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.

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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.

As for the SUP run… It was a perfect day, except for the lack of surf. The ocean was like glass, and I paddled from Kailua to the Mokes. There was a small ENE bump moving through, so I caught a few waves en route. There were some better waves between the Mokes, at Channels, so I went over to surf a little. Paddling back out after my second wave at Channels, I got to see why the camera has a lanyard attached… Ever wonder what happens to all the stuff you lose paddling or surfing? Well check out the last portion of the video to find out. I went right to keep from messing up another guys ride, and while making sure I was holding the board, my sunglasses, and my paddle, I managed to kick the camera off the board. I picked some landmarks to pinpoint my spot, and there was a big white rock on the bottom to help mark where I was… I tried to spot it standing on the SUP and looking with my polarized glasses, no luck. I tried to dive for it without a mask, still no luck. Unfortunately, I was out of time. I had 15 minutes to get back to Lanikai so I could watch Kaile while Stacey went to OC6 practice… Kaile and I swam for a while then went home. I got my snorkeling gear, and when Stacey got done with practice (several hours later), I went back out to search for the camera. Luckily, I was able to find the big white rock pretty easily… I spent about 20-30 minutes searching, and then found it! It was only about 20′ from the big white rock. When I brought it up, it was off (It turns off when the battery’s are low). I turned it back on and it worked… I thought it might have some more life left in it, so I tried to film on the way back in. It turned itself back off almost immediately… Oh well, at least I found it! Hope you enjoy the footage…
Aloha,
Eric

Now, to the point of this post… On Sunday morning, there was still some fun surf… I woke up and headed out with my friend Thomas. We paddled the outriggers out to the Mokes, with the surfboards in tow. After stashing the outriggers on Two Humps, we paddled out to Lanikai reef to catch the tail end of the swell. It was A LOT smaller than Saturday, but still fun on a longboard. Thomas took some awesome pictures, and I’ll post them when I can. To say the least, it was another fun day! I was planning on participating in an Outrigger race, but blew it off to surf. Once I post the pictures, you’ll see that I made the right call!

Here are the pics. Hope they work…

Not bad for the tail end of the swell.

Fun times.

Comin' at ya!

When I got home, Stace had the one-mans loaded, and we headed back out. With the conditions being so awesome, Mike wanted to take the Opelu 4-man (from the OC-4 surf video) out again, so this time Stace scored the ride. I put Kai on back of my Pueo and followed them out. They stayed inside (and didn’t break anything…) and got some really fun rides. I stayed long enough to snap a couple pics, then headed back (Kai was getting cranky). Kai and I played on the beach for a while, and Stace got her chance to have some fun. Pics are below. Aloha.

My Pueo with Kai's seat all ready to head out.

Stace and crew heading out.

Opelu on a wave.

Even on the inside, the waves were fun!

Eric and Kai back at the beach.

Kaile made some sand balls while we waited for Mommy.

Here comes Mommy (in seat 1)!

You think they had some fun?

Lanikai Reef is going off!!!

Kaile had fun running around on the beach. The picture below was taken with my iPhone. The light was pretty, so I ran back to the truck for the real camera…

Kaile on the beach Saturday morning.

Picture below was taken with the real camera…

Kaile still running around...

Rain came back… So we left.

Here comes some more rain.

Now, we are back home and it’s still raining… Time to find something to do.

I called Mike to ask about OC-4′s and get some info on what to buy / where / who from / used canoes / etc. He responded with “you wanna take one out?”. HELL YEAH I DO!! So we did. Mike borrowed the boat from his friend Robin, and we headed out (thanks Robin!). We dropped the cooler on the Mokes and then launched for the surfing you see below. I wanted to do some cool tricks, but am lacking in the skill department… Derek pulled some head stands, but his head blocked the camera, so they didn’t make the video. Following the fun, Mike let me steer back to Lanikai. I need some practice, but first I need to get a boat…