My thought on constantly looking back and driving steersman crazy could be a whole new thread called-“When steersman loose their minds….’ Stories of when steersman go absolutely over the top angry or crazy.
One of my favorite is I had a steersman who was an x-semi pro-surfer and loved to cut it close outside of Diamond Head. After every practice crew would say we are going to get crushed one day. He says no worries I have surfed that break for 14 years I know everypart of it. Well 6-8 foot day and we are sliding around corner of Diamond Head and pounding away and the we hear from the back “Oh Fuc@#” We look left and it is over-16 feet of face looking to kick our ass. Lost two paddles, seat 1 ended up in seat 3’s lap. 5 stiches and steersman says. “That wave shouldn’t have been there.” What? On the other hand steering is super hard and I couldn’t do it. But it was fun story.
I would love to hear more stories of “When steersman loose their minds….”
PooPooPaddler is so gracious that he has allowed me to start a thread, but he better tell a story. No holding back.
PPpaddler is the most gracious of all posters and has a heart of gold. It is so sad that he is often a victim of blatant and systematic discrimination just because of his name. I can see teasing someone because they wear a tight shirt, eat vegemite, or don't spell well (me). That is a choice. But people don't have control of what they are named.
Submitted by Kona J on Wed, 09/24/2008 - 2:35pm
I have known steersmen to be gentle and well mannered, prudent and unassuming, balanced, witty and pleasant at all times - this is a rule.
During a Duke's race, around Makapu'u my paddle hit something hard - the wall was about 6 feet to the right - it must have been a turtle ...
#1 Wed, 09/24/2008 - 3:58pm
Eckhart is a steersman!...Back to the topic at hand...Sort of...
I have driven a steersman crazy! Sophomore Mens Race at Canoe Beach in Lahaina. We(Kahana) are leading Kihei by about a half boat to a boat with maybe 100 yards to go. I (seat 5) decide to scream as loud as I can that the steersman is finishing on the wrong flag--we weren't--the entire crew stopped paddling! 2nd place for us and the steersman still uses me as an example to this day of what not to do---crazy steersman!!
#2 Wed, 09/24/2008 - 5:21pm
well i steer and have had a few experiences with some irritating crews. The one thing that really pisses me off is when my crew (ranging from 13-15 yrs) decides to slack off that day. So we'll be goin nowhere upwind, and every so often, they'll try to huli or call power 50 billion.
Another thing that sets me off is when there are people who are too aware of everything. For example, my stroker will tell me to watch out for the rocks when they're 20 feet away. Then when i don't get far enough away he'll try and steer from the front himself. And if that doesn't work, he'll bitch at me on shore about how i'm a crap steersman, and how he can steer so much better.
So thats just a few things that set me off.
#3 Wed, 09/24/2008 - 5:12pm
Three years ago, coed crew, steersman wanted to go one direction, seat five was fighting her, steering the opposite way. We ended up huling. Like they say, "Six as one".
#4 Wed, 09/24/2008 - 5:21pm
A steersman is like a goalie, he can lose a competition, but he can never win one.
Steersmen have to be aware of all 360 degrees around them, know how to coddle the delicate egos ahead of them, how to rig the boat, how to navigate, know the rules of the road, understand the weather, and know how to control a 45 foot assymetrical boat displacing laden about .75 tons with an instrument that most cultures abandoned for steering a millenium ago.
Steersmen are invariably wise, good looking, physically and mentally strong, and modest.
We have many stories, but they would only serve to embarrass mere mortal paddlers who stare straight ahead and own only about 40" of one side of the boat at a time.
~~~~~~~~~~
YankeeHo'okele
"Anyone can steer the ship when the sea is calm" - Syrus Publilius
#5 Thu, 09/25/2008 - 3:21am
You know your true status as a steerer when 12 blokes turn up for training and 11 of them are trying to get into one canoe, leaving you standing alone with the other one. !!!!!!
Rambo
#6 Wed, 09/24/2008 - 7:28pm
Steersmen are invariably wise, good looking, physically and mentally strong, and modest.
You couldn't have said it better. :)
Kicbacmaui - unfortunately that is just a rumor; I'd love to steer - who would not want to ? - sit in the back and relax, poke a little here, poke a little there, nobody sees what you are doing ... ;)
Rambo - the road to excellence is long - sure you have traveled it.
#7 Wed, 09/24/2008 - 8:03pm
Just want to know, those big "S" turns that some steersman do, does it take a long time to learn how to do that?
Nah, seriously, just poking and keeping it straight, no big deal, but my hat's off to those who can put down power paddling AND keep the canoe on course. When I try, my mind is fried after 5 minutes.
