The channel was bumpy for both the men and the women with swells coming from the northwest.It would have been a great day for OC1 racing.It was fun for the men, but the poor women and their escort boats got beat up from the first hour to the last.
Lanakila crashes up into a swell while NAC in the background drops heavily into a trough. NAC won the grueling race by approximately 5 minutes. Our apologies for not having a better photo of NAC. Photo by Mike McKinney
Women’s race
Congratulations to NAC women for winning the 2007 Catalina Race.
Here’s a running commentary of the race from HukiJude sent over the Internet.
Santa Barbara's women's team rushing across a flat area, before the next swell arrives.
*Sunny, 5-7 mph breeze, usual 2 ft swell. Lanakila & NAC jumped out 5 boat lengths in the first 5 minutes, running nose to nose...Incredible battle going on.
*3ft seas from starboard fore quarter, wind at 10 mph. Lanakila ahead by half a boat. NAC maneuvering to bust a move south. Lanakila staying high and holding that lead.
*Still a battle. NAC just took back 1 boat length. 4 ft seas.
*First change... Lanakila just now brought it back up nose to nose!
*By half a boat....maybe 2 seats now... Occasional 5 footers...
Sorry, I lost signal for a few hours. NAC ahead by 4 Boat lengths... Water flattening into the lee of the island, 3 ft. Speculation is that as the oncoming weather smoothes out, Lanakila will get faster again. It's still any Woman's race. *We're motoring to harbor to tie up, before the flood of chase boats arrive. Will see the finish from the jetty.
*NAC finishes first.About 1300 meters behind was Lanakila and I can't see the third place canoe yet.
Note:The next canoe came in about 30 minutes later. Some canoes came in at 7 hours plus.
It was an exciting race to watch.One of the parents watching for the first time was a nervous wreck as the canoes galloped side-by-side mile after mile.Waves were crashing against their hulls lifting them sky high, plunging down and falling like tree trunks.Mary Kate Lancaster, whose daughter paddles for Lanakila said, “I didn’t know how complicated it was.No wonder Kelly used to come home with so many bruises.”
Passengers on board our boat were a little queasy.Escort drivers said it took longer than normal to motor ahead to make even a short drop.With the weather worsening, several women suffered from hyperthermia and one had to be pulled out of the race.
To make things interesting, a tanker loomed in sight cutting across our path.With the women strung out for miles, it was very dangerous.Maneuverability was difficult at best in rough weather, but with the added danger of an eminent collision, it worried us.Somehow the tanker made it between the two lead canoes and the rest of the pack without incident. From what we saw, both teams were fairly even with NAC in a slight lead up to the two-hour mark.That’s when NAC headed south a little and got a bigger separation.It wasn’t so much a battle of hull speed, but more of a physical test against every wave.Each crew occasionally came to a stop before starting up again.This action wore on the crews and the escort boats.Continuous bailing was as important as paddling.Lanakila relieved their steersman after two hours with Jill Schooler and really closed the gap.However it was too late.NAC held their lead until Jill switched out and then really opened a gap to the finish.
Billy Whitford NAC Coach “We have a five week old baby girl. She was born on the weekend of the Dana race.It was the first race I missed in five years. Elaine Casper steered our Catalina crew with Sarah Jane the secondary.It was tough.It was nasty, the angle was so bad, it was always run, stop like the canoe was tied to a bungee cord.We respect the Lanakila gals.The team was always looking over their shoulders.”
Katie Arnold stroking air as they fly across a swell winning the Bradley division. Photo by Mike McKinney
Katie Arnold of Lanakila, 1st place Bradley
“We had an unbelievable crew.Connected so well. Didn’t have any huli scares.We were proactive in rigging our own canoe this year.Last year we let (coaches) Josh, Danny, and Jill rig and it was just so tippy that we rigged it this year.This year I took the rigging ropes home with me so they wouldn’t rig it.We rigged our own canoe on Friday night before the race.For the most part we battled against Imua, Kai Elua, Marina and Hanohano.Imua and Kai Elua later went south and took a much better course and came in 5 minutes ahead of us.We didn’t even see them after they went south until we came together at the finish. I think we went too far north.It took us 5 ½ hours even with the best crew I’ve ever had.”
Men’s race Congratulations to Hawaii/New Zealand for winning the Men’s Catalina Race. At the start Hawaii/New Zealand took the lead immediately providing enough of a gap to hold off the rest of the pack.Following close was Tui Tonga, Hawaiian Canoe & Kayak, Lanakila and Mahina Tahiti.Within an hour several things changed.First by sheer accident that is hardly heard of, Bruce Ayau of Tui Tonga dropped his steering paddle causing the other teams to charge ahead.In a race involving such elite paddlers, one mistake can cause the race. There was some strategy as far as course was involved, but in the end it was a hard fought straightforward race. For most of the channel the swells were good.Except they were coming at a 45-degree over the left shoulder with a current running counter to it. If the steersman wasn’t experienced, this posed problems catching bumps.When a swell picked up the canoe, it tended to hook left as it picked up speed dropping in. This shifted the weight of the crew to the right lifting the ama in the air.The steersman had to paddle like hell to get up to speed, anticipate the hook early and then hold his angle as the canoe dropped in.When it worked it was beautiful, when it didn’t, it was, " Ugly." Several hours later after things settled, it was Hawaii/New Zealand still in the lead, Lanakila moved to 2nd, Tui Tonga 3rd, Mahina Tahiti 4thand HCKT 5th.This became the eventual order of finish.
