| First Crossing // Event 25 July 2009 By: Simon Dodd Location: Molokai I got a call from former Novocastrian, now Gold Coast based Sam Rollinson. The call was bordering on desperation, "Mate I need someone to paddle the Molokai channel race with". Sam had been training with the likes of seven times Molokai prone paddleboard champion Jamie Mitchell, Mick DiBetta and arguably the most talented stand up paddle surfer in Australia, James 'Billy' Watson. He was hooked and wanted the challenge. I couldn't say no to an invite like that. To me, this was a personal challenge and it turned out to be one of the greatest experiences I've ever had. Right then and there, after I hung up the phone, I was in race mode. Mentally, I was prepared but physically, not quite there. Two months out meant one hundred percent commitment to training. The race is 32miles or about 50kms but being part of a two man team required us to only paddle half the distance each, assuming neither of us succumbed to injury mid-race. I had paddled 25km previously, with zero wind and zero swell, and that was painful but I had made it. I was on the phone the next day with Tim Foran, another local who was paddling an open unlimited prone paddleboard. He had heard that I was paddling and invited me to train with him and another competitor, Ben Gibson who had been travelling to Sydney each weekend to train. With some further advice from Jamie Mitchell I was set. It was now in my hands. I could go on about what diet and what supplements I took but I have found that paddlers don't really like to share these secrets. We had to get a board organised but from who? Lots of boards have been successful so far but the logical decision was to have one made by Mick DiBetta and Adrian Birse. Mick and Adrian have made prone paddleboards for the Molokai crossing before. Mick is a former champion and knows what makes a good design for the expectant conditions. They had made Billy Watson's new raceboard that he paddled to victory on in the recent Honolua race on the Gold Coast was paddling solo on in this year's Molokai race. The board was ordered and Mick and Adrian started shaping the next day. The difference between our board and Billy's is that it is 15mm thinner and has a recessed deck like the C4 Vortice XP. A pre-requisite for paddling in the Molokai to Oahu race is that you must have an escort boat to follow you the entire way. Sam told me that he had enlisted a third team member to be on the support boat to help guide us to the finish. Stories have been told of some paddlers losing it mentally near the end. Tired and fatigued they lose concentration on the job at hand and usually end up in a disastrous non-finish situation. The third member of our team was Simon Kempe, a multiple prone paddleboarder of the Molokai Channel and brother of Jamie Mitchell's girlfriend Jocelyn. A former paratrooper who was discharged from the army after a freak parachuting accident left him with a badly injured leg. He was taught to survive in the harshest conditions and situations life can throw at you, that of fighting for your country. With 'Death Before Dishonour' tattooed across his back we knew he was the right choice to keep us going to the end. Giving up was not an option. This year's Molokai race was considered extra tough as the outgoing tide in the channel was predicted to run for three hours during the race. Even though you are paddling hard, it doesn't seem that you are moving and you cannot let this thought get to you and psyche you out. I trained in all sorts of conditions to try and get the feel of paddling in the Molokai Channel. I arrived in Hawaii on the Wednesday morning, picked up my car and met Sam at the Outrigger Hotel and picked up the board. Sam had been staying on the Northshore during the week and training with a group based there. Having only limited time on the board I wanted to have a few paddles on it before it was due to be shipped to Molokai for the race start. I picked up the board from Sam and took it to C4 HQ and met all the gang. That night was the pre-race briefing. The unofficial count of competitors was 126, with the majority being SUPs. It was a great time to meet up with fellow competitors from all over the world. The briefing had turned into a bit of a party by the time I left. I was keen to have one last training paddle the next day. I awoke the next morning to the sight of a nice little wave at the front of my condo. The wind wasn't up yet so I raced next door to the Outrigger Canoe Club and grabbed Todd's 9'3 Sub Vector. A south swell was building and I was soon joined by Todd and a handful of other SUP riders on a fun left hander. The wind gradually built up during the day so it was time for a paddle on the raceboard. I headed east, out to Hawaii Kai where the race was to finish and decided to paddle the last few miles of the race course. I started off in the tranquil waters of the bay and was pushed out quickly by the tail wind until I hit China Wall. The tranquillity quickly turned into a large washing machine of wind and waves. I tried paddling up to Hanauma Bay for a return run but with the increasing wind and waves I made it half way up the Wall before turning back for a fast downwind run into the bay. Once you get around the headland the wind wraps back around it from the north and that tail wind soon turned the last couple of miles into a solid headwind. That night I made another trip out to Hawaii Kai with the board but this time it was to load it onto a boat for the ride over to Molokai. There I met up with Tim my training partner who had just arrived that day. With only two days until the race, I got up early to head to the Northshore to pick up Sam and Renee. It was the first time I had been up there during summer and it was like another planet. If I didn't know the breaks I wouldn't have realised where Pipe and Sunset actually were as the whole north shore was completely flat. Yachts were anchored within Wiamea Bay where only 8 months ago 20 foot surf was breaking. We headed straight back to my condo to pack and then drop Renee off at the Dukes Outrigger Hotel. Then we headed up to C4 HQ to drop my car off and grab a lift from Todd Bradley to the airport for the flight to Molokai. Todd had only been back in Hawaii for a day and was super busy so we were stoked that he gave us a lift - a perfect display of the aloha spirit that's so abundant in Hawaii. Flying over Molokai, it was clear to see that the island has not yet been transformed into the tourist mecca that is Waikiki. We arrived at the airport and got a lift by Erman, the owner of one of only two taxis on the island. His father owns the other and is a cousin of Dave Kalama. Erman talked about the history of the island and the current water restrictions in place due to a failed pump whilst he drove us to our accommodation at the Kalua Koi Villas and the race