Pacific Paddler December 2012 - (Page 4)

Na Wahine O Ke Kai Punching through MONSTER waves to Hale O Lono Harbor, the question as to what the water would look like As the sun rose and we ambled in our bus down the dirt road leading swell was hitting Molokai’s west end just as forecasted. lingered in my mind. For about the last 8 or 9 years the channel had been all but flat, however this year a large north west swell was expected, and as we made our way to the end of the dirt road, 10-foot plus Hawaiian sized perfect barreling A-frames could be seen rolling onto the Hale O Lono Beach reef. The no question to it. As we exited the bus near the harbor’s first boat slips, all women had been asking for surf for years and here it was, right in front of us, eyes turned to the harbor mouth as massive waves exploded in front of it. I of boats that had been waiting out the last set began their trek across the As we slowly paddled our way up towards the harbor mouth, the first line harbor channel. Within about 60 seconds of them heading out, you could see the approaching set moving towards them like a freight train. As we sat safe in the harbor, we watched in horror as those canoes got annihilated. It was insane! counted 6-8 waves on the set with 2, maybe 3 minutes between. It was huge ing it in. You could hear the people on the harbor walls screaming and someone yelled “Oh my God!” as one of the boats was launched backwards within inches of another. At that ing in the harbor, and for a minute it got eerily quiet. A few minutes later, at the end of the set, the next group of canoes out there! The harbor mouth was closing out and we all just stood in awe takNo one said much during that hour or so at the Hale O Lono Harbor, nev- moment you could feel the fear wash over the women in the canoes still wait- er-the-less there was a feeling of uneasiness in the air. You could see women big it was out there, yet if there were any major concerns about safety and crews’ abilities, they weren’t being expressed. Crews just did what was the made their charge, barely getting out of the harbor as mountains of water looking at the harbor mouth, and there were hushed voices talking about how moved in behind them. With such a small harbor and such large volumes of the current steadily moving us towards the harbor wall on our right. As we water coming in, the canoes left inside began to bump into each other with moved within a few feet of the rocks, I called out to my crew to pull us left norm, checking rigging, taping canvases, putting spare paddles onto the iakos while what was later to be called some of the biggest surf in the history of the Na Wahine O Ke Kai rolled in. After the pule and official briefing the mad rush to get the canoes off and began to holler over at the boat next to us, whose steersman looked to be in shock, to pull her boat left as the next wave of the set was coming and we were all getting pushed dangerously close to the wall. All in all, we were in the beach began. The race was going to start at 8am irrespective of the a precarious situation. There were too many canoes and escort boats jammed 10 or more boats in surf of extraordinary size, and to top it all off they were women in the water, and no one to help them. It was utter chaos, and so until the number of canoes had gone down, until I had a good idea of the our opportunity to go I yelled out “PADDLE!” threatening surf. By the time we got in our canoe and on the water there into the harbor. The canoes that were heading out were going out in waves of all paddling dangerously close to one another. There were canoes overturned, being the steersman, I waited; I waited and watched and watched and waited number of waves in a set and the timing between sets, and as soon as I saw We began to move forward at full speed. This was it. We were making our were well over 40 canoes and 10-12 odd escort boats floating around with and everyone (escort boats and canoes alike) was crammed inside waiting for the opportunity to go. It was surreal. As I looked around, all you could none moving out of the harbor. A 10’+ set was charging across the channel see were canoes and escort boats packed one next to the other waiting like begin. With only two, maybe three, minutes between sets the rapidly rising anxious race horses for the gates to open and the race out of the harbor to Below, the day before, the entrance to Hale O Lono was dead calm The wavy line added to the picture shows where the wave above was breaking the next morning GALLERY 4 Pacific Paddler - December 2012 http://ropati.smugmug.com/Distance0c6/Na-Wahine-O-Ke-Kai-2012/25818190_Qqx2vP#!i=2137121772&k=9JkG5CK

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pacific Paddler December 2012

Contents
Na Wahine O Ke Kai
Molokai Hoe
Around the Island Race - Hong Kong
Pailolo Challenge
Gail Grabowsky
Surfski in the Islands
New York Outrigger after Sandy
After you cross the finish line
Calendar

Pacific Paddler December 2012