Getting in the waka on Hilo Bay

Managing the heat

Everyone seems to be handling the heat better than expected. It seems to cool off overnight so the mornings are great for hanging out on the deck when we don’t have a big day planned.

Yesterday day our day started at 5:15am with Penny taking us for Qi Gong at 5:30am so we could all have breakfast and get to the venue by 6:45am in time for the waka blessing. Everyone runs on Island time which can be early or late. The blessing was scheduled for 7:15am but started just before 7am so quite a few people arrived just as it was finishing. Today is a late start so everyone. We were able to have a sleep in and a quiet morning.

Our Warm ups

I’m sure our coaches want to know that we are being really diligent about our warm ups before our Paddling. Linda has us all on track. We do stretching, then a cardio routine, followed by some of the exercises we worked out back at home and then band work. It’s been really great to be doing this as a crew. What a perfect setting to do it (as long as the coconuts don’t fall!

Paddling a Bradley – thanks Kana

Yesterday we were really privileged to get back onto the water. Kana Covington arranged for us to use one of their Bradley canoes from O’hana Wa’a Laulima club in the morning. Kana lives about an hour hour away and drove in all the way just to get us sorted. However, he was caught up in traffic and while we were waiting another nice man said we could use ‘this waka’. So off we went into the Hilo Bay.

What a treat. the conditions were great. Those Bradley canoes turn on a dime. We all got very excited. About three draws and we were around. Unfortunately the Matahina canoes we are racing in perform quite differently. I think we all came off the water buzzing.

We gathered for a debrief and Kana had bought in a box of organic bananas which were so tasty and sweet. Carmel’s Aotea crew had the slot after us. It was so good to see them as we hadn’t caught up since they had arrived after their amazingly epic voyage from Aotearoa. Lots of hugs all round.

Course orientation – Yeah right!

We came home after a short debrief as we had a “course orientation” session booked for the afternoon. Everyone just chilled and, as the programme was running an hour behind time, we had extra time. Going back down to the venue in the afternoon we found that we weren’t actually allowed on the course as it wasn’t finished. It is in the rule book (in fine print) that the course orientation is not necessarily on the course. So it turned out to be be “waka familiarisation” for us.

By this time the wind had come up and the sea was very ‘cut up’. We went out into the bay and attempted to keep a line along the outside of the course. Interestingly, it appears that the course is set so that the waves will be on our ama side for the 500m 🙂 We managed really well in the conditions with everyone doing their jobs. I came in with a big grin on my face and feeling so proud of the way our crew handled the conditions. We are certainly not used to it. It reminded Carol and I of Whitianga.

This afternoon we had our turns practice – not on the course!!!! They seem to be having a lot of trouble putting the lanes out and no one was allowed on the course again today. So off we all went to the end of the bay where there were 2 flags and 20 waka trying to do turns on those two flags – from both directions – it was a bit of a zoo but we managed and feel like we have a better handle on the turns.

Getting in and out of the waka is a challenge as it’s out from the beach. Currently there aren’t a lot of helpers and so Linda just tells the crew coming in (usually a J19 crew) that the nannies are coming and can they help:) It works every time. We are gradually getting the hang of it and working out what works best for us. All the crews are finding it challenging and there is a lot of chatter on the managers page about the difficulties and the risk of injury. The swell/waves coming in have knocked a few people over. It’s nothing like walking down the pontoon and jumping in with dry feet:)

Making themselves comfortable in the Matahina

Race rules state that there is noting to be added to the canoes for racing. So all footplates have been removed from the Matahina and the seats are unpadded. Some of our crew is finding the seats too hard so they thought they would add some of their own. I understand that one worked and one didn’t. I was too busy with my warm up:)

Tonight is haka and waiata practice

We will be leaving again for the venue shortly to join up with the Aotearoa contingent to practice our karakia, waiata and haka. It’s a great place to catch up with people.

Life in Hilo

We are loving the heat, the friendliness, the life style and especially the wild gathering we can do around our house.