The Paddling Thread

[daniel1948]

The other day we had a couple of visitors, young women, in the canoe. I always jump out and swim at the rest breaks because the water is so nice, especially at this time of year. Some of the regulars also swim, but many don't. They're concerned about being able to get back in the boat, or they don't want to get their hair wet. I'm going to estimate that visitors are 50-50. We always show them how to get back in the boat (there are several different methods) and sometimes we have to help them with a shove or a pull or both.

One method involves swinging one leg over and then kind of rolling in. Another involves getting both legs over the gunwale while lying on your back in the water, bracing your feet on the other side, and doing a sit-up into the boat, using the iako (the cross-piece) for leverage if needed. I use a huli strap: a long strap that buckles under the seat and then hangs over the gunwale into the water, forming a loop-step.

But the strong paddlers just grab hold of the gunwale and lift themselves up, then swing a leg over, or swivel their butt into the seat. World-class long-distance racers, who switch crews periodically during the race, can do this without the boat even stopping. Three paddlers jump out of the canoe on the right as three others hoist themselves in on the left, while the other three keep paddling, and the three who switch maybe miss one, or at most two, paddle strokes on the change.

So this day one of the woman accepted my suggestion to jump in and swim, and when time came to get back in the boat I started to demonstrate the two-legs-over method, when the captain suggested she see if she could just hoist herself in. I had not suggested that at first because she was not thin. Turned out she hoisted herself in without any difficulty at all. Something I cannot do no matter how hard I try. So I asked her if she was a gymnast. (She didn't look thin enough to be a gymnast.) Turned out she's a weight-lifter, and all muscle.

I should have guessed, because I was in the seat in back of her and right from the start she caught on to the technique and I could tell she was putting real power into her strokes.

Needless to say that was a fun morning.

[Desert Fox]

I kayaked today as well. Launched from John's point specifically because there are no power boat facilities there. Did about six miles. Was able to make the full loop of the bay this time and was not help back by currents. There were a number of sail boats I saw in the distance but not many power boats.

[daniel1948]

There were only four people at HOCVS this morning. Since I don't like the 4-man canoe (it sits so high up off the water that paddling in it hurt my back) we took out a six-man canoe with just the four of us. It was hard work, but I've been in canoes with full crews that were not as strong as the four of us. We went farther out than we usually do and had a long rest/swim break. I was in the water for a long time and didn't get cold at all. August, September, and October are the months with the warmest ocean water here. 80 F., average. But I think it felt a little warmer today than recently. It was so nice! In winter I can stay in for 5 or 10 minutes before I get cold. Now it feels as though I could stay in forever.

[Desert Fox]

I can likely do paddling into October so I can get a few more paddles in myself.

[daniel1948]

I can likely do paddling into October so I can get a few more paddles in myself.

You should consider moving to Maui where we paddle all year long. And in winter we paddle with humpback whales.

[Desert Fox]

I can likely do paddling into October so I can get a few more paddles in myself.

You should consider moving to Maui where we paddle all year long. And in winter we paddle with humpback whales.

Not within my budget. Also if I had the budget to move to Hawaii, I think I would move to New Zealand. 

[Shibboleth]

How are things in Maui? Also is your bird shit deterrents still working?

[daniel1948]

How are things in Maui? Also is your bird shit deterrents still working?

For me personally, all is normal. I was not personally affected by the fires. The birds still shit on my driveway, but nothing like before the screens were installed around the solar panels to keep them from nesting underneath.

For those affected by the fires, I have no direct reports from people affected, as Lahaina was always kind of isolated, having just one two-lane paved road connecting to the rest of the island, and a very harrowing one-lane Jeep path around the north coast. So I don't know anybody who lived there. Recovery efforts continue. Hazardous materials are being cleared away. I believe all the people who were in shelters have been moved to hotels and other short-term housing. Several agencies are distributing supplies to people in need. Volunteers are helping in various ways. I have no useful skills so I just donate money.

If anybody reading this wants to donate DO NOT GIVE TO THE AMERICAN RED CROSS. They are disorganized and inefficient and nothing donated to them ever goes where it's supposed to go, ever. The best local agency to give to is THE MAUI STRONG FUND. I give to them and to the local food bank.

I offered a room in my home for a displaced person, short term until they could find something more permanent, but I had no takers. The fact is that since tourists stopped coming, there was abundant short-term housing available. The list rapidly grew quite large. FEMA provided funding for people to stay in hotels, but specifically excluded private individuals offering to rent homes.

