Danny Ching and Steve Sinkus break Catalina 1-man relay record.
Good Morning Paddlers
We couldn’t have asked for better weather on the Catalina Channel.Well if we had one wish, it would have been to have bigger swells to ride.Other than that, the temperature was perfect causing some paddlers to strip down to shirtless uniforms.Making dry changes helped.In fact we were commenting sometime during the race how uncomfortable it would have been to make normal wet changes, then sit on the escort and freeze our butts.Several of the Hawaii boys were not used to the climate and were cold even before race day.The course was straight across from Avalon to Dana with very little or no deviation.Maybe we could have taken a two-degree southerly course, because about five miles out, the Dana Point current sweeps north.Other than that it was point to point.The swells were small and that left us grubbing for anything that resembled a ground swell. The day before we were worried about the fog that sat outside Dana, but it was clear as a bell on race day.
Danny Ching sprinting for the record. Photo by Willie Reichenstein
Gliding to a stop after crossing the line. Photo by John Taylor
On Friday evening many of the paddlers ate and sipped at the El Galleon.Entertained by a long line of wanna be singers, the Kareoke machine churned on as they either made us laugh or cry, or laughed till we cried.Antonios restaurant was as busy as ever as paddlers ordered the famous Mama Mia’s day old spaghetti
Luke and Kelly enjoying the awards
The race started right on time, whether you had an escort boat or not.Chris Okieffe told us about a standup paddler, who entered without an escort and didn’t tell him.He started some time ahead of everyone and eventually got confused.Turning around he paddled back to Catalina, but when he saw everyone coming at him, he turned around again and paddled back toward Dana following the pack. My advice is never under estimate the channel and never cross it without an escort.It could be calm in the morning, but later as the day heats up, it could be so rough that I’ve seen ferries’ propellers come out of the water as they plunged down each wave.
Tyson Popler half way through the harbor. Photo by Willie Reichenstein
The Race
The standup paddle boarders started first at 9:00 a.m. At 10:00 a.m. the Women and Coeds started and finally the open men and two- man boats began.It was calculated to have everyone finish in as tight a group as possible, which also makes it easier for the safety boats.In addition it provides a good incentive for the faster competitors.Everyone has a rabbit to chase… except of course, the last rabbit.
Andrew and Karel relaxing at Hennessey's
The two favorite teams were visiting Hawaiians Karel Treznak/Andrew Penny verses Californians Danny Ching/Steve Sinkus.Karel is considered the world champion and is incredible in the swells.If there’s any kind of bumps he will get it.Andrew Penny is also a good paddler who won the Catalina race in 2000 with Kai Bartlett in a time of 5hr: 22:00 Together they make an excellent team.
Chris Okeiffe presenting the award to Steve and Danny
On the other team, Danny also has learned to surf the ocean swells, with the addition of being very fast in the calm seas.Two weeks leading up to the Catalina race, Danny had flown to Hawaii to race and hopefully do well. However as the race started, he was still on shore furiously assembling his canoe. He had forgotten his iakos.Eric Phillips of Island Paddler drove 45 minutes to loan Danny his personal iakos.Starting dead last in the Mother of all Bad Races, Danny said he flipped in his haste to get going, which bruised his ego more than his position.His water bag leaked and emptied before his first sip and his canoe slowly took on water.These were problems not enough to stop him, but enough to add to his misery list of how not to prepare for a race.He finished eight overall.
Steve Sinkus, who has been paddling for a number of years, has finished second in California a number of times and is hard to beat, especially if he gets any kind of lead.He will defend it to the end.
Five time winners Jill Schooler Shore and Jeane Bartlett
Open Men
As morning broke the weather favored Danny/Steve with light winds and calm seas.At the gun, Andy, Danny, Luke Evslin and several others assumed the lead right away.Battling for six minutes, the positions slowly evolved into Danny taking a lead.The first change saw Karel and Steve holding the same positions.For the first hour, Danny opened the crack a bit wider each time, while Steve defended it. The second hour the lead opened it a little more.But the third hour was critical as Karel and Andrew made a push and slowly closed the gap.This caused concern with Steve and Danny, who said, “I kept thinking they were going to catch me.So paddled harder.”Together they pushed hard to close the door.Hour four.A radio report came in. They held a 200-yard lead.Their skipper Micah Carlson said they were about five miles out of Dana Point; when they calculated they had enough time and distance to break the Catalina record. Once the decision was made, the intensity automatically picked up and they went harder.Previously Travis Grant of Australia and George Leslie of Hawaii held the old record in a time of 5hr:01:00. Entering the harbor, Danny got in with only one mile to go into the wind.It was a total all out sprint to beat the clock.He eclipsed the record by nearly six minutes setting a new record of 4hr: 55:10.At the awards, they were relieved the race was over, as the pressure had been building to win if the channel was calm. Steve said, “I’m so happy, I’m walking on air right now.”Not taking anything away from Karel and Andrew, they ran as tough a race as could be.In a well-fought and incredible effort, they pushed themselves to the end.Congratulations to both teams.
