Three weeks to go until the 2008 edition of the Molokai World Championships...  Here's an update on some of the logistical and other information.

Cape Town, 15 April 2008: In one week I've gone from being depressed about my state of fitness to confident in my ability at least to finish Molokai. 

Bay Crossing - our GPS track (I forgot to switch the GPS off!)

Geoffrey Graf, general manager of the Park Shore Hotel in Waikiki, is offering Molokai paddlers a great deal - but best hurry because the rooms are going fast...

Park Shore Hotel, Waikiki

Six weeks to go.  Six weeks until I'm standing on the beach at Kalua Koi squinting in the early morning light to see the volcanic mass which is Oahu 55kms away.  Between me and there will lie a stretch of ocean which has become iconic.  Be it on outriggers, paddleboards or surfskis, many a waterman has covered this piece of the Pacific. And in 42 days time it'll be that time again.

Lone paddler approaches Oahu - Molokai 2006

For aspiring first-timers entering the Molokai Challenge, there is no book you can buy that will tell you how to prepare, no training manual that explains what you should expect. Tips about this venerated race are obtained mostly by word of mouth. Here are some pointers and confessions from one Molokai rookie that can help shed a little light on a complicated but exciting event for those new to the Big Dance.

2006 MOLOKAI - A BANNER YEAR

Kenny Howell mid-channel, Molokai 2006

A surprising number of readers were taken in by our April Fool announcement of the "Reverse Molokai" and most thoroughly enjoyed the joke.  But here's some solid information about the race.

Clint Pretorius - Molokai 2007 (Pic: Pierre Tostee)

B.S. Forshore, the newly appointed race director, announced today that 2008 will feature a special change for the world-famous Molokai World Championship event: the course is going to be reversed for the first time ever.

Can they be serious?

The date for the 2008 Molokai Challenge has been confirmed: 18 May 2008.  And the course has been changed back to the old finish at the Hawaii Kai cove.

A recent press release by Gameplan Media came close to saying that Lewis Laughlin cheated at Molokai by riding the wakes of the escort vessels that accompanied the paddlers across the Kaiwi Channel.

We spoke to some of the competitors who took part in the race to find out what they thought.

There's a new video clip on you YouTube filmed by Trans World Sport television just before Molokai.  It's mostly about Oscar Chalupsky and it includes some great shots of surfing down the kind of waves that didn't happen for the race itself.

Click on the Image below to get to the clip.