Story and photos (except as noted) by Terry Shimabukuro
Cover photo by Bert Wong
May 3-5, 2024
About two dozen hardy souls braved strong winds and occasional downpours to camp Friday and Saturday nights at Kualoa’s small group campsite. The sporadic rain did not dampen our spirits as we still enjoyed a relaxing weekend at the beach. Plenty of time to talk story and share meals together. A few keiki attended and added some youthful energy. The strong winds did put a damper on kayaking, however, so the paddle to Kahana Bay was canceled and only a few folks ventured out on short excursions on Saturday.
With the days of Christmas tree bonfires behind us (fun fact, the Kualoa group campsite permit now specifically bans the burning of Christmas trees…I wonder why?) we instead had a responsible-sized campfire with kiawe logs provided by Chuck Ehrhorn. Unfortunately, Chuck wasn’t there to enjoy the fire so we didn’t get to hear his shark story…again. The fire was perfect for toasting marshmallows for s’mores and Alan Matsuo’s wife, Teresa, left us an ono banana cream pie so we stared into the dancing flames with a nice sugar rush. Norm Chun strummed his baritone ukulele and serenaded us with dulcet tones crooning traditional Hawaiian songs. Lono must have decided that it was our bedtime as he unleashed a downpour to douse the fire and send us scurrying to our tents.
Sunday began with a well attended “Intro to Kayaking” clinic lead by Kevin Ching and Joe Hu. After listening to oral instructions Kevin took the class onto the water where they practiced their strokes and self-rescue. Satisfied that they were bay-worthy Kevin lead them to Mokoli’i. The pupils must have been satisfied too as five of them became club members after the clinic including a legacy member, Lois Rhinelander’s daughter Kelly Miyashiro, along with her partner James Tingco. Another new member, Bill McCarthy, will vie with Stan McCrae for tallest club member honors.
The wind calmed down enough to safely hold our Easter egg hunt with Tim Sawyer and Paul Tibbetts doing the egg laying honors. About twenty paddlers took to the water to gather the eggs. Several of us swept the area to make sure that no eggs were left behind, but we didn’t count them this year so we’re not sure if we got them all. Since we want to be responsible stewards of our beaches and ocean we are looking for an eco-friendly alternative to plastic eggs in case we do miss a few. Let us know if you have an idea for a biodegradable alternative. It should be egg-sized, but doesn’t have to be egg-shaped. It just has to float high enough on the water and be colored so that it can be seen.
Our potluck lunch was interrupted by a rousing “Rally! Rally! Rally!” cry from Chuck signaling the start of the used gear auction. Chuck generously donated his Cobra Strike+ Re-Vision for the auction. Bill Murphy (via proxy Sandy Johnson) won a furious duel with Bert Wong and added the Re-Vision to his fleet. The auction made $672 for the club so a big mahalo to Chuck and everyone else who donated gear. Also, mahalo to past member Caroline who donated $100 and to Elliott Wong for donating custom laser etched club swag.
The day’s festivities ended with the Easter egg prize distribution as our first, and probably only, Cinco de Coptic Easter Camp came to a close. The day ended on a slightly sour note as we didn’t have a good team clean-up effort of the pavilion. A big mahalo and apology to Lois, Kelly and Stan Dalbec for clearing the potluck leftovers and for taking home the leftover auction items. Shame on us! Let’s do better next year gang!
