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Duke’s Oceanfest Hawaii Paddleboard Championships Saturday, August 23, 2008

August 24th, 2008 by evan

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I finally did my first race yesterday and it was harder than I expected. The course was 10 miles from Hawaii Kai (start in front of Marshall Rose’s house) on the Koko Head side of the Koko Marina bridge, around the last green channel marker (blinkey), past Diamond Head, around a buoy set outside of Queen’s Surf and finish near the Beach Boy rental stands near the Duke Kahanamoku statue. The race was fun and I was pretty exhausted.

My initial plan was to just stick to my own pace although that went out the window once there were paddlers near me and especially the ones that were on the side of me, just in front of me and just behind me. It’s really hard to just cruise when you can hear the person right behind you. I fell once around Black Point area. It was for no real reason but my legs and feet were already going numb so I was getting a bit worried. It’s funny because every so often I’d hear a ’splash’ sound of someone falling off their board. I was thinking to myself, “I haven’t fallen yet”…and then I fell.

I was tired coming around Black Point, my time there was already an hour and four minutes and what’s normally the hardest part of the run was still to come. The wind up to that point was mediocre, seemed like 10 mph or so with a gust of 15 but according to ikitesurf.com it was 15 mph with gusts of 20. In any case, it sure didn’t feel like it.

I took the inside route passing Diamond Head because just in case there was a head wind I didn’t want to be far out. That was a good move for me. I was pretty exhausted passing Old Man’s, the wind was nil or slightly in my face and there wasn’t any swell to help. I was considering cruising the last part but there were paddlers all around me and I just could not stop pushing it.

Once I rounded the Queen’s buoy I headed for the inside of the Canoe’s surf break because I saw a couple guys in front pass each other in the surf. I had to catch a wave, not wipe out or pearl to keep my position (which was not impressive by any means). I just didn’t want to drop a couple spots at the end and I could hear and feel the guys right behind me paddling for the waves as well.

Once I got in I guzzled whatever drink they gave me in one gulp, looked up and saw 1:59. I thought to myself, “That’s pretty slow” and went off to shower. We got some cool swag (Honolua Sweat Shirt, Duke T-Shirt, lanyard, race jersey and a kukui nut lei). My boys took the lanyard and lei. They gave us a chicken salad for lunch and then there were awards.

As I’m writing this today I’m a bit more sore than I thought I would be but this downwind stuff is so fun that I can’t wait to get in the water this week!

I took some pictures and a short video before the race started and will post that when I can.

Here’s the overall times and places for the stand up competitors only. This was compiled from http://www.pacificsportevents.com/Races/Dukes%20Paddleboard/2008/Overall_08.htm

The divisions are not fully accurate. There were a lot of guys on F-16’s and 14.6′+ stand ups but for some reason it shows only 5 in the unlimited division?

Here’s the results per division:

MALE STAND-UP Less than 12.6 ft

Here’s the overall time and place for the entire field of lay down paddleboarders and stand ups.

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