Day 3 - Kailua to Lanikai, to the Mokes and back to Flat Island...then more adventures

Today we were starting at Jim Foti's place and heading back to Kailua (into the wind). Apparently the wind this morning had "dropped" - I thought it still felt like it was blowing a nice 10kts, but that doesn't appear to be much around here! The PD chicks turned up with a plan - to avoid the slightly awkward moment of figuring out who goes in the OC6, we'd take it out as a crew, and ask Johnny for some tips together.

This plan worked out great! We crashed out of the channel and into the ocean. Each trying to work on our technique points, but then also forgetting them a bit and just having fun catching runners where possible.We had one wave crash over the ama and swamp the covers, but that just added to the fun.

Having Johnny cruising along on his canoe whilst we were working so hard was a bit disconcerting, but he picked up a few good points - as a crew, we paddled well together, with good timing, and our catch had improved, but he suggested we worked on continuing the power in our stroke all the way to the exit. (I'm being a bit nice here, he actually said we had a "lazy exit"). Ahhh, another thing to work on.

After around 45min we were back near the Kailua Canoe club. I thought that might have been the end of a shorter session today, but it appeared it was only the start. Jim pointed out towards the Mokes, and said we'd head out that way like the previous day, and enjoy the downwind run back to Flat Island.

Yay! More downwind. At the Mokes we swapped canoes, and I was lucky enough to grab a new Pueo to try out. It was swesome fun weaving between the waves. Lisa steered the OC6 and had a blast! She was beaming as we came off the water, as they'd just caught two great runners almost all the way into the beach. Even Jim Foti gave her a thumbs up to celebrate! Another Hawaiian wow moment.

Like any great session, we followed up with a huge breakfast at Boots and Kimbo for their famous macadamia (Mac) nut pancakes and omlettes, even though by this stage, it was about 2pm.

We had a bit more shopping to do, so headed off to Honolulu to Island Paddler (Honolulu) to pick up a few things we'd missed the day before - including a large paddle bag to house the 6 new paddles we ordered in the morning. Then onto Sports Authority to stock up on some more sporting gear - you'd think we did nothing else.

Time to relax, Linda had organised us to catch up with a Hawaiian friend that she had met at one of her first Hamo races, Byron, at the Outrigger Canoe Club. We tried to look relaxed as we sat in the dining area and bar, complete with umbrellas shading tables where you could sip your post padding cocktail and watch sunset overlooking Waikiki. But really, we were in awe of where we were sitting. This was a resort, not a clubhouse! Byron chatted with us about the Hawaiian race season, and some other great races we could do. There is a lot of great paddling in the world! Anyone interested in going to Rio? Italy? Hong Kong?

He took us on a tour of their club facilities. It is nothing short of amazing! Racks upon racks of OC1's and red and white OC6's, and a fancy new OC3, that apparently goes very fast. A mini pool with mirror for your to practice technique in. Even the bathrooms were fancy - with showers, lockers and own laundry service. We took a quick photo by the entrance sign, before being escorted to Japanese restaurant for a tasty dinner.

Another packed day! But we're definitely having a complete Hawaiian experience.