Aimee Spector who's actually standing on a chair. She's about 1 1/2 ft shorter than Eva
Open Women
In the women’s race Jill Schooler Shore and Jeane Barrette won their fifth consecutive Catalina race in a time of 5:hr 51:54.They had a bumpy season with nagging injuries and work getting in the way.Sometimes they did well and other times they were pummeled.But through it all, they finished like true champions in the last race of the season in California.Finishing second was Aimee Spector and Eva Mauck who both had a great season, Aimee taking second in the last race and Eva taking first in several races.Finishing third was Patti Lawson and Kamini Jain. Good job ladies.
Sr Mstrs winners Chris Harper, Al Ching and Jerry Marcil
Email from Jill- (Jill is the Aimee Spector’s coach.Eva has won several races consecutively during the season.)
Somehow in my wisdom I convinced Aimee and Eva to race together. On race day I was cursing myself! Individually they had both beaten both Jeane and I in at least 1 winter series race…then there were the Canadians…the unknown factor whom I knew would be tough off the line.This was not going to be a cakewalk! I felt we might be cursed trying to go for our 5th straight title.So the night before the race I gave Jeane the “Eye of the Tiger” speech (I can thank my husband Nathan for that – GRRRR!).
The start was as tight as we expected, but Jeane had an awesome run. (Canadian) Kamini was ahead, and then behind, then ahead and Eva was about 3-4 boats behind and holding steady. So then it was the ‘ole, “Who’s going to win the 2nd piece?” Although it was going to be a 6-hour race and anything can happen, this was the point where each of us would measure up as a team.Jeane and I had one of our many flawless changes, “Hey-experience in this race counts for something!” and I was off and running! Jeane had done her job and now it was time for me to do mine! We dropped the Canadian team and held off Aimee - my Lanakila teammate - and that set the stage for the rest of the race.
Without much happening with the water, we quickly dropped to 15 minutes and started doing sprints, which also quickly turned into 10 minutes. Like I told Jeane…or rather as I screamed at her from the escort boat, “You can do anything for 10 minutes!!” But the best piece for me was when the boys started coming through the pack and you feel them getting closer, you hear them, you start to see escorts coming into your peripheral vision.We just get re-charged! Then of course when we saw it was Danny and Steve (in first place!) and they were cheering for us and we were cheering for them as well, of course you go faster!! I happened to be on the canoe when Ching came by and Jeane was screaming, “Get on the same bump he is on!!” So of course you dig a little deeper hang for as long as you can!! That was the point that we gapped our competition and never looked back!
The best quote of the day.Aimee, who is fairly new to our club, while watching the awards said, “Is it a coincidence that so many Lanakila paddlers do this race?” “Aawww grass-hopper…you have so much to learn!”
Lisa Fernow, Suzanne White, Agnes Regeczkey,Tanya Muhle
Winning the very competitive Masters division was Paul Mcnamara/Steve Bujdos.
Taking first place in the Senior Masters, it was the cardiac kids Al Ching, Jerry Marcil and Chris Harper.
The surf ski division winners were Paul Jacob/Jim Bauman 1st, Craig Tanner/Chris Stout 2nd and Craig McMannis/Kevin Cullinan 3rd. Winning the standup paddleboard relay division was Chris Koermer/ Alen Cheateaux / Ernie Johnson.
Still standing and coming in strong Photo by Willie Reichenstein
Wet Changes as told by Chris Stolba
The team ofJosh /Brian were battling with Tyson/Justin about 1hour and 45 minutes into the race. Both teams were just behind us (Luke/Kelly whom I was escorting.)Josh wasstanding on his escort as they came by us to do a change.As they passed, I yelled at Josh to pull up his pants, because his shorts were sagging.He turned to me, because he couldn't hear, so I yelled again and he smiled and waved. As he waved with the hand he was holding onto the boat, the boat turned to line up with the oncoming canoe.Josh was thrown off doing a nice 360-balarina pirouette into the water.The people in his motorboat started freaking out, because they didn't know what to do.When the other escort boat saw this happening, I could hear Tyson freaking out, yelling at Justin, “Josh is doing water changes.”Like he was cheating or something.I couldn't stop laughing, because I was the cause of all the chaos.