Team Hawaii NewZealand winners of the Catalina Race 2007
Second place finishers lanakila California
Tui Tonga alone in the distance finishing in a respectable 3rd overall. Photo by Marytheresa Chin
Fourth place finishers Team Mahina Va'a Tahiti
Micah Carlson
Micah Carlson, escort driver began having engine trouble just as the men lined up to race.Unbeknownst to him the fuel line inside the engine cover was leaking and the engine started surging, preventing it from engaging in the forward gear.After scrambling to switch crews and equipment to another boat, Micah made it to the mechanic at Avalon. When the mechanic took the engine cover off, fuel had leaked down and pooled around the engine.When the mechanic tilted the engine over, all the fuel spilled out into the boat well.Micah said, “Basically I was driving a time bomb.”
An hour later, the mechanic fixed the fuel line and cleaned up, it was time to start the engine, but the biggest danger was yet to come.Silently, Micah and the mechanic wondered, “What if a spark ignited the residual fuel when it started?“Micah said, “After a pause, the mechanic announced, ‘I’ll stand back here, while you start the engine.’”Micah rolled his eyes, “Yeah right.”Those who were listening to his story just howled with laughter.
Getting under way he raced across the channel missing the entire racing pack by going too far south.He said, “ When I was about two miles from land I knew something was wrong. (Duh).Then I asked a boater where was Newport, they looked at me very suspicious, especially in my pink hat.Working my way backwards, I finally found the racing pack and followed my crew to the end of the race.”
The winning driver
The escort driver for the winning team Hawaii/New Zealand had a bent prop and could not go very fast.Coming across the channel with a coed team on Saturday, they finished somewhere in the middle of the pack.However the next day going back across with the men, the driver had no clue he was escorting the top men from Hawaii and eventual winners, as witnessed when he asked, “So how are you guys going to do today, about middle of the pack? “, to which some one answered, “I hope not, we didn’t come all the way from Hawaii for nothing.”
After the race started, he motored along waiting for the first change, still clueless.Someone in the boat said, “Hey we better get up to the front of the pack.”When the escort driver asked why they answered,“Because we’re leading the race.”It finally dawned on him that he was escorting the winning crew, not just a middle of the pack crew.Everyone had to go to the front of the boat to get the hull speed up.When that wasn’t enough the driver stepped to the front too, but someone said, “Who’s gonna drive the boat?”, the nervous driver said, “Oh,” and stepped back.Congratulations to all the teams for competing in the Catalina Channel Race.
Team California We feel very fortunate to have pulled off the masters win again with the level of competition in this years masters division. Our primary concern was the Canadian team, put together by Paul McNamara from Jericho. Our Team knows Paul well; he has paddled several races with our team over the last couple of seasons. We knew the boys from up North were here to win, and with the talent level of the crew and their training program, there was a very good chance they would stop us from obtaining our 8th consecutive Catalina masters win.
Team California first Masters
Sure enough, Canada had a great start and rocketed out of the hole, and by the first change we found ourselves looking at a 100+ yard lead by the Canadians...and growing. We also found our selves battling a very tough, very experienced Dana crew along with a super strong Hawaii Canoe and Kayak team. During the next three hours the four crews (Team Cal, Canada, Dana & HCKT) battled across the channel, with HCKT and the Canadians leading our pack of four, with Dana running third most of the time, and Team Cal in the back of the pack. At the 2 1/2 hour mark you could see the four crews adjusting their courses based on the tide, wind and swell in hopes to have the fastest line to the harbor entrance.
Out of the four crews, HCKT was the furthest south of the group and was also leading the group and held their southerly course. Team Cal was last in the group and if we were to have any chance of defeating the Canadians and defend our US Champs Masters title, we needed a great course to the harbor entrance. We decided to leave the pack and run North for 4 or 5 miles and turn down in hopes we would have a better angle to surf the bumps straight to the harbor and avoid the heavy outgoing tide. Our course paid off and we were able to get a great bump run and merged on the harbor mouth with the other four crews.
HCKT hit the entrance first, Dana second, Team Cal third and the Canadians forth. There was roughly only a minute gap from HCKT to the Canadians, It was very exciting.HCKT had a 100 yard lead over Dana, with Team Cal 50 yards back from Dana and the Canadians 50 yards back of Team Cal. HCKT looked strong and it was unlikely they would be caught by any of us.
