May 6 - Fun Run Kalihiwai Bay to Hanalei Pier. Great conditions, spectacular scenery. This run is for people visiting Kauai to experience some of the most beautiful places on earth while working the kinks out. Trades were 15 knots plus. Mark Frazier, one of Kauai’s best paddlers thought it would be fun to set the first mark upwind about a mile (it felt that far) as he wasn’t paddling. That did provide a great angle for a surf run to a buoy off the Hanalei surf spot “Bowls” for a 500 yard sprint to the finish. Peter Dorries from Australia came in first only 5 seconds ahead of Kelly Foster. Matt Carter also from Australia came in third. In the ladies' division, Kristin Foster edged out Alana Goo-Frazier by catching a small wave at the “Bowl” with Belinda O’Sullivan from Australia third. Steinlager provided a welcomed thirst quencher! 26 OC1’s participated.
May 8 - the 34 Mile Coastal relay. Good trades were blowing. Kaua’i’s Mayor Bernard Carvalho welcomed everyone and lovey Britton gave a beautiful chant to get everyone focused on the race ahead. Good turnout - 70 teams, around 172 paddlers with Riggs Napoleon the youngest and Grandpa Nappy the oldest. This was the real race to watch: Riggs and Alex Look versus the Kapunas!
The race started at Wailua Bay where there were some large waves to avoid with the wind and swells hitting the ama side – real technical paddling. There were two starts; Mixed, Ladies, Young (Teens) and the Kapunas, and the second start a half hour later for the Men’s teams. At the first turn, the mixed OC1 teams were well in the lead – Mark and Alana Frazier are fantastic paddlers. What was really special to see was 13 year old Alex Look (Makana Alii Les Look’s son) right there making the first turn at Hanamaulu Bay ahead of some tough older paddlers! Riggs, just 12 years old, hopped on and took off for Kalapaki Bay. As I was a bit behind Riggs at this point, I had to focus on getting past him. He was having a ball and the conditions were tough for this leg as well. He was great. He chatted for a bit excited he was out there and I was just trying to survive. Coming into the Marriott at Kalapaki Bay, I thought the cheering I heard from the beach was for us old guys as one of my age group competitors and I were having a good neck to neck race. Nope, it was for Riggs and Alex. Coming out of Kalapaki Bay, Alex took on the tough conditions like a seasoned veteran coming around Carters Point and picking up some small surf flying by Kipu Kai. The conditions got a bit sticky due to a bad current but Alex stayed right with the pack. Coming into Poipu’s Waiohai Beach, Alex handed the canoe off to Riggs for the final surf run to Salt Pond. I have a bit of a lead, as I can hear the cheering for the kids behind me, so I have to do all I can to stay ahead. Getting tired I am expecting to hear Riggs laughter as I think he is right on my heels and ready to pass me. After at least an hour of hard paddling, I turn the last buoy heading upwind to the finish and get a chance to look at the paddlers behind me. There is Riggs right there so it is a tough push to the end. Riggs and Alex are awesome finishing their first major race among a tough experienced field in a very respectable 41st place out of 70 teams. I can’t get out of the water as I’m pooped, but Riggs is full of energy with Alex congratulating him and the parents, aunties and uncles and Grandpa very proud. Give these two young guys your encouragement when you see them as they are the new wave and, we’ll be seeing a lot of these kids (as they paddle by us) on the race course in the future. Hopefully we’ll see many more young people racing with us next year.
We knew Jimmy and Manny were going to be tough to beat, and there was no surprise with a finish about 5 minutes ahead of the super fast Travis Grant/ Mike Murray team from Australia. There was great racing in a lot of divisions with changes in positions at each relay point. Luke and Kelly had a great battle with Carlton Helm and Makana Denton. One of the closest races was between Billy Pratt/Raven Aipa, Kaeo Abbey/Sean Kaawa and Justin Watts/CJ Day with each team separated by about 20 seconds after 34 miles! Keizo Gates/Julian Wicker had a great battle with John Immel and Ikaika Hauanio only 5 seconds behind.
Jane McKee with her incredible training schedule and Kristin Foster just proved too hard to beat leading the entire course ahead of Andrea Moeller and Noe Auger - it was their day. Great to see Kelly Fey back on the race course teaming up with another Team Bradley team member Lori Nakamura for a great 3rd place finish.
The OC2 Mixed teams had a great race with the top 5 teams trading positions throughout the race. Of these, two teams finished only 10 seconds apart. Imagine the yelling that was probably taking place.
We saw a great turnout of 4-person OC1 teams made up of each paddler doing one leg- a great way to get introduced to this tough course - 5 teams raced! Many will want to race next year as a 2-person team.
Mahalo to Race Coordinator, Laola Lake, Margie Goodno, Pres. Kaua’i Hoe Wa’a, and everyone with Kaua’i Hoe Wa’a who worked hard to put on a great race.
Aloha, Tom Bartlett
Photos by Nathaniel Evslin