Download this episode or watch on your phone. | Duration: 00:39

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

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

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.

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 new canoe, Holole'a

About a month ago, I gave up on my search for a used OC-4, and ordered a brand new one from Jay Dowsett (Kailua Kanu). This is the same design as the red and white canoe we surfed in the “OC-4 at the Mokes” video… After much drooling and anticipation, the canoe is finished! Jay delivered it with his son Michael yesterday evening. Kai and I met them at the boat ramp in Kailua to rig it up, and Roxy met us there just as we were unloading it from the trailer. Jay gave me a quick rigging lesson, and we were ready to paddle. We took a quick spin around flat island, and as it was getting a little late, we paddled over to Lanikai (where she will live). Stace was finishing up with OC-6 practice and joined us. We took one more paddle out to the reef and back, then put her away for the night. I didn’t take many pics, but don’t worry, there will be plenty coming!

Sunset in Lanikai

The Canoe is an Opelu (an opelu is a fish – a mackerel scad). Traditionally, an Opelu canoe was used for fishing and laying nets. Now, they are used for surfing and having fun. The wa’a (main hull) is 24′ long, with a beam of 18-19″. The iako are about 7 1/2′ long. The hull weighs about 170#, and all rigged up, the boat is around 200#. It’s fun to paddle and surfs really well. What really sold me on the Opelu, was how well it handles. Even though it is a surfing machine, and has the rocker needed to maneuver on the waves, it paddles efficiently enough to be fun for dinking around (and sails really well when rigged up for sailing – if you have a sunfish rig, let me know…).

I spent a lot of time researching an appropriate name, and came up with Holole’a. Holole’a is a contracted word that comes from holo – “run, sail, ride, go” and le’a (or le’a.le’a) – “joy, pleasure, happiness, merriment”. Put together, it is defined as “a ride, as at a carnival or amusement park”. I think it’s a perfect name for a surfing canoe; riding for joy, pleasure, happiness, or merriment. That is what this canoe is all about. Aloha.