Race #2: The 18 Hour Out-and-Back, aka The Hanohano Race.

Marathon day.  18+ hours out-and-back.

Cold morning with the sun rising over San Diego.

Today was the Hanohano Race in Mission Bay, San Diego put on by Dan Van Dyke.  450 people showed up to race today, with 60 paddleboarders, 160 SUP'ers, and the remainder in OC1's, OC2's, and surfskis... with a couple of kayaks and one "tandem" paddleboard.

As a paddleboarder, we were only allowed to do the 'short course' of 5 miles.  Given that it's the pre-season and the ONLY other paddle I've done this year was the Return to the Pier Race in SB, 5 miles was plenty.

The Course inside Mission Bay.

Raced old faithful today, my original 14' board with the camo spears.  This beauty:

Ol' Faithful.

Off the start, I was fortunate enough to be with the lead pack.  Looking around, I didn't see any other 'shorter' boards until at around 100 yards out when who should appear next to me but an amazing racer, JS.  Suddenly I realized I would have a real grind of a race, and it was truly a back-and-forth battle between him and I.  We both sprinted the entire race.  Yikes.  At the end, I was lucky enough to be in the lead and barely able to hold him off for 1st in 14' class.  There were 14 of us.  Won a new pair of sunglasses and a cool mug.  Stocked.

Thank you Bark & Patagonia!

Mug & a new pair of MJ glasses.

Link to Details of the race.


This marathon day started at 3:05 a.m. when I left SB to go to SD.  Stopped in the South Bay to pick up Reno, then we fired on down to the race.  Afterwards, we spoiled ourselves by stopping at Granview in Encinitas and surfing some 4' waves.  Sure it was sloppy and you had to pick the right ones, but that one hour surf made the entire day whole.   I got home at 9:20 p.m.


Thank you, Reno, for being my partner in crime today!

Reno & I pre-race.

[Almost all pictures courtesy Reno.]

Kandy

As mentioned in an earlier post, I have a 6'3" 6 channel board from Russell Hoyte that is amazing.  In case you don't know Russell, for years he was the head shaper at CI.  He went out on his own about the time of the Burton buyout, and now has his own label and does some side work for others.

At CI, Russell made me a MAGICAL 6'4" 6 channel round pin.  The board served me well for years, and is now happily housed on Maui waiting for my return.  Here it was when new:

Unfortunately, at my very first session at a certain break in Oxnard the board met the lip of a big wave...

Shattered.

My new 4'1 & my new 2'3".

Ugh.

It was repaired incredibly well, and served me well for 3 more years!

Surfing north of Point Conception, post repair.  Yes... I am a kook.

So time passed, I decided to leave the board on Maui for when I visited, and I needed a new one.  I wanted a slightly smaller version, and Russell created the below.  6'3" x 18-1/2" x 2-5/16", round pin, 6 channel, bamboo fins.  Wow.  Sure the camo Curren band is gone, but I still love it.  Used it this morning at Rincon before the crowd arrived (paddled out at 5:00, went in at 7:45 -- home early enough that family harmony was maintained) and got some amazing rides.  Two freeway waves and two significant barrels will stay with me from this session.

6 Channel Kandy...

Deck

The drive train.

Amazing craft.

Race #1 of 2011: the Return to the Pier

The first race of the year went down today:  The Santa Barbara Outrigger Canoe Club's Return to the Pier Race.  It's just 4-1/2 miles, so pretty dang short but it felt significant.  Essentially, this is a sprint race which is key for a 'pre-season' get together.    Scoggins borrowed my UL, Abbott, Jack Bark, and Vela raced on SUPs, and I used the new 14' from Joe.  Butter.  Nick & Heather paddled together and Sam and Dave raced stock.  There had to have been 50 paddleboarders, as well as 50-100 outriggers, SUPs, and surf skis.  Lots of water craft at this one.

I was kind of 'worried' about this race as it set the tone for my season last year.  I won 14' in 2010, and really felt strong coming off this and into the year.

Today's race was fantastic, with beautiful skies and warm air.  [The water was another story: 53 degrees, at best.]  On the SUP side, Danny Ching won on his 12'6" SUP.  I was amazed with Vela, however, who came in 2nd in SUPs on his 12'6".  Pretty damn good for a traditional paddleboarder.  Abbott also surprised me, finishing 4th overall on his Bark Dominator.

On the traditional front, Scoggins dominated the field on my 18' board.  I came in 1st on my 14' and was the 2nd overall paddleboarder to finish.  Felt good.

(Cool!  Now I've got a matching set.)

Thanks for putting this on, SBOCC!  Lots of good times and great to see some old friends.

Team Oz Rules

Don't look askance at this picture.  This is the cream of the crop following Molokai 2010.  A great group of guys, who I told to flip off the (cell phone) camera for this picture.  It was all a laugh.  This picture cracks me up:

(L to R)  Jamie, Dean, Mick, Steve, and Joel.

Rock on, Team Oz!

USA Today, and the Media in general, sucks.

Section C, buried on page 11, the day Slater won his 10th World Title (11/8/10).  Two sentences.  Wow.

Danny Hess makes beautiful guns

That is all.

California is not Hawaii...

Go figure.

Upon returning home from HI, I caught a pretty nasty virus and didn't get back into the water until today.  The air temp was 54 degrees.  The water temp -- colder.  A lot colder.  I don't believe the buoys that called it 55 degrees; I'm pretty sure it was hovering at the 50 mark.  I used the hooded R3 from Patagonia and felt nice and toasty, albeit a bit confined and pinched after surfing for 2 weeks without a wetsuit.  Huh.

Not only are the air and water temps different in California, it turns out the waves aren't quite as strong either.  Huh.  Used the Malolo at dying swell Rincon and despite a few flashes of glory, I felt a bit under foamed and over finned.  Turns out my HP Keel is STILL the magic board.  Mind you, I'll be happy to have the Malolo for decent Sandspit, but head high and crumbly Rincon ain't quite enough push for this little fishy.  I did manage to get one glory wave through (a few through, but only 1 that felt glorious) and was able to modify my carve to get it to work well.  Got a few compliments.  Also had a few waves with significant speed bumps.  At Rincon... huh.

Just putting thoughts to the ether.  Tomorrow, I'm snow bound!