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Inside Te Aito 2012 (Part 1) , by Kingi Gilbert
Our family, myself, wife Hina and baby Manawanui arrived a week early to Tahiti to help (me) get prepared for the Te Aito race, probably the world's biggest one-man race. 700 competitors in rudderless outrigger canoes, racing a 28km open ocean and lagoon course along the northern coast of Tahiti Nui. But the weekend before Kiki Dubois was involved in running a small community paddling event in Punaauia, perfect to help get acclimatised. The climate transfer was really a problem. After training for months in thermals and wetsuit, the heat and humidity was quite challenging. It does make a difference to your performance, for me, I found it hard to keep awake, I just wanted to lie down under a tree and nap. Anyway, after a challenging night putting overtired baby to sleep (from late arriving flight), I was ready...
The race was really cool and extremely grateful of the Dubois family for making us welcome and looking after us for the entire day. The Dubois boys, Teihotu and Taaroa included me in their team line-up 'Tahitian Paddle', a top 10 team in Tahiti. I knew I would have the chance to learn a lot by just sitting in the waka and listening. The first race was a V6 2.7km sprint course in Punaavia lagoon. The V6 is a six-man with very low gunnels, flat rocker and very light, only for 'inside' (lagoon) races. I was really stoked that they asked me to jump I with their 2nd team - choice a chance to learn!
I found their team stroke very intense at the catch, everyone was very tight and I managed to pickup on the calls after getting them to speak a little slower. "Roa" which is the same as our own te reo Maori "Roa", and Hawaiian "Loa" which is the long stroke (but the Hawaiian long stroke and the Tahitian long are very, very different). "Pourua!" which means everyone together. The main calling was done with the tone of the voice "hut" instead of commands, nice to operate on just the tone of voice instead of having instructions (which really take too long to mentally process). The main experience was getting the energy matching those guys and the pressure phase matching, that means, the amount of power used on the pull and hit while the paddle is in the water. We came sixth. I don't think the boys were too keen on the Maori fulla in seat 4, I think one guy said I was a little long at the exit, but hard to fully understand the Tahitian/French dialect. We also had accumulated a lot of water from the buoy turn at Ta'apuna reef entrance (mean left by the way, cracking juicy barrel) that slowed us down. Taaroa and Teihotu's #1 smashed everyone - made it look easy. There were splatterings of local paddling superstars in other teams, like Shell and OPT guys, so the Tahitian Paddle boys were very happy.
The next race was the V1 (just after lunch) and I was late to the start-line due to getting my traditional head-dress ready, kindly supplied by one real nice guy, just out of 'aroha' so I didn't look like the milky bar kid. I finished at the back. I didn't even really get a look-in. I got to half-way in pack and then a fulla tapped my waka from behind and I skidded off course running into another fulla. By the time I had got straight everyone was in front, I couldn't believe I was last! When I got back to my place, the guys started cutting the corners. I guessed it was just a fun race, so I didn't worry too much about things from then on. What I do remember is the V1's ripping away at the start, they started very strong, but after about 30 strokes, it was clear that once they had their va'a up and running in the glide phase it was all about efficiency. There wasn't a huge expression of energy from then onwards (that is guys puffing hard out with super grimaced faces), it was all finesse and glide. The top guys were clearly changing gears more frequently to catch tiny lagoon ripples. Taaroa won, with Teihotu 2nd and Bruno Tauhiro from Shell Va'a 3rd. I battled out for mana, to beat wily veterans with grey hair.
My take-out from that race was - one, don't get caught out at the start; two, I had to have a very light canoe to be able to compete at Te Aito; three, a vaa that I was very familiar with. Putting it simple, heavy canoes glide just as far, but take more energy to keep going, so overtime you are going to naturally fall behind. I was in a relatively heavy older Tehuritaua va'a, which I did not like. Made me worry a little about my canoe for the big race 'Te Aito'. However all was going to be fine, thanks to my good friend and mentor Wilfred Ahmin from Paddling Connection. Maururu!
The V16 was a blast, the last race of the day. A very different technique is required. A whole different energy must be applied. I really understood this sitting behind Taaroa Dubois and some of the OPT boys. You can see it. A sharp crack and out. Very fast. Extremely well timed (that is, not one guy muscling it out on his own) Teihotu has a beautiful feel for the V16, he was our faahoro or stroke. The energy is really present in the V16 with 16 fullas all pumped up. The obvious challenge is not to let anyone run away with the speed or get into 'He-Man Defender of the Universe Ronnie Colman mode'. We won with ease. Great feeling. We spent a lot of time derigging and washing these canoes. He taonga (a treasure). Stoked to go this fast in a canoe. Man I would love to do that race again! It is hard to get access to these awesome canoes so it may only be my one chance.
