Keawe Adventures

My Sister Adventures

By Kapua Christensen

23 September 2012

 

All I have to say is, "WOW!" I have never been so scared in my life. We got to Moloka'i friday morning and drove down to hale o lono (the harbor where the race starts) to rig our canoe. There weren't any waves. By Saturday the waves were starting to show themselves, nothing out of the ordinary though. Waves were breaking where they were supposed to. Sunday morning I Woke up at our beach house around 4:30 am to the sound of bombs, that turned out to be waves. My heart dropped thinking of what hale o lono had in store for me. We arrived at hale o lono to waves closing out in the channel of the harbor. People were talking about how they've never seen the channel break like that before. Others were talking about how the "Na wahine o ke kai" was the only race they cancelled in the past. My steersman and I went out to the point to watch the surf for a while. Trying to plan our escape out of the harbor. There was an average of ten waves per set. 6-10 foot (old way of measuring waves). 3-4 minute lulls in between sets. I was freaking out on the inside. Tearing up, wishing my phone had service so I could tell my family I love them. I honestly thought I was going to die. I finally got a bar of service and texted my mom to tell my daughter I love her and the waves are huge. On a normal race day, it's an honor to be part of the starting crew, or the "first crew". I am normally on the first crew, that day was no exception. I talked to my steersman, who is one of my best friends. I told her that if our canoe flips over to find me before looking for her paddle and before taking care of the canoe. I let her know that I'd be panicking and I'd probably drown. I was serious. I also told her that I need to see my kid when I cross the channel. All the ladies, and spectators got together for a prayer before the race. I could see the fear in everyones eyes. Ladies were crying, hugging, and counting there blessings. After the meeting we were all dismissed to our canoes. Our canoe was one of the first to the water. By then there was only one minute between sets. My crew and I decided we were going to paddle like our lives were at stake. I was as ready as I was ever going to be. Scared out of my mind, all I could think about was my child. There were four of us lined up ready to be the first canoes to attempt this impossible task. There were other canoes behind us, trickling in to go. We were watching sets. The last wave of the set had just finished rolling in. People were yelling, "GO, GO, GO!!" from escort boats and the cliffs that were on either side of the channel. We put our paddles up and paddled as hard as we possibly could. It felt like we were paddling for hours. My heart was in my throat, my emotions were uncontrollable. It was about a half a mile out to the "safe zone" A wave was forming at the back of our canoe. WE MADE IT!! I looked back and realized that all the canoes who were a half a second behind us weren't so lucky. Canoes were popping through the ocean like a scene from "Pirates of the Carribean". Literally popping out from the back of waves. It was terrifying. It felt like I had just gone through the craziest race ever. It was funny because we went through all of that just to get to the starting line. The real race hadn't started yet. I was blown away. The pictures, videos and stories I heard from the people on my escort boat were crazy. I was bummed for the crews who were less fortunate than us. The race was incredible. We were one of the top five canoes for majority of the race. We ended up being sixth place overall. Six of the ten girls in our canoe had never done the race before. Everyone couldn't believe how well we did. I am very proud of my crew. I'm sure you weren't expecting this long story. Sorry about the misspelled words and how I threw commas where they probably shouldn't be. Altogether, a great experience.