Olukai race day

[headmount]

So the forecast looked absolutely horrendous all week and yesterday was off the charts doldrum heat fest.  Today started out like a copy and I was trying to wrap my head around what it was going to be.  Just because I'm in the coffin division I didn't want to end up in one from heat stroke.  Got to see all the boys from the BI including JF808, still looking stoked despite poor forecasts.  But Maliko being Maliko,  the wind gods were favorable and kicked up just enough to be glide-able right out of the gate.  Was fortunate to find a clear path despite huge turn-out.  Tried to keep focused and pay attention to water intake.  Did I say it was hot?

Wind crapped out at the end and we all had to grunt it out to the finish.  First pic is  JF808 and me heading in and then very miraculously my legs worked.  Notice that both feet are off the ground.  JF808 and I finished on the bottom of the first page of results and we were stoked.  The field included many of the best.  I finished 2nd in the coffin division, and 53rd overall and my competitor in the same division came in 34th overall.  Damn good for over 60. 

Much more notable was Covesurfer who came in 32nd and 2nd in a very tough age group.  He has become a monster since he moved here. 

But the heaviest result was Jeremy Riggs who came in 3rd overall, behind Conner and Travis and ahead of Kody and Danny and Dave Kalama.  That's just flat out awesome.

[headmount]

The conditions were a 50/50 mix and a great test for everyone.  But the most inspirational being a guy named Kimo who couldn't stand but prone paddled the whole course.  Keith Baxter shadowed him for support and he made it to the finish with the whole beach cheering.  It was something else.  Conner, the race winner,  is under one arm.

[peterp]

Well done HM! Your time is very decent as well, you're losing under 2 min per km (to Connor) which anyone can be proud of - especially in lightish winds! Dave Kalama does not feature in results but JR beat Danny Ching!

Is there a good reason for having the Imua and the Olukai so early in your windy season - to me it would make much more sense to have the races end June so you have virtually guaranteed wind + the guys coming over for the M2M, Maliko and M2O could get some more races. Would attract more visitors as well.

[headmount]

This is what the top end looked like.  Conditions were very glide-able.  This is a really great shot of Conner.

[srfnff]

If I was in your age group (and I am) I would be ecstatic. A truly fantastic result, just over the top. Mega congrats!

[headmount]

I've read that Kimo was a Navy Seal but suffered a stroke in 2011 and is a paraplegic.  Paddled the whole run with one arm. 

[covesurfer]

We were pretty fortunate to have the conditions turn up right at race time. But, I was especially happy for all the people that came from the other islands and all points of the globe, that they would get to experience some good, or at least decent, conditions for the race that they came so far for.

Living here, you get totally spoiled. We've had several months of ridiculously good wind, sometimes on the south side and sometimes for Maliko. So, while yesterday wasn't even close to what we would get on a good day, it was enough to qualify as a downwinder, for at least half or 3/4 of the run. This was going to be my first Olukai, and I really dreaded it being a flat water paddle for 7+miles.

Paddling out of the gulch to the start line, the committee boat was way out, and I headed for it, probably close to a mile from the Gulch but there was only mild chop and I'd guess wind between 12 and maybe 20 mph, so the paddle upwind and outside wasn't too bad. I was a little surprised at how far out we were though. Had a few minutes to hang out and then the helicopter came over us, low, hovering nearby. The next thing I knew, everybody in the front was on their feet and then a siren went off. We were going!

No time to think, just start looking for bumps. Got a little boxed in by a few paddlers at the very beginning before I really found a rhythm. Tried to go around a guy on a 14' and cut pretty hard left on a glide. Then he turned left too and I oversteered and fell. Had to tell myself not to get rattled, got back on, didn't screw around at all, just stood up and caught the first glide that showed itself, which was pretty much right away. I seemed to find a groove quickly and before I knew it, I was with only a few guys, all of whom were close to my speed and we were spread out comfortably.