#8 Thu, 09/25/2008 - 5:51am
One time (I was steering) the #5 in my boat kept looking around. We were doing sprint pieces and I wanted to beat the other boats bad and every time he looked around he missed a stroke. I got so fed up I lost my mind, yelled at him that if he looked at the other boats one more time I was going to break my paddle over his head and stab him with the splintered end. Now I'm normally as eckhart says balanced, gentle and well mannered but somehow I went off the deep end. Funny thing, after that night he decided to change canoe clubs. Now, if you meet me I am far from an intimidating person so I don't quite know why he felt he had to leave...
Jibofo, when I steer my HR is significantly higher than when I stroke...
#9 Thu, 09/25/2008 - 8:53am
I steer OC6 occasionally, but I lost my mind while steering in an Indian canoe race. It is usually a fairly imprmoptu race between our cousin tribes, with bragging rights going to the winner. But in the last few years we decided to have rules and make it more of a fair race.
I decided I'd steer with my father (the ex highschool-football,baseball, basketball coach), my older brother (the ex pro-baseball player) and two other friends of mine in a 5 man ocean -canoe - 21 ft long (originally designed for seal hunting).
We paddle on a bay on the Southern Oregon Coast and the wind tends to pick up in the afternoon creating wind generated chop. This is when we race....not to safe to say the least.
I don't know what I was thinking 'cause my father and brother don't usually listen to me...and our canoe is especially tippy (no outriggers). we have slick painted wooden seats and no way to lock in your feet.
So we start off the race and we are bumping our cousin tribes canoe (not on purpose..but in the heat of battle...I am yelling at my father and brother to stop shifting their weight cause they can't get comfortable (which in turn makes everbody else shift there weight...as it throws everybody off). My brother (the know it all )is paddling as hard and as fast as he can...and a bit longer stroke than he should be...so he's throwing water on my lap as I steer. his erratic paddling has us turning to one side. I made the mistake of giving him an outrigger paddle and the others have indian canoe paddles which have much less surface area. So you can see my problem: my brother won't listen and isn't paddling in time with everyone else, my dad is shifting his weight cause he can't get comfortable.
So we bump our cousin tribes canoe get turned sideways on some wind generated waves (with whitecaps) going against an incoming tide. Needless to say my father and brother shift their weight at the top of the wave and we ass over end into the cold bay.
So here we were holding on to the sides of our swamped canoe (because we have no bailers)....my father is giving me a lecture about not wearing a PFD in 50 degree water. I, of course, reply...."the last thing I want to remember before I drown is a damn lecture!!"
The reserve coast guard (primarily made up of octogenarian retired coast guardsmen) promptly run up on top of our canoe. Making the situation worse as I now have to swim under their boat to tie on a tow rope to the canoe. We then try to climb in the rescue boat...but are told to wait until the 2nd coast guard boat shows up. i decide not to tell them that hypothermia can set in after 14 minutes. 20 minutes later the 2nd boat full of old coast guardsmen show up, but because of the waves they can only get about 30 feet away. We are then forced to swim to the other boat and be "rescued". In the time that we were out in the channel I could have swam the 100 yards or so to the dock and rescued myself.
To cap off the story...we were awarded the "Wet and Last" place plaque in the awards ceremony.
I no longer paddle with my father or brother in the canoe. They still blame me for over turning (and accept no responsibilty for not being able to sit still or listen). on a better note we now get the younger "in-duty" coast guard to be our support/rescue boats.
#10 Thu, 09/25/2008 - 1:30pm
Last week, we had a V3 race, channel crossing from Huahine to Raiatea, 30km. Our usual steersman didn't show... One of my paddlers said "I can steer !", and off we go.
My garmin GPS recorded a 42 km track !
I have decided to learn how to steer. I don't want this to happen again.
#11 Thu, 09/25/2008 - 7:55pm
i never, ever, loose it. ask anyone i've paddled with. every person i've yelled at deserved the tongue lashing they got. ask anyone.
#12 Thu, 09/25/2008 - 8:09pm
Hiro,
Any pics from that V3 race? Ours is back in Newport and now I'm up at college in central Cali.
#13 Thu, 09/25/2008 - 8:10pm
...
#14 Fri, 09/26/2008 - 12:42pm
just gotta say I grew up with an abusive, alcoholic dad so ....... I feel at home with most steersman ;-)
#15 Fri, 09/26/2008 - 9:03am
hahhahahha, now thats a great one!!!!
#16 Fri, 09/26/2008 - 9:15am
JAYBIRD
We all know it's the "engine" that makes a Canoe go fast. The steersman/woman makes it go at maximum.
Poke here, poke there? ALL "good" Ho'okele's are mild mannered, soft-spoken, humble, slow to anger and competitive paddlers. We see it all. We take the blame for all bad results, you wen rig um rong, u no go strate, u neva catch the wave, u too much waha. WE are the Clark Kents of the canoe. ALOHA we LOVE you all.
#17 Sat, 09/27/2008 - 8:25am
JAYBIRD
We don't lose our minds......we USE them.
L M A O.
#18 Sat, 09/27/2008 - 8:27am