Maui 2 Molokai

[JeffG]

Does the Maui 2 Molokai race have a website?  I've googled it but can't find anything but race reports.

[supdiscobay]

Here is the one coming up-

http://www.mauipaddlerace.com/

[JeffG]

Thanks, that's what I was looking for.

[headmount]

After four previous crossings that featured fairly stellar conditions, especially along the whole coast of south Molokai, our two intrepid Maui zone paddlers, Covesurfer and Southbay did the race yesterday.  But contrary to their other crossings, there was a wind bubble during the last 6 miles. 

As much as anyone says it's easy going in good DW conditions, you're still working hard but your mind is on a high and the work doesn't affect you so much.  The wind is cooling you.  But when the wind quits and the full brunt of the midsummer Hawaiian sun and humidity bears down, as it did yesterday for these guys, the energy expenditure for their first 21 miles really takes a toll, making that remaining 6 as difficult as any condition going.  I can only liken it to walking outside in Singapore after doing a workout inside an ac cooled gym.  Heat and humidity are a challenge.

So their's and all the other participant's effort and success is commendable.  They also reported some great sections but I'll let them post that part.  Good work guys!

[supdiscobay]

Looking forward to the reports!!!!

[headmount]

This pic from Southbay really shows the enormity of setting out to their destination... getting to the island on the left is only about a third of the journey.  The rest is along the south coast of Molokai.

[covesurfer]

No doubt, it was tough going. I wrote a fairly lengthy (surprised?) summary of the crossing which I'll go ahead and post here:
 
The July Maui to Molokai Race. Another bite at this epic, open ocean, channel crossing. I looked forward to this race for months and it gave me the motivation to keep paddling and training hard, add workouts and even clean up my diet. Personally, I need goals, like races, to work towards and provide a focus and context for training. This July race would be my fourth crossing of the Pailolo Channel (pailolo means 'crazy fisherman' in Hawaiian and if you've experienced this wild water, you understand where the name originates from). I was beginning to feel like I was getting to know the run somewhat after three races.

In previous races across this channel, I was first a complete newbie, where my only goal was to survive the experience. At that point in time, back in April of 2014, I'd never crossed an open ocean channel and I had little idea of what would be in store. Until you've been out there, more than 10 miles from any land, in the middle of a channel with wind and waves and incredible colors, you really cannot conceive of what you are going to experience. Ocean conditions are quite different than what you'd find on a coastal paddle. Fortunately, on that very first crossing, I was lucky enough to paddle with a group of great watermen and women, led by Jeremy Riggs, who is not only one of the best downwind paddle surfers in the world but a gifted coach and guide. Jeremy had done the Pailolo numerous times, knew the line and had extensive open ocean paddling experience which he was able to share with our group. You couldn't wish for a better way to cut your channel crossing teeth than that!

As a returning newbie, on the second crossing exactly one year ago in July, I knew I was capable of finishing but I still had many doubts about surviving an endurance event that would be comparable to running a marathon. That second race I did with several of my best paddle partners, Kathy Shipman, Randy Royce and Shep Nelson, all great paddlers. A gifted surfer, Kathy is a waterwoman that is competitive with the very best women paddlers in the world. I don't know exactly why she lets the likes of us paddle with her, maybe because we're just as nuts about this sport as they come, but it's an honor to train and paddle with Kathy. Shep has other obligations that keep him from devoting himself to paddling day in and day out but he's still on the water plenty and, every time he goes, he seems to get faster, regardless of whether he's paddling his standup board or his outrigger canoe. Randy is a pretty hardcore surfer and when conditions get bumpy, he comes to life out there. The more surfy it is, the better he likes it. Randy had been part of our paddling hui when we did the first crossing with Jeremy. This time, were on our own. No guide, no stopping and regrouping. We'd be racing across, picking our own lines and seeing how we ended up.

Kathy killed it, finishing in fourth, very close to Devin, Andrea and Talia, who are all top women paddlers in the world. Randy, Shep and I all survived on our own, and we all finished respectably in a bit over 4 hours. The race left us all eager to come back and try yet again.

In April of this year, that's what we did. On this third crossing, the distance and exertion required to complete this race were still very daunting. Especially because none of us really had the training miles logged. But, the wind kind of made up for that. Conditions for that April crossing were as good as they get for wind strength, with gusts in the high 30's and steady conditions in the mid to high 20's. Record times were set in the April race, with the winning time in the unlimited division of just 3 hours and 2 minutes, logged by Livio. Kathy won the Womens Division in 3:45:06. Shep took 4th in 3:46:17 and I took 5th in 3:57:42. Although we missed having Randy out there, it was a great result for all of us, and by breaking the four hour mark, I felt that I had actually 'raced' the course instead of just paddling it. Again, we were eager to try again and the next race would be July.

