Fading into the Fog
MWSD Board Meeting, June 19, 2008
Click here for the agenda.
Video by Scott Boyd and the MWSD Board of Directors. It is not copyrighted. Read more |
CFPD: Board Meeting, June 17, 2008
The full agenda can be found by clicking here.
Note that there is no Agenda item "E."
The Board of Directors of the Coastside Fire Protection District ...Read more |
Seal Cove Threatened with Chain Link Fence
The Seal Cove area of the Midcoast faces a serious problem. A key road is collapsing. Here are photos of that road that I shot ...Read more |
MCC: Green Building
Wednesday the Midcoast Community Council held one of their excellent “theme meetings.” This one addressed “Green Building” and featured as guest speaker Lisa Grote, ...Read more |
Liar, liar, pants on fire...
Jim Grady, at last week’s Half Moon Bay City Council meeting, provided the impetus for an insightful moment into the process by which AB 1991 ...Read more |
Half Moon Bay City Council, June 3rd: Good-bye Adam, Hello Truth Squad, and, oh, the Budget
The Half Moon Bay City Council meeting proved itself once again more interesting then you’d ever imagine it could be.
I’ll break it down for you.
First ...Read more |
Kenny Howell: The Watershed Keeper, Part 2
As we continue our tour of the San Francisco Peninsula Watershed with Waterkeeper Tim Sullivan, unique habitats and landscapes come into view along the Cahill ...Read more |
MCC: LAFO Visits the Unicorporated Midcoast
The Midcoast Community Council meetings are becoming the place to go on the coast to learn about government and policy.
This past week Martha Payotas visited ...Read more |
AB 1991 Passes 43-19 In the State Assembly
Initial vote is 19-12 (less than half the Assembly members voting) but procedural motion makes the final vote total uncertain. It appears that the bill ...Read more |
AB 1991 Passes Assembly Appropriations Committee
Today AB 1991 , the Assembly Bill that would relieve the Beachwood and Glencree parcel from any future environmental review, passed 9-4 its second major ...Read more |
HMB City Council Covered by Fog...Montara Fog
On December 4, 2007, in her acceptance speech as she was appointed Mayor of Half Moon Bay, just days after the devastating Walker decision in ...Read more |
Briefing Redux: What to do About Beachwood?
In late January, not long after the Walker decision in the Beachwood Affair, and shortly after hiring a new law firm to represent Half ...Read more |
Glencree Added to Beachwood Affair at Literal Last Minute; Total Cost More than $18 Million
Experts on the sinking of the Titanic can probably visualize the mechanical details of the ship as it sinks--they can see the gash in her ...Read more |
LAFCO, revised; Scott Boyd talks about Pocket Parks
Martha Payotas, brought her consolidation presentation back to the coast last week in her effort to wrap up this phase of the drafting of the ...Read more |
Rock the Block Photos
Friday was Rock the Block night in Half Moon Bay.
We parked near the library and was greeted by a distant rhythmic thumbing, all bass, coming ...Read more |
Follow Kenny at Molokai
Montara kayaker extraordinaire Kenny Howell is in Hawaii this week competing in the Molokai World Surfski Championship. A surfski is a sort of ocean-going kayak.
The ...Read more |
MCC: Kersteen-Tucker on Parks Measure; MCC Demonstrates Its Irrelevancy
This Midcoast Community Council meeting begins with short presentation by Zoe Kersteen-Tucker on the merits of Measure-O--the question of slightly raising the County sales tax ...Read more |
Mark Massara Profile (New York Times)
Mark Massara, from San Francisco, is a quirky hero of many environmentalists, known for his legal battles against developers. Much of his charm comes from ...Read more |
My 1960 Porsche Roadster
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Democratic Debate: Assembly Candidates Hill, Holober, and Papan
This might be your only chance to see the three candidates for the seat of Gene Mullin who is vacating the 19th District seat in ...Read more |
MWSD Board Meeting, May 1, 2008
Click here for the agenda.
NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEETING
AGENDA
District Board of Directors
8888 Cabrillo Highway
Montara, California 94037
May 1, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.
(Closed Session begins at 5:30 ...Read more |
CFPD: Board Meeting, April 29, 2008
The full agenda can be found by clicking here.
