Around the Island

Clarke and I took today’s lunchbreak to SUP around the vacation island. 2.15 miles (give or take, there was lots of back and forth today). It was a nice sunny day, but the wind had kicked by lunchtime. Before we launched, I took a moment to do a pohaku ceremony to bless my SUPatx paddle before it’s first use. Uncle Gus does this with all the Ikuna Koa paddles, but as my paddle is carbon fiber and not wood, I opted to do it myself. We launched from north end of the island and headed clockwise around it. The wind and current kept pushing us makai (towards the water, away from the island) as we passed Ski Beach. We had a brief respite as we passed under the first bridge and then as we paddled near the beach for the boat pond (that big square water in the middle of the island) the wind came on strong. The second half of the trip was a good hard workout and we tried not to crash into each other. I couldn’t stop paddling because the current would immediately take me away. As we rounded the top left corner of the island, the wind was at our side/back and we attempted to surf the little waves that were created only by the wind, we were the only humans on the water today. There were a few waves that almost dislodged me from my board (Uncle John’s twelve footer) but I managed to hold on. After passing under the Ingraham Street bridge again we coasted to shore to pack up and head back to work. Definitely not a bad way to spend my lunchbreak.