|
Water Ways Ray Pendleton |
Column still rolling in
after all these yearsGood heavens, where does the time go? It seems it was just the other day I was celebrating the 10th anniversary of Water Ways, and suddenly it's time for the 11th.
I know writing over 550 columns over those years is no big thing compared to our late three-dot columnist Dave Donnelly's record.
But when you consider the Star-Bulletin is the only newspaper in Hawaii to give weekly space to recreational boating, that's more than 303,000 words about boating that wouldn't have been printed anywhere else.
A question that often comes up from people I meet is, "How do you find something to write about every week?"
The answer is that it's quite the opposite. Finding a subject isn't the hard part, it's trying to decide on which subject from the many available.
Just looking back over past Water Ways can show how wide the range of subjects is related to our boating community.
There have been columns about boating organizations: the Sea Scouts, boat and yacht clubs, the Hawaii Ocean Safety Team, the Coast Guard and its auxiliary, and the U.S. Power Squadron.
Most often, these organizations are the prime promoters of boating safety education in Hawaii and deserve all the press they can get.
Then there have been the many columns related to Hawaii's ocean environment, recording both what is being done to protect it and what is not.
The University of Hawaii's Sea Grant Program, which promotes the annual "Get the Drift and Bag It" beach and waterways cleanup, has been a wonderful, positive example, whereas our local and state governments have often been both sides of the coin.
The state can be applauded for finally completing the long-overdue Ala Wai Canal dredging project last year, while Honolulu Hale can be faulted for its lack of interest in cleaning our streets of the pollution that eventually flows into the storm drains and then into the sea.
Competitive sailing and fishing events are, of course, subjects that are often covered in this column.
Whether it's the 100-year-old Transpacific Yacht Race from L.A. to Honolulu, the four-decade-old Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament in Kailua-Kona or merely local contests, each has some importance to Water Ways readers.
Other annual events, such as early warnings of the return of the Pacific humpback whales in December, or the return of our hurricane season in June, are also found on a regular basis.
And, of course, there have always been the boating activities of individual personalities chronicled in Water Ways.
Who can forget McKinley High School graduate Brian Caldwell's solo circumnavigation aboard his 26-foot sloop Mai Miti, from June 1995 to October 1996? He may be the best example, but there have been many others.
I'm sure veteran readers will remember Charles Coleman, the single-handed sailor who capsized and lost his 56-foot catamaran Haleakala in the middle of the Pacific and then lived to write a book about his experience.
To list all of the personalities who have enriched this column would be impossible, but I'm indebted to every one.
And as I've said in the past, it has been a rich calabash of people and topics that has made Water Ways a joy for me to write and, hopefully, an interesting read for you.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Ray Pendleton is a free-lance writer based in Honolulu.
His column runs Saturdays in the Star-Bulletin.
He can be reached by e-mail at raypendleton@mac.com.