The Board of Directors of the Coastside Fire Protection District met at their regular monthly meeting this ...Read more |
Beachwood Goes to the State Assembly
Today was a big step for the Beachwood Settlement. As you will recall, the Settlement was hammered out between Palo Alto developer Charles “Chop” Keenan ...Read more |
Kenny Howell: The Watershed Keeper, Part 1
Tim Sullivan is a happy man. He finally found his dream job after searching the planet a lifetime. Now he holds the keys to ...Read more |
MCC: Joel Farbstein asks "Who are you serving?"
The Midcoast Community Council has recently been under fire by citizens, the press, and the Board of Supervisors alike for not being responsive to the ...Read more |
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Written by Darin Boville
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Thursday, 03 July 2008 |
Another bewildering Half Moon Bay City Council meeting. Another few paragraphs in the management case study that chronicles the slow-motion disaster that is the Beachwood Affair.
At the last meeting Sophia Freer asked seven questions that struck at the heart of the various mysteries embodied in the Settlement--mysteries that are the source of intense controversy along the coast.
Mayor McClung’s directive to staff to research and answer the questions was a bit of a shock--this Counsel has pursued a policy of secrecy that would make a Myanmar General smile. The public knew more of what was going on during the two weeks in 1962 of the Cuban Missile Crisis then we know now about HMB’s Beachwood Affair.
This week Sophia got her answers. Well, sort of. If you count narrow, technical responses that simply restate the obvious and completely avoid the spirit of the questions as actual answers.
Sophia asked for more background on how the Appeal went from seemingly strong (as described by The Quarterback, John Knox, at the January workshop) to abruptly dropped--when and why was the Appeal deemed weak?
The answer, in essence: It was dropped when the Council voted to do so and they did so based upon legal counsel’s advice.
That’s it. And the evasive, technical answers continued, touching on why the City did not accept support from the Office of the Attorney General and on to how HMB planned to pay the $18 million and what to do with the recent $5 million insurance payout.
The City Council’s misguided policy of secrecy is anti-democratic and tactically stupid. These lawyerly answers to important public questions are nonsense and insulting nonsense at that.
For Reference: Sophia Freer’s Questions
For your convenience here are the questions that Sophia Freer asked. Note that I’ve added in a paraphrase of the City’s answers--these are paraphrases, not summaries (i.e. I’ve simply reworded the answers for clarity, I have not omitted any factual details--there were none to omit).
1. When, why, and by whom were the grounds for a successful appeal deemed to be no longer valid?
2. When did the City Council decide to drop the Appeal in favor of a settlement?
When the City Council voted to accept the Settlement agreement it also agreed, per the Settlement’s terms, to drop the Appeal.Thus, the Council decided to drop the Appeal at the very moment it voted to accept the Settlement.
The City Council based their decision on the advice of legal counsel, and an assessment of merits of the case, the likelihood of an Appeal not being successful, and the liability exposure if the City did not prevail in an appeal.
3. Why did the City register to lobby for approval of AB 1991 ten weeks before the public announcement of the decision to settle and why was the public never informed of this action?
4. Why was the public not told that the Attorney General office offered to help with the Appeal? Surely an Amicus brief from the Attorney General carries a lot of weight and is worthy of mention.
The Council considered the possibility of Amicus assistance but based its decision on the merits of the Appeal.
5. Did the council have any indication that ABAG would cover the costs of past litigation in the Beachwood case? If so, isn’t this something the public possibly deserved to know before the recent press reports and tonight’s report from the mayor?
The ABAG agreement was announced when it was finalized.
6. Does the City have contingency plans to deal with the $18 million dollar payout to the developer if the terms of this settlement can’t be met? If so, what are these plans?
7. Would there be any reason not to apply the $5 million from ABAG and the revenues from the increased TOT to pay off the $18 million fallout if the terms of the settlement can’t be met?
These issues are still under consideration so it is premature to have a public discussion at this point. A formal decision by the Council on how to pay the $18 million and whether to include the $5 million has not been made. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 03 July 2008 )
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Written by Darin Boville
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Sunday, 29 June 2008 |
On June 25th the Midcoast Community Council held its bimonthly meeting. The Agenda can be found here.
Thanks to my daughter Elizabeth and my wife Lori for shooting the video.
Video by Elizabeth Boville and Lori Boville. |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 29 June 2008 )
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Written by Darin Boville
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Friday, 27 June 2008 |
The full agenda can be found by clicking here.
