Surfski Knowledge Base

Larry Bussinger <lbussing@…>
04/30/07 #2853

Well, I'm back from the most awesome paddling I've ever had in my
life. And I've done a lot of paddling.
Trip Report:
Arrived on Maui in 35 MPH winds, from the airplane window I saw
nothing but whitecaps from 10,000 ft up! Then the pilot announced
it was going to be a rough landing because of the wind gusts. The
palm tree fronds were all pointing one way. At this point, I'm
thinking, “there is no way I'm going to go out there!”

Kaanapali to Flemming Beach and back:
When I picked up the boat, Barry Franks suggested I paddle from
Kaanapali on the northwest side to Fleming Beach on the north end,
against the wind, to see how I handled the conditions. I did this
on Wednesday morning (with 20 to 25 mph winds on the north end in
the channel) and soon discovered that one, getting hit in the chest
by a wave in Hawaii is not like getting a bucket of cold water
dumped your lap like it is here; two, all the waves are coming from
the same direction (like what's that all about?); and three, 4'-6'
waves at a longer wave length are a hell of a lot of fun. Even ran
across a 3' sea turtle - a good omen.

Malika Bay to Kahului Harbor:
This is supposed to be the classic Maui run. It's on the north side
with full exposure to the trade winds. Wind was probably 20 mph.
Guessing 4'-5' waves on 8' ft swells. It was like nothing I've ever
seen. The size, speed, and activity of the waves were intimidating,
especially when the wave phases line up, but my head was squared
away and I was having a ball. I used a route I had plotted on the
GPS to steer by. Started out by seeing two sea turtles - a good
omen. Getting incredible rides, but discovered you have to be very
aggressive and focus only on the wave ahead of you or the wave will
pass underneath you and you wallow on the back of the wave. The
entrance to Kahului Harbor is not that big and the waves started to
stack and steepen. The waves became 7 footers and a bit more
chaotic, and I needed to start angling to make the harbor opening.
A bit gnarly. It took well over an hour, but I wasn't in a hurry
and took a few minutes to sight see.

Maui to Molokai:
About 150 boats, some long boards, surfskis, but mostly OC's (solos,
single relay, and tandem and tandem relays), which by the way are
considerably more stable, allowing you to relax your focus a bit.
The distance ~ 24.8 miles. Took off from Fleming Beach on the
north end of the island. 4' to 6' waves coming down the channel.
The tactic is to paddle broadside to these until about halfway
across the channel, then start taking the rides downwind. I was
doing this and taking opportune rides down the big ones; but because
there were so many and so much fun, I probably took too many and
missed my theoretical turn point by about three quarters of a mile.
These waves are big and frequent and periodically match phases (as
well as the swell), so I would periodically race down a ~12' wave.
These became much more frequent in the middle of the channel. I
couldn't windmill the paddle fast enough, so leaned on the paddle,
but I would be going so fast the rudder would become damn near
useless and I would broach and fly back over the wave I was riding.
Then I discovered I needed to put the blade in sideways and rudder
with my paddle to stay on the wave. My max speed was 13.6 MPH max
speed. This is my personal best. I had to be absolutely aggressive
on the wave. When I couldn't catch the wave, the boat would wallow
on the backside and I would lose all control and would have to arm
paddle to keep any momentum going. Still, my head was solid and I
was having a ball…..for about the first hour. But then fatigue
started setting in. The intense focus and attention to the single
wave I was riding and the one building in front of me was all
consuming. My only thought was to accelerate to the hole forming.
Anything outside of the 10 feet in front of the boat was out of my
awareness. And I was only a third of the way across! I came to the
realization that I had the skill set to ride the waves, but started
wondering if I had the physical and mental stamina to stay on top of
the game. At somewhere over 2 hours into the race, I started to
parallel the Molokai shore, but I was in too close (the shallows go
out from shore for over a mile). Here the waves steepened on the
shallow bottom and became solid 6+ with frequent tops white
capping. This was like something we would find in the NW. They
were too steep to stay on top of and I frequently went down the face
and buried the bow up to the footwells. About a half hour before
the finish, I looked over and saw an OC-1. Looked around and saw
two OC-1's to my left, an OC –1 to my right and one ahead of me.
These were the first boats I had seen since the first 20 minutes. It
meant I had to start thinking about racing and not just about
finishing! But….I passed the three of them and caught the guy ahead
of me in a sprint to the finish! Yeehaw
! 3 hrs, 22 min. 2nd place in 55+ Surfski. (Guess that means if
you're old and finish you get a medal!) I finished 101 out of 139
boats and 13th of 15 surfskis. Mark Sandvolt and Barry Franks took
first and second overall. The times were 45 minutes faster than
last year. I paddled 25.8 miles and averaged 7.66 mph.
I took the ferry back after the awards, and it took and hour and a
half. Seemed like it took forever! I must have been in a time warp
on the way over.

Judging the wave height was tough, but tried to be realistic by
observing them from the ferry deck on the way back.

Larry B