Lotus Sports Club

I got to paddle in an OC2 with Kai Bartlett tonight, my last night on Maui! He was running a small boat practice so I worked harder than I was prepared for but I gutted it out and it was worth it, we surfed amazing waves, battled some strong headwinds and managed to stay upright -such a thrill! Good news is he said a lot of the same things we do. Some things he emphasized: reaching for the water, burying fully at the catch (no cavitation), reach the bottom shoulder forward...sound familiar? :) He didn't have me shorten my stroke downwind, he said time in the water was important, shorten to increase boat speed when pushing for a wave or catching another boat. I kept the same rate into the wind and downwind. I wish I asked him more...but I could barely talk!

Before we started our practice the high school kids were out for their practice. I counted 18 OC6s! I watched them do timing, blending and turning drills for probably 25 minutes, in a loop between 2 buoys about 500m apart. Fun to watch these kids paddle and handle the boats and the surf like pros.

Looking forward to paddling in 2018...springtime!

Happy Paddling!
Erika