boylos said...

Hey Sue well done ,all that hard work paided off !!!!!

There must be a lot of organising from your part and your lucky you have so many contacts in Hawaii ,
What's your next big challenge ?????.... or is it to soon to ask!

Boylos

Thanks Boylos...yes I felt great the whole way through the race. We did 20 mins pieces and then changed, I drank lots of water, powerade and had a gel each time I was on the support boat. You are right..there is a bit of organising involved like geting your board shipped from Kauai to Maui, getting it back from Molokai to Maui then shipped back to Kauai. Getting yourself back to Maui, finding an escort boat and driver bla bla bla.

Not sure what the next challenge will be. I'll definately do this race again next year and for as long as I can.

Our escort boat...great local family and great driver...


How we got our board back to Maui...

Here are some more pics from the trip before the race. Danny hired a brand new Naish 10'6" for US$30 for 24 hrs. We headed to Honolua Bay for the morning after recommendation from a friend. Unfortunately Danny was not welcome at all on SUP after catching a few waves. He was told by an elder local to leave and that "If you come out here then pretty soon they will all be out here". He was told to go to the other side of the island with that *hit. Fair enough..so he came over to me and gave me his paddle then went back out and caught one more wave without it.

I was sitting out there with cameras and video camera on a Starboard 14'8" with no intention of going anywhere near the break. But even my girlfriend Dani found it impossible to catch a wave on her 5' nothing "biscuit" as I called it. Even to the point of being "sandwiched between two guys on take off to make it impossible for her to catch a wave". And she's no "giggy" when it comes to surfing. She can mix it with the blokes, that's why I call her "Bloke". You can tell by her stance in these pics. She almost became a professional surfer once but decided to open a coffee shop instead to feed her irreversible addiction to caffeine.

But it made for some great laughs later and we didn't really mind at all. I guess our friend forgot to mention that SUP aren't welcome in the Bay. The two of them did manage to have a great surf near the harbour at Lahaina on the reef break that took me out coming in after a downwind on the first day. I'm actually considering moving back over to Molokai to the Leper colony cause my reef cuts are starting to look really suss. Here's some pics...

After just coming in from a downwind after sunset...


Looking down at Honolua Bay the day before they went out there...you can see Molokai in the background. We started just to the left on this Bay and finished past the far left point of Molokai.


The hairyest drive I've even been on around the top side of the Island. Stopping here for the best Banana Bread I've ever had...


Danny going out at Honolua all excited...


Danny dejected from the line-up...LOL...


Leaving Honolua Bay...

DavidJohn said...

Thanks Sue.. How did you like the Starboard Point?

DJ

Hey DJ...I found it unstable compared to the F16 due to the square edged sides/flat bottom. It was like a smaller version of another F16 that I tried earlier in the week that also had square sides, flat bottom and no rocker. The owner of this F16 board told me it was suited more for flat water. I don't think either would have suited this race due to the conditions we had on the day. Maybe if it the swell and wind were directly behind you for the entire race and alot smaller..they would have suited. That's just how I found it. I used the square edged F16 in a downwind earlier in the week and found it really tippy, high off the water (approx 20cm) and it nose dived at the slighest swell.

The Starboard had the same edges but was sunken in on the deck so your centre of gravity was lower to the water line and it may have been better but I still found the edges "stuck" in side swell and it therefore could "flip" easily and I didn't want to chance using it for the race. The owner of the Starboard is an extremely well knowned and experienced, successful SUP paddler/surfer so maybe with his level of expertise he could have done the race on it with no problem. He did race but on OC2 canoe with his family.

My partner tried the Vortice for the first time that week and she liked it even though on one downwind she paddled the entire 1.5 hrs on her right while I paddled evenly on both sides on the F16 due to the steering. I had a hard time convincing her that it wasn't the board to use for this years race. She's agreed to buy the Vortice that I've been trying to sell here in OZ. She offered me a "Krispy Kreme" doughnut for it and I rejected her offer...

