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Un-Official Positions: (Word
of mouth)
Men:
1. Lewis Laughlin - Fenn Mako Elite - Tahiti
2. Hank McGregor - Fenn Mako Elite - South Africa
3. Tim Jacobs - Epic V10 Ultra - Australia
4. Dean Gardiner - Fenn - Australia
5. Dawid Mocke - Fenn Mako Elite - South Africa
6. Herman Chalupsky - Epic V10 Ultra Elite- South Africa
7. Oscar Chalupsky - Epic V10 Ultra Elite - South Africa
8. Martin Kenny - Hayden - Australia
9. Dave Kissane - Epic V10 - Australia
10. Kirk Jarrott - HUKI S1X Special - Australlia
11. Steve Woods - Fenn - South Africa
Woman
1. Lauren Bartlett - Epic V10L Ultra - USA
2. Alexa Cole - Fenn Mako 6 - South Africa
3. Katie Pocock - Epic V10L Ultra - New Zealand
You can access the live GPS positions on this link http://www.sportstrack.net/V2/?mode=1470CCFA-7A05-4F92-8F91-15678ABA1539
Note that the positions will only activate when the units are switched on just
before the race.
In the meantime we will have to use this very low tech page to tell you what
is going on. You will have to refresh the page every 10
minutes for an update, please don't refresh more than this or we will have the
same problem. I will not update more frequently except near the finish.
08h30: I have just had a chat to Marshall Rosa who is on an escort boat and
says the "trades are back" and the swell is heading in the direction
of Oahu. He says these are fine conditions for the race. There is one small
snag though and that is the shore break. He says the waves are piling up and
dumping on the beach and this will pose a problem for some less experienced
paddlers.
Here is a picture of Kepuhi beach taken on a previous occasion.
08h40: OK I see some of the the GPS units are live and are milling around the
start. I hope we don't lose any units in the shore break. Sportstrack.net have
kindly loaned us the units and are providing the live updates. Thanks Robert
and Robin at Sportstrack.
08:50: It is five minutes before the start and Vince Bechet reports that is
looks like all the boats are past the shore break and are lining up to start.
Note that the GPS coverage is looking good with more boats coming on line. Vince
says cell phone reception is poor and the units might struggle to get a signal.
This will improve as we near Oahu. If you are looking at the GPS tracking switch
to Arial View in the top left. It is very pretty.
09:00: Race is underway. Marshal reports a clean second start after the first
start was aborted due to some paddlers crossing the line early.All the boats
are still together and are heading north west. (too far north says Marshal -
for these conditions). There is a north swell with 'small bumps' and the wind
is blowing at 15 mph. Once they get out from behind the point then things will
open up.
09h10: If you are watching the GPS tracks (click the link at the top if you
have not seen this great technology) this is how it works. The GPS co-ordinates
are relayed via the cellular telephone network and plotted on the map. The units
do not send signals continuously so that is why postions change. Once we get
closer to the finish Robert at Sportstrack.net will increase the update speed
on the front paddlers to give more realtime positions.
09:15: Here is the route from Molokai to Oahu.
I am going to try call Vince for an update from the press boat..
09h20: No answer from Vince. I called Marshal again for a postion check. Remember
that the GPS positions can be misleading as they update at different times.
The pack is starting to spread apart and all boats are surfing. There are two
packs, one is getting 'sucked north by the tide' and Marshal is with the south
pack consisting of Oscar, Dean, Herman and Kane. (Note: it looks like Oscar's
GPS has not updated recently because Marshal reports him to be with the pack).
09h40: Vince finally answered, he confirms the two groups have split to north
and south courses. Vince says Hank McGregor is in the lead at the moment in
the northerly group. The southerly group is Oscar, Dean and Martin Kenny. Dawid
is on his own. Vince is well behind the boats so can't get a good impression
of the field. He will move closer for the next update.
09h50: Positions
They are North of a straight line to Oahu but south of the others. Marshal
thinks the southern route is the better line - 'its shorter'.
1. Oscar Chalupsky
2. Herman Chalupsky
3. Martin Kenny
4. Dean Gardiner
In the southern group it is Hank, Steve Woods, Kirk Jarrot, Peter Cole.
According to the GPS tracks Alexa Cole is leading the ladies race ahead Katie
Pocock.
In the celebrity race Rob Mousley is leading Charles Brand.
10h00: Marshal is up with the Northerly group and number 5 Hank McGregor is
ahead on his own and looking very good surfing the runs. Marshal says the Northerly
group are heading for Makapuu point on Oahu while the southerly group is heading
for Koko Head on Oahu. What is the faster route? We'll see.
