Hawaii Kai Group

[AKCoastie]

For the Oahu guys, I finally got a downpayment on a downwind board. I am looking to start training for the Molokai to Oahu soon and was wondering how to get hooked up with the downwinders that meets up in Hawaii Kai. I would like to start making some contacts and paying my dues by driving folks back after their run. Can anyone pass along some good info?

[blueplanetsurf]

The M2O race is a good long term goal but take it one step at a time.  If you are new to downwinding a minimum of 2-3 years of training at least twice a week is probably realistic to start thinking about doing the M2O race.  If you are doing it as a 3 man team with two other strong, experienced paddlers that can cover for you it may be a different story but that's not the goal, I hope.  You have to show some good race results to even sign up for it, so your first goal should be to do well in some shorter races.  
Start with a Kahala run with someone that knows what they are doing.  I offer downwind coaching and we have a coaching/ time trial group that meets every Wednesday in Hawaii Kai where you can meet others that are getting into downwinding.  This page has details and you can sign up for the weekly time trial e-mail newsletter at the bottom of the post:
http://zenwaterman.blogspot.com/2012/10/weekly-time-trials-in-hawaii-kai-video.html

Jeff Chang from Wet Feet offers Hawaii Kai shuttles on the weekends and you can e-mail him to get on that mailing list as well (you can do this after you have done a few Kahala runs):
Wet Feet Hawaii <wetfeet@hawaii.rr.com>

Friend "Denise Oceanplayground" on facebook, she runs a Kaimana to Hi Kai shuttle, which is another great service.

You don't have to drive to pay your dues, you will have to pay your dues with lots of time on the water.  You do not need the latest and greatest race gear to get started, just get a good, stable downwind board to get started and get out there as much as you can.

[AKCoastie]

Thanks for the info. Also, getting some conflicting info on Google. What is actual route of the Kahala run?

[blueplanetsurf]

On a high tide you can do an inside downwinder, staying inside of the surf breaks.  This is a good, safe run for beginners on a high tide, especially if you don't have a downwind board.  The reef is too shallow on the inside to do this if the tide is less than 1'.  When I do coached Kahala runs, we go outside the reef/ surf, where the bumps are better but the water is also rougher.  You will find a GPS track map of an actual Kahala run and more information about the coached downwind runs here:
http://zenwaterman.blogspot.com/2013/10/information-on-coached-downwind-runs.html

[blueplanetsurf]

We had a fun downwinder this morning.  Here is a picture of Mark and Fresh from San Francisco and myself posing with our 14' boards in Kahala after the run.  They had so much fun that they want to go for another one tomorrow morning, that makes it four downwinders in one week for Mark, nice!

[blueplanetsurf]

I just posted a couple of videos of two group downind runs we did last week from Hawaii Kai to Kahala, with coaching tips voiced over:

http://zenwaterman.blogspot.com/2014/01/group-downwind-run-videos-with-voice.html

[Lobes]

Hi Guys,

Im visiting Hawaii next week for a friends wedding and would be interested in joining for a Downwind run while there. I'm staying on Waikiki and free most days except Friday (wedding day)

 I'm a regular SUPr with a lot of DW experience (I helped launch the Melbourne DW scene with DJ and the guys) but obviously I know nothing about Oahu and where to launch and paddle/not paddle.

I wont have a DW board and probably no car either. Happy to hire a board if the wind looks good but probably will need to rely on others for shuttle of myself and board.

Whats the water temperature like will I need any neoprene?

Thanks in advance, this is an old thread so I will leave this post here for a few days then maybe ask again in a new thread if needed.