Setting a new record for Open OC2 men are left to right, Ian Forester, Casey Owens, Kevin Allen and Evan Rhodes
What are friends for?
I consider myself lucky to have been teamed up with great people the last several years for the Catalina race and this year was no exception. I raced with long time friends Kevin Allen, Ian Forester and a new friend Evan Rhodes. All three of them made the trip from Hawaii. We took the flyer over on a clear "Warm” Friday morning; at least I thought it was warm. This was Evan’s first time to Catalina and that made the trip even better for me. We took the 15 minute grand tour of downtown Avalon and then on over to Casa De Ocean Ohana. There they found some fellow Hawaiians and knew they weren't the only ones to brave the cold arctic waters of Southern California. The next day we got our Huki Tandom Z, rigged it up and went for a practice run.As I was placing the boat in the water with Ian, all he could say was, “ #$^% this water is cold.”Then he said, "What ever you do, DON'T splash meeeee,”Of course I splashed him before he could finish his sentence.Later that day we organized the Catalina Putt and Paddle Miniature Golf World Championships. Maybe Josh Crayton, who thought it was a full contact sport, can tell more about that day. All I can say is being a great paddler has nothing to do with being a great putter just ask Tyson and Danny. By the way, Bryan Mack was the Champ.
Race morning was perfect...no mix ups, plenty of time, and no fog. Evan and Kevin started, because they had matching jerseys. They had a great start and were grouped up with two surf- skiers and Danny.It stayed this way for about the first 3 hours with changes every 20 minutes. We found we could slowly pull ahead then lose all we worked for on every change. I decided to do water changes to help speed things up, but there was no convincing the others to do the same, so on one change I actually ran straight into the rubber dingy with Kevin and Evan in it and everyone went into the water. The panic and pain expressed on their faces was one of those priceless moments I will never forget. I tried to blame Ian, even though I was steering.
By the time they got going we were even with Steve and Danny and Danny yelled out, it's just like the back 9 of yesterday! When he said that I thought, well either Danny is going to take 10 strokes on the next hole and fade back or Josh is going to ram his boat into us. Neither happened, and Steve and Danny just kept slowly pulling away. At the finish line we accomplished our goal by breaking 5 hours and set a new record for the 2-man division. Now, we are not sure if that means we don't have to do it again, or do we have to keep coming back? I know I'll be back......for the golf trophy for sure, give it up Mack. Casey Owens
Murphy’s law strikes again
The morning of the race everything worked according to plan, as the hour drew near for the start of the race.I couldn’t believe it. There wasn’t a single problem, but then it happened. Murphy’s law struck, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”One of my team paddlers Jerry Marcil was supposed to start the race and therefore chosen to paddle my canoe from the beach to the start line.45 minutes before the start he paddles up and we are ready to do a warm up.I look at the ama and say; “Hey you got the wrong ama on it. That’s not my ama.”Then Chris chimes in, “Hey that’s not your canoe, it’s the wrong one.”It looked like my canoe and with the same colors.We had to get it back to the beach and find my canoe, which is about a 20-minute paddle each way.By now the owner Ray Shipman was discovering that his canoe was missing and two teams are in a panic. Then someone asked me for our canoe number.I thought, “Oh no I forgot to pick it up at registration.” Now we had another problem, find Chris Okeiffe who had the numbers in his possession. Eventually through the magic of cell phones and the help of friends, we solve each problem and we get Jerry on the start line with a few minutes to spare. Unbelievably he yells back, “Hey I forgot to attach the GPS on the iako.Can you guys bring it here.”Like a kid with a new toy, he had spent over an hour the night before loading his new GPS with information, determined to get the full usage out of it. By now the blood pressure had peaked and everything seemed strangely normal…all screwed up (a polite way of saying it.) We start to rummage around for the GPS, but after a few seconds, we stop, look at each other and say, “Forget it.No way are we’re going to get it to him before the start.”With that we sit back and watch in silence as the seconds tick away.The horn blows, we breathe a sigh of relief and it’s, “Game on.”
Friends to the end
After the race we headed for Hennesseys for food, awards, drinks and each other’s companionship.Overall it was a well-run race thanks to Chris Okeiffe who did just about everything for us except make the beds and clean the toilets.
Mahalo to all those who worked the race, especially the officials, registrars and Chris Okeiffe.
