OC1 Santa Barbara 07

Good Morning Paddlers

It’s been pretty cold in sunny Southern California as the temperature dipped to 35 degrees at the beach, something we paddlers can’t handle.  For about a month, we’ve experienced some tremendous winds and high seas.  A few of the guys have braved the wild and cold seas riding their OC1s down the coast.   It is fun, but dangerous and I’ve been warning everyone about checking all their equipment carefully. When it is rough you have to bring extra safety equipment.

Game plan, Buddy system

Before leaving the beach, you should have a course, a game plan, and tell someone when you expect to finish.  I talked to Jay Griffin and Ray Shipman, and we came up with a buddy system. If you’re going out with say five guys, you should pair up in twos and threes.  Your responsibility is to keep track of your buddy all the time.  If you catch a long ride, look back for your buddy and wait if you have.  On big wave days, it’s easy to lose sight of someone who was right next to you an instant ago.  A situation developed two weeks ago, when Andy Waldron broke his cable and had to go in the water to repair it.  In only a few minutes everyone was far down wind of him.  It took several minutes of hard paddling against the wind and waves to get to back to him.

Life jackets

 I’m happy is to see that all of the Southern Californians bring life jackets on the OC1.  So assuming you have a lifejacket, it will either be on you or on your canoe.  The best ones are the ones you wear like a belt.  It is small and compact and you can paddle all day without noticing it.  It is an inflatable. If you get into trouble out there sinking, because of a cracked ama or hull, you need instant communication before hyperthermia sets in.  We discussed this and figured even if you made a call right away, it’ll be a while before you are found.

Cell phones, radios

Most importantly you must bring is a cell phone sealed in a  waterproof freezer Bag with taped edges for insurance…or a waterproof radio.  You have to keep the cell or radio ON YOU, NOT ON THE CANOE, because if you are washed off and your leash snaps, you will lose your canoe and every piece of lifesaving equipment with it. Sometimes the wind and waves are so strong that it will take your canoe away faster than you can swim after it. Aloha.   Use the larger freezer bag, because it is strong and spacious enough to flip open a cell phone without opening the waterproof seal of the baggie. I tried it and it really works.  The only problem was, I hit the Home button and accidentally got Hectors Sandwich Shop. The poor guy couldn’t understand why I kept yelling at him over the wind.

Snapped cables outside hull

The most common part to break is a cable.  Danny Ching discovered that a common nylon shoestring worked the best for repairing cables. On an exceptionally rough and windy training run from Malibu, he snapped a cable at the pedal.  Later, his partner Ray Shipman snapped his cable too.  Luckily they brought several types of rubbers, pliers, wires and cord.  The shoestrings were an after thought.  Fortunately the broken cable ends had enough length to tie a knot. The nylon shoestring was strong, but pliable enough to be tied around the knot, easily threaded through the pedal hole and pulled tightly without the aid of pliers. It worked better than any of the other materials.  There could be better simple ideas out there.

K.I.S.S. Keep it simple stupid.

Snapped cables inside hull

If the cables snap inside the boat, well you’re pretty much in for a long paddle home. One thing we’ve figured out was to jam the rudder so it’s facing straight ahead. It makes it easier to control the canoe.  To do this, locate the cable lever on the top of the rudder shaft.   Find something to jam the lever to the surface of the boat, so the rudder is facing straight ahead. You can use the spare rubber or tie down cord.  Wrap it round and round the shaft, between the lever and the boat until the rudder is jammed and can’t turn.  We don’t suggest you wrap it under the hull, because it’ll cause too much drag and it is difficult to do, especially when it’s rough and cold and you need to get out of the water as soon as possible. 

 Have fun, be safe, and remember the one thing to bring, besides your life jacket is a cell phone or radio ON YOU.  I use my wife’s pink fanny pack.  Yeah I know, but hey no one touches it and I think the dolphins like it.