During the battle through the harbor, both Team Cal and Dana cut the HCKT gap in half.We were somehow able to close the gap on Dana and pulled along side them at the PCH bridge and battled side by side, banging boats all the way to the finish line where Team Cal barely squeezed out the win by inches...another photo finish. The Canadians finished strong behind Team Cal and Dana. Coach Tim Dougherty
My race
My senior masters team lined up south of the pack, hoping the south wind would push us north.Along side I talked idly with my friends from the NAC master team.Out of the entire pack, we had no clue we were going go head to head for almost 4 ½ hours.Their team dropped us at the start like a rock.I thought, “Gees these guys are fast.”However in 20 minutes we managed to crawl ahead and make a change.They shot away and we crawled ahead again.The same sequence continued the entire channel.There were times when I didn’t think we had anymore to give, after falling back as much as 70 yards.But each time we pulled up, I couldn't help thinking, “I’m baack.”Both teams went through the entire emotional gauntlet of exhilaration, depression and muscle cramps.Menopause? Not even, but we think we have an idea now.A few times my escort yelled that I was heading too far south of the rum line and to go left.But NAC was on my left gunnel and I couldn’t very well go through them.Out of frustration I yelled at my friend Gary Voss the NAC steersman, “Gary I want to go left.”He looked at me and said, “I want to go right.”So we fought on, not being able to go either direction.After fading back and catching up, our ama went high in the air.Number three Chris Harper said, “I was on the right and when the ama went up, it almost threw me in the water.My head was about touching the water.I knew if I continued to put my weight on the gunnel we would go over, so I decided to jump out and kicked the opposite gunnel back down.”
Kicking the opposite gunnel literally saved the boat from flipping.But now we were without one paddler and fell back again.Drat! Another pass foiled.Meanwhile Chris was left bobbing in the choppy water with escorts dangerously passing him, people were yelling from a large escort and we were trying to drop a new paddler into the canoe.It was total pandemonium.BUT WAIT...there's more. After we managed to clean up our messy situation, our canoe caught NAC's. "Again?" "No way?”“Yes way.”Everyone was tired.The Poi Arms Syndrome was beginning to take affect. Eventually we all ended up north of the rum line and began surfing south toward the harbor, with Imua coming fast, NAC on our right and Marina on our left gunnel.Every time I looked, NAC managed to get a slight lead on us.“Dang. They're still there?” A big escort boat pulled up, owned by Jerry Marcil our stroker.It carried a large cheering section that just about drowned out our calls.I thought, “Is this how it feels if we were fighting for first place overall?” We surfed in a group for about four miles surging and falling.The cheering never abated and stimulated every crew with adrenaline that sent us beyond our best performance.With the clock running, the harbor loomed large. It was the fourth quarter with no timeouts.My crew wearily managed to link two bumps together and got separation.The goal now was, “Get to the harbor first or sell your soul.”We managed to squeek into the harbor just seconds ahead of Imua, Marina and NAC. In the long winding harbor, every crew ground it out to the end, but the positions remained the same to the finish, climaxing a very long day of racing. We were happy to finish 4th in our division. However, the race was well fought and each crew gave their best.We remain respectful to you all as a competitor and a friend.AL
Blake Conant. Manu’Iwa Winners of Sr Masters 1. Awesome experience.......we had a great start and ran with about 5 boats in the lead for awhile until the youngsters started moving away. We let a couple boats get away because our switches were not as good. 2. We had Lanakila's 2nd boat right in front of us for all of the race and while there were 1 or 2 times we closed the gap, they were better with their changes and better in the choppy water than us. I think we were faster on flat water than they, but they had enough of a lead on us that while we closed the gap in the harbor, they were too far out in front. Great bunch of guys.... 3. While Marina's crew had a better line than I had as we approached the harbor we easily went by them in the flats, as expected. 4. There were absolutely no issues in the crossing. One competitors escort boat came awfully close to the back end of my canoe several times as they were preparing for a drop, but they were gracious in giving me as much space as they could. It just seemed scary. 5. We knew we had our competition in hand so we just focused on Lanakila 2. 6. Our escort boat guy was a personal friend and could use more experience in the task, but he was an awesome help. 7. Santa Barbara Outrigger was an awesome host......I hope to be able to reciprocate some day. 8. I started the race with my Zaveral steering paddle because of lightness, but quickly switched to my Al Ching model when the water got bumpy.......awesome blade.....Mahalo! 9. I'd like to, as a Sr. Masters crew, be able to use the current technology, i.e. Bradley Lightening, Stryker, Karel Mirage. Someone said that the Mirage is about a 1/2 knot faster than a regular Bradley and it would be nice to be able to race in the same boat as the top teams. dats it for now..... Blake Conant
Mahalo to all the teams that participated in the 2007 Catalina Race.It was good to see so many paddlers from all over the world.Sorry for not getting too many photos of the teams in action, but the ocean was not helping our situation and sometimes the photographers had to sub as a rescue boat.Mahalo NAC and all the people who donated their time to host this race, especially the escort skippers who were our only link to safety. It was a great season thanks to Cheance Adair and the SCORA officials for organizing everyone. But the biggest applaud should go to the paddlers who spent a big part of their lives and money striving for a personal best in each and every race.
Mahalo Al
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