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I arrived in Hawaii on Thursday the 08^th May and got to the Park Shore Hotel at around 09h00 thanks both to DSKC and Epic Kayaks Middle East. The good thing was that Haydn had already checked into the room so I did not have to wait for checking in time and I could take my bags to the room. There was however a note at reception saying that they were on their way to do a Makapu run and would be getting on the water at 09h00 and should be back by 13h00. Another one of the instructions was not to sleep otherwise it would be long night. I hung around the hotel for the morning and bought some supplies from ABC stores. These stores are everywhere, ask Gavin from last year, but they have a good supply of odds and ends and groceries. Haydn got back just before lunch and after he had eaten we went to collect my ski from Go Bananas. I decided to do a Hawaii Kai run after going up China walls for a bit. I got on the water at around 15h30 and the wind was good. I was passing the surfing wave China walls, quite far out, when I heard someone shouting. I looked to my left and saw a ski being blown towards me, as it got closer the wind started to flip the ski out of the water. I feared that the ski would crash into mine if I confronted it straight on so I paddled around, caught up and grabbed it. A couple of hundred meters towards the cliffs I saw someone swimming towards me. The only way I could stop myself drifting too much was to jam my paddle into the sea, which helped a bit. After 10 min a very tired paddler came up to me and grabbed hold of my ski. I asked him where his paddle was and he said he left it behind. I gave him his ski to hold onto and went in search of his paddle. Luckily as I neared the cliffs I saw the end of it lift out of the water and quickly gathered it in, took it apart and returned to the intrepid paddler. After he had recovered he thanked me and introduced himself as Mark from Australia. I watched as he took off back into the wind towards Hawaii Kai to make sure he was okay. I then paddled for another 20 or so minutes into some very confused ocean along the cliffs before I decided to take off for 12 km of downwind to the outrigger club. It was a classic run, not too big with long rides. My average for that section was 15.4km/h and it felt great. I was running along the pavement towards the hotel when I met Haydn who had got concerned as it was past the time we had agreed I would be back but he understood after I had told him my story. The next day, Friday, we did a similar run in the same wind conditions but in the morning and my average was only 13.5km/h which really emphasized the currents around the island.

My first big paddle was on the Saturday when we all met at Makapu Point for the run back to Hawaii Kai and what an eye opener it would be. Massive swells that I struggled to catch and when I did there was little room for error. One mistake and the ski would fill with water and your speed would drop to nothing it took a few more waves before the water drained out. I was totally blown when I got to China walls where some of the others were already waiting and the only thought in my mind was how the hell I am going to do this for nearly 4 hours. Much to the amusement of Haydn I was extremely quiet for the next couple of hours and only at dinner that evening did we discuss the days paddle.

It was around this time when wind guru gave us the bad news and the thought of slogging it out on flat water again weighed on all of us. Every conversation from then on in had something about the lack of wind in it. Wind guru played tricks on us; I would get up at around 06h00 to go and skype my wife and always checked the wind. Some mornings it was showing 12 knots and I would deliver the good news when I got back to our room and then in the afternoon the forecast would change to show 5 knots, eish.

On Wednesday when went to the North Shore and the Kona wind (opposite to trade winds) was blowing at 12 knots, it would have been a classic downwind paddle from Oahu to Molokai. The North Shore is such a great place and reminds me of Oyster Bay near St Francis in South Africa. Sparsely populated, houses worth millions of dollars, with hidden gems all along the coast, you would have to look very hard to find a sign that said pipeline! We enjoyed a classic braai, after a swim at pipe, at Charles Brand’s house which is a few hundred meters to the right of pipeline and 3 houses down the post box has the name “Johnson” on it. Thank you very much Charles for your warm hospitality I know I will remember that afternoon and evening for long time.

Saturday morning came around and we made our way down to the lobby to book a taxi to the airport. Surprisingly a limo arrived, we protested a bit about getting in but the concierge said that the driver was a friend of his and the fare would be the same as a normal taxi. On the flight over there were some white horses on the sea but nothing to write home about. We had decided that the most cost effective way to get accommodation on Molokai was to buy a tent and some sleeping bags so when we arrived we went in search of a good area to pitch our tent. At this time I noticed a strange outrigger, Indian canoe type boat dropping a ski off and it turned out to be Haydn’s ski, what a classic support boat we found out later that if the swell was big this boat would revel in it. The dinner laid on in the evening was great and after the briefing everyone seemed to disperse in their own direction off to prepare their juice for the next day and to contemplate the pain ahead. I managed to get my ski the next day from my support boat in time so as not to be in too much of a rush. After an initial false start the race got under way and in the first 30 minutes I focused on not getting left too far behind. The good thing was that Haydn’s support boat had a yellow mast on it and was easy to follow so this became my focus. The runs initially were not too bad and I managed to keep my average speed at around 13.5 km/h. I remember smiling to myself as a song from Bob Marley started on my MP3, and I thought of where I was and what I was doing, great stuff. Alexa Cole later told me that she pulled up next to me around 2 hours into the race and tried to talk to me but I did not respond, she probably thought I was a “bastard man” I later set the record straight when I told her I was listening to music. As you all know the later stages of the race became a bit of a strain and you were doing well if you could keep you boat speed between 10 and 11km/h. The finish was a welcome relief but after the strain you can’t beat that feeling when you cross the finish line. The thought of a good chow and some cold beers does wonders to an aching back!

I finished in 45^th position in a time of 4 hrs and 27 minutes, not realizing my goal but happy given the conditions. The after party at Lulu’s had good food and cold Steinlager beer (3 free kegs) and after telling and listening to war stories from the past day I realized at around 23h30 that Charles Brand, Greg Barton and myself were the only 3 left drinking at the bar. After a hiccup on my flight back to Dubai, booking a room in Manila for nothing, I arrived back contemplating next year.