A few notes to help you navigate the Agenda more easily:
1) Item 5 was the closed meeting--there is no corresponding video.
2) Oral Communications consisted of three speakers (including Chief Ferreira) and included significant discussion on the part of the staff and Board (thus the unusual length of that Agenda item).
3) Item E, having to do with the review and approval of the preliminary budget, was moved to the first order of business following Oral Communications.
4) Item A, which begins next, is divided into two parts. The second portion is at the end of the meeting (labeled "part 1" and Part 2" on the video menu).
The Board of Directors of the Coastside Fire Protection District met at a special meeting this past Wednesday--Montara Fog videotaped the meeting on behalf on the Board.
This video will eventually find its way onto the soon-to-be re-designed CFPD website.
CFPD holds the copyright to this video but desires that it be widely disseminated. Therefore, they are granting permission for its use (including use by the news media) as long as proper attribution is given. Attribution can take the form of, for example, the text "Video courtesy of CFPD" located next to the video or at a visible place within an article. That's it. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Montara Fog.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 27 June 2008 )
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Written by Darin Boville
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Wednesday, 25 June 2008 |
Attorney John Knox, whom the Half Moon Bay City Council has designated “Quarterback” in the "Land, Air, Sea" mixed-metaphor Beachwood Affair and to whom they seem to have abdicated all leadership responsibilities, spoke yesterday in the few minutes of open session at the City Council secret meeting. He spoke about the rationale for holding out-of-the-public-eye meetings about a case that was closed over six months ago. (We last saw The Quarterback on video at the Beachwood Workshop where he underlined the strengths of the Appeal. Later the Council reversed course and dropped the Appeal, making the perplexing claim that it was too high risk and too expensive.)
The California Brown Act, the open government law that seeks to limit what governments can do in secret, allows closed meetings relating to litigation only for pending litigation or threat of litigation.
My translation of The Quarterback’s rationale (from legalese to English, an imperfect process) is as follows:
We can hold secret meetings as long as the terms of the Settlement haven’t been fulfilled because if they aren’t fulfilled we go back to the court’s Judgment.
In other words, since even in the best case scenario from the City Council’s point of view (i.e. AB 1991 passes in its original form) it would take years to make it through all of the follow-on lawsuits, this gives the City Council the right to hold secret meetings all they want about any aspect of the case from now through the next election cycle.
Want to know about lobbying efforts? That’s a secret. Want to know what this is costing the taxpayers? That’s a secret. Want to know how they plan to pay the $18 million if AB 1991 fails? That’s a secret. Want to know how we got to where we are today, why the appeal was dropped and how the Settlement was reached? Oh my, that’s really a secret.
Heck, if they have to make payments to Keenan, as spelled out in the Settlement, they can keep the secrets and the secret meetings going for decades.
This may be legal but it is not smart. It certainly isn’t good government. The City Council has a moral obligation to share with the citizens as much information as it possibly can. That’s a high standard--well above “we’ll share what is convenient to share” or worse “we’ll share what serves our purpose.”
If it doesn’t hurt you are not sharing enough.
This strategy of keeping its own citizens in the dark may well backfire when citizens learn the truth in what some of us have been saying all along: That gaining an exemption from all environmental laws for Chop Keenan’s property has an approximately zero chance of becoming law and that the City Council has led the public down the garden path with this strategy.
In hindsight the City Council will try to claim that it was their plan all along to simply raise the threat of such environmentally damaging, precedent-setting legislation in order to bring the Coastal Commission and environmental groups to the bargaining table. They’ll say they are geniuses.
But no one will believe it. Not when hiding the truth has been their policy for these past months.
Video illustration by Darin Boville |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 26 June 2008 )
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Written by Darin Boville
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Tuesday, 24 June 2008 |
The residents of the Seal Cove area have been actively meeting these past several months trying to come up with a solution to Ocean Blvd., just south of the Moss Beach Distillery, which is collapsing into the ocean.
We covered an earlier meeting and have included discussion of this issue in prior MCC meetings. Photographs of the road, taken two years ago, can be found here.
On June 19th residents met with County Public Works Director Jim Porter--and they also made a video of the meeting. In addition, two of the participants--Sabrina Brennan and Cid Young--have written summaries of what transpired. Their views are shared below, first Sabrina’s and then Cid’s.
