aussiewahine said...boylos said...
Hey Sue..... now that Danny has done two Battle of the Paddles which one did he think was the best .... Hawaii /California ?
Hey Craig... I'm pretty sure I can answer that one for you. Got to be careful here though. Don't want to offend any State of the USA.
Personally Danny & I would prefer to be in Hawaii. Just with
weather, lifestyle, locals, water temp, tradition etc. The weather we had in Cali was colder as the event was in October which is going into their Winter.
Danny did say the Hawaiian
event and venue had more room. The stalls, expo, tents etc were all more spread out and it didn't seem as crowded getting around.
As far as
conditions go...the Californian Main arena had more swell and bigger waves. Not sure if you heard Gerry Lopez's interview after the Elite Race last weekend but he was dissappointed that the Hawaiian course didn't have the bouys anchored more in the middle of the wave zone in the Elite Race so competitors had more of a chance of turning the bouy and then catching a wave straight up. This course was alot more paddling and less surfing than California but then Cali did just so happen to get that rare south swell which jacked it up on race day. The Hawaiian tides prevented Gerry from getting what he would have liked.
The Hawaiian
Distance Course (Hawaii Kai run) was a better distance course as it was one way and true downwind which most enjoy more?. The Californian Distance race was 5 mile down and 5 mile back with a side wind so both directions copped it and were extremely tough. I'm not sure what their conditions are predominately. Maybe one of our International readers (of which I now see are many) could answer this and tell us what the Dana Point/San Clemente distance paddles are mostly like ?
As far as
competitor numbers go...California had way more competitors in the Open Age race which is the race for "normal" paddlers like you and me. And the one most of us here would go to enter. The Hawaiian Open Age Race only attracted 125 and this even included a new category being the "normal surfboard" category which had 33 entries of the 125 total. The Californian Open Age had 311 competitors. But then racing in California for "average joe" is alot bigger and more popular than Hawaii and of course here in Oz.
The
Elite Race is Invitational only so the organisers try to keep it around the 100 mark I think. Hawaii had 93 and California had 105 Elite Racers (male & female). So this will always be about the same and the competition here will always be just as spectacular to watch.
The
Distance race attracted more in Hawaii maybe because it was true downwind course ? Hawaii had 200 in the distance race as compared to California which had 125. The conditions on Cali day as I said weren't great. It was overcast and cold and some may have pulled out. I know none of the Aussie did the distance last year as we couldn't get Unlimited boards and no-one wanted to punch over and back for 10 mile with a side wind and no rudder. (Sounds like last weekends Xcel on the Gold Coast?)
Accomodation wise...there is obviously more accomodation in Waikiki than in Dana Point and it's closer to the event/venue.
Hope this helps some...
On the other hand if you are taking your
family then California has Disneyland and Legoland (just down the road from Dana Point) and of course Universal Studios, Hollywood etc. If you're into all those things ??
We just prefer Hawaii as we have been going there at least twice a year for the last 15 years. It's our favourite place to go on a plane !!
So much so that I just spoke to Danny is he's staying there longer [}:)]...opps did I say they out loud? I meant
Hey Sue .... thanks heaps for the insight .....awesome
We have done both (except the sup racing) and we too prefer Hawaii
we go at least once a yr .
Your insight into the downwind side would have me heading towards Hawaii as well ,seem's like the ideal conditions.
I't's ashame these event's arn't closer togeather ,like have the Bop one week ,then off to Maui to Molokai the next make's it hard for the international paddlers to attend both.
I't's hard enough getting your board there ,and even harder if you have to borrow one!
You guys coming to this yr's Mambo?????????????
Boylos