As it turned out my race partner had shipped a newer F16 over from Kauai just a few days before the race. It's owner had only just bought it and hadn't even used it himself. So we were truely greatful for his kindness and generousity. As a thank you we have ordered a board cover for him from Mark at S.I.C.

It was good to try all the different boards leading up to the race. I have wanted to try the Starboard since first seeing it a few months back. All this is IMO and I was greatful for the kindness of those who loaned us there boats.

Casso said...

Great pics of Honolua Bay, Sue. Thanks. I would have loved to surf that place on a SUP one day - it's a shame that we are apparently "not allowed" to!

ByronMaui - have you ever been out there on a SUP?

Yes Casso..it looked pretty impressive. There were about 5 different take off points starting from way out the back. Some guys caught waves out there and went the whole way in. Made it hard sometimes for the guys on the inner take off points who couldn't get on as they'd be dropping in. We really didn't mind being told to *iss off. We payed out on Danny for the remaider of the trip..telling him to "get that *hit out of here" when his Naish was in the way or telling him "why don't you go to the other side of the island dude" all the time. It was very funny.

Here's some more pics of Honolua. Hope I'm not promoting something I'm gunna get abused for. I think/hoping that mostly Aussie's read Seabreeze anyway...

Honolua seems to get more swell than just about anywhere on Maui.Experts only signs on the track etc.It was massive a few weeks back when we were there ...huge sneaker sets and one critical section that pasted a local and pounded he and his board against the rocks for an eternity.When he came back up the cliff I was chatting to him.He definately counted it as one of his nine lives.
I think they have a point.Hookipa is the same I think.
You don't need to be there on a SUP

LaPerouseBay said...


Anyone here at seabreeze is more than welcome to visit standupzone.com for info on Maui surf spots.

Cheers,

Larry

Larry, I just did a quick search on www.standupzone.com as I'd love to go to Maui one day, but all I could find was a heated 6-page thread posted by Stoneaxe (who posts here too) re a proposed sup surf spot map. But I did find this: "That guy, if he had the map, might have gone to a spot more suitable to his skills and when he got there he would have also known it was the local custom to introduce yourself in the line up."
I'll make sure to remember that if ever I make it over there
Aloha! Mike

mollydooka said...

LaPerouseBay said...


Anyone here at seabreeze is more than welcome to visit standupzone.com for info on Maui surf spots.

Cheers,

Larry

Larry, I just did a quick search on www.standupzone.com as I'd love to go to Maui one day, but all I could find was a heated 6-page thread posted by Stoneaxe (who posts here too)

Mike, I should have been more clear when I mentioned to "visit" standupzone. What I meant is that the zone has a lot of members from Maui. If I were an SUPer looking for advice on a first visit, I'd just join the zone, and start a thread, (in whatever category suits your fancy) mention where you are coming from and that you would like some advice about the surf spots. Not only will you get very good tips on where to go, but chances are very good that someone will want to surf with you.

Personally, I'm a fan of the downwinder. We do Maliko runs on any weekend the wind is cranking, and many zoners do them all week long. If you are into downwinders, you do not want to miss doing a maliko run. Our group loves to have new people along.

As you saw from the six page thread on a surf spot map, tension is quite high concerning SUP surfing on Maui. In a nutshell, surfers don't like SUP's.

Another area to avoid is Honomanu Bay. If you are headed down to Hana, please, please,please ask for advice first. Visit a surf shop at the very least.

boylos said...

So the rudder is the way to go ah , does C4 have a board out with a rudder? As it's been done before with the C4 Vortice .

I tryed hard to confinvce my wife to buy your C4 Vortice

Will you do the race next yr as team event ,or try it by yourself?

Cheers

Boylos

Hey Boylos,

Personally I think the rudder is the way to go because it works no matter what the conditions. Headwind, sidewind, tailwind. You know you're covered in all conditions and will enjoy the paddle without having to paddle on one side for hours. The Maui to Molokai has been done before on a Vortice I believe but in this case, on this day, in those conditions it would have not suited. We would have been on the left side for at least 2 hrs. My race partner loves the Vortice but said she was so glad we didn't use one on the day.

