Photo finish in Kaua'i 2005 Season Opener - Jan 9
[Photos] by Thomas Oliver
[More Photos] by Makana Denton
Nobody can complain about Kauai's 2005 one-man season opener. The night before was the most amazing thunderstorm the island has ever seen (in awhile), with a nonstop strobe-light like lightning display, and many online weather services were predicting rain and low winds. Yet, the morning of the race every paddler on the island must have woken up with a smile on their faces as they woke up to perfectly blue skies and a warm West wind.
Since the winds have been circling the islands going every different way possible way since early December, straight West winds for a South Side race were nearly ideal. Since Kauai's last big race, the Kauai World Challenge, was held straight upwind, race officials decided on giving Kauai's out of shape early season paddlers a break and made a backwards course, from Port Allen to Poipu beach (to Kukuiula harbor for the short course).
At the starting line everyone was claiming that they had trained less and ate more than everyone else during the holiday season, and amidst all the talk was held the usual bad start with much of the pack nowhere near the starting line. First around the harbor point was Eric Rafter (Hurricane), followed closely by Luke Evslin (Waveblade) and Steve Cole (Pahoa). Forty minutes into the race Mark Frazier (Pegasus) had taken a considerable lead, followed by Luke who was staying on his line, and Butch Keahiolalo (Pegasus) on the inside. The top three stayed the same up until the finish when Luke tried to make a move. On seeing Mark go outside First Break, he decided to take his chances and cut through the break. The move brought him up even on Mark who edged him out by one second. Following in third place was Butch who, having been among the two favored to win (along with Mark), had gotten sick the day before the race and was running at 75% of his maximum heartrate on the starting line. After Butch finished, all attention turned towards the surfspot Waiohai as one of Kauai's most famous paddlers, Steve Cole, who was in a canoe for his first time since Molokai, was battling with one of Kauai's rising youth paddlers, Kelly Foster (Polaris). Neither could get a lead because each was catching the same swells towards the beach, yet Kelly's 90 strokes-per-minute edged out Steve's 40 strokes-per-minute by one second and they finished fourth and fifth respectively. In the women's division, Alana Goo (Pegasus), in what was her first Kauai Hoe Wa'a Race, beat out Margie Goodno (Vantage), and coming in third place was Katy Otsuji (Pegasus). David Spanski (Polaris) won the short course for his first time with a definitive lead over Basil Scott (Spica). The best effort of the day went to OCPaddler.com's Keizo Gates, who returned from school in New York, paddled three times and went out to finish the long course. The season will get interesting now as everyone dusts off (or claims to dust off) their canoes to get ready for Kauai's January 23rd race from Wailua to Kalapaki. Without David Beck racing, all eyes are on Mark and Butch to have a very competitive season battling each other for first place.
Results
LONG COURSE Men's Open 1-Mark Frasier 1:08:24 2-Luke Evslin 1:08:25 3-Butch Keahialalo 1:09:03 Women's Open 1-Alana Goo 1:18:42 2-Margie Goodno 1:20:23 3-Katy Otsuji 1:25:26 Men 15-19 1-Kelly Foster 1:11:01 2-Keizo Gates 1:16:35 Men 20-29 1-AJ Irons 1:24:49 Women 20-29 1-Melissa Hall 1:26:03 Men 30-39 1-Eric Rafter 1:11:17 2-Bret Deblin 1:12:13 3-Marshall McCreedy 1:14:11 4-Chris Fujita 1:15:40 5-Leroy Jumper 1:15:45 Men 40-49 1-Steve Cole 1:11:02 2-Mike Pemberton 1:26:44 3-Mark Aguilar 1:38:42 Men 50-59 1-Kawika Goodale 1:14:37 2-Richard Pettigrew 1:18:35 3-Mick Callahan 1:18:38 4-Gene Lopes 1:20:53 5-Tom Thompson 1:21:10 6-Arthur Chow 1:21:15 Women 50-59 1-Mary Bartlett 1:25:28 Surfski 1-Kenny Denton 1:18:09 2-Laurie Denton 1:19:07 OC-2 1-Gordon Lett/Sanoe Hookano 1:18:09 2-Tom and Susanna Grubbe 1:19:07 SHORT COURSE Open men 1-David Spanski 1:01:06 2-Basil Scott 1:01:11 3-Aaron Labuguen 1:02:38 Open Women 1-Tracy Capman 1:09:17 2-Joy Chow 1:11:50 3-Sue Scott 1:14 Men 40-49 1-Brian Couran 1:04:57 2-Greg Davis 1:07:42 Men 50-59 1-Tom Bartlett 1:03:15 Women 50-59 1-Nancy Graf 1:20:21 Cruiser Division 1-Margaret Steinhard 1:18:46 OC-2 1-Bill Evslin/Ashley Fujimoto 1:06:40
Posted by keizo on Mon, 01/10/2005 - 10:44am