Early last Saturday morning, I dragged myself out of bed and trudged over to Marina del Rey to watch my friend Amanda race with Marina Outrigger.
When we got there at 7:30 the beach already completely overrun with tents, paddles, boats, and sculpted arms. There was a brief opening ceremony where a Hawaiian man sang a chant to the sea and requested permission of the water spirit, Kamohoali'i, to enter the water. Once permission was granted (the wind stopped blowing and they took this as a sign.), all the paddlers got their boats and pushed out into the marina. After all the racers took off, Amanda's other supporters and I walked to a mid-point of the race and watched everyone paddle by. These people are amazing. I can't imagine paddling for an hour straight!
When we returned to the beach I was convinced by Amanda and her sister to try some Spam Musubi, which they told me is really typical in Hawaii. Both Amanda and her sister grew up in Hawaii so I took their recommendation seriously. Rice, spam and sea weed... not too bad.
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