OC6 Marina Del Rey 08

Aloha Paddlers

Last Saturday May 31, we gathered at Marina Del Rey to compete in a 12 mile OC6 race.  The weather was great, a little breezy in the morning and windy in the afternoon, which made for an interesting race for the men.  The day started very calm and clear as the novices did their thing racing with more and more confidence.  This being their third race, but for some it really was their first race, as some rookies started the season late.  However as they do every year, they have become faster, straighter and more seasoned.  It has been an interesting week as clubs struggled to place extra paddlers into other teams, while asking for one or two more paddlers to fill their rosters.  Clubs seem to cooperate very well in helping each other.  With the help of emails and cell phones, we are much more proficient at trading paddlers.

Some open women complained their race line up was very unfair, which is unusual, because they are usually very good at lining up.  One of the problems was that when the crews came up to the imaginary starting line, one side of the line was commanded by a nearby escort boat to stay back.  However with no officials holding the rest of the line back, the other side got a huge lead before the flag dropped.  Only then were they allowed to go.

 The ocean was fairly calm with small bumps, but very manageable.  NAC and Hanohano took the early lead.  However Lanakila slowly crept up to take over and by the first turn, it was Lanakila in the lead.  From there, the gap steadily grew to an insurmountable lead, leading to their first victory of the season.  Coming in second was Hanohano, NAC 3^{rd and} Lanakila 4^th.  Coach Jill Schooler Shore though pregnant, was at every practice last week re-organizing her girls through time trials.  Congratulations women. 

In the men’s race the ocean winds picked up and reared it’s ugly face unfortunately for the men. The racecourse was changed to accommodate the wind and swells, taking advantage of a down wind run to home.  To this, we sincerely give our biggest Mahalo to the Official Course Adjustor, mainly Billy Whitford.  I can’t tell you how many decades we’ve raced in courses set up without regard to wind and swell directions. It was often brutal. Especially battling a really rough ocean. Today, it is such a blessing and a joy to turn for home knowing you’re finally going with the wind and swells. It makes you feel like it was worth the effort to get to the final homeward bound leg.

 However it really began with the OC1 paddlers, who knew how much fun it is surfing home.  They were the ones that individually and collectively complained and convinced SCORA’s officials to be flexible and change the racecourse if the wind changes to accommodate the paddlers on the last leg.  It also is safer to race tired crews going with a rough ocean than against it.

 Winning the men’s race was Lanakila. Coming in second was Team Outrigger California and third was Imua.  Lanakila Coach Danny Ching put his top team together for their first race of the season.  Many of them have been scattered, some doing races in Hawaii, starting new jobs and families, while others were recovering from their long OC1 season.  Josh Crayton is recovering from back injury.  He is doing much better and sat in seat five because someone had to work at the last minute.  They started behind, but slowly caught up.  Utilizing their experience, they out surfed everyone on the last leg.  There were five veteran steersmen in the canoe and they all reacted in the same manner as the canoe sped up or slowed down. The only non-steersman was the stroker, Chris Stolba and the joke was, “He was just the mule that drove the wheels.”

My race

I had a feeling we were living on borrowed time.  The last two races we finished well, climaxed by a long chase and a successful sprint to the finish.  This race was different.  First one of our teammates was late, because he had to escort the women’s race with his personal motorboat. Most of the canoes had left the beach as he came running up full of apologies.  As we shoved off, he said, “Hey we don’t have a spare paddle”. I looked around.  We would have to run all the way back to our camp to get one. I said, “Forget it I have a spare steering paddle.  Let’s go we’re the last ones.”  Bad decision. In the bottom of the canoe lay a single beat up plastic bailer.  

We tried to get into the starting lineup, but it was already moving and so crowded that we were boxed out behind a line of canoes.  The ocean was so rough we bounced into the canoe ahead of us and I heard fiberglass cracking.  I thought, “I hope we didn’t put a hole in our front manu.”

In SCORA we voted to allow electric pumps for safety sake.  I put only one pump in the canoe, because usually it’s been pretty calm, another bad decision. When it gets rough you need two pumps to keep the water from filling up the boat.  As soon as the race started, wouldn’t you know, the pump failed.  I knew it was going to be a long day.   We were doing very well, until we started filling up with water.  After that we bailed water every 15 minutes trying to keep the canoe light, but it seemed like each time we bailed or made a mistake, someone paraded by us. Our wimpy bucket didn’t help either.  

Jerry Marcil our designated bailer would occasionally throw it right in my face.  I could barely see the lead boat on the horizon, “Nothing like having bilge water in your face.”  Then while bailing, the bailer tangled and caused his paddle to fall out of the canoe. With no spare paddle, I handed him my big old steering paddle.  We paddled briefly without saying a word...and the parade continued.    Meanwhile everyone expected the lead boat to drop the turn buoy, but it kept motoring on, leading us like ducklings bobbing into the wind.  No one gave it a second thought.

After the race we heard that the lead boat never dropped the turn buoy because they were waiting for word from Billy.  But Billy was in stuck in the back rescuing a crew with a broken ama. By the time the lead boat finally got the word to drop the last buoy, the fleet was pretty well beat up. The turn was a right-turn with swells coming over the ama, so in order to make a tighter turn and keep the ama down, I sat on the left gunnel to hold the ama down, while cranking a hard right on the steering paddle.  It worked fine except coming out of the turn; I suddenly lost my balance and nearly fell head first into the water.  That would have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. 

With damage control over, coming home was a different story.  Traveling with the wind made the air quiet.  No more bailing. With water rushing under us as the canoe picked up speed, we were in our own element.  We have similar swells and conditions at our practice site.  It seemed very familiar and we enjoyed some excellent runs, passing two crews. 

We entered the harbor and chased down a crew ending in a long sprint and finished just ahead of them by a few feet.  That was the high note of the day.  It was as if the gods were throwing obstacles at us all day to test us.  Afterward we enjoyed a wonderful party on Jerry Marcil’s big 75 ft boat.  Mindy Clark came over and showed us her video as we laughed at ourselves.  Oh well another race down.

Mahalo

Marina Del Rey and their members for hosting the race.  Marina has been a solid club for many years and has provided many leaders for the association, notably Sandy Kahanamoku and his family.  Today his daughter Ali and husband Adam Mermel still paddles.  Calvin Hirahara builds the world class Bradley canoes, while Ali's aunt Nancy Dopp has provided decades of work for the association. Marina's teams have always been very competitive. Mahalo you guys. Thanks to the skippers.  Every once in a while we really need their help and this was one of those races.   Mahalo photographers. See you all next week at Ventura.  It could be another rough race.  Who knows, so bring your pumps.  

Mahalo  AL