Aloha everyone,
If you haven't heard, one of our own in our paddling community, Luke Evslin, was severely injured while making the first change off of La'au Point. He was severely propped and incurred injuries that he stated if it was an inch higher or lower from initial area of injury would have been fatal. Spoke with Luke and he mentioned that he just got out of surgery and is doing fine over at Maui Memorial.
Also, even though we may make risky decisions during moments of competition, SAFETY is the number #1 priority. Prayers are out to Luke for a effective and speedy recovery!
Carlton Helm
Submitted by Bamskii on Sun, 10/10/2010 - 7:23pm
Get well soon Luke! Props to the Super HEROS Makana Denton & Keizo Gates! GO KAUAI BOYS GO!
#71 Wed, 10/13/2010 - 6:38pm
Luke et al':
Love and prayers from Guam. HagganOCC and Imua Guahan send their thoughts to you, wish you a speedy recovery. Your posts, business model and love for our sport and the ocean are an inspiration to paddlers wherever they are.
I'm sure I'm not the only one with tears in their eyes reading of your accident, your rescue and the outpouring of love and respect in the posts above. Add ours to that list;
IMUA FOREVER!
#72 Wed, 10/13/2010 - 6:49pm
Kauai spirit..unconquerable. You have it by the loads. Definitely where you need to be...it will heal you.
aloha nui loa...and god speed...
poidog
#73 Wed, 10/13/2010 - 8:22pm
Luke,
Thoughts and speedy recovery to you. You have a lot of mana and strength. You will be stronger for this tough experience. I am sure bonds of friendship, family, and love that you had before are even clearer and more focused now. Lots of love to you.
I am a little afraid of what you are going to do with all of your time-
1) Design an even faster OC-1
2) Write a book/bible on/of paddling
3) Surf web and do research on new methods of canoe building and business dominance
Aloha,
#74 Thu, 10/14/2010 - 7:41am
To Luke, the man with the strong mind and heart, and gentle soul… you have been an inspiration to us all, as a paddler, as an entrepreneur, but mostly as a person who can balance it all while remaining humble, helpful, motivated, encouraging others, and showing a strong aloha spirit throughout. Your response not only to what happened to you, but to the reaction of others at the time of the incident and to the outpouring of response by the community just confirms our feelings of respect for you. We all offer our best wishes for a speedy recovery. Please do not hesitate to ask any one of us or all of us for assistance, patience, privacy or anything, as any one of us would be honored to help.
Ps. I had a dream about you last night, in which you were recovering well and still carried that bright beautiful smile. You told me you were doing fine and were on your way to returning to the same old you and doing the things you love. In the dream you and Sokchea were dropping me off at a Rennaissance Festival (therefore I KNOW it was a dream!), but it still somehow involved paddling. Ha ha!
all our love and aloha,
Katie S.
#75 Thu, 10/14/2010 - 10:43am
My Aloha goes out to you Luke. I wish you a speedy recovery.
Aloha,
Koa Bruhn
#76 Thu, 10/14/2010 - 8:47pm
Hey Luke,
Our prayers Are all with you and hope that you get better very soon. Take care bro. All the best for a speedy recovery.
Mario
#77 Thu, 10/14/2010 - 9:01pm
sending good thoughts out there man.
#78 Fri, 10/15/2010 - 6:52am
Luke,
Our thoughts went out to you during the crossing... our team was pretty far back from yours when we heard the news over the radio. Our thoughts and hope for a speedy recovery go out to you from my team from Victoria, B.C., Canada. We stopped by Kamanu to drop you off team shirt and some decals. All the best with the recovery process and I hope that your back on the water soon and that we can meet again soon.
Corey Teramura
#79 Fri, 10/15/2010 - 1:07pm
Luke- so sorry to hear of your accident. We heard it over the radio on our escort boat- I am so glad you survived. I was thinking that your mellow nature probably helped in keeping yourself calm at the critical time.
I have such fond memories of you in class back in KHS, accompanying you to State Science Fair and paddling with you when you were young. I still laugh at the time you steered us men in Kona when you were, what? 13? And all of a sudden, we were adrift, wondering where our steersman went. You really should have told us you were jumping out after that dropped paddle... :)
Anyway, stay strong, heal well, come out the other side an even better and wiser person than you already were. Your friend, Andy
#80 Mon, 10/18/2010 - 11:50pm
Luke, May God Bless and give you strenght to a speedy recovery! We are still praying for you my Braddah!
Malama Pono,
boy
#81 Tue, 10/19/2010 - 12:40pm
Aloha Luke,
Keep getting better fast!
#82 Wed, 10/20/2010 - 3:16pm
I've been meaning to write this for awhile.
THANK YOU. The outrigger canoeing world is incredible. I have received a huge amount of support and I honestly cannot express how thankful and appreciative I am. I really am incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by such amazing people. This has been an incredible experience from the first instant.
So many people worked tirelessly to save my life. I said it briefly in my first message here on OCpaddler, but I really need to say it again. I literally got passed down a line of caretakers; from my teammates and coach on the escort, to the paramedics who first got on board the boat, to the Moloka'i firemen and paramedics at Hale O Lono, to the Helicopter Paramedics, to the Ambulance Paramedics on Moloka'i, to the team of nurses and doctors in the ER on Maui (even the guy with the catheter.... even though that really hurt), to Dr. Jarret and the team of surgeons who cleaned me up, to the nurses on the 3rd floor of the Moloka'i wing (ironic?) of Maui Memorial Hospital (Debbie, Cathy, Rewelyn and the rest), to my parents and family on Kaua'i, and especially my fiancee--- who has been with me from the second I woke up from surgery and has worked tirelessly (sacrificing school) to make sure that I am comfortable. To my partners and everyone else at the shop who are taking up the slack of my absence (though it doesn't seem that anyone's in a hurry for me to come back... so maybe there's not much of a slack). And all of the people who have visited, written, called, cooked, or even thought good thoughts--- I am so indebted to you all.
The overwhelming lesson for me throughout this entire experience is that life is love. I really do love you all, and I wish that I could tell everyone that in person.
I will be recovering at home on Kaua'i for awhile. There are mixed opinions on how my recovery will progress (I guess that doctors don't often see this type of injury nowadays outside of the middle ages and Samurai battlegrounds) but I don't have a doubt that I'll be able to paddle again. Other than limited use of my right leg and right side in general (which is getting better), I am doing great. I was extremely lucky that the prop hit me where it did. Literally anywhere else and it would have been exponentially worse.
Thank you. I love you. Aloha Kakou,
Luke
#83 Thu, 10/21/2010 - 10:52pm
Imua Luke!!
May God keep blessing you with light and strenth!!!!
Aloha from Argentina!
#84 Thu, 10/21/2010 - 11:08pm
you have to come back.
Looking forward to seeing you on the water.
#85 Fri, 10/22/2010 - 4:16am
Don't know you personally, but I know your work...God bless, Sir
#86 Fri, 10/22/2010 - 7:47pm
Luke,
Just logging in to say so sorry you've sustained this terrible injury, and to wish you the best.
No doubt the hard work, love of the ocean, tireless dedication, and passion that have served you in race after race and crossing after crossing will aid you in your rehab.
Best wishes for a full recovery. Try not to hate on your PT too much, (s)he is just doing the job!
V
#87 Tue, 10/26/2010 - 7:54pm