A number of individuals and organizations are holding various gatherings "in remembrance," or whatever. I get it for people directly affected who need to get emotional support. But a whole bunch of people scattering flowers onto the water, for example, isn't going to help anybody who has lost their home or their loved ones. I cannot imagine what it would be like to lose your kids. Those folks will probably never really recover.

Homes in and around Lahaina that were not affected by the fires were looted. Which reinforces my generally shitty opinion of the human race. A lot of people have come together to help the survivors, and a lot of others stole from them, and other people are trying to buy Lahaina properties on the cheap in the hopes of developing it for tourism. The governor and the mayor are saying they won't permit that, but we'll see.

Maui has plenty of housing for the displaced people, which would become available with one simple act: Re-zoning short-term rental properties as long-term rental. Short-term rentals are for tourism, and bring much higher rents, so locals cannot afford them. Long-term rentals (zoned so that they can be rented only for six months or more) are of no use to tourists, and so become affordable for locals. But of course government officials want tourism.

Apparently, for reasons that baffle me, tourism for the entire state has dropped to a small fraction of what it was. Why people would have cancelled trips to the other islands I cannot fathom. And even here on Maui, only West Maui and Upcountry were affected. Everything is normal on the rest of the island, but there are very few tourists. (Which is very nice for anybody not dependent on tourism. Restaurants that are normally too crowded to get into are wide open, which is great for locals who like to eat in restaurants, but is terrible for the restaurants. I cannot eat in restaurants because you cannot get low-sodium meals.)

[Shibboleth]

Apparently, for reasons that baffle me, tourism for the entire state has dropped to a small fraction of what it was. Why people would have cancelled trips to the other islands I cannot fathom. And even here on Maui, only West Maui and Upcountry were affected. Everything is normal on the rest of the island, but there are very few tourists. (Which is very nice for anybody not dependent on tourism. Restaurants that are normally too crowded to get into are wide open, which is great for locals who like to eat in restaurants, but is terrible for the restaurants. I cannot eat in restaurants because you cannot get low-sodium meals.)

If I had tickets, I would have cancelled them. The news here had stores about how the local people hated the tourists and didn't want them there right now.

[daniel1948]

Apparently, for reasons that baffle me, tourism for the entire state has dropped to a small fraction of what it was. Why people would have cancelled trips to the other islands I cannot fathom. And even here on Maui, only West Maui and Upcountry were affected. Everything is normal on the rest of the island, but there are very few tourists. (Which is very nice for anybody not dependent on tourism. Restaurants that are normally too crowded to get into are wide open, which is great for locals who like to eat in restaurants, but is terrible for the restaurants. I cannot eat in restaurants because you cannot get low-sodium meals.)

If I had tickets, I would have cancelled them. The news here had stores about how the local people hated the tourists and didn't want them there right now.

There have always been folks here who hate tourists and don't want them here. That hasn't really changed. The problem is that most tourists don't respect the local environment, people, or culture. I'm pretty sure that's true everywhere. I certainly find it nicer when there are few or no tourists. And in the immediate aftermath of the fires there was a feeling that visitors were consuming resources that were needed for the survivors. The county government did ask people to stay away from Maui for a while.

The problem is that our economy is dependent on tourism. A rational plan for Hawai'i would be to become less dependent on tourism and become more economically diversified. We could and should grow most of our own food here. But to be honest I don't know what we could produce for export to pay for things we cannot produce here.

Tourism is definitely a two-edged sword.

And there is the fact that we white folks stole the whole state from the indigenous Hawaiians. Some Hawaiians are angry about that. But most know that they need tourism for the jobs they need, and that there's no way to go back to being an independent nation.

[daniel1948]

This morning I was going to paddle with HOCVS. But only three of us showed up, and the others had some maintenance they wanted to do. So I ran (actually sort of trotted; a full-on run is beyond me these days) up the beach to MCC just in time to sign in before the cut-off, and they were very happy to see me. They had 8 paddlers, which isn't a great number to take out a twelve when a couple of the 8 aren't very strong. They could have done it, but were very happy to have one more paddler. Conditions were excellent. The launch was tricky because of the surf conditions. We started to push off and had to stop after the two of us in the front seats were already in the boat, and we jumped back out as a big wave came in. But we finally made a clean launch of it, and once out the water was flat. And still warm for swimming. There was no surf at all when we landed.