At present C4's distance boards don't have a steering system. But they are about to bring out a newer version on the 14' Vortice and I wouldn't be surprised if it has a steering system ?? But I'm just guessing.

I will definately be doing the race next year if all things work out ie. family, health, economy etc. I think I will continue to do it in a team as it makes it so much more fun. You get to rest on the escort boat, watch the race, chat to your mates on the boat and then get back on all recharged and ready to go hard for another 20 mins. I sometimes find my concerntration and therefore ability starts to wander after awhile when paddling distance. I'm talking about steering outrigger races that are over 5hrs. It's good to get out even for 10 mins to shake your head and stretch abit. I think SUP would be the same if not more requiring of a short break. But who knows what the future holds ??

I took lots of pics of my race partner when I was on the boat. I don't have many of me but my friend from California who was on the boat did email some today. Here's one below.

I'm currently working on setting up a blogsite to load all the video footage and photo's. The same friend took heaps of vid footage and I've made her an administrator of the site also so she can load her stuff. The address is www.aussiewahine.blogspot.com but there's nothing there yet. Should have something going in a few days. Any advice on this stuff would be great. I think I have to make a movie in Moviemaker first and then load it to a blog ???

Anyway..hope this helps somewhat.

Well done Sue! You guys are certainly living the life! i will be certainly linking up your blog as well!

Boylos,

The Vortice was specifically designed for straight down wind/swell running conditions and particularly for the the Molokai Race which is considered the unofficial world paddleboard racing title. The other reason was to satisfy the 14ft Stock class (fixed fin) of raceboard which is not really recognised here in oz.
Putting a rudder into this board is possible but requires some engineering and knowledge, Dale Chapman may be able to help you out with this.
C4 will be releasing a new line of raceboards this summer (our winter) in which one will incorporate a steering system.

Have fun!

Ok...I know alot of you are probably sick of hearing from me by now. I'm thinking this thread is almost done. I've just loaded a slide show of all the pics from the Maui to Molokai race that I have onto www.aussiewahine.blogspot.com

I had to write to Rambo to ask how you can make the viewing window a bit larger cause it's pretty small. Makes my cellulite look better though. I've also just joining all the video footage together in Moviemaker and have made a separate movie of that. Now I just need to load it up also. Think it will take awhile so I may do that tomorrow morning as it 12 midnight right now and I'm turning into a pumpkin ...

6am Sunday...for those of you who are members of the International SUP Community on Ning, I just loaded the slideshow there also. Maybe better viewing there.

Thanks for sharing with us your adventure and photo's really enjoyed it

Cheers

Boylos

Thanks Dogman, DJ & Boylos for your kind words. I'm so glad this thread made for some good pie eating times for you. LOL.

Well I finished linking all the video footage together in Moviemaker. The thing is 11 mins long and a massive 600MB ??? Not sure why it's so big. I've made movies the similar in length and they're only 35 to 60MB. It's too large for the ning or blogspot site so yesterday I loaded it to Youtube and it took 7.5 hrs to load. Just went to check it out over there and it was rejected because it was 1 min too long. [}:)]

So back to the drawing board today. Any suggestions on where to put it ? A friend mentioned www.Photobucket.com ?? The bins sounding pretty good to me right now.

boylos said...

.... have you tryed editing the video first then uploading it so it fits?...... thats also time comsuming!

Yes I spent hours editing it but will have to redo it and cut some footage out. I don't really want to stick it up on Youtube cause I don't want them to remove all the illegal pirated music off it...cause that's just not right !! LOL

For me, Vimeo uploads and processes way faster than YouTube. And the quality is better. It also beats photobucket for quality.

When publishing with Moviemaker, let is chose default file type for smallest file size.

Thanks Sue.

DJ