Ali Cat said...
hi guys, thanks for the encouragement. Absolutely spewing to get around koko head in good time only to cramp up in my hami and hip about 700m from the finish. I needed more fluids and my boat driver had left me to go to shore and start drinking with his mates when they are suppose to stay with you until the finish. Sat on my board for about an hour trying not to lose ground but by the time i got someone to go in and find my boat captain and get him to relaunch i was too exhausted and dehydrated to make it in.
The last mile once you get around koko head is punishing and can take even the best paddlers 30 minutes plus to get in. You need to stay as close to the headland as possible to get any shelter from the punishing headwind.
A big congrats to all the other aussie paddlers, especially to girls, jas and angie, who won the womens team division. I watched jas paddle the last section into the finish from out the back of the bay and can only imagine how much that race would have hurt with cross wind and no rudders for the teams. They only discovered at the awards ceremony that they were actually competing against another girls team, who were a late entry, but they still came out on top.
Some of you have asked me to name the boat captain but i am not one to name and shame. I spoke with the race director and he will be prevented from escorting this race in the future so no one needs to be concerned. He was very apologetic and realised his mistake and as such refused to accept the balance, 50%, of his escort fee for the race, so some consolation there for me.
Will post more and lots of pictures when i get home later this week, as its too hard to write much using the keypad on my phone.
Hey Ali,
Just read Dave Kalama's post on the Molokai race on his website. He mentioned you in his post with the trouble you had with the escort boat. He gives you a good wrap.He sounds very impressed with how you handled the whole situation.
Great work, knock em dead next year.