Seal Cove Is Waiting for Answers from the County Regarding Mitigation Fees
by Sabrina Brennan
A section of Ocean Blvd. was closed in 2006 due to storm related land movement. At a public hearing the Department of Public Works (DPW) was denied a Coastal Development Permit by the County Planning Commission that would have allowed DPW to move forward with a proposed $20,000 quick-fix. The Planning Commission strongly recommended that DPW expedite long-term solutions. The county is planning to permanently decommission Ocean Blvd.
A replacement road east of Ocean Blvd. is in the discussion phase. In a meeting on June 17th the DPW recommended an assessment district that excludes 185 acres of parkland. To the dismay of private property owners the 45-acre Fitzgerald Marine Reserve (a county regional park) and the 140-acre Pillar Point Bluff property were excluded from the assessment district map and the financial analysis.
If built, a replacement road would serve the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, the future Coastal Trail and the Pillar Point Bluff property, (owned by Peninsula Open Space Trust and slated to become a county regional park) and private property owners.
In spite of the visitor-serving parkland located at both ends of the small neighborhood Jim Porter has repeatedly said that private property owners should pay 100% of the cost for a new road.
The small community of approximately 100 homes met with Department of Public Works Director, Jim Porter, to voice concerns twice in June 2008 and once in July 2007. Jim Porter and staff were asked questions about mitigation fees at the June 17th meeting.
Midcoast property owners pay mitigation fees at the time a building permit is issued.
Midcoast mitigation fees are earmarked for new road construction and drainage improvements in the area where they are collected.
The following question were directed to DPW staff on June 19th 2008.
What is the dollar amount of Mitigation Fees collected on the Midcoast since 1990; include dollar amount breakdown by year?
What projects were funded with Midcoast Mitigation Fees since 1990 and what was the cost of each project?
What current projects are being funded with Midcoast Mitigation Fees; what is the budget for each project?
What new projects will be funded with Midcoast Mitigation Fees; what is the projected cost of each?
Seal Cove neighbors are invited to the Midcoast Community Council meeting Wednesday, June 25th at Seton Medical Center at 7:30 pm, to form an information gathering committee.
Seal Cove Property Owners and County DPW Are "Road Blocked" Over Continuing Road Issues
by Cid Young - A 20 year resident and property owner - Moss Beach.
The Seal Cove community of Moss Beach, disenchanted with San Mateo
County's approach to road issues, met for a second time in the month of June
2008. DPW Director, Jim Porter, during an initial meeting in 2007 at the
Harbor House, announced that they would repair and re-open Ocean Blvd. (A
promise they later reneged on.)
Ocean Blvd has been closed for over 2 years by the San Mateo Department
of Public Works, but now the County insists that private property owners in
the small Seal Cove community pay for a new route, in spite of the
visitor-serving amenities at either end of the neighborhood, which includes
The 45 acre Fitzgerald Marine Reserve and the 140 acre Pillar Point Bluff
property currently owned by the Peninsula Open Space Trust. POST has
received a grant to improve the trails, and then plans to turn that property
over to the County Parks Department.
Notably frustrated and upset with the lack of action by the DPW, some
residents have been thinking of privatizing their neighborhood roads, and
taking over the maintenance at their own expense, due to the county's
stance.
A presentation by property owner Cid Young showed many of the
so-called "County Maintained" roads in Seal Cove to be in deplorable
disrepair, and others that are not currently in the County system, that have
either been blocked by neighbors' cars, construction equipment or have
already been paved by neighbors' personal funds.
San Mateo County is shirking their road maintenance responsibility
and proposing that Seal Cove owners pay for a replacement route via a
Special Assessment while at the same time discussing the possibility of a
proposed future extension of the Coastal Trail through the neighborhood.
Residents are now attempting to determine their limited options for the
public's safety on the existing roads. The road block seems to be a
"do-nothing" stance in either direction.
Video by Leonard Woren and Sabrina Brennan |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 25 June 2008 )
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Written by Darin Boville
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Monday, 23 June 2008 |
In yet another example of secrecy run amok at the Half Moon Bay City Council the Council has announced a closed-door meeting in apparent contradiction to California open government laws.
California Government Code (see chapter 54956.9) allows closed-door meetings under narrow circumstances. These circumstances include pending litigation or threats of litigation. But the Half Moon Bay City Council is citing the federal Beachwood case, which has been closed since December of last year, as the rationale for keeping the meeting out of the public eye. Here is a copy of the Tuesday, June 24th meeting agenda, which was released earlier today.
