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!
LOVE IT! Has Mom read this post yet though???
You were really flying down wind, and perfect timing that Kai has become such a fantastic swimmer. I wish you could have seen her at the pool in Waikiki – she said no camera so were were off the grid for 24 hours and I must say it was nice for a change.
So happy you and Dan found each other; how long is he in town? I want to get out with you guys!
OMG!! You’ve become a Master Blogger!!
Awesome pics. Sorry to hear about the breakage, but not bad for the maiden voyage. Me thinks a kite will be a blast!
@Rox: Only thing that could have made the day better would be to have had Stace there with us!
Dan actually found me, and I am very stoked! Not sure how long he will be here, but at least through the weekend of the 4th. I’m hoping he will come out to Waikiki for the regatta. As for paddling, Tues and Thurs evenings are still open. Winds are supposed to be coming down, so good for paddling!
@Shane: A kite would be the bees knees! I’m going to do a little more engineering and come up with a better step for the mast. Got a good idea from Ryan’s dad.