The Battle of the Breakwater race began a week before it started. We had been preparing since Crystal Pier, which ended up being a very messy race for us. We ran too ambitious and way too hot. We started out in front, but that didn’t last for long. Foundation went out the window and our long stroke got reduced to frantic frazzled struggle with zero trust. Our arms were pumped from trying to force boat movement and hips weren’t flowing at all. It was a sweaty grind to the finish.
The entire next week up until the Breakwater race consisted of testing and working together to find the jam. Monday was the brainstorming pity session over text. Tuesday unlocked the hips and follow-through. Wednesday decided what we needed to polish, and Thursday established the weight and balance on the blade.
Come race day, we had a longer heavier stroke that we were all able to rely on. Will said that “the race is already won,” but we all probably wondered behind his back if our efforts were actually enough. The warmup itself felt different already. The stroke rate was low but the boat speed was there. We didn’t even practice any ups going to the start line because we knew that the long reliable stroke was what we needed to focus on.
At the start line, we lined up on the very left side of the line. It seemed to be the shortest runway to the break wall. We’ve lost a few gambles in the past based on which direction the lead boat ended up veering off the start, but at the Battle of the Breakwater, there was only one direction the race could go – towards the end of the break wall. The horn blew and we were right. We shot off far ahead of the boats who were on the right side of the field. Kahakai and Hanohano were close behind us, but starting in a decent spot gave us time to get into rhythm and not be too frantic.
We reached the break wall first, but not long after, Kahakai started making their push. Their “huts” got louder and eventually, the nose of their boat started surging past me. They kept pushing until they were neck to neck with us. This was a very odd moment in our NAC boat. You could feel each paddler’s burning desire to push, but you could also almost hear everyone talking to themselves to not take the bait. It felt like a game of chicken where we wondered which one of us would cave, but if anyone did, it would be game over for all of us. Our stroker, Lee, was saying how it “took every ounce of my concentration to keep the long stroke and ignore Kahakai.”
We stayed in control, and Kahakai pushed ahead of us. They stayed ahead for 5 minutes, but we begrudgingly let it happen and focused on ourselves. For some reason, the boat eventually started feeling lighter, our hips started syncing up, and the gap was closing. We could see them ending their push phase perfectly in time for us to make a move before the first turn buoy. We got on the offensive, maneuvered past them, and beat them to the turn. This is the moment we knew we could win the race.
The second leg was great. We found a few pockets of surf. We surfed a bit, positioned a bit, etc. By the second turn buoy, we increased the gap between us and the other two teams by 5 boat lengths. Entering the downwind portion, we were excited and ready for the ride. It was slightly technical because the waves were small and coming from different directions, but we chained bump after bump into the occasional big wave. Every once in a while, you could hear Judson yelling “THROUGH THROUGH THROUGH,” and everyone pushed hard to get to the next big one. We would both yell “on it” as we smiled and cruised on the bump we were on. Our crew kept chaining bump after bump and by the time we reached the break wall, we were over 30 seconds ahead.
Flying ama across the finish line!
We finally reached the last stretch, which was also the dreaded stretch that had cost us the win in 2025. Last year, we were neck and neck with Hanohano in this section, but when I looked up to call a push, I saw that we had all bonked. This year, we looked happy, energized, and controlled. We caught a few more bumps into the getty and made our way through the harbor with that long, hip-focused stroke. We approached the finish with smiles and flew the ama across the line.
It was nothing close to winning a race like Molo Solo, but for us, it was a huge weight lifted. At this point in the season, we just needed to know that we could do it, and that is exactly what we were able to accomplish.
Steersman,
Ondrian Yeung
Seat 1: Lee Bullock
Seat 2: Calvin Kang
Seat 3: Judson Grey
Seat 4: Allen Reitz
Seat 5: Justus Timmerman
Seat 6: Ondrian Yeung (me)