The Half Moon Bay City Council seems to have lost its way under the pressure of the Beachwood Affair.
I’ve covered the growing secrecy at the City Council before. Recent examples: click here for the mysterious Glencree option and here for some of the many unanswered questions surrounding the Beachwood Affair.
At this point I can only offer the advice given in the Bible, Mark 8:36, regarding the City Council's seeming zeal to win at all costs:
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Photo by Darin Boville |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 24 June 2008 )
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Written by Darin Boville
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Saturday, 21 June 2008 |
Video provided by MCTV
Mayor Bonnie McClung ran on a platform of greater transparency in local government. Many citizens had grown weary of the seemingly endless backroom deals and secret machinations that seem to be the very lifeblood of politics for so many here on the coast. Her platform was welcome. And she won. In her first speech as Mayor, accepting the new position, she highlighted this focus on transparency saying:
We will listen, take time to deliberate, seek outside resources, keep the public informed and involved along the way.
All of that changed with the announcement of Judge Walker’s Beachwood Judgment. The public was wholly unprepared for this result--most people had never head of the lawsuit and knew nothing about the history of the dispute. They’ve been hard pressed to learn more since then.
Secrecy--and misinformation, whether deliberate or not--is now the guiding principle of the new City Council. As part of their “Land, Air, Sea” campaign to pass controversial legislation to remove environmental restrictions on the Beachwood and neighboring properties the City Council has mislead the public.
What other conclusion can be reached after viewing the only briefing held for the public on the appeal of the lawsuit (see it here)? The appeal was characterized as being a strong one and the chances of having to reduce services as a result of any loss were characterized as unlikely--and then suddenly the appeal is dropped as being too high risk and too expensive? What other conclusion can be reached from the hints from City officials about the dire consequences of failing to pass AB 1991 and being required to pay a settlement in the amount they negotiated?
Is it any wonder that the public thinks that the endless backroom deals and secret machinations of the City Council continue unabated?
Some of this is unfair. The City Council is made up of hard working folks who were simply not prepared for the magnitude of the judgment.
The very existence of the City is threatened and there is the City Council, all alone. Will the State offer money? No. Will the County offer help? Rich Gordon came down and assured the citizens that if Half Moon Bay went bankrupt the County would be ready to step in and take over services (see the video here). That kind of help can make people sleepless at night.
So the City Council were in all practical terms alone and very much alone at that. So they made decisions. They hired new legal council. They tried to do what they thought was right.
But they are making mistakes. They are forgetting about the importance of openness--more important in a crisis than ever before.
What is lacking is leadership. One of the most disturbing things to emerge from the past two meetings of the City Council is that there is no leadership on the Beachwood issue. Or, to make things clearer, they have delegated leadership to their lobbying/legal team. They have hired a “quarterback” the City Council has said again and again.
This is shocking. In a time of crisis it is doubly shocking. Leadership cannot be delegated. Leadership cannot be farmed out. You do not hire outside professionals to lead. Their interests are not those of the City. They have their own interests, their own agenda and their own time horizon.
To see one practical and immediate effect of this simply review the video from the prior City Council meeting. They are talking about the Truthsquad--the lobbyist-generated press releases that seem to be a substitute for communicating with the citizens. Jim Grady raises concerns about the aggressiveness of the Truth squad--pointing out quite correctly that they will be long gone one day and Half Moon Bay will still be dealing with the Coastal Commission.
Watch the video and ask yourself about leadership. Jim Grady hadn’t seen the Truth Squad attack on the Coastal Commission until it went on the web. The City manager hadn’t seen it. Naomi Patridge hadn’t seen it. Marina Fraser hadn’t seen it. John Muller hadn’t seen it.
Mayor Bonnie McClung had seen it but only once it was published and only informally reviewed the document.
That’s what delegating leadership looks like. Elected officials who have no idea what is going on, unelected vendors stepping all over our long-term interests without thinking, maybe without caring, and citizens who have to get most of their information on the most important issue facing Half Moon Bay since its founding from rumor and innuendo.
It is any wonder that citizens have negative views of local government, thinking officials more interested in conspiratorial schemes than the welfare of the people?
