Gunfight in the Pailolo

[headmount]

I shot 720p HD video of the Pailolo race start from above the surf spot at Honolua that I posted awhile back.  From my POV, the channel across to Molokai appeared like a billiard table.  However on the water it was a different story.   Keith Baxter shot Conner from their chase boat and had me edit his 540p res footage.  The beginning was deep cobalt blue water with massive rise and falls from cross swells.  Although there were occasional short pushes in that zone, the paddling was unremarkable during this area and when I saw what happened at the end I decided not to use it.  In order to keep the time frame of the footage within the 10 min. criteria for You Tube, I stuck to the more exciting part which began with Conner finally seeing Dave Kalama ahead of him off of Molokai.  Until this point Dave had led the whole pack and Conner, who began about 6 back in the beginning, had slowly worked his way to behind Dave.   This is his race with Dave.  The lead changes back and forth and the race is on as the conditions rapidly improve.  This race has incredible potential.  Enjoy.  See Gunfight in the Pailolo in You Tube.

[Takeo]

[DavidJohn]

That's a great vid.. Thanks.

Connor is like the Energizer bunny.. 

DJ

[jb]

That is what downwind racing is all about! Great stuff! I'll take those conditions any day.

[JustPaddle]

Plus Connor is dragging a ti leaf!

[SSE]

Dave K forgot his ti leaf...

[headmount]

I woulda put in the sound track from Fistful of Dollars but of course that woulda been yanked.    The native soundtrack from the footage was the same as what you would hear at a soccer game when parents are screaming at their kid to get a move on... hilarious in a way but personal so I pulled it.  Silence is cool also because out there you're in your own world.  Glad everyone likes it so far...

[Mitchell]

Great to see young paddlers up there with the big boys .

[Easy Rider]

Wow - What a great video.   
I like it with no music.

Thanks.

[JonathanC]

Great to see young paddlers up there with the big boys .

Actually the funny thing is that Connor is the "big boy" now....

[SUPerman]

Great video to learn proper technique for downwind from the best of the next generation in Connor Baxter and, dare I say, the greatest waterman alive.  Thank you for posting it.

[Pureadrenalin]

Nice video showing Conner's ability to read the bumps. At his age that is a huge advantage.

[SUPerman]

Connor may someday be the greatest waterman alive but I meant Dave Kalama.

[PonoBill]

I suspect a lot of folks don't know much about Connor. He's been a sponsored windsurfer since he was just out of diapers (minimal exaggeration), great surfer, tow-in surfer, etc. etc. etc. The guy can do just about anything on the water, and he's a great guy too. His mom and dad are tremendously supportive of him and sister Ashley, who is so drop dead gorgeous that she's hard to look at, and is a damned fine surfer/windsurfer herself. Fine, fine people, the whole family, and great atheletes. One of the fine things about Maui is that there is an abundance of that kind of talent and those kind of great families. The Trouts, the Schweitzers, the Lenneys, the Napoleans, the Yaps, etc. Wonderful people to be around, and it's great to see their kids doing so well.

[Easy Rider]

Yup - Conner (and Zane) are both great "kids".

They both came over to me after the Naish race and were truly interested in how I did.

(so did Dave) 

I guess being the only Canuck has it's advantages.