Week before Te Aito was spent relaxing and meeting with friends. Nerves totally destroyed my race in 2011, so much unknown stuff to process - I felt way more confident. When you are nervous it is easy to train hard, but when the racing comes its easy to overstress the muscles and get a superdose of lactic acid and freeze up. So the goal was just to relax. We had an awesome time going to Teahupoo where I surfed a 20" barrel (haha, just kidding) and playing in the beach, and driving around Tahiti Nui.
In between, I spent three days getting the Ah-Min va'a and paddle combination right. I tried two different ama's. Four different rigs and four different paddles. I ended up running with Wilfred awesome new 'manu' ama (I highly recommend) and Conan's Carbon Tai paddle about a 50.5" length with 9.5" width. His blades are totally perfect and well balanced all around. (Represent Conan!) The seating was well set-up, having been Kamehameha from BoraBora's canoe for two years. The canoe was all foam throughout which made it a little more heavier than most carbon around 11.5kg but very, very stiff. I believe there is a big performance difference in canoes that are 8kg and 12kg, but that's just me. Anything under 8kg I find hard to handle in the wind and anything over 12kg I feel requires more energy. The balance point for me is the 9kg to 10kg range where I feel comfortable and well prepared for a flat or windy day. I'm just talking rudderless, not OC1, which is a different beast. This is just my personal opinion, everyone is different.
The reason for all of this fuss is the high stakes nature of Te Aito. Everything is critical. Stakes are high. Particularly with the type of vaa you paddle and how much time you have spent training in that particular vaa prior to the race. There are no happy go lucky heroes over here, that is, turning up in a dunga (old and heavy) waka and making top 100 just doesnt happen, it's a serious race. For me, fun is doing the best I can and ideally winning. I don't train a lot to get wasted. That's not fun for me. ( I don't mind getting wasted if I don't train, nah I do actually - haha!.) Everyone here has fully tricked out their canoe, with perfect seat; perfect foot-pump; perfect sticker placement; perfect foam thickness on seat; perfect ama balance and trimming; kiatos measured and lashed tight but light. There is no secret here, it's just trying your canoe, over and over again so it's just right. I felt really stoked to be around other canoe paddlers who took the attitude about preparation the same way, I believe that add's real honour to our culture and sport.
Drinking system, I forgot and used a 3kg Camelbak. In 2011 I used Cytomax that had expired, so this time I was sure to test out my drinking fluids 10 days before to ensure no cramping. Cytomax works really well for me, I get frustrated stopping to take a gel pack.
(to be continued next week)
by Kingi Gilbert, [email protected]
I found their team stroke very intense at the catch, everyone was very tight and I managed to pickup on the calls after getting them to speak a little slower. "Roa" which is the same as our own te reo Maori "Roa", and Hawaiian "Loa" which is the long stroke (but the Hawaiian long stroke and the Tahitian long are very, very different). "Pourua!" which means everyone together. The main calling was done with the tone of the voice "hut" instead of commands, nice to operate on just the tone of voice instead of having instructions (which really take too long to mentally process). The main experience was getting the energy matching those guys and the pressure phase matching, that means, the amount of power used on the pull and hit while the paddle is in the water. We came sixth. I don't think the boys were too keen on the Maori fulla in seat 4, I think one guy said I was a little long at the exit, but hard to fully understand the Tahitian/French dialect. We also had accumulated a lot of water from the buoy turn at Ta'apuna reef entrance (mean left by the way, cracking juicy barrel) that slowed us down. Taaroa and Teihotu's #1 smashed everyone - made it look easy. There were splatterings of local paddling superstars in other teams, like Shell and OPT guys, so the Tahitian Paddle boys were very happy.
