Keeping Score
WALTER Guild turns 43 today. At a time when most of us fortysomething folks are looking at cutting back on activities - some sooner than others - Guild has found a way to be forever young. Canoe videos are a
long overdue ideaNot that training for this Sunday's 48th Molokai Hoe isn't helping him defy time. Guild and several other 40-year-old-plus members of the Outrigger Canoe Club team are more than ready to defend their channel title.
No, what Guild has done is freeze-frame age with what is expected to be a series of three 30-minute videos on outrigger canoe paddling. The focus of the first - which went on sale last week - is six-man canoes.
Depending on the success of the inaugural Art of Outrigger Canoe Paddling tape, Volume 2 (one-man canoes) will be produced within the next six months and Volume 3 (advanced paddling) within a year.
As I watched Volume 1, I couldn't help but think, "This is a great idea. Why hasn't it been done before?''
Probably because this particular "talk story'' topic has been running on island time. Also, talk is not cheap - Guild estimates production costs for the first tape at about $20,000.
"We've been talking about doing this for a couple of years,'' said Guild, owner of CanoeSports Hawaii. "We've done a lot of clinics over the years and sometimes it's frustrating when you have to go over and over the same things.
"This way, you don't have to to worry about setting up clinics or coordinating trips.''
WHILE Guild has enjoyed traveling for clinics from the Neighbor Islands to New York, there is nothing easier than having his tapes take the trip instead. Have paddle - and VCR; will travel.
Volume 1 is very comprehensive, with segments on techniques, equipment, rigging and steering. There are also portions devoted to cross-training and dealing with exposure and hydration.
Guild and co-host Ine Bogart of Lokahi Canoe Club keep it pretty uncomplicated, touching all bases and basics. You can't get any simpler than using a stick and a rock in the sand to demonstrate how to execute turning on the flag used during regatta season.
Sponsorship helped with the production costs. Among the sponsors are Bank of Hawaii, BudLight, Kialoa paddles and Eyecatcher sunglasses.
The video sells for $19.95 and is available in only one store: Island Paddler on Kapahulu Ave. It can also be purchased by phone (545-8688) or e-mail (canoespt@hula.net).
Guild has crossed the Kaiwi Channel in one- and six-man canoes since 1980. He figures this to be his 18th Molokai Hoe, a race Outrigger has won 10 of the past 20 years.
A safe journey for all paddlers this Sunday. And a happy birthday to Guild.
Wasn't Saturday's UH football game fun? To be honest, it was the first one I've attended in about a year... and the first one in a while that I didn't leave after the tailgate and before kickoff.
Homecoming is supposed to be like this. Big crowd ... excitement in the stands ... great halftime show that rivaled 1981's Rocky Horror Picture Show parody ... tuba players dancing the tinikling.
As has happened the past few seasons, people around us left after the third quarter.
But this time, it was to beat the traffic, not the depression, with the game in hand and not out of hand.
What next? Maybe people will actually learn the words to the fight song.
Saturday was a very special homecoming.
Welcome home, Warrior football.
Cindy Luis is a Star-Bulletin sportswriter.
Her column appears weekly.
