It has been a bit of an extended settle down period after the trip to Hawaii, mostly because of the time change and the lack of sleep the first couple days from getting caught up with school, Rideau AGM and hanging with the guys.

I managed to sneak out to the Casino following the Rideau AGM to catch the after party of the Gold Medal Plates Fund raiser that Mark, Gab, Angus, Corey, Johnny and Van K were all a part of. It was a great call swinging by, because I got to meet one of my sporting hero's, Simon Whitfield. Adam and Simon have been friends for a couple years now and I have been psyched to get a chance to meet him. He is a serious hero for me in Sport, I have such a clear memory of watching his race in Sydney. Yelling at the screen as reeled the leader in within the last km and powered to the gold. It was such a magic moment and when I am running I sometimes picture myself narrowing the gap like he did in the home stretch. SO it was great to meet him! Turns out he is a cool dude and very much like all the rest of us, he likes making sarcastic jokes and playing james bond chase scene in the casino while the security guards eye us warily. A very cool dude. You should check out Simon's Blog if you don't already, I know my mom is a big fan.



This past Sunday we also got to head out to Saunders Farm for CAN FUND DAY. Can Fund is a not for profit organization that raises money for Canada's amature atheletes. The
staff I have worked with from Can Fund, Jane, Conrad and Patriza, are an amazing bunch. They work tirelessly to raise money that goes directly back to help athletes train and reach there goals. Can Fund Day was an amzing chance for a whole bunch of the national team athletes form the area (mostly Canoe Kayak athletes because, lets be honest, we hold it down in Ottawa) to get out to Saunders Farm and have some fun. I have never been out to Saunder's Farm in the fall, it was wicked. They have so many great activities there for kids and the vibe the Mark Saunders and his family have created out there is just fantastic. Here you can see Jamie honing his skills on the Corn Cannon. On top of all that, Saunders Farm raised a bunch of money for Can Fund so thanks to Saunders Farm and a big thanks to Jane and every one at Can Fund for their constant enthusiasm for sport.



The rest of our time not spent paddling or studying has been spent in our baby, the pristine 1980 J-Craft that has some how ended up parked on our dock. We have been hardening up and ripping right through the drop in water temperature, thanks largely to Corey's wet suit and a nice fire waiting inside when we are done. I have been loving the wakeskate this fall and thanks to Photographer J-Dawg Hastings, we got some sweet shots of a full charge on the October Rideau.










The end of the fall colours framed by a sick right off the wake,
stylish hand plant and a rideau river rooster tail.







Poppin' the wake.







The Satellite Beach style is a shout out to Robert Jr.

Now Home from the big race in Hawaii, it was a wild couple day and I am still recovering from my first crossing.

The Molokai Hoe' race is between Molokai and Oahu, but it isn't the shortest route between the two at all. We raced from a bay about 6-8 km down the coast of Molkai to Waikiki which is not direct land fall on Oahu. I knew the number 41 miles across before hand, but it is longer when you paddle it than when you say it. Ask Vajda Ati, who was so dead after his body shut him right down into a post race nap on the beach for and hour and half. (the issue with this nap was he didn't tell any of us and we thought he went home. so when he woke up between two outriggers and everyone was gone he was a bit confused.)

Despite the extreme effort it took, or maybe because of it, we had an amazing experience in the race. The changes were wild, the swell was big (especially for first timers), and the intensity from the crew was huge. I think every one had a moment in the 5 hours and 10 minutes when they hit a serious low, but we all helped each other and brought what we needed to once we were back in the boat to keep us on track. We pulled into the beach at Waikiki 21st out of 110 crews, pretty damn good, it was a cool race finish, with tons of people on the beach and lots of boats out along the courses finishing stretch cheering. The vibe the whole time in Hawaii was so special, some places are serious, but Hawaiians, I found, are only serious about being relaxed. It is all Aloha,all the time. (Aloha I found out in Hawaiian is the word for Hello, Goodbye AND Love. Its cheese ball, but it does pretty much some up there vibe out there that there greeting and salutation is filled with the livda.)

It was a great trip, I will get some pics up as soon as I can get them Aruss, who I am sure is up to his elbows already in Trick Play Work, or perhaps he is still celebrating the Chargers DECIMATION of the Patriots last weekend. Either way I will get the pics up soon.

Thanks so much to Barry for his support of team Zebra, to Miranda and Anja for taking care of all the boys so well, to Paul for steering the course and showing us how to not be kooks out in the swells and to Holly for being our best cheerleader.

Back to school,

Ian

Hello Friends,

Things have been outstanding so far here in Hawaii. The last couple days we have been out training in the mornings in the outrigger on varying swell. Some days it has been quite big, with waves up to 12 feet and others times like today it was relativly flat. The different conditions have been very helpful for our team to prepare for what ever the Molokai crossing will throw at us on Sunday. Andrew arrived last night and we had a great session with him this morning, our whole team was able to practice our exchanges which will be crucial to staying with the lead pack. We all had a great morning and our getting pretty excited to fly over to Molokai on Thursday.

In our off time we have been enjoying the island emensely. The island of Oahu is easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and the people here are so cool and laid back. We spent yesterday on the North Shore checking out the world famous breaks at Pipeline, Waimea Bay and Sunset Beach. It was cool to stand on the beaches I had seen so many times in videos. Waimea Bay was the nicest beach I have been to, the sand was pristine and Kyle and I snorkeled and cliff jumped for hours. The local kids were so good at throwing gainers and flips of the cliffs, I was wishing Gab was here to show them his moves. Gab, these guys have crazy style. Today we took Andrew out for a snorkeling adventure and we saw a really cool sea turtle up close, it was amazing to watch him eat away at the bottum and only come up for air every 10 minutes!

Tonight, I am totally wiped out. We have been going non-stop in the hot sun so I am ready for bed. I have uploaded a couple of training picks of us out in Kailua Bay to get an idea of how our crew is shaping up.

Cheers.