10:20: We are having trouble getting hold of the press boat. We want to know
where Dawid and Hank are? We do not have GPS fixes for them. Either they are
malfunctioning of they forgot to switch them on. Anyway the tracking is fascinating.
Lauren Bartlet is looking good in the ladies race and is even with Alexa Cole.
Who is Lauren Barlet? I have no idea. Mail me on
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if you know
something about her. Hang on we just googled her, she won the OC-1 division
last year but according to the entry list she is padding a surfski today.
10:30: OK I am through to Vince, I can hear the ladies cheering 'whoohoo Herman'!
Vince has put me on hold..... and hung up.
10h40: We are about half way now. Latest update from Vince, all the lead paddlers
in straight line from North to South. It is anybodies race and to call the leader
is difficult. Here are the positions from North to South.
Hank McGregor
Tim Jacobs
Barry Lewin
Lewis Laughlin
Dean Gardiner
Martin Kenny
Herman Chalupsky
Oscar Chalupsky
Vince has not seen Dawid from the start of the race. Vince says he may have
gone way south.
Herman and Oscar are pushing hard and looking good. I have asked Vince to look
out for Alexa and Lauren and get us some news on the ladies race.
Harry Negron mailed me some information about Lauren Bartlett: "Lauren
Barlett is a canoe legend in Hawaii. She is the most dominant women in the outriggers
in hawaii. She almost won all the Molokai races she has done. Also her husband
Kai Barlett is a renowed outrigger builder in Hawaii and Three times Molokai
OC-1 winner. Lauren also has been part of the US kayak sprint team. She knows
how to paddle hard and she know the fastest way to get to Oahu."
10h50: Update from Marshal. He is with the Southern Group of Oscar, Herman,
Martin Kenny and Dean Gardiner. He says it is anybody's race at the moment but
when pushed says that he would rate Oscar and Herman as the winner. Good news
for Ian Trautman and company at Peninsula Canoe Club who are following the race
at the club on the big screen... Dawid is in the middle of the north/south line
and is around 6th place.
11h00: I have been in contact with Robert at Sportstrack.net and asked him
to increase the refresh rate of the top paddlers as per Marshal's postions.
This should give a better impression of the relative postions on the GPS tracking.
He confirms that Hank and Dawid's units were not switched on from the start.
Looking at the GPS tracks the North/South line of paddlers is quite distict.
Marshal reports that the wind is slowing as they approach Oahu. The wind is
currently around 8 knots from the North on Molokai.
11h10: Well I don't know what to say about the GPS tracks, it is very difficult
to get an idea of who is leading at any one time. You can hover over the marker
and see the relative update times to get an idea of who has not updated for
a while. I think because we are in mid-channel and because the units are low
on the water theys might be struggling for cell phone signal. Dawid has suddenly
appeared on the screen, right up front, the guys at sportstrack must have done
some magic. There are some 22 km to the finish.
Kirk Jarrott is another paddler that I have not heard much of and who is doing
very well. I anybody has some recent info on Kirk please drop me a mail on
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.
I know he is a paddling buddy of Martin Kenny in Australia.
11h40: Lots of info from Vince, Vince is the race photographer and keeps swapping
his cell phone for his camera. The swell has picked up although the wind has
dropped. He is with the north group and starting with Hank in the north the
field is spread out in a vertical line, he moved south to Lewis Laughlin who
is paddling closely with Tim Jacobs, and Dean Gardiner. The boat followed Dean
and Vince said "Dean is flying, he is on a mission". They cannot see
the southern group of Oscar and Herman. Any of these paddlers could win. Vince
was going to head for the finish now, I will try get an update from Marshal.
The GPS tracks are looking good now, we can see Oscar, Herman, Lewis, Dean
and Dawid. Lewis and Dean seem to have the lead.
Update on Kirk, "Kirk Jarrott is Clint Robinsons double ski partner
and 6 times Australian surf ski champion in double and team ski relay races"
But his route looks odd zigging and zagging north and south- we might have
him confused with a escort boat.
This is a view of the last 10km. Paddlers need to go south of the point (off the picture) and
in to Hawaii Kai.
12h00: Sorry for the delay, John and Anne Blacklaws who have been helping me
out have just left, it is midnight here in SA. Thanks John and Anne. Things
were getting crazy here with the technical issues and trying to track the race
at the same time. I think I would have an easier time paddling the race.
