I love Maui and hanging with Dave and his Family.. They have a beautiful place up on one of the Mountain's there and its so refreshing to be able to go back after a day on the ocean and Unwind. Every time we get together we always find stuff to do whether its ocean based or land based. It's funny cause we have this relationship that's pretty cool that we can talk about anything to do with Paddling,SUP Surfing,Technique, how we are training and what we are doing to improve, nutrition and how we can help each other out to get better and saving the world etc haha.. But we want to kick each other's ass at everything as well.. We are how shall i say COMPETITIVE with each other. Its a good thing but. I think we thrive on it. Dave won Molokai this year on the SUP and after the previous year and his troubles in the race i think i was more stoked than him. I saw the effort he put in this year and the pain from the year before. But what i do know is that he wasn't completely satisfied! Why? Because he doesn't have the fastest time across the channel on a Paddleboard. Yes he does on the SUP but i have a faster time on the paddleboard.. He wants that record. And he told me so. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it is really special to have a bond like that which is open and honest and where we are willing to try to help each other to beat each other? Funny hey..
My time this trip on Maui was no different to most. I call it Kamp Kalama. From beach workouts to 1 man Maliko runs to my 1st Mountain Bike trail run we did alot. Then add our HORSE competitions on the Basketball Court(yes Dave is a Fanatic Lakers Fan) and our famous 7 hr Cornhole contest with about 25 Coors Light's to boot and u have a action filled week. Oh yeah i forgot to mention we taught 3 Tour de France riders from Team Garmin how to SUP and got them out on Dave's 4 man.
But i must say the most defining experience of my trip was a pretty funny moment i had while i was babysitting Dave's son Cash. He was asleep upstairs and i thought how easy is this till i hear Dadda Dadda.. So i raced upstairs to Cash saying Poop Poop and pointing to his Diaper. So hear i am trying to work out what to do next while the whole time Cash is telling me how to change his Diaper.It was too funny. I pulled it off but. I was pretty Proud. haha.
So in finishing if anyone is thinking of going to Maui and needs that extra help with there stroke or some coaching then Dave is your man. Check out his blog www.davidkalama.com and you will see what i mean. He has a wealth of Knowledge that goes far beyond Paddling. You will come out a better person as well... Or check out his Kamp Kalama Camps he does.
Thanks for another great trip mate and watch out I'm practising my Jump shot's haha.
Im going to attach a video of Dave predicting my next year of racing. Don't miss it it's quite funny.
Kalama Interview from Jamie Mitchell on Vimeo.
