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Downwind Rookie (Part 1 of 4) |
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By: Mike Marsoun
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Thursday, 13 March 2008 |
(Mike Marsoun is an author and avid stand up paddler who participates in the Molokai Challenge between Molokai and Oahu. Mike's four part series "Downwind Rookie" takes us into the world of downwind stand up paddling.)
 Molokai Challenge Escort Boats
I tried paddleboarding myself for a while as a way to fill in between swells and stay in shape. Unfortunately, the flat Kona conditions left very little of this sport to be desired, I quickly became paddlebored, and dropped it. That was when I first heard about SUP, through Gangini and Jack Gillen.
My first real down-winder was last summer. I took a day trip with Jack, and Keoni, first flight out. Straight off the plane we stopped by Ding King’s to see Mark Raaphorst to scrounge a board and he fixed us up with a F16.
Then we headed over to pick up my new 16 foot Angulo which I ordered for race season. I heard that Ed was “the man” and I was mainly following the lead of some of the best stand-up paddlers, mainly Scott Trudon, who is just about the fastest in the human division for which Kalamas cannot qualify. I called Ed, used the “I’ll take what the cool kids are having” approach in ordering. I played the friend of the family card and he agreed to do the board before race season which was fast approaching.
 Maliko Gultch: Mike, Dave,Ekolu, Jack, Guy
From all indications I assumed the board would be ready when we got there. It wasn’t. Ed offered me another board to use, but we hesitated too long and missed out. So we went scrounging around the Haiku cannery. Went to see Sean Ordonez and a few other “connects”. Mike Richardson was out of town, so we couldn’t tap into his 68 board collection. We ended up with Ganginis 12’ SUB and the F16. Keoni unfortunately got skunked.
So now the crew was Gangini, Jack, and myself, doing a short one, from Maliko to Kanaha. The wind was pumping and I was amped. I had been stand-up surfing for a few years at this point but had never done a real down-winder due to my “Kona situation.” We do paddle a lot in Kona, but usually against the wind, which always seems to be fighting you on your port side. You can always tell Kona SUP guys, all buff on the right side.
We then paddle out of Maliko gultch fighting the wind to get away from the shoreline and into the power, John says “head towards Iao Valley”. We turn and go. There’s usually some great bumps right out of the gate at Maliko. Within my first few minutes I was getting some super long glides, stepping back into a surf stance, then back up to paddle. John’s board was feeling very stable. At only 12 feet it was the longest SUB I had been on for a while. Because it was a PU blank, very heavy and carried a glide for a long time.
It was one of the most enjoyable things I had ever done. I liken it to a day of on the slopes skiing or snowboarding. It’s an incredible feel when one of these wind waves picks you up, forces you into a surfing stance, triples your speed for a time, then gently drops you off and sends you back paddling. Like 30-40 magic freakin carpet rides, all strung together. I broke out into laughter more than a few times. I was completely hooked, and it felt great to be hooked on something so pure.
END PART 1 OF 4
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