I gotta, you gotta, we all gotta regatta

Yesterday the Lanikai Canoe Club blessed our canoes in hopes for a triumphant and successful season. An elderly Hawaiian priest presided over the ceremony while an attendant held an umbrella over his wheelchair. I erroneously thought the umbrella was for the sun until he and his other attendants started slapping us with wet leaves and flinging water and salt onto our canoes and club members.

Mokulua and Hokulele are our koa canoes that were born in the 1960s. Since we believe they are alive and we depend on them to keep us safe in the water, we always treat Mokulua and Hokulele with respect. We never lean on them, step over them, or hang anything on them (unless it's a lei). Our blessing concluded with chanting, boat-blowing, and dancing men in short skirts, so there was a little something in it for everyone.




And today was the first race of the season! Each Sunday 10-11 clubs compete in different categories. I'm in the Women's Novice B Group (aka "Lanikai Killer Bs"), for women between 21 and 50 who have never raced. Lanikai has about 19 Novice B Women; each Sunday 6 are in the B Women race and 3 in the co-ed race with 3 novice men.

Today I raced in the Lanikai B Mixed group. We almost won but were barely beat by a team with 3 Navy Seals. It makes me feel good that our rag-tag group of haoles almost beat a bunch of Seals. At the same time, it also makes me feel sad that those fierce Seals were almost beat by our rag-tag group of haoles.




I'm going to be really sad to leave the team in July! Three times a week I walk to one of the most gorgeous spots on earth to practice:



And this is my trusty paddle. Her name is Hollywood.



Our coach says that we're going to rev up our strength-training tomorrow by putting diapers on the canoes. I'll be happy as long as I don't have to change them.