Santa Barbara OC1 race

When we arrived, it was very cold for us.  At registration, we gingerly lined up and waited for race instructions.  I couldn’t wait to get warmed up.  My feet tingled when I stepped in the shallow water to launch.  Tense.  That was the only thing on my mind, not from nervousness, but from the temperature.  I suppose the women were cold too, but I can tell you this, we men were…one might say, “Shriveled.”   Anyway, we warmed up and after the usual false start; stop… rolling start, stop… the race was on.  A lot of races, you don’t ask, you just sense that it’s, “On”. It’s an acquired art. If you have to ask, then you’re already behind.  The good guys are usually gone by then. 

The race took us along the coast up north with surprisingly fun bumps pushing us.  We also rode the current, dodging kelp and lobster buoys and each other.  It felt unusually long to the turn.  I thought it was an eight-mile course, but sensed otherwise when no one came back.  (For a long time).  It ended up being a 12-mile course.  Oh well after five miles it’s all the same, just more water and longer minutes.  Coming back was dead, as we raced against a slight head wind and an incoming current.  The only swell behind us were large fat deep water swells that made you work your butt off trying to get on it, and never quite could.  Jay Griffin say, “I would almost get on it then the headwind and the chatter from the incoming chop would push me off.  I finally switched to a lighter quicker stroke and got a couple of good ones.” 

As we raced, the tide dropped slowly exposing the kept beds.  I felt like a lamb going to slaughter as I unknowingly headed right into the worse part of the kelp bed.  Before I could escape I was deep in it.  I tried doing the old slalom trick, but only managed to get into more kelp.  To make matters worse, someone had been shadowing me for five miles and was slowly closing the gap. For a minute there I was thinking, “Oh no, he’s surely going to get me now.”  But then after a while, I thought, “Well hell, he’s got to go through this same kelp too. The heck with technique, muscle it.”   And that’s when classic finesse went out the window. 

The turn out was fairly good for a cold January race.  However it will get better as all you warm weather paddlers start to coming out.  For the most part, the race was organized.  The escorts and the registration went well.  The only hang up was the long delay and mix up at the awards.  It all goes back to the timers.  So when your turn comes to host, make sure to set up an efficient timing system, which has to have identifying numbers either on the boats or written in large font on the paddlers arms so it can be seen as they cross the line.  There should be several timers to corroborate the order of finish, because after the moment passes, it won’t be remembered.  Anyway it was a fun day and I’m sure everyone enjoyed it.

Check the official results at the SoCalOcean racing website. http://www.eteamz.com/SoCalOceanRacing

Mahalo

Big Mahalo to Santa Barbara’s members, friends and skippers for hosting the race and taking care us.

We will see you all at the next race.   Summer is coming and we should be seeing some warmer weather hopefully

Mahalo  AL

Thank you to everyone for the emails and comments of support...

Just a quick recap, the race in Tahiti was a once in a life time experience... Everyone there was so nice... I stayed in the most incredible places and met some amazing people... 

The first few days we stayed on the island of Huahine.  We stayed at this beautiful house (Tim Twigg-smiths Sisters house, Sophie) right on the beach.  Each morning we’d wake up to a home cooked breakfast and a postcard view of the ocean.  And each night we’d get a Tahitian style dinner and watch the sun set behind Raiatea.   

