RIVER TRAINING DECEMBER 2012

December 2012

Winter training on Hanalei River

            So the blog is largely about my activities unless Gil is paddling.  Only because we usually don’t have photos to support his daily role as the Prince of Princeville in home repairs.   
            Oddly, one thing we have always noticed is that topics needing attention come in clumps.  When I was in practice, I would have several different people show up with shoulder afflictions, for instance.  Well, it occurs in home afflictions as well.  Gil will be called to several homes in a row for leaky faucets, or this week it was propane tanks for BBQ grills  - three of them; unrelated.  Go figure.

            Anyway in an effort to have him present in the blog I went to the Hanalei Bridge to watch  him to come up river on his one-man outrigger.  He has been training with one of the club's coaches, Togo.  For those familiar with the location of the bridge, it is very near the taro fields of Hanalei Valley where I often work with wetland birds.

Waiting for Gil & Togo to reach me, I enjoyed all the other traffic above and below the one lane bridge and across in the taro.

 Hawaiian Coot with white frontal shield obvious

Hawaiian Moorhen with red frontal shield 

a little sun glare gives this photo a smoky look

Hawaiian Goose or Nene  
He looks like he's in the water but actually standing on the dike

            Lining my shot up, I practiced on some other river folk before they passed under the bridge.  And while I was at it, I got the cars crossing, too.

This stand-up paddler happened to look up as I snapped

Kayaking - I think this is the stand-up kid's dad, mom's kayak was stuck in the bushes

With a good steersman, it's fun  to dodge the tourists in a 6-man canoe

This is Jason steering for Hanalei Canoe Club 

Cars can only go in one direction on this bridge, so they take turns

The down-hill row will start now

Gil & Togo

            Here they come.  Under the bridge heading for the wire where the river gets too overgrown and shallow to continue.   They will return to the bridge and then turn around for another run to the wire and back – sprinting from one telephone pole to the next.  

They were moving along at a pretty good clip here 

They picked up more speed for this leg

Back toward the bridge where heart-rate monitors will be checked

Meanwhile on the bank, the coot has chased the moorhen out of the pond while the nene looks on.

 Later I saw the same coot chase three other moorehens out of the pond

Bit of a bully

                 Traffic on the bridge is non stop, a sunny Sunday in Hanalei

By the time Gil & Togo head back again, three of the club’s girls are heading upstream too.  Busy on the river.  We have all been seeing more large sea turtles upriver this year than ever before and of course if we go early enough, we might see buffalo grazing above us in the pasture.

There is no organized practice in the winter - only the hard core keep up their training,

the ones that think training is just fun! 

 Here they come again, hogging the road, hitting it hard

Last run down river - about 2 1/4 miles to the club

Holiday Rental Cars 

            Notice the cars waiting for the bridge – one event of the holidays was that the island ran out of rental cars.  A friend of ours reserved a car for a month and when she got here they told her she could have it for two weeks so she is walking, and loving it.  Another friend gave her sister her car and she is riding a wreck of a bike.  They said cars would be available in a coupe days and the day rate would be $225!  ‘Tis the season.

Hanalei Pier

            In July I posted a note at the end of the Open Water Swim event about the local Rotary Club raising money to restore the roof on the pier.  They got the money, they got the tear-down complete and the materials ordered.  Guess what?  The state has now offered to reimburse them the costs and will put up the new roof!  If you want it done, do it yourself.  The state was just happy to avoid the red tape.

The Naked Pier 

Notice the stand up boards waiting for students to learn the sport.  

Broken

            The weather has fluctuated between cloudy and chilly with rain to bright, hot sun.  The surf has also disappeared or been really big.  It’s (almost) all good.