prone paddleboard race, I certainly want to give the
prone paddlers their due recognition. Bianca and Jocelyn did
exceptionally well in the race placing 2nd and I appreciate the time
she took to provide some additional insights as to what it takes to
complete at this level. Mahalo and congrats Bianca!
The drive
through the heart of the island of Molokai was beautiful and once I
arrived at Kaluakoi the view was breathtaking. Looking out from the
condos across the windswept ocean to Oahu, reveled the immense size of
the race course that our brave athletes would challenge the following
day. The winds were howling at 25-30 knots and our home island of Oahu
was easily visible in the background on this gorgeous clear windy
afternoon. To say the 32 miles of white capped ocean in between the two
islands was a daunting sight would be an understatement. My respect for
paddler and ocean edged up yet another notch as I was mesmerized and
overwhelmed at this most stunning sight and what was about to occur. A
moment in the minds eye I shall never for forget.
I finally
broke away from the oceans spell binding grip on me and meet up with my
old friend Mike Marsoun. After getting settled at our condo, we headed
out to sign in for the race with Mike Takashi, the event director. Mike
Takashi was very friendly but spoke in serious tones about competitor
safety, escort boat guidelines and race rules. It was the second time
the enormity of what these paddlers were about to face, hit me like a
ton of bricks. I got a vicarious pit in my stomach and could only
imagine what was going through the competitors minds!
We then
walked around the compound where I had the opportunity to meet and talk
story with many the elite athletes who were competing in the race. The
overwhelming vibe was one of camaraderie and stoke from both prone and
stand up paddlers alike. I was spell bound just listening to guys like
Ikaika and Ekolu Kalama, Duane Desoto, our old friend Kevin Seid, prone
paddler and Maui race director John Gangini and young daughter Talia Gangini, who is an outstanding young female paddler in her own right. Also, Todd
Bradley from C4 Waterman did the race with his son Christian
before he heads off to collage in a few weeks. Talk about the ultimate
father-son inspirational adventure and “chicken skin” moment!
STAY
TUNED!.......in PART 2 will be the opening ceremonies and continued
personal look at our heroic paddlers who traveled from all parts of the
globe.
PART 2- The race itself and the many wonderful
heartwarming stories of personal triumph and gritting determination to
complete this most challenging inter island race!
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