After that I hopped on the Pali Highway bound for Kailua, and when I got to the beach there I found a canoe and kayak race in progress. It was sort of a rinky-dink affair that might happen every Saturday morning here: a triangular course that went a short distance offshore and was no longer than maybe 2000 meters or so; multiple heats for a variety of age groups and boat classes; lots of kids in attendance for whom socializing on the beach was just as much fun as the racing.
I was kicking myself for not finding out about this or any other races ahead of time. I came to Hawaii mostly just wanting a little vacation and a chance to do some training in warm weather, but a laid back 2000-meter sort of event would have been perfect for me at this early moment in the season. Alas, the surf ski classes were finishing up right as I got there.
Oh well. I paddled out onto the course and worked on my balance in the swells. There were actually some decent waves coming back in toward the beach, and I got several sweet rides. The rides weren't easy to get because the waves were far apart: I really had to throw in a sprint the moment I felt my stern lifting. That made the rides I did get very satisfying. It would have been fun to catch one while coming in to the finish line of a race.
Back on the beach it was nice to see a whole bunch of surf skis just like mine:
No comments:
Post a Comment