Surfski Knowledge Base

Jeff Hegedus <jhegedus@…>
02/06/11 #9990

Sorry to have missed all that good clam chowder in La Conner, but Morris and I were busy representing out in Kailua Bay. Twelve miles in 80 degree weather in beautiful waters, with about 130 neoprene-free paddlers, paddling an older V10 Sport. The race started at low tide at Kailua beach and went past Flat Island, just outside the reef system to the Mokuloa's. I stayed 20 yards out from the conga line riding the backs of the breakers over the shallow reef system, and heard plenty of 'rudder on coral' ballads followed by appropriate musical expletives. At 'Da Mokes' we did a figure eight around both islands, with crashing swells on one side and fun waves (as in, wtf am I doing here?) on the other. Some boats were upside down, a couple more rudders were gifted to Neptune, and it was a blast watching the locals play the waves, shallow reefs and rocks. Depth perception surfing over coral always ended up being more an act of faith than technical paddling, although I did learn that 'brown is good,' 'yellow is bad,' and that you look for 'funny swirls' in front of you when the glare prevents any sub-surface visuals in the middle of a good wave. We then had a nice run out to Bird Poop Island, surfed into Castles and then worked it back to Kailua beach. Morris had a great race on a V10 ultra from Zolt, and placed 8th, nice job. A total great scene, great people, pizza and beer on the beach. Adrienne and Debbie then took the boats out for a long one, and the kids wore themselves out boogie boarding. A good day.