Surfski Knowledge Base

lori & beau whitehead
10/03/18 #23868

Anyone interested in following the crossing of the “Channel of Bones” there is live GPS tracking available here:

http://www.molokaihoe.com/live-tracking.asp

We are Team Cascadia, canoe #38, a hodge-podge of guys from Portland, Seattle, B'ham, Vancouver BC, Saskatchewan & Kauai.

Really hoping that my post-race write-up is nowhere near as epic as Peter's Pailolo.

allipp@…
10/04/18 #23869

It looks like you'll get moderate trades, just what you need for a great crossing. Based on the strength of your crew, I'm guessing a top 20 overall finish and a probable podium in the Masters division.

lori & beau whitehead
10/05/18 #23871

Correction on team #. Team Cascadia is now #56

allipp@…
10/07/18 #23872

The race should be starting now.

Paul Reavley
10/08/18 #23876

Hats off to Beau and Cascadia! Looking forward to a race report after recovery, Beau.

For what it's worth. Seems like some people, including me, had trouble getting the live canoe position display page to work. No problem with the video feed in Chrome for me. Ultimately I tried a different browser right before Cascadia crossed the finish line, MS Edge, for the position page and it worked. Maybe it was just a matter of which browser, or using a different browser than what I was using for the video - anyway something to try in the future if running into the same problem?

2018 Molokai Hoe Report-Team Cascadia
lori & beau whitehead
10/08/18 #23877

This crossing report wont be nearly as dramatic as Peters Pailolo report, but I'll try to spice it up a bit…
Approximately 97, 6-man canoes lined up off the south shore of Molokai at 8am… It's a change-out only race, no iron, and spec boats only (400lb) so no unlimiteds. Also all paddles have to be partly made of wood, no all carbon paddles.

There was maybe 5-8 foot swell along the south shore & I'm really glad I had put one of those motion-sickness patches on the night before. My first shift was on the escort boat with one of the legendary Molokai watermen/escort captains Bozo. So not seeing the actual start I can only say that according to our guys it was total mayhem, we got chopped off hard and lost 20 places right off the bat. I think we were around 40th place by the time we actually entered the Kaiwi Channel. 45 minutes in, we were allowed to do our first water change and I got to paddle the first of 6, 30 minute pieces. The light (10knot) wind was out of the north which was sub-optimal to say the least. Our steersman, a firefighter from Kauai, said he's never had to work so hard to keep a canoe from spinning-out on waves and he said it's the most he's ever had to “poke” (steer) in a race. It was hard to get in a rythm and we never felt like we were really getting the canoe going too good. And it was hot, really hot. My first 2 shift paddling I felt nauseous, and overheated & I was really worried about finishing the race.

But, thank god, as the race went on I started to feel better & better. It became standard routine, that as soon as I got back in the escort boat for my 15 minute break, I'd take a handful of ice and put it down my shorts near the femoral artery and another scoop under my hat. And then pound Gatorade & Perpetuem as well as a few salt tabs. And basically this went on for 41 miles.
One of our guys did start to get heat exhaustion and he puked in the ocean and in the bushes after the race. Another one of our guys got a jelly fish sting on his hand at one point.

Landing in Waikiki was pretty amazing, with the Tahitian war drums thumping away, and the thousands of people watching the finish.

All the long-time veterans of the Hoe said this was the most stacked field they'd ever seen, Tahiti fielded 5 or 6 crews in several categories, as did Bora Bora, Australia etc.

Tahiti did get retribution for their loss to Red Bull last year, by once again winning the Hoe. And they finished 55 minutes ahead of us.

Team Cascadia was made up of one guy from Portland, 2 guys from Seattle, one guy from Bellingham (me), 4 guys from Canada & a Kauai steersman. We finished in 33rd place in 5 hours, 39 minutes, 2nd mainland team.
Cheers & aloha!

Dale McKinnon
10/08/18 #23878

It was very exciting to see you on TV (I jumped off the couch, clapping and whooping) all the while knowing that heat and humidity were gojng to hammer just about everyone out there. 41 miles of it. Well done Team Cascadia!!!

Pmarcus
10/08/18 #23879

Awesome Beau!!! Way to accomplish!!!

Ashley Paul James
10/08/18 #23880

Thanks for the write up Beau. It was awesome to have you as part of our Team especially with two weeks notice. It was a tough crossing with a high caliber of teams competing this year, but we worked as a team and got through.
We often do ‘Cascadia’ teams for local events too. You are on the roster now… especially since you have a cool jersey.

Cheers,
Ashley Paul James