OCPaddler.com | Kaiwi Relay

slbrth

My GPS said 41.07 miles from the start line to the boat ramp. We set our line directly for Diamond Head but drifted a little bit north..

#1 Mon, 05/03/2010 - 2:25pm

eckhart diestel

Mahalo slbrth
40.2 is the official distance - about 1 mile extra .... 8 min .... imagine what could have been :). Thank you for posting this; I remember an OC 6 crossing with significantly more miles covered, accounting for different start location.

#2 Mon, 05/03/2010 - 9:43pm

ocean98383

In 1976 the start was Kaunakakai.

#3 Tue, 05/04/2010 - 2:23am

slbrth

When I ran the course we wanted to do in Google Earth it came up with 39.93 miles. We paddled an extra 1.14 miles!!! Maybe could have cut off 9 minutes!!! :)

#4 Tue, 05/04/2010 - 6:26am

jc9_0

Cut any more miles and you guys will be 10% faster.

#5 Tue, 05/04/2010 - 7:34am

eckhart diestel

The magical 10 % you are looking for, jc9_0. I gave them up to paddle a Pueo :).

#6 Tue, 05/04/2010 - 9:00am

koacanoe

What? knowing the the weather conditions, you didn't do it in your custom fitted Hurricane? Anyway Eckhart, you beat some fast surfski paddlers also. Strange to not see the V-1 division posted, for it was V-1 type weather and would love to see how they made their changes into the cockpits?

#7 Tue, 05/04/2010 - 9:17am

jc9_0

there was much debate about whether or not to go rudderless. but in the end i can honestly say thank goodness i didn't. although there wasn't much wind, there were still bumps to be ridden and plenty of sloppy water by V-1 standards.
finally we were somewhat swayed by Georges advising us to use a rudder.

#8 Tue, 05/04/2010 - 9:44am

Anibal1

Lost Kaiola Paddle with sticker saying"SOUTH SIDE", Iakos, sit for a PUEO boat after Molokai Relay.

#9 Tue, 05/04/2010 - 10:45am

shurl0ck

Found Seat, Iakos, and Paddle at Magic Island after Molo Relay by the showers. All items were together. If yours, call and give description. 386-3487
yes now i know the description. just need the the boat and ama and im good to go. give the guy a call.

#10 Tue, 05/04/2010 - 11:16am

ScarySlow

Anibal, passed your stuff over to Mael at the Kamanu shop this morn. He will take back to Maui for you. Aloha.

#11 Tue, 05/04/2010 - 11:32am

eckhart diestel

Koakanoe - it was not that flat. The Hurricane is unblievable for me when it is glassy; this was Pueo weather as the boat is so well balanced.
My partner would have liked to paddle his Pahoa with more leg space; he was so kind to bear with me.

#12 Tue, 05/04/2010 - 1:54pm

Tommy Conner

Eckhart. The extra distance paddled is between 1 and 2 miles for a 30-40 mile race such as Molokai. I have tracked this several times while escorting and comparing the mileage going from Oahu to Molokai and the mileage from Molokai back to Oahu while escorting kayaks and canoes. It is understandably difficult to control your course while racing a canoe or kayak and dealing with surf conditions and fellow competitors leading you astray. That being said, those who are astute enough to maintain a fairly straight line will be way ahead of their equals who are zigzagging across the ocean. This is especially true when low visibility conditions prevent you from seeing your target destination. I always made it a practice to have a compass with me when I could not see where I was going. It seems that many escort skippers just follow their paddler instead of correcting their bad steering choices. It may feel good to turn your canoe to catch a wave and ride it for a while but the net gain is clearly negative if the direction is 60 degrees off course.

#13 Tue, 05/04/2010 - 8:11pm

joe

@tommy as much as that makes sense, it goes against what so many have been saying for so long ie "fastest point from a to b is not the closest point from a to b"
@eckhart
regarding the whole 10% faster becuase of haul efficiency, i think guys are forgeting to average out the other tables of reference, ie: max output, fitness, technique, conditions, etc, so 10% increase in haul effiency does not equal 10% increase in overall speed, yeah?

#14 Tue, 05/04/2010 - 10:08pm

eckhart diestel

Thank you, Tommy.
Joe - if you had to paddle 1 mile less, that would be up to 10 minutes less on a day like Sunday.
How else would you be able to gain that much ? If you could take that off your time you were suddenly in a different category of paddlers.
Your quote point a to b will be true at times, too.
We both did several minor course corrections during the race, they took a lot of effort already. Fortunately we got a good pay off: we got back into the field to be able to compete one on one, some boat wakes and a very good line from outside Portlock all the way to the end. It really mattered.
Joe - efficiency. My stroke count over a fixed course dropped by more than 10 % after moving the position where I was sitting and fattening the ama. My time trial times were much better. This is in relatively flat conditions.
It will be due to the fact that I am tall and relatively heavy, and the change affected the trim of the boat quite a bit.
The gain was not apparent to me in the surf - no real way to measure it either. But it is a net gain in speed of about 10 %, not just a number.

#15 Wed, 05/05/2010 - 7:18am

koacanoe

Yep, that's what all the top paddlers say: "the shortest distance between two points is a straight line." However, whenever I follow that advice, somewhere off Sandy's I hit the Doldrums. Traveling in a sine helps get around this.

#16 Wed, 05/05/2010 - 9:30am

shaneful

back to the question....we got 40.7 miles startb to finish.

#17 Wed, 05/05/2010 - 12:02pm

TKWraps

I rode in the escort boat for some friends - they ended up going close to 45 miles. Experienced boat captain kept pushing for a higher line (280) Some of the swells in portions of the race and what wind there was closer to the island were also encouraging northerly drift. When the passing storms obscured Oahu the guys had a hard time staying straight. Ended up coming in near Portlock where reflections off China walls made for washing machine conditions ...caused a huli but also yielded a Hawaii Kai run that was smooth and fast even with out surf ... seemed to allow the guys to make ground on teams farther out.
Three other things that also didn't go well ... dolphins tried to huli the canoe, a lei got caught on the rudder outside waikiki, and trying a change near a surf break ... not worth it.
(Checking on google.earth makes 45 seem insane ... probably because the GPS was in the chase boat and does extra miles with changes ...)

#18 Wed, 05/05/2010 - 12:53pm

eckhart diestel

We decided not to have a GPS on the canoe, it was on board of the escort boat. Not sure why.
It would be fun to look at the different segments, speed in different segments, Portlock, finish, how much time the changes took etc. Maybe there is a next time, you never know.

#19 Wed, 05/05/2010 - 4:06pm

Kaiwi Relay - actual distance

Kaiwi Relay - actual distance