Video thread

downwinda wrote:

LaPerouse, how much right quartering is everyone gonna need to make it around Kahakuloa in today's race? I'd guess it will be a pretty good run if the easterlies continue!
I'm looking forward to how Ana Swetish fares in her first Hawaii race.

I met her on the shuttle the day of that video. She's a great ambassador for the sport.
They have excellent wind today for today's race. Nice and sunny too, which is always a bonus, because clouds upstream can block the wind temporarily.
They have excellent E wind with a hint of leftover NW swell. Nothing major to cross things up.
She and the other elite paddlers will be able to easily manage the quartering necessary in the early stages. She will zoom the E trades and quarter right on those bombs with no trouble in her big Fenn.
As she crosses over closer to the West Maui coastline, things may get interesting for her. If any of the true elite outriggers (with decades of experience on that particular run) decide to race (and they will show up today, it's really good weather) those guys (and a few girls) may get close to the cliffs and surf the reverb. That can get knarly from what I hear. It may only happen with less than ideal conditions. Either way, it's way above my pay grade.
Once she gets up further north to Kahakuloa things will get really good. She will have big E open ocean bombs, for miles.
Once past 'the gap' it's smooth sailing to the finish and she has wind and sunny skies all the way. Really good day to do that run. Not crazy windy, but steady, consistent wind and excellent big open ocean bombs everywhere. That's what those elite paddlers love.
I've been watching that forecast for about 10 days and couldn't be happier for all those racers. Really couldn't ask for better conditions. We like it when visitors get good weather.
Edit for results of the race:
Ana finished right with Lauren and just ahead of Andrea, two legends here on Maui. Lauren and Andrea have both been THE pinnacle of Hawaiian channel racing almost since Ana was born. Both still super strong and mega experienced racers. They are famous around here for destroying really strong male paddlers. Both referred to as a 'Queen of the Channel' for their innumerable championships.
Ana finished in good company and will be rocking it with all the top pros. She will have some good stories about this one when she gets back to Bellingham.
Wilson did really good too. He finished 6th overall, right up with the big boys, only 10 minutes off the winning time. Experience counts for a lot in this race. Really strong result, I'm sure he got a ton of compliments from some really good paddlers today.

racehub.racehubhq.com/races/OTTOMATICNOR...HALLENGE2022/results

Apparently she started with the men (after the women) and preliminary results failed to subtract the time. Now they've updated the times,

I expect a much better showing in the pure downwind Maliko race on April 23. Provided the trades are present!

Wow! Ana can motor! Top 10 result! One second behind Mike! Ha ha, I'm going to hound him relentlessly for that one. "So, MIke, what happened. Did you have to pull out all the stops to beat a girl or what? Ha ha. He's fast!

He loves that run and does it all the time, for many years now. Austin Kieffer an Pat Dolan would regularly win if they came around, guys like that are on another level. Kai Bartlett too, he's on another level from Mike, but Kai sure seems to be doing well when we consider that he's fighting the same cancer that Oscar is. Those guys are something else.

Karel Jr was one of the fastest about 10 years ago, Will too. Spectacular result for her, she did her homework well on that run, local knowledge is a big part of it. Those top dogs don't miss much! She's going to be a force to be reckoned with for sure!

Excellent result for Wilson too, that's a very good showing to be up there mixing it up with the local boys. Very impressive.

Big turnout for Kai, that's his race this year. He usually sponsors the Maui Molokai, but it's not running this year, due to Covid. Cool to see Greg Barton in a little old Maliko race. Internationals like him usually stick to the channel races in Hawaii, very rare for them to do a Maliko. We never see the Rice's or Clint, Oscar, Hank or the Mocke's over here, only Molokai to Oahu. Back when I was racing and chasing low times, I always wanted to see what those internationals could do on a Maliko. Austin probably has the record now, but he hasn't yet beat those International guys in the big one, so I'll bet they would set a lower time. Very cool of Barton to come over to support Kai. That was a big turnout from some big time paddlers from the old days. They have not been traveling over to Maui in quite some time for a little old Maliko race. Very, very cool. Kai is a big hero in Hawaii for sure. John Foti is another Hawaii legend, I think he coached Kai when he was young.

racehub.racehubhq.com/races/MPHKaiWaaMaliko/results

Nice but short DW from Avila Beach, California, April 9th 2022. More info in the video description... Likes appreciated


Watch on youtube
 

Nice tve! Looks like great conditions. You keep the boat speed up nicely! Always interesting to see what someone else’s launch and takeout spot look like.

Thanks for the comment! Early on one of the paddlers here told me "it's not about how fast you go down a wave, it's about how slow you go between runs" and it has really stuck in my head. I've made a lot of progress but have way more to go! I can't comprehend how Boyan does his minute-long runs...

Great vid tve! You are working the angles and staying high nicely there. Runs look amazing. Another place on the bucket list…..

Beautiful big conditions for a surfski downwind in Santa Barbara California on a sunny day a couple of weeks ago.

Luckily I caught my first wipe-out in big stuff in this surfski on video and as a bonus I managed a second swim in front of the harbor! Gotta get that remount practice in somehow...
The first remount is not exactly text-book (ahem), but I do manage to paddle again in under 50 secs, so it worked after all, but more practice wouldn't hurt...

The course is from Goleta beach / pier to Santa Barbara harbour / pier. We paddle 1 to 1-1/5 miles out at the start to get past Campus Point (UCSB) into the wind, which is blowing out of the west more or less parallel to the shore, and then turn east for the fun stuff.

'Likes' very appreciated...


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This needs to be shared. Mostly oc but some skis as well. I feel like we have not had this kind of race footage since rambo was around.

That paddler in the yellow shirt was MOVING! ;~)

A video of a couple of awesome surf sessions I was lucky enough to hook into last week on the Sunshine Coast with a couple of local mates.
If you take a surfkski, a guitar and a quality single malt on tour, you've pretty much got every base covered.

zachhandler wrote:

This needs to be shared. Mostly oc but some skis as well. I feel like we have not had this kind of race footage since rambo was around.

Haha, missing me aye.... I'm still around, just not behind a camera.

Hope all is well with you Rambo!

zachhandler wrote:

Hope all is well with you Rambo!

Living the dream as always

Uncut sequence of a 1 mile downwind run in a surfski chasing a friend on a SUP foil.
This was on our standard 'pier-to-pier' DW course from Goleta beach&pier to the Santa Barbara harbor&pier in southern California. The conditions on that June 25th were not big but the waves ran very nicely. It was perfect, especially for my friend who hasn't been on the foil for that many DWs. He uses a relatively slow foil which allows me to more or less keep up through the runs . Once he switches to a faster one and no longer falls he'll be the one waiting...

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double post -- deleted

Finally came out of my denial of putting a seat in the ski, went straight up to a 17mm and the position feels amazing.

Uncut first 17.5 kms of a 24km downwind
The lighting could have been better
Theres something about yachts that puts me more nervous than any ocean creature, I was convinced I was going to get ran through by 2 on this run, on the 10km and 11km marks.



Also came out of denial about needing to focus on sprints, now giving it 2 days per week and taking advantage of the 1km circuit within the marina to have good sprinting conditions.

Opening of our new surfski school in Huahine , French Polynesia.

I'm just wondering if you're Hiromana Flores?