Corona & Maui Canoe & Kayak Club
Hurricane/Eyecatcher 2002 Race Series
RACE
#4 – AFTERNOON DELIGHT
It seemed that the weather
patterns were not cooperating with our race schedule, it was hot, still, a
beautiful day for tanning at the beach with the hibachi going and sucking
down some coronas. Peter
Konohia & Mark Kawaiaea were voicing their vote to cancel the race,
dreading the likely close to 2 hours sauna paddle.
Officials were concerned with dehydration and cramping as is
customary with this race. But
registration proceeded, people were trying to remain up beat, watching the
whales frolic in the warm waters. Besides
there was a whole contingency of kayakers here, ready to kick butt.
This included some Oahu victory boyz, a visiting Californian, and
the return of Mark Huetter who used to live on Maui and paddled for Napili
but now resides in CA. Now
you take all these competitors, add our own Maui guys who include Rick
Nu`u relocated from New Zealand, and homeboy, Geoff Bogar and we had
ourselves A RACE!
Ricky
made some course clarification announcements, sent us out to the starting
line and we were ready. The
first leg, almost 3 miles heads to Ka Lae Pohaku, Kihei C.C. site.
The light, variable winds were perfect for that leg as usually an
offshore trade wanting to blow you out hits you.
We then rounded a “buoy” and it was downhill after that, the
trades at your back. It’s
hard to believe, but all the praying, and hoping and promises made to a
greater being… we had wind and waves to ride. What a relief. It
wasn’t big but we had bumps to ride and wind to keep us cool.
Consequently the 9 miles to Makena went by quickly, no one suffered
dehydration or cramping… everyone finished under 2 hours.
Mael was the only one who didn’t finish, due to a broken paddle.
It would seem that the weather made for a near perfect course.
(a little more wind at our back & bigger
bumps would be better but it was good).
For
the actual race: I understand Huetter pulled off the overall win even
though he went past the Makena landing offramp.
12 seconds separated the top 4 finishers, Huetter, Tony Mueller
& Brian Mulvaney on Kayak-2man, Rick Nu`u & Chris Ball.
What an awesome job. Well
we all know that Mike Beyer is a champion kayaker so what does he do?
He races OC-1 here on Maui and beats out Mark Cluney by 7 seconds.
They finished 1st and 2nd respectively.
Remember that Peter K. guy I previously mentioned, wanting to
cancel the race… well he finished just 17 seconds behind Cluney to
capture the 3rd place OC-1 elite position.
JB Guard and Kawika Williams continue their strong performances by
finishing 4th & 5th.
It was great to have Maile Chong racing in amongst our ranks; she
sure knows how to surf those bumps. We
missed the Lahaina CC men, as they were busy with a canoe maintenance day
in Lahaina. Subsequently Bill Green and Greg Heneghan won the OC-2
division. Followed by Kimo
Souza and new partner Sol Pali and Kurt Adams and Alika Cuttie in 3rd.
The only other OC-2 on the course was wo-manned by Lani Gomes and
Carol Dizon, they related having a tough time getting over the troughs and
down the face of the waves. Miss
Lauren continues on her gold streak and Dane is maintaining her 2nd
place finish. Theresa Felgate
is on a vacation so I managed to slip into 3rd place.
In
the novice division Tyson Kubo won his first race of the year by 2 1/2
minutes over previously undefeated Nabil Vogel.
Don Mehling continues to be steady in the 3rd spot.
Carlo Zezza improved tremendously however ending up going at least
an additional ½ mile, pushing him back in the standings.
Mike Morris won the open division even though lugging around and
extra 2 gallons of water inside his canoe (from leaks).
Jeanne Gonzales and Carol Elterman continue to battle it out in the
OC-1 women’s 50+ division separated by 14 seconds.
These are some tough ladies. Congratulations
to Barbara Querry and Faith Mori who represented the Novice OC-1 division,
way to go ladies.
Just
by accident the beer ended up in our truck which didn’t get to the ono
chili and rice dinner by Sarentos at Kalama Park until we had pulled out
the finish flag, finished all the results, talked story (Ricky – Mr.
Aloha) and made our way through traffic.
What a great idea, we’ll send the paper products so everyone can
eat while they wait for us and then we’ll arrive with the beer – ha,
ha.
Thank
you again to our sponsors and to all the competitors and your families who
support you throughout the season. It
was great to have the “off-islanders” – you are all welcome here on
Maui. Next race in 3 weeks
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