The next race was the V1 (just after lunch) and I was late to the start-line due to getting my traditional head-dress ready, kindly supplied by one real nice guy, just out of 'aroha' so I didn't look like the milky bar kid. I finished at the back. I didn't even really get a look-in. I got to half-way in pack and then a fulla tapped my waka from behind and I skidded off course running into another fulla. By the time I had got straight everyone was in front, I couldn't believe I was last! When I got back to my place, the guys started cutting the corners. I guessed it was just a fun race, so I didn't worry too much about things from then on. What I do remember is the V1's ripping away at the start, they started very strong, but after about 30 strokes, it was clear that once they had their va'a up and running in the glide phase it was all about efficiency. There wasn't a huge expression of energy from then onwards (that is guys puffing hard out with super grimaced faces), it was all finesse and glide. The top guys were clearly changing gears more frequently to catch tiny lagoon ripples. Taaroa won, with Teihotu 2nd and Bruno Tauhiro from Shell Va'a 3rd. I battled out for mana, to beat wily veterans with grey hair.
My take-out from that race was - one, don't get caught out at the start; two, I had to have a very light canoe to be able to compete at Te Aito; three, a vaa that I was very familiar with. Putting it simple, heavy canoes glide just as far, but take more energy to keep going, so overtime you are going to naturally fall behind. I was in a relatively heavy older Tehuritaua va'a, which I did not like. Made me worry a little about my canoe for the big race 'Te Aito'. However all was going to be fine, thanks to my good friend and mentor Wilfred Ahmin from Paddling Connection. Maururu!
The V16 was a blast, the last race of the day. A very different technique is required. A whole different energy must be applied. I really understood this sitting behind Taaroa Dubois and some of the OPT boys. You can see it. A sharp crack and out. Very fast. Extremely well timed (that is, not one guy muscling it out on his own) Teihotu has a beautiful feel for the V16, he was our faahoro or stroke. The energy is really present in the V16 with 16 fullas all pumped up. The obvious challenge is not to let anyone run away with the speed or get into 'He-Man Defender of the Universe Ronnie Colman mode'. We won with ease. Great feeling. We spent a lot of time derigging and washing these canoes. He taonga (a treasure). Stoked to go this fast in a canoe. Man I would love to do that race again! It is hard to get access to these awesome canoes so it may only be my one chance.
Week before Te Aito was spent relaxing and meeting with friends. Nerves totally destroyed my race in 2011, so much unknown stuff to process - I felt way more confident. When you are nervous it is easy to train hard, but when the racing comes its easy to overstress the muscles and get a superdose of lactic acid and freeze up. So the goal was just to relax. We had an awesome time going to Teahupoo where I surfed a 20" barrel (haha, just kidding) and playing in the beach, and driving around Tahiti Nui.
In between, I spent three days getting the Ah-Min va'a and paddle combination right. I tried two different ama's. Four different rigs and four different paddles. I ended up running with Wilfred awesome new 'manu' ama (I highly recommend) and Conan's Carbon Tai paddle about a 50.5" length with 9.5" width. His blades are totally perfect and well balanced all around. (Represent Conan!) The seating was well set-up, having been Kamehameha from BoraBora's canoe for two years. The canoe was all foam throughout which made it a little more heavier than most carbon around 11.5kg but very, very stiff. I believe there is a big performance difference in canoes that are 8kg and 12kg, but that's just me. Anything under 8kg I find hard to handle in the wind and anything over 12kg I feel requires more energy. The balance point for me is the 9kg to 10kg range where I feel comfortable and well prepared for a flat or windy day. I'm just talking rudderless, not OC1, which is a different beast. This is just my personal opinion, everyone is different.
The reason for all of this fuss is the high stakes nature of Te Aito. Everything is critical. Stakes are high. Particularly with the type of vaa you paddle and how much time you have spent training in that particular vaa prior to the race. There are no happy go lucky heroes over here, that is, turning up in a dunga (old and heavy) waka and making top 100 just doesnt happen, it's a serious race. For me, fun is doing the best I can and ideally winning. I don't train a lot to get wasted. That's not fun for me. ( I don't mind getting wasted if I don't train, nah I do actually - haha!.) Everyone here has fully tricked out their canoe, with perfect seat; perfect foot-pump; perfect sticker placement; perfect foam thickness on seat; perfect ama balance and trimming; kiatos measured and lashed tight but light. There is no secret here, it's just trying your canoe, over and over again so it's just right. I felt really stoked to be around other canoe paddlers who took the attitude about preparation the same way, I believe that add's real honour to our culture and sport.
Drinking system, I forgot and used a 3kg Camelbak. In 2011 I used Cytomax that had expired, so this time I was sure to test out my drinking fluids 10 days before to ensure no cramping. Cytomax works really well for me, I get frustrated stopping to take a gel pack.
(to be continued next week)
by Kingi Gilbert, [email protected]
