September 22
Na Wahine O Ke Kai (Women of the Sea) celebrated its 35 anniversary this year. 6 women outrigger canoe teams cross the 26 mile Kaiwi channel between Molokai and Oahu. About 60 teams competed this year coming from all over the world including Tahiti, Australia, England and Japan The winning team finished in just over 6 hours. If you subscribe to the Patagonia catalog check your summer or surf addition (can't remember which) for a photograph and story from the 2012 race where a dangerously high break made leaving Hale O Lono harbor a challenge for some, and impossible for others. This year was calm.
The women's race start is a special thing, they sing, pray, and are generally there for the spirit of paddling. We picked up 3 racers from the North Shore of Oahu when their bus broke down, one of them has been paddling in this race for 18 years. Being there for the start and listening to everyone sing Aloha Oe was pretty incredible and I feel lucky. The men's race is in 2 weeks (we will have paddlers at the Sea Ranch!) so we will see the energy differences at the start.
We ran into a couple we saw on the previous days hike (the only people we saw) and went with them beyond Hale O Lono to Halena beach where we ended up spending the day. A local family came out with truck bed full of food, music, beer and we hung out with them as well and played with their kids in the ocean. They shared their food (musubis: sticky rice with spam and egg wrapped in seaweed, the peanut butter & jelly sandwich of Hawaii; soyu/garlic/sesame seed edamame; deer meat killed the night before; Heineken light (who am I to say no to a beer even if it's only 11am we'd been up since 5!). Had a great spontaneous day.
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