The 1st day we finished 2nd overall to Shell Vaa (Sponsored by Shell Oil). Our crew consisted of Thibert Lussiaa (T-Bear), Andy Penny, Mike Judd, Kai Bartlett, myself (Danny Ching), and Karel Tresnak Jr.   The race was about 3 1/2 hrs long for us.  At the start of the race we got caught up in a small log jam right of the start.  It was almost a blessing in disguise, because as soon as we untangled we started passing canoes left and right.  And each canoe we passed, the more fired up the team got.  As we raced out of the lagoon (about 20-30mins) we made our way up to 3^rd place.  Shell Vaa was leading with Team OPT (the Tahitian Post office) right next to them.  The hardest part of the day was dealing with up to 20 escort boats and spectator boats following each canoe.  So as soon as we exited the pass, there was massive escort boat wake everywhere.  There are no rules in Tahiti as far as escorts go so everyone who is not in the lead gets equally waked out, unless you take a different course.  We decided to head straight for the pass in order to find cleaner water.  Once it cleared up the boys started hammering.  The boat we had was amazing in the flat, but not so great in the surf.  It could have used a little more volume and a little more rocker.  Karel and I nicknamed it the submarine as we buried seats 1 and 2 under water.  As we exited the pass the surf picked up.  The Channel was a good 3-4 ft with 20-25mph winds behind us.  We passed Team OPT and made a move on Shell Vaa in the surf.  The Tahitian Spectators started swarming our boat trying to get a closer look.  They were amazed at how we caught waves.  With such a talented crew we would take 3 or 4 hard strokes and all stop and lean back as we rode 200-300 yards.  We had a chance to win, but coming into the pass we got caught in a nasty current coming straight out at us.  This was all the advantage Shell Vaa needed to make a move.  They ended up crushing us as they surfed along the reef and put about 4 minutes on us by the end of the day.  As we later found out after talking with all the teams, the course to take that day was any course except straight. Heading north or south worked for everyone.  Karel is still kicking himself about that decision, but I’m still very pleased with the result. 

The 2nd day was a short 2 hr race.  We decided to rest Kai Bartlett, Karel Tresnak Jr, and myself in order to get ready for the long 3^rd day.  As we watched the race from our Catamaran, we couldn’t figure out what was going on.  The team consisted of Thibert Lussiaa (T-Bear), Andy Penny and Mike Judd from the first day and we added Manny Kululuanlani, Kekoa Cramer, and Tim Twigg-Smith.  Manny and Kekoa were just getting over a recent flu they had caught and so we assumed they were having trouble.  However, watching the race we couldn’t see anything major wrong with the crew other then they were going slow. Anyways, our team kept getting passed.  Boat after boat would come up along side them and slowly pass them.  It was as if the entire race was slowly moving by as they stood still.  We had a photographer on our boat taking video of the race, and at one point he finally said he can’t watch this anymore.  By the time we finished we were 25^th overall.  It was a very poor performance by our standards. 

After the race Kai, Karel and myself rushed over to the beach to pick up the boys and rest them.  As we pulled up everyone look angry.  Before we could ask what happened Timmy pointed at the seat.  The left side of the seat had broke and come undone.  When we asked when had it happened, he told us 4 changes into the race.  We checked it out and noticed it was an old seat, and time, weather, and water damage finally caught up with it.  I think the juniors doing 9-man changes in it didn’t help the night before.  Bad Luck, bad timing, nothing we could do about it except take 26 screws and screw it back so we could use it for the next race.  Team OPT won the stage, followed by Shell Vaa.

The 3rd day was by far the hardest leg of the race.  This leg was 4 1/2 hrs with no changes. I’ve never paddled that hard, for that long in my life. The hardest part was seeing the finish line 3 times before you actually finish.

white sand beach over-following with spectators, fans and the press.  As we paddled up to the finish line hundreds of people cheered you on, standing just a few feet from our canoe and partying as our boat floated across the line.  When we crossed the finish line, fans and press mobbed us.  Spectators old and young were running up asking for our jerseys, hats, sunglasses, and paddles.  All in all it was over-whelming.  A scene out of the Tour de France. 

Overall I was blown away by the abilities of all the paddlers in Tahiti, as well as the size, and coverage of the race.  This race makes all other big races look tiny in comparison... the sponsors; the set up, the logistics, and the support of the Tahitian community are 2nd to none.

Once again thank you to everyone for your support and your emails, and thank you to all the people who helped make Team Hawaii a possibility. 

 Danny Ching