Ocho de Mayo was my 39th birthday, and since it was MY day, I got to do what I wanted, and what I wanted was what I always want…a day at the beach (so in actuality, it wasn’t a lot different from any other weekend). Fortunately, the weather was perfect for sailing. It was blowing snot and the surf was up. I was all set to make a great movie, but brought the wrong mount for the mast-top-cam… Oh well, next time. The footage I got is still fun, and I hope you enjoy it, it’s been a LONG time since I’ve made a movie. This one is especially fun, because I finally got Stace and I in the same movie. A couple more years, and Kai will be able to come out, too!
Mele Kalikimaka!
Aloha, and Mele Kalikimaka!
The winter solstice has passed, the days are getting longer, and 2009 is almost gone. I really wanted to get a picture of us all in the canoe for our Christmas card… Yesterday, we finally had some time where our schedules lined up, and the sun hid behind the clouds the whole time we were out (fortunately, it popped out and the lighting was perfect right after we put the canoe away…). Shane was nice enough to come take the pictures for us, even though I’m sure he had a million other things he would have rather been doing. We’re glad he did, though, because he really does an awesome job! Thanks a million Shane (and Roxy!). We couldn’t decide which picture to put on our Christmas card, so we made this little video to showcase our favorites. We hope you enjoy it.
Hau’ole Makahiki Hou!
Eric, Stacey, and Kai
Download this episode or watch on your phone. | Duration: 00:39
Opelu Sailin’
Here is another sailing video. This shows a couple waves, but once again the wide angle lens really flattens out the surf… The day before this was taken, the wind was about 5-10 knots stronger and the waves were 50% bigger. The rides were 3-4 times as long, and even more fun! Derek (in seat 1) has plans for a larger sail and a possible donor for a “safety” ama. 60% more sail area? Yeah baby! I’m ready to give THAT a whirl! The music for this video is “Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride” from Lilo and Stitch. I thought it appropriate, as Holole’a is Hawaiian for “a ride, as at a carnival or amusement park”. That is what this canoe is all about.
Aloha.
Download this episode or watch it on your phone. | Duration: 3:21
Beautiful Ladies
Kaile had a “drop-off” birthday party in Lanikai, the weather was perfect, Stace was game… All I heard was blah, blah, we can take out Holole’a! Stace called Nani, Nani called Hillary, next thing you know the boat was full. I’ve been meaning to get some footage of the canoe with the trampoline on, so I brought the cameras along. Unfortunately, the front camera’s memory card crapped out, so all I have is the mast head shot; but hey, at least it’s something. We started inside the reef, headed for the Mokes, then headed out through one of the channels. The wide angle lens flattens out the waves, so you’ll have to take my word for it that there was a little surf running on the outside… Once we got clear of the breaking waves, we shot down to flat island to make a couple loops. “One more time” started to become the rally cry, but since that phrase rarely ends well, we changed it to the less final, “let’s go around again!” The camera only records about an hour, so all I have on film is the launch through the first time around flat. Once again, you’ll have to take my word for it, but we caught some much better waves on subsequent trips around. I guess I need to take the camera out again…
Final note: Usually, finding the right music for these little video clips is one of the hardest things to do – this time it was a no-brainer 
.
Aloha.
Download this episode or watch it on your phone. | Duration: 3:40
Veteran’s Day sail
Aloha!
I’ve been wanting to add some pics of Holole’a with the trampoline on, and these are really pretty shots. Thanks Shane! I need to get out with the GoPro’s and get some video, but until then, enjoy the pics.
A hui Hoe,
Eric
Rigging Up
More Rigging...
Ready to hoist the sail!
Shoving Off
Sailing by
Coming in
What a Beautiful Family!
Stace and I went to the Marine Corps Ball, and Kai stayed with Aunty Rox and Uncle Shane. Shane has a relatively new camera, is REALLY GOOD at capturing awesome images, and was kind enough to come document the fact that Stace and I know how to dress up. He is quite the photog, no? The next morning, Veteran’s day, we were greeted with blustery but beautiful weather and met up with Rox, Shane and Kai at the canoe (Picutres of the canoe coming in another post…). Those are the best “beach time” pictues we have! Enjoy.
You're the one for me!
Shaka to you!
Stace and Kai
Kai the Supermodel
Kai with Lexi
One Happy Kid!
Dad Center 2009
Join the Lanikai women’s first crew for the Dad Center race (the soundtrack is not entirely family-friendly…). The 25-mile course started at Kailua Beach and finished at the Outrigger Canoe Club. The footage was shot by various members of the crew, and edited (or thrown together) by Eric. Unfortunately, we don’t have any footage of the start or the finish… Enjoy the ride. Team Bradley won with a time of 3:17:36. Lanikai’s first crew came in 14th. Aloha.
Afternoon Sail
Thursday, 2 July 2009 – Join Eric, Dan, Rox and Kaile for an afternoon sail on the Holole’a. It was a beautiful day in Lanikai, and the repairs to the sailing rig worked great! While poor Stacey was stuck at 6-man practice, the rest of us hopped aboard Holole’a for a leisurely sail (leisurely for all but Rox, who couldn’t help herself… In canoe, must paddle!). I believe we had 6 cameras between the 3 of us, so I almost re-christened the canoe the “Narcissist.”
Kaile was a trooper and didn’t even complain much when she got cold, Dan was the man and held down the ama every time we were on a port tack, and Roxy paddled it like she stole it! We went from Lanikai, to Smith point, to the Mokes, around Flat Island, and back.
The music is “The Ocean” by Barefoot Truth. Roxy found it on iodapromo, and used it on her last episode of Beach Walks. I liked it so much, I used it here…
What a life! Aloha.