Our epic wind conditions continued following the April race. Both the big May events, the Olukai Race and Paddle Imua, were held on the Maliko run with strong wind and great conditions. The third week of May, we experienced a complete lull in the wind that lasted for a little over a week. Since that lull in late May, winds turned light, with weak to moderate trade winds blowing in the low or mid-20's on only the very best days. So, training for the July crossing was a challenge. But having the goal out there kept me and lots of others showing up and working hard. For a lot of those other paddlers, they have the really big crossing, Molokai to Oahu, just one week from now.

On the positive side, I was able to consistently grind out miles in preparation for yesterday's Maui to Molokai. Kathy, Shep and I paddled from Ka'enae to Kahului, over 26 miles, just a few weeks back and we were fortunate to have one of the best days in months. And Kathy and I did a bunch of double Maliko runs to build a solid base. But, with the exception of the Ka'enae run, all of the training was done in winds that were marginal or worse as far as downwinding goes. Downwinding is really, really addictive and fun. It is like open ocean surfing. Paddling in light winds with bumps is still fun but it is also very hard work.

The Race Itself:
Competing teaches you and the ocean certainly never lets you forget, that you better come with plenty of humility. You are only 'in control' to the extent that external conditions allow you to be. Kathy had to bail on the M2M just a few days before the race due to illness. But, hopefully, she'll be healthy and rested for M2O next weekend. Jeremy was in but he'd be putting his feet up in the shade about the time we were half way down the Kamalo Channel. Randy was out this year. Art Aquino, our paddling friend from Seattle was in so there were still a couple guys that would be doing it who had also been on that first crossing with Jeremy.

I thought I had learned enough on my previous three races to have my nutrition and output pretty well figured out for this race. I was only partially right. I ended up taking 70 oz of water, which was plenty on my 26+ mile Ka'enae paddle and enough for the Molokai crossing in April. But the April race was under completely different wind and ocean conditions than July. And doing a 26 mile coastal paddle is not at all the same as crossing a channel. I used a mixture of Perpetuem and Heed in my water pack.

Everything was working great for the first 16 or 17 miles. With all the distance paddling I'd been doing, I allowed myself to put out more effort than in previous crossings. I was on my new-to-me SIC Bullet 17'4" board and I was loving the increased stability and glide potential compared to my F-16. All the way across the Pailolo to the Kamalo buoy, I had the best crossing yet. I felt strong and balanced. The wind was decent but a bit on the light side, maybe 16 to 24 mph. I battled with several other paddlers that gave me a real run but I was able to get about a half mile on them all. Right around the Kamalo buoy, I caught up to Art, who is a very fast paddler. My hope and expectation, based on previous crossings, was that the Kamalo section would see ever increasing wind and great waves. I was feeling like I was in the best position yet in this race.

The Pailolo crossing itself is difficult because you are angling right as you paddle mostly ENE the entire way. Waves are going with you to some extent but there is also a crossing swell that is quite significant coming out of the northeast. When conditions are big, as they were this past April, it can be extremely difficult to stay on your feet. Huge cross chop can just take you down as you surf right. In yesterday's lighter conditions, the cross chop was pretty manageable and I had only a few falls going across. As I got closer to Kamalo, I expected a run comfortably less than 4 hours. But in the coming miles, everything would change.

No too long after Kamalo, with about 9 or 11 miles left to go, I ran out of water. My increased efforts in the Pailolo and the heat had resulted in me drinking a lot more than I'd expected to. I could have used a second water pack, carried on my waist. But I had made the decision that I wouldn't need it, based on other crossings and paddles. It was obviously the wrong decision. Still, as my water dwindled to nothing, the wind had increased and I was surfing more than digging hard. But after so many miles, you are just fatigued. And surfing on a big board requires a lot of balance and being light and quick on your feet. As you start to get dehydrated, your ability to do what's needed deteriorates.

I noticed our escort boat off to my right. Shep had also caught me and was in the process of passing me off to the inside, towards Molokai. Art had already disappeared as if shot from a cannon. The Australians that I had really worked hard to gap were coming up quickly in my rear. I had no choice but to just keep going, but I was beginning to weaken both mentally and physically. It was hot and my head was burning. Fortunately, with my deteriorating balance, I took a few falls which may have helped by cooling me down a bit. But then I'd remount the board with nothing but salt taste and no water to quench what was becoming a raging thirst for water. Ice cold water.

After a few miles of not being able to drink, the wind began to get lighter. Alarmingly lighter. I checked my Garmin. Still six more miles to go. I'd paddled nearly 21 miles already. I was just going to have to do the best I could. I actually felt confident that I'd make it in just fine but I watched helplessly as the Aussies and Shep passed me and Art turned into a speck out in front of me. I checked my Garmin. I was going really, really slow. I did calculations in my brain. Now I was not going to even have a prayer of breaking 4 hours. It is at points like this that you realize that racing is as much mental as physical. The wind went from light to intermittent to nothing. The bumps were still rolling along but it was harder and harder to catch things.