start base. When we arrived we went scouting for our board that was due to arrive that morning by boat. Instead we found some others that a boat driver had left baking in the sun. We noticed the three boards together in the middle were James 'Billy' Watson's, Bianca Lee's and a Florida team member's Vortice XP. We took Billy's and Bianca's up to their villa and put the others under some decent shade. One thing you don't do is leave these things out in the hot sun as they can easily overheat, delaminate and be destroyed. Our board finally arrived on the Saturday afternoon and thankfully was in good condition. We put on the rudder and race decals. The organisers held the last race briefing and competitor's dinner on the Saturday night. People seemed to appear from everywhere including the who's who of the paddling world. We had dinner and headed back to the villa to rest, continue to hydrate and watch the silhouette of Molokai appear as the sun set. Later on we had a visit from Billy's girlfriend Bianca Lee wanting an aspirin for Billy who had been a bit sick. I stayed up listening to the Gunners on my iPod to get some pre race motivation going.  Everyone was up early on race day. The paddleboards were due to start at 7:30am followed by the SUPs at 8:00am. Everything had to be packed and loaded onto the boats before the start. Luckily our boat driver's cousin ran the only shop at the Kalua Koi villas so we got him to take the majority of our stuff to the boat in the harbour the night before. We asked Bianca how Billy was and were shocked to hear that he was discharged from hospital at 1:00am that morning. He had suffered chronic food poisoning from some almonds he brought from Oahu and ate the night before. Billy wandered down to the start and looked like death. Anyone who has suffered from food poisoning will know it is not good and puts a tremendous strain on your body. He started the race only to pull out after 30 minutes. What an extraordinary effort for someone who should have still been laid up on their back recovering.  With 126 competitors came 126 support boats. The majority anchored off the beach waiting for their paddlers to load their gear. Fortunately we knew some of the Hawaiian Water Patrol who were on jetskis, so we got a lift out with them with the gear we still had to put on the boat. Mainly drinking water, cameras and electronic equipment. The paddleboard division started first to the sound of the race director wishing everyone a safe trip across the radio. Thirty minutes later the SUPs started. I heard the gun and we quickly got sight of Sam who was easily recognisable in all red. One thing that is recommended is that you wear bright clothing and/or hat so your escort boat, or in the unfortunate case, a rescue party, can find you. Sam was near the front in third place. The first 30 minutes seemed to take forever as I was amped to get onto the board. After what seemed like an eternity, I was in the water ready for the first changeover. By the time I got on the board the swell and wind had picked up. I said to myself, right, this is it, concentrate on surfing the runners, let the escort boat point me in the right direction and I was off. After waiting so long for my turn on the board the time actually paddling went extremely fast. These were the ultimate downwind conditions, surfing runner after runner, listening to the hoots of the boat crew, my body working overtime to keep up the ultimate speed and take advantage of every bump that came my way. This was what it was all about. Soon I spotted Sam in the distance in the water, hand in the air so I wouldn't lose sight of him in the large swell, it was time for another swap.  Sam and I had come up with a simple changeover technique that involved the paddler leaning down placing the paddle on the deck under pressure from one hand, undoing the legrope with the other and dropping off to one side. The new paddler would put their hand on the paddle when they got on the board, put the legrope on and they were off. This was efficient and lowered the probability of losing the paddle. Some paddlers wore legropes and others not. Legropes were strongly recommended by the race organisers. One thing I didn't want to do is waste time and energy swimming after a lost board cart-wheeling across the channel. Once in the water, the escort boat came close, threw out a line and hauled me aboard. I was greeted by messages of support from the boat crew before they told me Sam had not been feeling well on the boat. After the first swap he tried to take in some liquid and gels but threw it all up over the side. I thought, "Great, I may have to paddle this on my own" but to his credit and the team's encouragement, Sam kept on paddling with nearly no fluid or gel intake for the whole race. A bloody brave effort I reckon and certainly a testament to the amount of pre-race training he'd done. The first half of the race was fun and fast. A lot of runners were being caught and the pack quickly spread out. We seemed to be in the middle with some paddlers heading north whilst others took a more southerly route. By the halfway mark we started to catch some of the prone paddleboarders and overtake some of the SUPs that had gone out hard and were now struggling. From the time we entered this race we were constantly reminded of the extreme tidal flow that was predicted. Having never paddled the race before we were unsure what we were in for. The last third of the race was brutal. The outgoing tide and cross chop made for some of the toughest paddling conditions ever experienced. Sometimes you felt you were going nowhere then all of a sudden it would let you go, making it feel like you were moving and then grab you again making you feel like you were stuck. Nearly all of the competitors agreed this part of the race was the hardest and I now realise why we took the line we were advised to take.  Once around Portlock Point and heading into Maunalua Bay, Sam and I swapped and he paddled into the bay. Sam had set me up for an easy paddle home. He did a great job catching the breaking waves near the cliffs to give us a slingshot into the bay. We did one last swap and I was up. The paddle to the finish was nowhere as hard as the training run I did a few days before, the adrenalin kicked in and in no time I was across the line greeted by the large crowd that congratulated each of the competitors. Like all extreme endurance events there is a toll and it was an unfortunate site seeing ambulances at the finish treating competitors from exhaustion and fatigue. We were stoked to find out our final results: 4th in our division, 8th in the overall teams and 54th across the line out of 126 paddlers including the prone paddlers in a time of 6 hours and 18 minutes. This event was everything and more than I'd expected. When I am asked will I be back next year I reply, "Bloody oath mate". | |