Then it was all about focusing on the glides and the line. I'd done the course 4 or 5 times and reverse paddled it the day before the race on flat water so I'd have the line through the reefs down. My tendency was to always come in too soon and I was determined not to let that happen, especially since there was actually a small bump from the north for the race. As I got closer to Camp One, I had to really work on mentally focusing on only my own surfing/paddling. The wind was dying quick, it was hot and I had to focus on not slowing down.

As I got even with the first reef pass, off Euro Beach and the airport radio beacon cone, I realized I was probably in a little too far. No worries, the swell didn't look too big, I could probably manage. I knew I was supposed to be lining myself up with the roofs of the industrial buildings in Wailuku but I was a little inside. I was trying to look ahead for my line through the reef but I saw a lot of breaking waves. Oops, now I knew I had blown the line and gone in too far.

As the reefs got close, I was just behind a friend of mine from SIC in California(Braly Joy) and he looked back and yelled something. I couldn't hear him. 20 seconds later, he was getting rolled sideways by the first wave of an incoming set. I looked over to see his 17' Bullet upside down in the surf. I cranked right, hard. There were several more oncoming waves but they were mushy 4 footers and it was easy to get back outside of them.  But my dream of a sweet, fast reef crossing with some elegant swell riding was not going to happen. I scratched hard to skirt the reef and the breakers and then turned west until I got to the reef pass I had originally intended to use and started angling towards the finish.

The last part of the race, inside the reefs, was the hardest. It was hot, there was little to no wind and it was not easy to catch any of the few bumps that did manage to roll through. There were a lot of guys in sight but everybody was stirring through the same concrete. Inside of me, I saw my buddy from SIC (Braly), fully recovered from his reef ride, sneak past me. While I wanted to beat him, I was glad that his little adventure hadn't ruined his race. If anything, he had gained ground on me!

Finally pulled into the beach, started the run and couldn't get over how far it was. I haven't sprinted that hard for that distance in many years. But knowing the end was right there kept me going. I didn't dare look back to see if anyone was close. Head down, eyes up, focus on making it to the end. I was really hammered as I crossed the line. I'd had a great run for not having even jogged in as long as I could remember.

After the race, a friend from my age group told me I'd gotten 3rd in the 50-59's. I was thrilled! I hadn't expected to finish so well. Even better, almost everybody from Maui that paddles regularly finished really, really well. People were stoked. We were all so happy to have had wind and bumps for a good part of the run. What was so cool is that many of us have paddled together regularly and encouraged each other's stoke for downwinders. And everybody raced really, really well. I felt like we were all part of a paddling family that had encouraged one another, and that is a pretty good feeling.

Unfortunately, I missed Kimo's finish but saw the pictures. I wish I'd been there to cheer him in! Pretty amazing. The Olukai was a great event that I'll look forward to for the entire year.

[headmount]

Boy what you think is real and what is real can be quite different.  Thought I had a great start but didn't really check the field around me.  Found this pic of the start and see that I actually had a very poor start.  People had flowed out ahead of me like an avalanche.  I'm the second guy up from the bottom, on the far right edge of the pic with orange cap.  There's probably even a few more ahead of the lead guys in this pic but just within this pic, there are over a 100 ahead of me.   It was 7miles and it feels good being able to pass about half of them but discouraging that my start was so slow.  Suppose that's part of the age thing but it doesn't feel good conceding that much lead right off the bat. 

Pono was supposed to get me a paddling lesson with the King but he never came through.  I want to burn rubber like the big boys.

[pdxmike]

Headmount--part of your problem at the start is that it looks like you're gripping your paddle too tightly.


Seriously, there's an art to knowing how fast to go out.  In other sports, people generally go out way too fast, and it kills your overall time.  You can see it in any sport involving splits--5% too fast on lap one means you might be 15% slower on the last lap.  Plus it can be psychologically devastating to be passed by one person after another late in a race.  On the other hand, if you're someone who can get into a good fast pack or drafting group if you go out fast enough, then that changes things.

[headmount]

Headmount--part of your problem at the start is that it looks like you're gripping your paddle too tightly.