Nobody is anwering their phones right now but the GPS positions are showing
the race clearly. It is only Hank McGregor and Martin Kenny who we can't track.
We know they are in the lead bunch. I am keen to get Marshal on the line to
ask him about the Chalupsky brothers southerly course. They seem to be slightly
behind Lewis, Dean and Tim but Oscar knows this ocean too well to be there by
mistake. Will the gamble pay off?
12h10: In the ladies race it is Lauren Bartlett who is leading Alex Cole. Alex
has gone way north and will have to angle back to Diamond Head point while Lauren
is on a straight line to the point.
12h20: I've just been on the line to Robert to find out why the GPS tracks
have not updated for a while. He sounded fast asleep and will call back.
The mystery of Kirk Jarrott continues, his track is drunkedly staggeing across
the ocean and he has done 3 more kilometers than the other paddlers. I'm sure
we have his GPS unit on a support boat.
Robert from sportstrack.net just SMS'd me, there is a problem on his server
and he is fixing it now. More stress.
12h30: We must be close to the finish now and I am in the dark as to what is
going on. Nobody is answering their phones..
GPS server has crashed - 4000 connections was too much to handle.
Lewis has won, Hank will be second, third will be Tim Jacobs then Dean Gardiner.
Whoops, looks like it is Dawid in 5th. (thanks DeAnne and Wayne)
Herman in 6th place.
Oscar will be in 7th place. Keep refreshing and I will give the positions as
they come in...
I'm on the line to Vince who is swapping between cell phone and taking pictures
of the finishers.
The GPS server just could not handle the load. The paddlers went through a
patch of poor reception mid-channel and when they reconnected and sent the history
- together with 4000 viewers it just hung the server. It is trying to catch
up now, the data is safe but it cannot process it.
12h45: Waiting for 8th place.... drat, lost the line to Vince.
Back with Vince, he is heading back out and passed 10 boats in a few hundred
metres. He cannot give the names.
Lewis had the race by far, Lewis was 5 minutes ahead of Hank at Koko head and
had an easy flatwater paddle to the finish. Tim was about a quarter mile behind
Hank and Dean tried hard to catch Tim but Tim pulled away. The temperature is
around 85 degrees fahreheit, it is hot. All the paddlers looked finished, especially
Herman except for Lewis who looked calm and relaxed.
GPS is live again, Robert cleared a bunch of data.
Vince is heading out to Diamond Head to find the first woman. According to
the GPS it is Lauren Bartlett who has done superbly to be not far behind Peter
Cole and Greg Barton.
13h05: Vince is 2 miles from the finish and is taking pictures of the first
woman paddler to finish, that being Lauren Bartlett. There is much shouting
going on - "C'mon girl keep goin".
GPS is server is jammed again.
13h10: I am finished, our new dedicated server's database is fried, the GPS
server is jammed. I'd rather do the race next year than cover it live. Robert
tells me we had 4000 simulteneous connections when he looked. We need a new
plan to cover races, this sport is growing faster than we can scale. I don't
know whether to be happy or sad. OK, happy it is. My apologies for the frustration
of things going down, we need to put up a big warning next year that this is
very much cutting edge technology.
I will try get some official positions. Unofficially then from Surfski.info
we say well done to Lewis Laughlin from Tahiti winning for the second year running.
What a great win for a great person, he took the centre line and came in far
ahead of second placed South African Hank McGregor who took the far northerly
line. Australian Tim Jacobs is on the podium in third and is continuing paddling
extremely well this year. Another Aussie, Molokai veteran Dean Gardiner finishes
a highly respectable fourth place and is well placed for the relatively light
downwind conditions. Dawid Mocke finished 5th, and the brothers Herman and Oscar
Chalupsky finishing strongly in 6th and 7th. In the womans race Lauren Bartlett
from the USA wins ahead of South African Alexa Cole. This is all unofficial
off course, it is very tricky following the women's race, where was Katie Pocock,
I can see her boat is on the beach but where did she come?
And in the celebrity race Rob Mousley looks to be taking strain. He is heading
for Diamond Point at 6km/hour. He has another 10km to go. Hang in there buddy,
drink your juice.
Rob is going to make it, he is 2km from the beach, he must be absolutely finished
after five an a half hours on the water in hot, humid conditions. Well done
Rob, and happy birthday. By the way we trashed the surfski.info server.
Please, if anyone can mail me the official results to
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I'd
appreciate it.
I'm off to bed, I'll fix the mess in the morning.
The finish at Maunalua Beach
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