Richardson Rough Water Swim-July, 29 2018

Lissette and I left at 5:30 am from Mauna Lani to make the long trek over Saddle Road to the Hilo side for the Richardson Rough Water Swim this past Sunday at Richardson’s Ocean Park. I’ve never been to this park nor participated in this race before but several of my masters swim teammates had raced in past events and said the course was beautiful and the setting was really special. When we arrived I could see why they liked the area as it was a slice of old Hawaii in a County of Hawaii beach park.

Richardson’s has the only black-sand beach in the Hilo area and provides multiple tide pools and protected swimming areas including sheltered rock pools where children can swim and play. It has an excellent surf break also as I noticed several surfers catching some nice waves very near our start area. The Richardson Ocean Center is located in a building that once was the Richardson family’s home that dates back to the 1920s. Today visitors to the Ocean Park can visit the house to learn more about the marine life in the area and currently includes a display regarding the recent Hokulea voyaging canoe’s around the world adventure that just finished several months ago.

As I went through check in and body marking I was soon joined by the rest of my team mates and we followed each other to the shoreline to check out the course conditions. Sue and Noe have raced in this event numerous times and pointed out where the buoys would probably be placed in the distance. We observed a large sailing catamaran making it’s way toward us with the course buoys and before long the course was clearly marked with the familiar, large, bright orange triangles. Having 4-5 buoys was a big change from the King’s Swim and Cinco De Mayo swim held in Kona and Waikoloa earlier this year as they had only one buoy on the entire course-1/2 mile out to sea. This course had a hard left turn at the first buoy then meandered a bit outside the reef and along the shoreline making it far more interesting and much easier course to navigate point to point.

Another difference was the age groups were divided between 15-50 year olds in the first wave and 14 and younger kids grouped with the 50 and older adults. The majority of swimmers were in this second group with some folks clearly in their 70’s joined by one participant that was 8 years old. The first group started with Noe leading the pack from the start. Check out the first frame in the video and you can see her checking out the competition. Susan, Cindy, Ted and myself were in the second wave and we waded into the water together to get ahead of the rest of the field. Susan waded forward in from of Jim and I and I lost sight of Cindy. I looked forward 150 yards or so and spotted the first buoy where a swell was entering the small channel where we were all bunched together.

I knew waves and swell meant a challenging first charge to the first buoy and I was right. My race started with the typical sea of bubbles coming from everyone’s kicking and stroking furiously but with one difference-a strong current was moving us out of the channel. I soon felt, what I knew from surfing, was going to be a breaking wave as the strong current was the pull back for the water soon to come rushing in the opposite direction and toward us over the shallow reef we were swimming over. I also knew from surfing how to “duck dive” so that was my natural instinct that paid off well as the breaking wave crashed over us pitching some of the swimmers backwards. Luckily I missed all of the commotion as I was laying as flat as I could under water and resurfaced to find no one in front of me which meant clear sailing to the first mark!

The rest of the race was spent drafting various groups then moving past them as quickly as I could. Most of the groups I passed were the slower swimmers from the first wave and once we rounded the last mark and turned around, I was faced with the rest of my group coming directly at me. That made for an interesting back portion of the race, taking a few strokes then looking up to assure I was not going to hit someone head on. Once I spotted the first/last buoy where we were told at the race meeting to pass it on your right, I headed back into the channel where we began. I was prepared for the push and pull of the swell and I rode it in for a short distance then struggled to get in against the outbound current. When I made the transition from shallow reef to black sand I quickly pulled my feet under me and ran in!! Super fun!!

Susan, Noe and Ted finished first in their age groups and Noe finished first overall woman!! I’m not sure where I ended up in my age group as they only awarded 1st place in the 50 and older category but I really didn’t care-great race and lots of great sights in and out of the water.

Next stop for the Mauna Lani swimmers will be September 2nd where we will participate in the 2018, 47th Maui Channel Swim, 9.5-mile Channel Crossing Relay Sunday, September2, 2018, Labor Day Weekend Lanai (Club Lanai Pier) to Kaanapali (Black Rock) Maui, HI.

Noe, Susan, Rachel, Andrew, Coach Dave and myself will participate in the 6-person relay!!

On an inspirational and sad note, read on regarding my teammate and friend, Noelani Vargas’ swim dedicated to her dad, Roger Vargas, who passed recently in a tragic accident on the Big Island. Our thoughts and prayers continue for Noe and her family as they recover from this tremendous loss. It was great to see Noe’s mom Kathy at the event supporting Noe and the rest of us gathered in this beautiful place.

From westhawaiitoday.com:

Vargas 1st female to finish in Richardson Rough Water Swim

By Matt Gerhart Hawaii Tribune-Herald | Tuesday, July 31, 2018, 12:05 a.m.

He moved her, brightly, toward the ocean and one of his favorite spots, Richardson Ocean Park.

“He was here a lot, he’s the one who introduced this place to me, so it’s always special, but a little more so now,” said Noelani Vargas, 27, of Waimea. “I thought about him a lot out there today, it motivated me, for sure.”

Vargas was the women’s winner of the 31st annual Richardson Rough Water Swim, finishing in a time of 21 minutes, 53 seconds Sunday morning under blue skies and a pleasant breeze at a place she knows well and an event she has now won for the third time.

Of the three, or any of those that she may yet win, this is the one she will remember decades from now, as it occurred just two weeks after her father Roger, 71, a research entomologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Basin in Hilo, was killed in a head-on collision on Saddle Road. Vargas, a physical therapist, said her father loved the water and she learned her respect for the ocean through him.

“I’m sure it sounds cliche,” she said, “but I really wanted to do this for him. It doesn’t make anything better, what happened still happened, but it just felt so good to get out there and swim and go for it.”

Winner of the men’s side of the event was Duke Becker, a 14-year-old from Kailua-Kona who will be a sophomore at Kealakehe High School next month. He made it through in the day’s best time of 20:40 on his first participation in the annual event, and the first time he had ever been to Richardson.

“We have a lot of open water competitions on the Kona side and I’ve entered a bunch of them,” Becker said, “but I’ve never been here before. My dad was talking to somebody about it and I decided at the last minute to come along, I just registered here this morning.”

You might think of it as beginner’s luck, but several contestants said they were unfamiliar with the course design this year that gave the event a different feel.

“Before I started I looked out over the course to see where you come out and where you turn back,” Vargas said, “but when I got out there I realized there were five buoys instead of three, which is all I ever remember.

“I had to push up a bit at the buoys to check on the next one,” she said, “but I guess everyone had to do that.”

Vargas said carrying her father’s memory transcended any race strategy, but she felt if she could stay with, or just ahead of multiple Rough Water winner Mina Poppas, she had a chance.

“My pacing was all about Mina,” she said, “but I knew, coming back, you have to let it all out and go really hard, as hard as you can.”

By that, did she mean she was conscious of saving energy on the first half to load up for the return?

“No,” she said, laughing, “you go hard from the very start, then you just make yourself go harder.”

Results were delayed after a couple of high school swimmers inadvertently missed a buoy and effectively made a short cut, but other than some of those awkward buoy moments, the event was a solid hit.

“Most of you may not know,” Mason Souza, recreation administrator for Hawaii County Parks and Recreation, announced to the assembled as winners were set to be announced, “but we almost had to cancel this last month for budgetary reason, but we got it approved and our staff did a great job of putting this all back together in the last few weeks.”

There were roughly 140 contestants, including a few who didn’t register and just joined in for the competition, but some of them are already thinking to next year.

“I’m always going to be here,” Vargas said.

“I have to come back now,” said first-time winner Becker, “and I definitely will.”