Seriously, there's an art to knowing how fast to go out.  In other sports, people generally go out way too fast, and it kills your overall time.  You can see it in any sport involving splits--5% too fast on lap one means you might be 15% slower on the last lap.  Plus it can be psychologically devastating to be passed by one person after another late in a race.  On the other hand, if you're someone who can get into a good fast pack or drafting group if you go out fast enough, then that changes things.

That 5% too fast and 15% slower stat is interesting.  At my age it does take awhile to get up to speed so that stat is heartening... like I have a choice.  Hear you about the psychology.  Much better to not be overzealous at start, 'curbing the enthusiasm' so to speak.  Thanks PDX.  These distances are like mile swims.

[Southbay]

Here's a great video Buzzy Kerbox just put out on his YouTube channel, on the Olukai: http://youtu.be/IrU_u41kjhw

The start was frustrating....helicopter buzzed by, and everyone just went!  Confusing, but as HM told me, don't worry about the horn, just watch the fast guys and go when they go!

Southbay

[JF808]

I think everyone can agree that there was some mass confusion with the start of the race.  On SUP day I caught myself looking up at the helicopter thinking... what the heck is that noise? I look down and everyone is moving!! I was sitting outside of the leaders and took a more outside line to Kanaha. 

What surprised me the most... there was a bouy marking the channel. I couldn't believe my eyes, I was thinking "not cool" part of the race dynamic is picking the right spot to come through the breakers, the channel was marked, WTF.  ran out of gas as I seen Headmount slide in on the inside, looking strong despite the lack of push towards the end.  Finished 55th, not bad considering I've only done this run a few times. I thinking if I committed to coming over to maui more often to learn the run better, I could do better.


The OC2 day was no different, I headed out thinking there was a lot of time before the start... then BAM same thing again, false starts, someone jumped the gun. they tried for a restart, but failed again... the leaders were off and so was everyone else who made it out there early.  there was a handfull of paddlers including myself who got caught, and instead of looking for a good finsih, I was playing catch up! There was no way I could make up such a huge gap.  I was lucky to catch up to just about mid pack by the time we got to kanaha.  Dissapointed.


for the first timers it's great to take in everything at the gulch prior to the race including the pule... 2nd trip to maui. skip the pule, and make way to the water, the race start is so fast, you need to get out there early.  depending on where you want to sit in the line up you can burn energy rushing to get out there.  I learned my lesson... ehhh.  I was making good time on the OC1 but was just caught so far behind, there was no way I was going to place where I knew I could.  Next year... no playing around.

[PonoBill]

Always important to get out in the water early. A lot of the starts are Waaaay out, so you want to be where you want to be when the whistle blows. There's never been a fair start in the history of SUP racing--at least none that I've seen. the closest I've seen was a start with everyone sitting, facing the wrong way. Of course it was havoc, and I was wearing a knee brace at the time so I didn't consider it particularly fair

[JF808]

Pono,

sad part is... I already know this and usually I'm heading out as they call for the pule. the problem with olukai this year was that the race starts were initiated by the paddlers, not the event organizers.  Oh well, live and learn I suppose.  With that all said. I'm stoked to have finished where I did on the OC1, I thought I was so far behind there was no way I was going to catch anyone,

as I started gaining ground most of the pack got caught on a inside line.  I was still outside, and the back half of the race the bumps were better for me. especially in the green water, I was able to make up majority of my lost time there, but just not enough distance to get further up the pack. 

[808sup]

Those race starts are always unpredictable. They always leave me with the same thoughts as you jf808. I remember one race at maliko wear the announcer said 20mins. to start. Paddlers were migrating into the water so you had to just wait in line and chill. I got in and began paddling. Before I could get out of the gulch the horn blew and I  figured I lost 2mins. right there! My goal is not to win ( there are too many better paddlers here ) but I want to a least do as well as I do every other run here. Disappointing when you are shot in the foot BEFORE you even start. I actually think the fairest starts are started in the gulch where they can stagger the starts with the smaller board class going first and so on. Hope you were able to catch the southside jf808 before you went home. It was cranking earlier this week.