2009 Garden Island Championships

Are those Bumps and White Caps I see?

Finally after weeks of less than ideal racing conditions, the big one, the Garden Island Championships was rewarded with . . . wait let’s see how some veteran paddlers described the conditions: (1) 1996 Kaiwi winner Steve Cole said this was the best he had ever paddled the course;(2) Sixty year old waterman Steve Baker said these are the race conditions you always hope for; (3) Fifty-six year old Laola Aea said the ocean’s conditions in the morning compelled her to paddle a OC1 (instead of going OC2) and compete against the strong young women paddlers. (4) Team Bradley steersperson Noe Auger not wanting to sound too excited about the conditions described it as pretty epic; and (5) eloquent Kiwi orator Maui Kjeldsen summed it up by saying, “The conditions were good.” The unfortunate thing about these conditions is they never come without a price. The sacrificial boat was claimed and unequally portioned into four pieces less than 5 minutes into the race. Post race beer connoisseurs were grieving “Why a Wainui?” Three hours later, the now beer philosophers concluded nothing else could meet the entrance fee of  the oceans playground price.

Congratulations to our long course overall OC-1 winners, Maui Kjeldsen and Noe Auger and our short course winners Gordon Lett and Laola Aea. Mahalo to surfskis Wes DeSilva and Calvin Ho for participating . . . we want more skis! This race’s Animal Award goes to the lonely only stand up paddler on the long course with a F-16 full of water . . .  Chris Pico, ouch!

Mahalo to all the participants, especially Oahu paddler Jane McKee, Canadian paddler Laurel Archer  and kamaaina Makana Denton for supporting this race. Mahalo to the safety crew, timers, food preparers, registration crew and the countless volunteers who helped make this and the entire race season possible and a success. Mahalo ke Akua for providing us with a beautiful ocean, health, friends, family and another safe race season.

Long Course

Short Course