Pacific Paddler August 2013 - (Page 18)

TAHITI NUI VA’A Date: May 23–25 Location: Island of Tahiti photos by Jim Foti and Jon Bryan As preparations for the regatta season are on the minds of most paddlers, a few OC-1 specialists were selected by legendary waterman Jim Foti to prepare a team that would represent Hawaii in the Tahiti Nui Va’a race. The race, in it’s 9th edition, is organized every other year by Electricité de Tahiti (EDT), Tahiti’s electric com- pany. It follows a format similar to Tahiti’s most famous race the Hawaiki Nui Va’a; three legs of racing on three consecutive days with the winner completing the race in the fastest cumulative time. The Tahiti Nui Va’a course is a circumnavigation of the island of Tahiti starting and finishing at Point Venus in Mahina on Tahiti’s North Shore. The first leg between Point Venus and the southeastern district of Vairao is 43 miles long. The second leg between Vairao and Tautira is 28 miles along the eastern coast of Tahiti, and the last is a downhill run of 31 miles back to Point Venus. Organizers claim that the Tahiti Nui Va’a’s 102 miles makes it the world’s longest va’a race. The Tahiti Nui Va’a is only in its second edition of allowing foreign teams to compete. Organizers have decided to invite a team from Hawaii in order to promote the event as an international race. Jim Foti has raced in several events in Tahiti throughout his paddling career and could not be more happy about the opportunity. “None of us have ever paddled this race. I’m just really happy with the group we’ve gathered, these are some of the best individual paddlers in Hawaii. They just completed the one man season, and I believe that we should be able to perform and compete at a high level.” Manny Kulukulualani who has competed with Team Hawaii in Tahiti in the past agrees, “It’s great to still be able to compete at this level, better do it now before it's too late.” Kekoa Kramer from Maui feels like this trip is some sort of a homecoming, “Coming to Tahiti, we don’t feel like visitors anymore; we have established some pretty good relationships through the years. This is the best set up ever; we have been given a choice between three 18 Pacific Paddler August 2013 canoes, we have great places to stay, we feel a lot more comfortable.” Foti has selected a mixture of youth and Denton, William Reichenstein, Aaron Creps and Manutea Owen. Race day 1 – Point Venus, Mahina – Vairao, experience and has also invited Tahitian paddler 43 miles. “A learning experience.” be part of the team. “We don’t know the course gest and probably the most difficult of the three a lot of young guys and hope they can learn as teams would be paddling upwind and against the Manutea Owen, one of Tahiti’s best steersman, to and Manutea is going to be a big help. We have much as they can from this experience. This is what it’s all about, we are here to learn.” The particularity of the Tahiti Nui Va’a race is that the fifteen-member teams can make changes of up to six paddlers during the race, and foreign teams are allowed one local paddler, but only as a steersman. Owen is really thankful for the opportunity, “Our team from Huahine was not going to com- The first leg of the Tahiti Nui Va’a is the lon- legs as conditions could prove to be difficult, as swell for the majority of the race. At the start, the 43 crews lined up for the race and were blessed with a rainbow. The conditions from Mahina to Punaauia at the western point of Tahiti were ideal for surfing with favor- able wind and swells, but Team Hawaii had a dif- ficult time taking advantage of them as adjusting to the canoe took some time according to Owen. “It took the team a little while to get used pete this year, so I was free to race, and when to the high stroke rate and getting a feel of the happy. I have always shared my knowledge with on the fly and between changes.” Jim invited me, I could not have been more everybody who wants to learn. That is what I canoe. Several adjustments needed to be made Mael Carey agrees, “The canoes here in Tahiti believe this sport is about, sharing for the benefit are much lighter then what we are used to in several V-1 clinics in Hawaii and has established it was carved out of a single tree trunk, and of paddling.” In the past, Owen has conducted friendships with a lot of the Hawaii paddlers. The paddlers of Team Hawaii a.k.a. Team Kanaka Ikaika are: Jim Foti, Kai Chong, Mael Carey, Pat Dolan, Danny Ching, Manny Kulukulualani, Al Van Gieson, Simeon Ke-Paloma, Kekoa Kramer, Kai Bartlett, Justin Watts, Makana Hawaii. We were lucky to have a quality canoe; Manutea was really helpful because he has raced in it several times and has won third place last year at the Hawaiki Nui Va’a with it. It was up to us to get it going.” As the race started heading east, Team Hawaii started to find a rhythm, gaining several spots to

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pacific Paddler August 2013

HCRA champs at Hanalei in the past 2007, 2001
Walter Macfarlane Regatta
Waikiki Beach Boys Invitational
Tahiti Nui Va’a
Liberty Challenge
Kamanu Composites
Olamau and counting
Outrigger & Hui Nalu beginnings
Paddle 'No-mans Land'?
Mālama Hawai‘i is the first leg
Na Wahine O Ke Kai 2013

Pacific Paddler August 2013