Our escort boat had been following Shep for what seemed like forever. When I'd been in front, they were with me forever. But that time had passed. Finally, they turned around and came back to check on me. My friend and paddle partner Masao was on-board and asked me what I needed. He grabbed an ice cold bottle of water and plunged into the ocean, swimming it over to me. I sat down on my board and drank it. We talked about how bad the conditions had gotten. Masao is my hero.

The ice cold water really helped. I jumped back up and got back into a rhythm. The stop had cost me under 3 minutes. Shep had slowed and although he was still ahead, he wasn't pulling away. But there were still miles to go to the finish. I caught a few glassy rollers that I had no business even hoping to catch, but the magic Bullet got them. They really helped. But then there was nothing. No more water. No more wind, the ocean had turned to a glassy desert. The escort boat was up checking on Shep and then finally motored away to clear the reefs and head in by the finish, now just a few miles up. The heat was sweltering. Just go, you just have to finish now. I'd passed the four hour mark. Ouch.

On the plus side, I'd picked a great line and was much further outside than I'd been in April. I'd learned during that race that you could be out much further and avoid a lot of difficulty in the sticky water over the reef near the finish. As I got closer to the end, there was a huge temptation to cut across the reef toward the pier. But I'd seen it in there before. One second you're in deep water, the next you're on a rock or coral outcrop that is inches under the surface. I saw a guy break his rudder there the year before and knew it was dangerous and very unpredictable. I watched as Shep cut the corner. Hmmm. Maybe I should try, it is so much shorter. I began to turn towards the inside. Glancing over my shoulder a nearly chest high set began to form up just outside of me. Hard left, I paddled straight into it and just made it out. Another guy who was inside of me was removed from his board. Ok, dodged that one. I watched Shep, he was zigging and zagging and I knew why. I decided I'd stay out further and not turn in until I was sure I'd have a good chance of making it.

The finish was only a mile now but everything felt like slow motion. But, it was so close to over I could almost taste the ice cold water that I had stashed on the boat. I saw myself finishing, drinking the cool fresh water, showering off all the salt that was baked on me. At least the usual headwind that you battle at the finish was absent. Finally, I crossed the line. Four hours and twenty five minutes.

I felt like I'd had a terrible race and that I'd made disastrous errors. The biggest and most fatal was not bringing another 50 oz of water in a waist pack. Maybe I should have had the boat throw me a couple of bottles when I realized I'd run out of water. All the guys that I'd worked so hard to get out front of in the Pailolo had all caught and passed me in the final stretch. Art was so far ahead, I didn't even see him finish.

Shep and I were trashed. We decided to grab an offered ride back to Maui and forego racing a second day in light conditions. We stuck around for the awards. Jeremy ended up doing pretty well and that was great. Andrea won the women's. There is not a classier competitor out there than Andrea. They finally got around to the 50 to Dead category and Iron Phil took first, followed by Buzzy Kerbox. Lo and behold, I managed to get a medal for third. My worst race and fraught with mistakes and I get a medal. Go figure. I think the conditions probably killed off all the other old guys.

All of the times were considerably slower than previous races. Conditions are so hugely important. Many lessons learned. Today, I sit here typing all this with a pleasant soreness in my shoulders and all the way down to my toes. It was actually a great day. I realize once again at how fortunate I am to have experienced such an epic event. Many thanks to the Rodney Kilborn and his crew for making this event happen and for all of the people that supported it.

On the way back to Maui, a bunch of the Aussies were on our boat. They brought as much beer as they could hold onto. I sat with a guy named Andy. We talked story all the way back to Maui and I realized again how lucky I was to participate in this great sport with energetic, positive paddlers from all over the world and from all walks of life. The one thing they all have in common is experiencing life as fully as they can and love of the ocean. Those are the kind of people that I want to be around and in the end, that's what this experience becomes. Sharing the stoke with friends, new and old.

[Southbay]

I'll take a stab at it.  Hopefully Cove posts his FB note as well, as it was really good and very detailed.

Maui2Molokai 2015 was hard, hot and brutal, but had 6 miles of the most perfect bumps I have ever seen.

The race started at 9:30am.  The turnout was under 100 paddlers, which is down considerably from last year.  The "event" is pretty poorly run, which is a shame considering this could be the best downwind race in the world.  Anyway...at 9:28am 90 or so paddlers stood up and started to "creep" ahead of the starting line.  The horn had not sounded yet, but human nature is to get all we can, and once one person starts to creep forward there is no stopping it.  Conner tried by yelling at the group "hey you guys, cut it out!  It's not like any of you are going to win anyway!".  That sorta worked, no one else could say that, but he can and did.  I was hoping that the creep would continue.  Anything that would shorten the distance to the bumps seemed like a good idea to me! 

