North Shore Challenge

The final race of the 4 part series today was from Ehukai (Pipeline) to Waimea Bay for 2.4 miles. Though there has been no swell from the north, I worried the past couple of days that the 30 mph winds we've been having would kick up some wind swells and chop. Also the localized showers would make the water dirty.

Got up this morning and the wind calmed down a bit to 15-20 mph but there was still showers all over. When I got to the North Shore I felt better when I saw the water at Chun's Reef. It was calm, clean and only a 2-4' swell. I parked a Waimea and after a while, began my walk over to Ehukai. A friend saw me walking and picked me up. Got there with plenty of time to chat and go over strategies for the race.

The race start was a disorganized mass start with people all over the place. Before I could get into position the horn sounded. I chose an outside line towards Rocky Point. A lot of others chose the inside preferring to be closer to shore. Last year I stayed close and ran into some strong currents that I struggled with. This year I had better luck and the currents helped. It's neat to see how the reef changes from one area to the other. Near Ehukai it's rockier and as you get towards Rocky Point it turns more shelf like. I saw a train go by with one guy leading and about 4 or 5 gals following. I tried to get on their feet but only lasted with them for about 50 meters. Near Rocky Point I found a guy going my pace and drafted him for about a mile to Waimea. All I saw after that was his bubbles but it really made the swim easier and I think the pace was actually faster than I would have done solo. After the race I found out his name is Pat. Past Rocky Point we entered Sharks Cove. There I did see divers and the water got deeper. At the turn into Waimea Bay I broke off the side of Pat and took a different line into shore. He managed to keep ahead of me though I didn't mind because he did all the work and I got a free ride off of him.

The race was faster this year due to favorable currents and my time was 1:08 so I'm very pleased. Besides some regular reef fish I did see a small turtle and a small spotted manta ray. This was my best race of the series this year and now I'm considering doing other swims that I usually don't do.