i get up at 2am. just couldn’t sleep. excited or nervous? don’t know. meet mike at 5am at kamiana beach. drop off my car, jump in his beetle and head to makapuu. as we took the turn by sandy beach, i look out to the dark ocean and say “wow, looks nuts.” i was talking about the wind and waves. then mike turns to me and says “hey, did anybody ever get attacked in this channel by a shark before?” OMG! i say, “hey mike, please don’t say things like that right before i’m going to paddle alone out there. i’m already nervous as it is dude.” haha. mike drops me off at makapuu, it’s pitch dark. sunrise is 6:38am but it’s only 6am. we wait a little. then i think to myself, what the heck, let’s get this over with. i walk down to the beach in the dark tripping over rocks, i lay my board on the beach, i hear the pounding waves in the shorebreak. i look out to sea, do my stretches, look at my watch. 6:20am. i jump in and take off in the dark. cleared the shorebreak and couldn’t believe what was ahead.
as i get to the scary corner of the mountain, i hear weird noises. wow! a huge pile of birds flying above me!!! cool. the sun starts to rise and i felt like i was in the middle of a bait ball. or was i the bait? birds flying and diving all around me as i turn the scary corner. the waves were huge! i felt like i was paddling in a washing machine. i lower my head, take big strokes, and paddle my fastest. next thing, i was at sandy beach in 30 minutes. then hawaii kai in 1 hour and 30 minutes. i slow down, take a water break, take some video, and paddle the long stretch from hawaii kai to diamond head. then as i reach diamond head, i look at my watch. 2 hours 15 minutes? what? will i make it back in 3 hours? that would be cool! i turn on the turbo and paddle my hardest. i arrive at kaimana beach at 9:19am. i did it in 2 hours and 59 minutes!!! OMG! my arms are like rubber, i’m out of breath, and i accomplished a big step in my life. next race is the molokai challenge. in 2013, i will paddle the molokai channel by myself. that’s my ultimate goal. today was warm up. haha.
right as the sun was trying to rise, the birds came flying. i wasn’t in no rush so i pull out my camera from my pocket, and take some pretty cool video. i paddled with my left, and shot with my right. i couldn’t believe how beautiful it was out there. to be alone in the whole ocean was like a dream come true. i was at a place where exactly where i wanted to be. me vs. ocean. something you can’t even see on national geographic. that’s makapuu point on the right. after i took that turn, i must have flipped over 8 times. it was so rough! i seen some waves break up against the cliff going half way up. 50-60′ up! yeah, it was crazy and i thought at one point that i was going to die.
i pull up to kaimana beach as my lifeguard friend opens up his tower. he yells “hey kirby, where you came from? hawaii kai?” i said, “no, makapuu.” he said “what? makapuu? with who?” i said “by myself.” he said, “you’re crazy!” haha. then as i was showering off, another guy came up to me and asked where i paddled from. after i said makapuu, he said “hey, you’re crazy!” then i thought to myself “maybe i am crazy?”
today was a great experience for me. after that, i had a meeting at 12. then went surfing at 2. my arms are tired. my mind is at peace. i couldn’t feel any better mentally and physically now. i feel like i can accomplish anything in my life. i will never give up in achieving any of my dreams in the future. there is no fear after today. i’m going to return the paddle board tomorrow and look for my own. i’ll practice and practice and do the makapuu to waikiki paddle over and over. then when that golden day comes, i’m going to paddle the 32 mile or 52km molokai channel alone. i already know i can do it. good night!