At 9:30am the horn blew and off we went.  1/2 mile out we were in the whote caps, but the glide are going to Lanai (wrong island), so as Headmount would say, the mantra is glide and go right, glide and go right.  If you paddle like I do, the only people you are racing against are people you know, so I was only concerned with Cove and Art.  Obviously Jeremy Riggs and Andrea were long gone by mile 1.  Both Art and Cove are stronger flat water guys than I care to be, so they both pulled ahead of me, but I stayed patient and told my self that I would catch them once the bumps got good.  I knew that Cove was gonna do well in the rough water, but thought that I may be able to catch him at Kamalo, and I was hoping that Art (who is from Seattle) would have trouble in the rough Pailolo and I would catch him there.  Problem was that the Pailolo was not that rough.  Don't get me wrong, the Hawaiian's named this Pailolo (meaning Crazy Fisherman) for a reason, it is always rough, but it was either not rough enough to hurt Art, or the week he spent before the race at Maliko was enough that any advantage I thought I had there didn't materialize as hoped.  By mile 15 I could see the Kamalo Buoy and both Cove and Art were still ahead of me.

Kamalo is what it is all about.  The first 15 punishing miles in a washing machine of swell directions is just setting you up to have fun in the Kamalo section, or the Kalohi channel.  The Kalohi is what separates Lanai and Molokai.  The island act as a wind and wave tunnel; focusing everything in the same direction and creating the perfect set up for surfing bumps for the next 12 miles.  I could still see Greg and Art, but they were probably a 1/2 mile ahead of me.  Once we passed Kamalo the ocean changed from the mess of the Pailolo to absolute perfection.  The texture of the water even glassed off.  The only way I can describe it is to tell you that it looked like a tidal bore.  Chest high glassy rollers as far as I could see.  I was surfing really well.  Cross stepping and turning left and right.  MY boat captain pulled up next to me and they were hooting and cheering me on.  It was awesome!  I was able to catch and pass Cove, but Art was no where in sight. 

By mile 20 I was starting to tire and my finger stuck (trigger finger I think its called) cramped, but no big deal.  I still had water and was feeling ok, and then the wind stopped.  Then the bumps stopped.  That when I noticed the dumping high tide running in the wrong direction.  Condition wise, it could have been worse, but not much worse.  Did I mention that it was probably 90 degrees?  6 miles to go, and they were going to be the worst of the 27.  Nothing to do but put your head down and slog it out.  Cove was behind me by a fair distance, but not enough to rest easy.  If he were to pass me at this point, I would probably have just rolled off my board and given up  .  With a half mile to go, I was behind Buzzy Kerbox and he decided to cut across the reef into Kaunakakai Harbor.  I have done it before, but with the dumping tide, it seemed risky to me.  None the less, if Buzzy was gonna go, so was I.  Then Buzzy fell and was stuck on nearly dry reef.  I made a sharp turn out to deeper water and around the reef.  Going the wrong direction when you are that close, when you think you are about done is not easy, but landing on urchins after all this was not the call either.

4:21:51 seconds.  I completed the same race in April in 3:48 minutes, but under much better wind.  Very tough race, but one that I will probably not forget, and one that will probably seem more fun by July 2016!

Headmount posted that one picture that shows the start.  I think we will have a few race photos coming soon!  Sorry nothing really to show so far...

Here are the results:  http://www.mauipaddlerace.com/results/2014-07-15-20-46-27

[DavidJohn]

Thanks Southbay.. I had many friends there but not seen them yet..

Matt who finished behind Connor was a regular in our DW group.

[covesurfer]

Nice report SB. Good thing we have many months to forget how bad this last time was. By April, I'll be ready to do it all again.

[Muskoka SUP]

Thanks Cove and SB for once again taking the time to share your experiences.   

[Southbay]

Thanks guys. Under the right conditions this is really a truly wonderful race. Hope you all can't get out here and take a stab at it some day!  Cove, next April were doing it in the boats!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[headmount]

Fantastic drone footage video of the start of the race on SIC FB page.  Jeremy Riggs also posted it.  The drone caught JR catch a glide..  Drone circled the start just like a movie set.  It's really quite a visual with all the colors, you can't go wrong.

[supdiscobay]

Wow!! Cove/SB thanks for the great write ups. Nice video on SIC.  The last part with Andrea shows how light the winds were near the finish.
Looking forward to seeing you guys in November.

[Southbay]

Full photo gallery here at 808photo.me 's FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.677427215724461.1073741928.154574388009749&type=1