Surfski Knowledge Base

Larry Bussinger <lbussing@…>
04/30/07 #2853

Well, I'm back from the most awesome paddling I've ever had in my life. And I've done a lot of paddling.

Trip Report:
Arrived on Maui in 35 MPH winds, from the airplane window I saw nothing but whitecaps from 10,000 ft up! Then the pilot announced it was going to be a rough landing because of the wind gusts. The palm tree fronds were all pointing one way. At this point, I'm thinking, “there is no way I'm going to go out there!”

Kaanapali to Flemming Beach and back:
When I picked up the boat, Barry Franks suggested I paddle from Kaanapali on the northwest side to Fleming Beach on the north end, against the wind, to see how I handled the conditions. I did this on Wednesday morning (with 20 to 25 mph winds on the north end in the channel) and soon discovered that one, getting hit in the chest by a wave in Hawaii is not like getting a bucket of cold water dumped your lap like it is here; two, all the waves are coming from the same direction (like what's that all about?); and three, 4'-6' waves at a longer wave length are a hell of a lot of fun. Even ran across a 3' sea turtle - a good omen.

Malika Bay to Kahului Harbor:
This is supposed to be the classic Maui run. It's on the north side with full exposure to the trade winds. Wind was probably 20 mph. Guessing 4'-5' waves on 8' ft swells. It was like nothing I've ever seen. The size, speed, and activity of the waves were intimidating, especially when the wave phases line up, but my head was squared away and I was having a ball. I used a route I had plotted on the GPS to steer by. Started out by seeing two sea turtles - a good omen. Getting incredible rides, but discovered you have to be very aggressive and focus only on the wave ahead of you or the wave will pass underneath you and you wallow on the back of the wave. The entrance to Kahului Harbor is not that big and the waves started to stack and steepen. The waves became 7 footers and a bit more chaotic, and I needed to start angling to make the harbor opening. A bit gnarly. It took well over an hour, but I wasn't in a hurry and took a few minutes to sight see.

Maui to Molokai:
About 150 boats, some long boards, surfskis, but mostly OC's (solos, single relay, and tandem and tandem relays), which by the way are considerably more stable, allowing you to relax your focus a bit. The distance ~ 24.8 miles. Took off from Fleming Beach on the north end of the island. 4' to 6' waves coming down the channel. The tactic is to paddle broadside to these until about halfway across the channel, then start taking the rides downwind. I was doing this and taking opportune rides down the big ones; but because there were so many and so much fun, I probably took too many and missed my theoretical turn point by about three quarters of a mile.

These waves are big and frequent and periodically match phases (as well as the swell), so I would periodically race down a ~12' wave. These became much more frequent in the middle of the channel. I couldn't windmill the paddle fast enough, so leaned on the paddle, but I would be going so fast the rudder would become damn near useless and I would broach and fly back over the wave I was riding. Then I discovered I needed to put the blade in sideways and rudder with my paddle to stay on the wave. My max speed was 13.6 MPH max speed. This is my personal best. I had to be absolutely aggressive on the wave. When I couldn't catch the wave, the boat would wallow on the backside and I would lose all control and would have to arm paddle to keep any momentum going. Still, my head was solid and I was having a ball…..for about the first hour. But then fatigue started setting in. The intense focus and attention to the single wave I was riding and the one building in front of me was all consuming. My only thought was to accelerate to the hole forming. Anything outside of the 10 feet in front of the boat was out of my awareness. And I was only a third of the way across! I came to the realization that I had the skill set to ride the waves, but started wondering if I had the physical and mental stamina to stay on top of the game. At somewhere over 2 hours into the race, I started to parallel the Molokai shore, but I was in too close (the shallows go out from shore for over a mile). Here the waves steepened on the shallow bottom and became solid 6+ with frequent tops white capping. This was like something we would find in the NW. They were too steep to stay on top of and I frequently went down the face and buried the bow up to the footwells. About a half hour before the finish, I looked over and saw an OC-1. Looked around and saw two OC-1's to my left, an OC –1 to my right and one ahead of me. These were the first boats I had seen since the first 20 minutes. It meant I had to start thinking about racing and not just about finishing! But….I passed the three of them and caught the guy ahead of me in a sprint to the finish! Yeehaw! 3 hrs, 22 min. 2nd place in 55+ Surfski. (Guess that means if you're old and finish you get a medal!) I finished 101 out of 139 boats and 13th of 15 surfskis. Mark Sandvolt and Barry Franks took first and second overall. The times were 45 minutes faster than last year. I paddled 25.8 miles and averaged 7.66 mph. I took the ferry back after the awards, and it took and hour and a half. Seemed like it took forever! I must have been in a time warp on the way over.

Judging the wave height was tough, but tried to be realistic by observing them from the ferry deck on the way back.

Larry B