Mayor McClung showed signs of promise at the June 17 meeting. Sophia Freer raised a number of tough but fair questions at her turn at the microphone. That’s when Mayor McClung did something unusual, something long overdue but nonetheless welcome: Instead of simply thanking Sophia for her thoughts she instructed the City staff to answer those questions at the July 1st meeting.
If McClung can get real answers to the public she will have taken an important step in re-taking the reins of leadership. Let’s hope that Mayor McClung continues down that path of responsive and open government and continues to assert her leadership on these democratic values.
Sophia Freer’s Questions
For your convenience here are the questions that Sophia Freer asked:
1. When, why, and by whom were the grounds for a successful appeal deemed to be no longer valid?
2. When did the City Council decide to drop the Appeal in favor of a settlement?
3. Why did the City register to lobby for approval of AB 1991 ten weeks before the public announcement of the decision to settle and why was the public never informed of this action?
4. Why was the public not told that the Attorney Generals’ office offered to help with the Appeal? Surely an Amicus brief from the Attorney General carries a lot of weight and is worthy of mention.
5. Did the council have any indication that ABAG would cover the costs of past
litigation in the Beachwood case? If so, isn’t this something the public possibly deserved to know before the recent press reports and tonight’s report from the mayor?
6. Does the City have contingency plans to deal with the $18 million dollar payout to the developer if the terms of this settlement can’t be met? If so, what are these plans?
7. Would there be any reason not to apply the $5 million from ABAG and the revenues from the increased TOT to pay off the $18 million fallout if the terms of the settlement can’t be met?
Video by MCTV. The opinions expressed on this website are those of the author, and do not represent the views of MCTV.
Due to technical issues about twenty seconds of Sophia Freer's comments are missing. Montara Fog will return to film the July 1st Half Moon Bay City Council meeting.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 21 June 2008 )
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Written by Neil Merrilees
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Tuesday, 17 June 2008 |
Click here or on the picture above to go to the videos.
The greatest resource we have on the coastside is the
quality of our residents. This video highlights
locals who are experimenting with green technology, at
their own expense, in order to find a way to live more
sustainably. Some of these experiments will be
successful and become mainstream practices. Some may
prove too expensive and need revision. These
community members are blazing the trail and making it
easier for the rest of us to learn from their
experiences.
There are many more of us out there who are concerned
with saving energy. If you are interested in learning more about green building or are interested in sharing your own experiences--whether successes or failures--contact Darin at Montara Fog--and he will forward the e-mails to me.
Editor's Note: Neil's video runs, in total, about half an hour. The blue button below will play the video in its entirety in a new window on your screen. As an added convenience I've broken the full length video down into five-minute segments so you can watch--or re-watch--just those portions most interesting to you.
Click here to go to the videos.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 20 June 2008 )
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Read more...
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Written by Kenny Howell
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Friday, 06 June 2008 |
This short video shows what it's like to race in the Molokai Challenge, considered the world championship of ocean kayak racing.
The race took place on May 18. The video was made by my escort boat crew.
Contestants in the Moloka Challenge paddle solo in specialized open kayaks called surfskis. There is also a division for one-man outrigger canoes. The course from Molokai to Oahu is 32 miles through the Kai'iwi Channel - considered one of the roughest patches of water on the planet, with howling trade winds and roaring swells from the northeast converging against swirling currents and sheer volcanic cliffs in the middle of the Pacific.
My first attempt at the race in 2006 saw classic conditions: 10' swells and 30 knot winds. You paddle downwind and across the waves to reach Oahu. We surfed the wind waves and hit speeds of 16 mph, at times linking up rides for long stretches. The race winners average 9 mph for the entire crossing. My time in '06 was just under 5 hours. I'm not an elite racer, but I love the challenge of this event. For the 2008 event held on May 18, conditions were mild by Hawaiian standards; wind waves of 2'-4', and a tail wind of only about 10 knots. Despite the lack of ideal conditions (no big down swell rides), I was 10 minutes faster than the previous effort.
It may sound a bit romantic, but while waiting for the race to start on the island of Molokai, a wave of understanding washed over me. It's not just about the race: it's just as much a celebration of the Polynesian spirit of exploration and adventure, as well as the chance to paddle with and watch the best ocean paddlers in the world compete. You have to love the Hawaiian saying "kanaka ikaika", roughly translated as "mankind's respectful challenge of the great ocean."
-Kenny Howell
June 6, 2008
Thank you to Lesley Stevens of Honolulu for putting together this video. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 09 June 2008 )
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