Surfski Knowledge Base

Brandon Nelson
04/12/17 #21042

Heather and I did our 4th Maliko Run yesterday, as Heather continues to prepare for the Maui to Molokai on Saturday. We got on the water behind a huge group of OC paddlers, another surfski group including Carter and Austin, Rob Hansen & Greg Redman from BC, and some SUP paddlers.

Right in front of us was a lone SUP paddler who just completely defied logic from the second he dropped his board in the water. For one, his board looked like it was only 18“ wide, though he was rock solid on it. Then – when you paddle out of Maliko Gulch toward the open water, you pass between two impact zones where the huge swells are breaking over rocky reefs. This guy headed straight into the gut of the bigger of the two, and did half a dozen laps there while Heather and I worked with Bob Putnam on the beach adjusting Heather's rudder cables (with our jaws hanging open as we watched this guy.) As we finally paddled out to start our run, he paddled out ahead of us, then just disappeared. Bob told us the guy was none other than Connor Baxter, the #1 paddler in the world. http://www.supracer.com/top-16-of-2016/ This Maui waterman won his first Maui to Molokai at 16 years old, and has won every one since – along with pretty much everything else. It was just – stupifying – to see someone so comfortable standing up through those waters.

Anyway, the Maliko Run starts with a 1-2KM cruise straight out through beam seas to get to the sweet spot, and to keep from being blown back in to the windsurfers at Hookipa and kiters further down. After 6 or 10 minutes heading out, you turn, and it's on.

And this is where my struggle begins to find the words to describe these waters. What came to mind in the moment was the Southern Ocean, single-handed sailboat racers rip through giant, wind-torn swells while dodging ice bergs – only, ya know, way warmer. Just picture FREAKIN' giant swells moving like a big living creature, and more wind waves than you know what to do with, criss-crossing and stacking up on top of each other. As Heather says, it's “So freaking LIVELY!” (Her humpback whale encounter might lend to this. If you want to read her giddy account of that, check her FB page).

And it all lines up and links up and your rides just get bigger and bigger and faster and deeper the further into the run you go. It builds and builds, and as long as I stayed focused on what was in front of me (and keeping Heather close by) everything was awesome… the kind of down-winding we all dream of. When I looked around, or behind me, though, it was like a moment of sheer terror/confusion like, “I can't POSSIBLY be in a 30-pound egg-shell kayak in these rolling mountains, and be OK!!!!” But then your stern jacks up, and you take a stroke, and you're ripping down another face, and another, and another…

Unless we were on the same wave, we were hidden from each other most of the time in the massive troughs, but we stayed close together the whole run. Again and again, I was overwhelmed with stoke and deep gratitude to be able to experience such a dynamic, powerful, and beautiful environment like that with my wife, matching each other stroke for stroke. I know that feeling will be 10X'd when Hayden and Jazzy are out there with us. Soon enough!

With a couple KM's to go, we found ourselves at about a 30-degree angle from the harbor entrance, so we turned to start angling in. Up til that moment I hadn't even noticed, but there was an entire secondary set of swells running in exactly that direction. The big, fast rides just kept forming up, literally right into the narrow harbor entrance, where you get a final KM of flat water to work the smile-cramps out of your cheeks and reflect on what the &@#$ you just paddled through.

Maliko Run on a big day – if there's a bigger, livelier, as-warm and beautiful, somehow “better” downwind run out there… I'd love to know what it is. As far as my 25 years of paddling go, this one is in a league of its own.

Mahalo!

Brandon

Pmarcus
04/12/17 #21043

Great write up…Soooooo jealous…

Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE Smartphone

surfskilady
04/12/17 #21044

I wasn't sure if we were just wide-eyed newbies… but Carter and some of the locals called yesterday a 9 out of 10 for Maliko! They also said the Pailolo Channel, the channel between Maui and Molokai where we race, is bigger! I also read that Pailolo means crazy fisherman! Yeehaa!
Heather

Dale McKinnon

04/12/17 #21046

It is wonderful when it all comes together, a willing heart, the strength, the skill, and the complete commitment to it. An awesome, long, ride, Heather! Simply stunning! It's dreams are made of…

Larry Bussinger

04/12/17 #21052

How are you liking the bigger boat?

Larry Bussinger

David Hooper

04/13/17 #21061

Brandon,

That sounds amazing! Glad you’re having such big fun. Good luck to Heather in the race!

Dave

surfskilady

04/13/17 #21062

Larry – I am paddling the Evo II and having a blast! So much comfort being in a bigger boat in bigger water! (I know you have been telling me that forever!)

By the way…. you recommended the app Glympse so my folks could track us on the water. We tried it for the Maliko Run and my mom said she couldn't track us except at the beginning and the end of the run. Does it only work for certain distances? Or did we do something wrong?
Thanks Larry – Happy Paddling everyone!

Heather

Dale McKinnon
04/13/17 #21063

I would love to be able to follow Heather during her Maliko run! It sounds like the Glympse app allows viewers to follow only when there is cellular access, hence mom's start and end access to Heather while on the water.