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 The Molokai
World Championship race this year has one of the strongest line-ups ever. But who can offer the on-form South Africans
a challenge?
We spoke to
some of the Aussie and Hawaiian paddlers who will be giving the Saffas a run
for their money.
Dean
Gardiner
 An old photo of a young Dean Gardiner!
Yep, Dean
is a last-minute entrant. He was very
cagey when I spoke to him last week - rumour has it that the trip was a
surprise first anniversary present for his wife... He refused to be drawn about his training
other than to say his form was "pretty average". He went on to say, "If it's windy I might do
ok."
Rumour has
it though that he has been training hard in Sydney
and is determined to take his 10th Molokai
title.
Ash Nesbit
Ash could
surprise a few of the Molokai contenders. He's also had some good recent results,
coming third in the Perth World Cup behind Oscar Chalupsky and Darryl
Bartho. He didn't do so well in Dubai but was paddling an
unfamiliar Fenn Mako 6. His favourite
boat is the Fenn Millennium and he'll most likely be paddling one in Hawaii.
 Ash Nesbit with training partner Dean Beament (Australia)
The 36 year
old has worked hard for Molokai, but the
autumn weather conditions haven't helped.
"We planned four long downwind paddles," he said, "but every time it's
been dead flat."
He works
three days a week for the Western Australia Institute of Sport training
hand-picked up and coming paddlers. (The
youngsters are given three months free coaching to introduce them to paddling -
what a great way to invigorate the sport.)
He's recently started a paddling and diving equipment shop and will be
running the Western Australia Ocean Series.
Ash last
paddled Molokai in 1998 when he came 5th,
"about 4 ½ minutes behind Deano." He's a
lot better prepared than he was in 1998 when he hadn't done enough long
distance training.
He said his
goal for this race is "beat my position from last time. If I'm close to the guys at the end, I'll
give it a go," he added, "I haven't done all this training not to have a good
go at it!"
"From the
two hour mark," he said, "if you've conserved energy and you've hydrated
properly, that's where it all comes together."
He doesn't
use a GPS but will look for some of the front guys to follow. "If you're going to follow anyone, Oscar's
probably a good choice." He'll use the
days before the race to reconnoitre the approaches to Maui.
Dean
Beament
Ash's
training partner is Dean Beament who will be paddling Molokai
for the first time. "Dean's a great
paddler," said Ash, "he surprised a lot of people on the second day of the
Perth World Cup. I reckon he'll go top
ten at Molokai" Dean came fifth in the second
race in Perth
just behind Herman Chalupsky.
 Dean Beament - early morning training session in Perth, Australia
Until
recently the 39 year old Beament was a sprint paddler and he only started ocean
racing about a year ago. "What a great
sport!" he said, "at the Rottness
Island race, Oscar
paddled over to me and told me I was going too fast. I though f**k you mate, I'll see you at the
finish! But he was right."
On his
paddling partner, he said, "yeah, I should be able to stick with Ash for the
first two hours or so but then I expect to see the fat blob take off and leave
me behind! Seriously, Ash is paddling
really well."
Stuart Gaessner
Current
Hawaiian state surf ski champion, Stu Gaessner, 45, paddles a V10.
 Stu Gaessner (Pic: Hawaii Canoe Kayak Team)
"For sure the guy to beat in Hawaii is Stu Gaessner," said Mark Sandvold
who came second in the Hawaiian champs. "He
has won nearly every race this year and just took our State Championships with
ease. I have had to bear down and put in
some extra training the last few weeks to hopefully have a shot at catching
him."
Stuart said
of Molokai, "the state champs are a coastal
race with uphill downhill and flat conditions.
In contrast Molokai channel is
influenced daily by wind, tide and currents which are constantly changing. The paddlers that do well ,work with the
water to make the most of these conditions... Mark is an incredible surfer and
armed with his v-10E he will be hard to beat."
Stuart has
known Oscar Chalupsky for 20-odd years and trained with him in the 1980's. "He seems more determined now than ever. He is an example that age is not a factor, and
he still rips. He's a teacher and will
school some of these young pups out there."
"My tactics
will be an even and steady race to win a case of beer from sandman and Sean!"
Sean
Monohan
Sean
Monohan, who came third in the state championships, is another contender who
will taking on the front group.
"Sean Monaham
is at times faster that all of us, for him it will be can he do it in the
channel on race day... " said Mark Sandvold.
"Keep in
mind though that the Channel is a completely different race course for us
Hawaiians as we rarely get way out there due to the danger and
logistics..... For me though its the
focal point of the whole year as its like surfing Waimea at 20' and getting out
of Waikiki at 2'. It takes the channel at 25+ knots and 15'-20'
seas to get my adrenaline going anymore if you know what I mean."
Oscar
Chalupsky
Meanwhile,
Oscar has been in Hawaii
for a week already, paddling his V10E and making movies...
 Oscar Chalupsky, making movies in Hawaii
"Live"
updates on race day
Through the
magic of Skype and mobile phones, surfski.info is going to attempt to publish
half-hourly updates during the race... This
will obviously depend on factors like signal strength - particularly when the
escort boats are in mid-channel, but check the site regularly for news on the
day.
For more information see the Molokai World Championships website.
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