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Downwind Rookie (Part 4 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.)
Morning of the race and the buzz was on. The bay fronting the Kaluakoi was filled with escort boats, teams all paddling their gear out for the trip to Hawaii Kai. We finally located our escort, Charlie from Waianae and got loaded up. Ten minutes to start. I asked Dave to start us off as he is a very strong paddler and has far more in the cardio department than I. He has a different paddling style which has him paddling very deep, and bending at the knees with each stroke. He was doing great, right up there with the leaders. Then it happened… a fall. Understandable as this was only his second time on the board. You really can’t fall in these races very much as it really does cost a lot of time due mainly to loss of momentum. Everyone does fall, but it has to be very limited. That first round we lost some time due to several falls and had to play catch-up for the next few hours.
We were getting out rhythm down pretty well making smooth changes, and feeling pretty good. On one of Dave’s runs we circled the boat around and when side-on to the swell the boat stalled. Charlie’s mate was on it, bled the water separation filter, purged the jets, and we caught up to Dave, no worries.
I was having some good runs, getting some great glides and decided to go a double shift, 40 minutes, to see if I could gain some time by avoiding a change. After about a half hour I noticed the boat was falling behind a little, then a lot. I knew it was probably another fuel problem that they would quickly correct so I just kept hammering forward. I looked back into the massive bumps that were following me, the boat was getting smaller and smaller. Going back was not an option so I just point to Coco Head on a do or die mission. I only had two concerns; water, which was all on the boat, and my young son, that he would get worried about me.
There was a paddle team in front of me about 200 yards, and I was yelling to them to just keep an eye on me, maybe toss me a bottle of water, something. They saw me (confirmed later by one of the Aussie paddlers) and completely ignored me. I assume that if they rendered help it would have been a DQ for them. If this is not the case please don’t tell me so.
After another half hour of chasing this paddle team, the official boat closed in on me with Dave in the boat, I said, “what cuz, you slacking”. He jumped in and took over. After about ten minutes of this, the official boat Captain said, “boys, we are so far outside the rulebook it’s ridiculous”. We were then officially DQ.
They returned us to our boat, after picking up a fuel filter from a fishing boat and we were back on board. Makena was fine aside from some sea sickness from drifting all that time. The officials then radioed us, said we could motor back to where I was picked up and start up again. We towed Dave behind the boat for just a few miles, then Charlie said “here we are”. It was at least 7 miles short of where I was when picked up, but I was not going to say anything, we had already lost about 45 minutes in this ordeal. Dave was ready to start up again. I was having a poor attitude and just said, “Naaa”. Determined Dave said, “I’ll go then”, and he started off. This inspired me, better then not finishing at all, and we started back our rotation.
We leisurely plodded along. I took it in around Portlock, caught a great wave, made it in and finished. It was anticlimactic, a little embarrassing, but it was done. Needless to say, I was humbled on this my first Molokai…shoots, there’s always next year.
Considering that this sport is SO new I suppose that the next year I will still be more of a veteran than many. I suppose that years from now we will all look back fondly on these days, when the ohana was tight and competition was friendly, more of a brotherhood than anything. No real recognition other than that of the brotherhood, and for me that is plenty.
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