Sailing Pictures, Steering Paddles, and the Mast Step
First off, here are a couple pictures I got from Michael (He’s the guy allowing me to store the canoe in front of his house). He saw us out sailing on Sunday, and took the time to take some picutes. He even did some editing on a couple of them. I’m really excited to have them, and wanted to share them here. These are from the maiden “sailing” voyage of the Holole’a. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Thanks, Michael! (Michael is an amazing aritst, and you can see some of his work here.)
Eric, Mike, and Kaile
Cool effect.
Timeless
On to the repairs… Fixing the mast step turned out to be relatively simple. The mast step base popped off because I hadn’t really attached it very well… I wanted to be sure I could remove it if things didn’t line up properly. Placement was good, and it was seeming to hold just fine, so I pushed it a little too hard… The actual base, is merely a PVC end cap affixed to the deck. Originally, I just scuffed it up and glued it down with 5-min epoxy… Not so strong. This time, I drilled a hole in the middle of it (to fill with epoxy), and also glassed around the base and up the sides with a couple layers of glass, matting and epoxy resin. The additional glassing should prevent any future “popping off”…
Mast step base glassed in
Note the hole and the flange of glass around the cup.
While I had a batch of epoxy mixed up, I went ahead and reinforced the cracked mast step. Jay said he’s going to hook me up with a good one (ie. professionally done by an expert – not crooked, off center, and kinda gooned up like mine…), but I figured I would try and repair this one, too, since I had the epoxy and glass available…
This piece straps to the front wai (cross brace) above the base cup.
Another view. I did the repair out on the beach by the boat...
While I was taking pics of my handiwork, I thought I’d snap a couple pictures of the paddles I made…
My steering blades
The first one I made was the wood one. The shaft is made of tiger wood (VERY dense and HEAVY) I had left over from a deck railing project, and the blade is made of monkey pod I had laying around in the garage. This paddle was a lot of work to shape (by hand with a bench plane and a spoke shave…), and I think it came out really well. It’s VERY heavy, but it’s also VERY effective.
Wooden blade
The second one I made was the carbon fiber one. The shaft is actually the top of an old carbon windsurfer mast, and the blade is shaped from 3/8″ foam with 3 layers of 5-6oz carbon fiber on each side. I made the “T” top out of a scrap piece of mango wood I had in the garage. The blade itself is HUGE. It’s 13 1/2 inches wide at the widest point, and almost 27″ tall. If you notice in the pictures at the top, I don’t even have it all the way in the water to steer. When it’s windier, or while I’m surfing, I can drop it lower for more effectiveness, and effectiveness is something it’s definitely not lacking. I think I could steer the Titanic with that thing!
Here is the blade
Here is the T top
Next weekend we will be in Waikiki, but the following weekend, I hope to get back out sailing. The goal is to put a GoPro on the top of the mast and film from above…
A hui hoe.
The Sailing Rig Works!
There she is! Holole’a with a sail (I finished the polas, mast step, and a GIANT carbon fiber steering blade last week). It was a beautiful day and Kai and I had a great time (Stace was at an OC-6 regatta in Waimanalo)! The only problem with the rig, is that I broke it… I guess the epoxy didn’t bond well enough to the PVC, and the cup at the bottom of the mast step popped off. Not a big deal, except I tried to paddle in without dropping the sail and cracked the mast step, too… Hopefully Jay can help me either repair it or make a new one…
Despite breaking the mast step, Kai and I still had a great day. We rode our bike to the boat and set it up, then went swimming while we waited for my friend Mike. As you can see below, the mast step makes a good umbrella stand…
Anyone for lunch?
Mike came out with us for the “shake down” run, and everything worked great! He couldn’t stay long, so when he left, Kai and I took the sail down and paddled out for a swim.
Monkey on the ama
After swimming for a while we were hungry, so we put the sail back on and sailed down to Kalapawai. The boat was really fast with just the two of us (and the wind was coming up a little).
Daddy and Kai on the way to Kalapawai
I took a quick clip with the Pentax… It’s really shaky, but hey, I was steering with a paddle, working the main sheet, and trying to film all at the same time… I didn’t do any editing, as I only have 20 seconds of video… … and, I’m lazy!
We made it to the beach by Kalapawai in record time. Kai had mac and cheese, and I had a “beach burger”. Tasty. After we ate, we were getting ready to sail back… The wind had come up a little more, and I was worried about sailing back without a safety ama (we would be on a port tack all the way back to Lanikai without an “ama mama” to hold the ama down). I was going to just paddle us, but with all the attention the boat drew, we ended up with an “ama mama” volunteer. Spectacular! AJ threw on her rash guard, and we were off! Unfortunately, we didn’t get far before we heard a CRACK! I knew right away what had popped. Crappy epoxy… Not a big deal, we could just paddle back. We cruised back to the beach to let AJ off (cracked the step enroute…), dropped the sail, and paddled back. While we were putting the boat away, Dan stopped in to say hi. He was a huge help, and took the paddles and the mast step home for me. Made the bike ride home much easier! Thanks, Dan! Dan actually came out and paddled with me yesterday. We had a blast and caught a couple waves at flat island while Stace was at practice. When Stace finished practice, Dan took some great pictures of us. This one is my favorite.
Stace and Eric head to the Mokes
Kai was still with Aunty Rox, who took her on an AWESOME overnight trip to Waikiki. She and Rox lived it up! It was a “trip” Kai will never forget. Without Kai, Stace and I dropped into a couple “bombs” at “Channels”… The new paddle works GREAT! I hope you enjoyed the pixs!
Aloha!