lewis laughlin

After two weeks of howling trade winds and mountainous seas in the Kaiwi Channel, the 2014 Molokai Challenge is faced with baking temperatures, glassy seas and “winds light and variable”.  And that means 52km of an intense challenge of a different kind…

“You’ve got 200m on Lewis (Laughlin)!” shouts race-organiser-extraordinaire Sebastien Mosole to Dean Gardiner, as the course doglegs north from the Turiroa lighthouse. The 20 knot tailwinds and 3m swell conditions that Dean revels in have served him well for the last 31km’s, but the race is his to lose as paddlers battle against this same wind for the final 8km’s entering the only ‘pass’ through Bora-Bora’s otherwise impassable reef.