Slippahs and other Essentials

Aloha mai kākou – hello everyone.

Two weeks into the 2012 training, and all is starting to fall into place. Going through a regatta paddling season is all about routine, as one has to juggle the demands of life with the demands of training. Right now, we are still paddling early in the morning – 4 days a week at 6am. Everyone has to show up not only on time, but also all the time, otherwise, the team falls apart. Each paddler deals with this differently. Some roll right out of bed and come down to the training site, others, myself included, start the day really early (can you say “3am wake-up call”), get some work done, then head out for paddling, and return back to work thereafter.

Besides the time in the canoe to refine our stroke technique and get used to the team, it also takes some running, swimming, bicycling and weight training to work the muscles that don’t get used all that much in a canoe; this all adds up and pretty quickly, it becomes a full and physically demanding schedule.

Once we get closer to the racing season, which here on Hawai`i Island starts on May 19^th, training shifts to afternoons at 5:15pm at Kailua-Pier. Afternoons, because the water has some chop and movement to it and paddling is completely different and more demanding. For me, getting to the pier at least twice a week by that time will take some getting used to, as normally I don’t leave work that early. I will have to go to work really early to get my work done, and hope that I don’t get drawn into something late in the day. In canoe clubs, there is a simple rule: show up for training, or else don’t paddle on Saturday (regatta day). I will see how I do with that.

The great thing about canoe paddling is that it takes very little in terms of equipment to participate in club paddling and racing. You start with a pair of board shorts, which come in all kinds of designs and colors. Everyone has their favorite brand, even though many brands nowadays are owned by the same conglomerate. Some of the shorts are simply black with just a splash of color, while others pretty much cover the entire spectrum. As paddling takes primarily place in fiberglass or wood canoes, the seats are not all that comfy, so some paddlers opt for padded shorts, sometimes made out of neoprene – a good option if your okole hurts (Hawaiian word of the day: okole, which is the body part you are sitting on).

Next is a shirt, made out of light and quick-drying synthetic material, and also a hat. Both of these items are optional, as are padded gloves to protect your hands from blisters (for me, they have never worked and it seemed that I got more blisters with gloves than without).

A paddle is obviously essential, and it is not only a work of art, but you get really attached to it. Once you find a paddle that feels good in your hands, with the right-size shaft and a weight you like (lightest is not always best), this becomes your trusted ally and you treat this paddle like a family member. You never plow the paddle into the sand, and you always rinse it off after use. You keep the paddle with you, and it is always a good idea to somehow mark it since on regatta days, there are easily a few thousand paddles around and yours could easily get lost.

Finally, the pièce de resistance, the slippahs. Slippahs, known as slippers, flip-flops, go-aheads, sandals and the like in the rest of the world, are the quintessential footwear in Hawai`i. When you go to somebody’s house, most likely there will be a wide array of slippahs sitting outside the door, in many colors and sizes.

Slippahs are something you have, but not necessarily something you own, as typically you put your feet into the two closest slippahs, which may not always be the same size or color, nor the same ones you arrived with. In the old days, slippahs were the basic black, two-piece model (bottom rubber sole with the strap attached through holes in the sole). These types of slippahs are still the most widely used and you can do anything with them. You can wear them with a swimsuit, you can wear them with shorts and aloha shirt, and you can wear them with long slacks – you are (almost) never wrong with slippahs. Over time however, slippahs have become really fancy, in all kinds of colors, with Hawaiian petroglyph prints on them, and there are even stores where you can design your own slippahs, decorated with rhinestone and other fancy materials.

Those types of slippahs should probably be called something fancier, like “designer sandals”, and you definitely wouldn’t find them down at the canoe halau. The very first time somebody invited me to come to the beach and paddle with them, I showed up barefoot in my leather loafers (that was quite a revelation for me – no socks!). Quickly did I learn that not only do you look foolish on the beach like that, but it is really difficult to get the sand out of your shoes afterwards, so one of my first lessons was to buy myself some slippahs. Since then, I have become a slippah aficionado and I know exactly what my favorite ones are and when they go on sale at Long’s. I always stock up on them and always have about five pair in use – a couple of them around the house, a pair in my car (just in case …), even a pair under my desk in my office.

I even have a pair in my suitcase when I travel, no matter where to. I also always have slippahs with me when we paddle a long-distance race, as you never know if somehow you end up somewhere on a beach, and you do not want to be caught without footwear somewhere along the coast and have to find your way back to the road. By now, I am so used to this footwear that I can go running in slippahs, walk around an island in them and one day, I know, they will become my primary footwear.

With that, I am ready for another week of training with the gang and will report back next week.

A hui hou,

Chris