[daniel1948]

Yesterday the wind forecast was light, switching to come out of the west around the time we usually land. Ideal conditions for paddling out to Lookout Point and around the corner and north to the poli (cliffs). And there was a report of high e. coli levels at the beaches to the south where we usually go.

So we headed out towards the point, but the wind got stronger and stronger, and we decided not to trust the forecast. We turned south when we were about two miles out, and we had a pretty brisk wind and chop at our backs. The canoe gets a bit squirrelly when the wind and chop are behind us, and that's very hard on my bad hip. After a half an hour I decided I needed a break. (Normally I can do the first hour without a break.) So we stopped, still about two miles out in deep water and I swam a bit. Once in the water the pressure is off my hip and it doesn't take long before I can paddle again. But the conditions were the same, and we turned towards shore so as not to get anywhere near the contaminated water south of us. But now we had the wind and chop on our ama, which is even worse. I needed another break after only 15 minutes. This time I spent more time swimming. After that it was just a short paddle to The Cove and Blue Roof Reef, where we usually see turtles. There were no turtles, but we took a LONG swimming break.

Now that we were close to shore the water was flat and there wasn't much wind. We stopped to swim a couple more times, and just minutes before we landed, at around 10:00 a.m., the wind picked up STRONG, and from the east, not the west. Looked like a storm or squall was coming in.

So the first half was not my favorite kind of paddling. The second half was very nice.

Getting the canoe onto my buddy's pickup truck is usually easy: We remove the iakos and and ama and the seats, tie down the ama in the truck, and then with one of us at each end, carry the canoe to the truck. I hold up the back while my buddy sets the front onto the rack on the truck, then climbs into the bed of the truck, and we slide the canoe forward until he can tie it down. The canoe is very light, so if there's wind I climb into the truck and hold the canoe down while he ties down the first strap.

Yesterday the wind was STRONG! We had real difficulty getting the canoe onto the rack, and then it wanted to blow away. He had a hard time holding it while I climbed up, and I had all I could do to hold it while he strapped it down. I don't know what we would have done if the wind had been much stronger.

[daniel1948]

Yesterday they had a "paddle out" for Lahaina. All three of the canoe clubs on Sugar Beach participated, and I saw a few canoes that I did not recognize, possibly from other parts of the island. I'm terrible at guessing numbers and I didn't think to try to count them, but I'm going to guess that there were perhaps 25 or 30 canoes. There were big crowds at all three clubs before launch. I was there with my buddy in my OC2 (two-man canoe), and there were maybe six or eight OC1's. I gather that it was intended as a public memorial for those who died, and a show of support for the survivors.

We paddled out five minutes or so and then Anela (executive director of HOCVS) led us in some Hawaiian chanting. Then Kimokeo led us all in a big circle and then farther out, I'm going to guess two miles, though I'm also lousy at estimating distances. Anela and another person were in her small sailing canoe and were unable to follow us, because there wasn't suitable wind. I don't think any of the OC1's followed all the way out either. Most OC1 paddlers seem to like to stay closer to shore, but my buddy and I like going way out.

Once we got two miles (?) out, Kimokeo led us in some more chanting, and then people scattered flowers on the water, and from several of the canoes a whole bunch of small white birds were released. Again, bad at estimating numbers, but I'm going guess 30 birds. Kimokeo gave us permission to get in the water and swim, which my buddy and I did, but very few others. A lot of paddlers are afraid of being able to get back in the canoe, or they don't want to get their hair wet. It boggles my mind that so few people take advantage of the opportunity to swim in this wonderful water.

After that and some more chanting, Kimokeo led us in another big circle and nearly all the canoes followed him back to shore. Sundays are one of my regular days in the OC2, so we followed around the circle until it started to head back for shore, and we continued south for our regular Sunday paddle. We paddled down to The Cove, where there's a nice turtle reef for swimming. Two other canoes also paddled south, and went farther south than we did. I don't know if they, also, were just having a fun paddle, or if they had come up from the south for the event and were just heading back home.

When they released the birds I was very surprised. I had not expected that. I wondered if they had bought captive birds and were releasing them oblivious of their inability to survive in the wild, or if they had captured wild birds and kept them until the event. But it turns out that neither is the case: Later on, somebody told me that people rent out birds just for this purpose. Once released, the birds fly home. Like homing pigeons.

[daniel1948]

Update:

The latest official count from the Lahaina fire is 97 people confirmed dead and 22 unaccounted for.