The 2013 Molokai-2-Oahu Event – Recap by Connor Baxter

Share/Bookmark

01

The 32-Mile Molokai-2-Oahu Event was the hardest race I have done this year.

My family and I went from Maui to Molokai on Friday on our boat. We brought my boards, our food, water, clothes, provisions, and Igloo coolers. It was great to get there a couple days early to relax.

On Saturday Zane Schweitzer and I got a good paddle in. We also got our boards ready with OnIt Pro. Then the rest of the day was rest and lots of eating!

My dad and I did lots of research on which line was favored weeks before the race. Since there was an outgoing tide everyone normally goes southbound. The current pushes you north – so you want to head more south so that you aren’t trying to paddle against the current once you get to Oahu. Also – the wind predictions were really good. East winds at 20 mph. So – before the race I had a good idea of what line to take to Oahu.

So after the Hawaiian Pule on the beach, I headed to the starting line. While I was on the starting line I looked at Oahu and made a land mark to head to. Once the horn blew Kai Lenny and I instantly pulled ahead, with Danny Ching heading a little north of us. Kai and I both took a very south line which worked for most of the entire race.

The wind was very light easterlies around 8-10 mph. And the swells were coming from all different directions. Which made catching bumps tricky. The conditions were challenging to say the least.

Kai and I were trading off the lead the entire race. The committee boats and the helicopters were constantly around us – giving us a good idea that we were in the lead.

It was a hard grueling battle but as we got closer Kai made a good comfortable lead on me. At this point I was so tired and hurting I thought Kai would keep his lead and there was no chance of me catching up. But, my support team aka my family – saw that I was giving up and were screaming “Never give up, anything can happen, keep going”. And somehow I flipped a switch and got my energy back and paddled my hardest. It took me a bit, but I finally caught back up to Kai, which amazed me and I just kept my head down, paddling hard and started making a decent gap on him.

At this point our line to Portlock was perfect – but with around 8 miles to go the wind switched to the North and came up to about 12-15 mph and now I was paddling into the current and the wind.

At this time Travis Grant and Scott Gamble, who both took a more north line reaped the benefit – as the wind played in their favor. They now had the stronger wind at their backs – and all the guys that took the south route were paying dearly for the wind shift!

As I got close to Portlock, I noticed someone on a SUP in front. Then I was told Travis was almost finished. I was a little bummed, but I wanted to see if I could catch Scott. So I paddled close to the wall and caught a bomb wave that connected to another little wave that connected me to a small inside wave. I pretty much caught all the way up to Scott but he was not going to let me pass him. I ended up coming in third overall – but was still stoked I did that good considering I paddled an extra 4 miles because of the wind switching.

I want to thank my sponsors for all their support – Starboard, Maui Jim Sunglasses, Rainbow Sandals, Trident Sports, Futures Fins, Dakine, GoPro, OnIt Pro, Waterman’s Sunscreen, Igloo Coolers, Sunrite Maui, Hammer Nutrition, iDcard, EFX and Hi-Tech Sports.

Thanks also to my support team – my dad, mom and sister!! They are the best! Also great job passing me all my Hammer Nutrition and my second DaKine Hydration Pack!

Also a big Mahalo to all the event organizers and volunteers. They always do a fantastic job!

Aloha,
Connor Baxter

Photos: My mom – Karen Baxter

The Start

02

Danny and me at the start

03

All the boats behind us

04

Kai and me

05

Catching the first bomb wave at Portlock

06

Second wave

07

08

Related posts

0 Responses to “The 2013 Molokai-2-Oahu Event – Recap by Connor Baxter”


  1. No Comments

Leave a Reply