coming from all over the world to compete in the prestigious Molokai to Oahu race is a very special thing. you have all of the worlds best watermen here competing to see who’s the best of the best.
as for me, i’m cheering for every single Japanese competitor. whether i know them or not, i’m still cheering for them. and i was so bummed out that i forgot to take a Japan flag for Mayuki!
as for me, my job is to show up and make sure Mao-san gets from Molokai to Oahu safely. my eyes are only on this girl the entire time.
and this year, it was Maki-san’s job to make sure Mao-san got her drinking water in the fastest time possible. Maki-san had to jump in the deep blue ocean 4x knowing about the big sharks that were around. one boat next to ours spotted a 15′ Great White shark, and another boat spotted a 12′ Tiger Shark. i was also proud of her for even jumping in when i yelled “jump in!” haha…
prone paddling is much easier than stand-up paddling because the wind isn’t as much a factor. but when the wind is blowing 30mph in your face and the current pulling you back, life is hard on a SUP. it seemed like it took Mao-san over an hour to get past this short distance towards the end. i seriously saw her paddling forward, but actually going backwards.
with the wind blowing one way, the current pulling another, and the waves breaking sideways, i don’t know how this girl got back up on the board after she fell. do you know how hard that is after paddling 6 hours??? where does Mao-san get all the energy from??? unbelievable!!!
this is the moment she crossed the finish line. last year i got the photo, and this year too. but this year was 10x harder so maybe that’s why it was 100x more emotional. i even had tears in my eyes…
what this girl endured was incredible. i was lost for words…
and to get greeted by friends must have been comforting.
and also getting greeted by new fans….
Congratulations once again Mao-san, you did it!!! last year prone, this year SUP, next year foil? anything is possible when it comes to you!
