Molokai Surf Ski Race
Dean Gardiner
Nels Akerlund
The two also had a score to settle. In their most recent meeting, a month earlier in Cape Town, Herman had led a star-studded international field of 200 into a huge sea and out around Dungeons, a renowned surf spot several miles offshore. Herman headed outside the imposing break; Gardiner, trailing at the time, slipped inside and negotiated the roaring surf that crashed around him. An hour into the race, Herman spotted Gardiner off in the distance and realized the Aussie had taken a faster line. Herman closed hard but finished 40 seconds behind.
Perhaps Herman was smarting from that defeat in Cape Town; perhaps he was irked by being a bridesmaid one too many times at Molokai. I say perhaps because the tight-lipped bachelor isn't one to discuss his aspirations on or off the water. When asked about his near-misses at Molokai he said simply, "Something always happened."
Roughly 90 minutes into the race, Herman sensed an opportunity and ratcheted up the pace-a gutsy move given that he'd not yet reached the halfway point. "I didn't want to have it come down to the end," he said afterward, "so I went flat out." How hard was he going before that? "A hundred percent," he said without a trace of irony. Gardiner dropped back. Thirty minutes later, Herman's brother passed the fading Australian. His shoulder ailing, Gardiner hopped on his escort boat and watched the rest of the race unfold.
What he saw was a determined paddler with a broad back asserting his will on the race. Wary of another late rally by his big brother, Herman made the commitment to charge every wave. "That way," he said, "I knew I couldn't get caught."
Herman crossed the line, alone, in 3:48:40. Seven minutes back was second-place finisher Dave Kissane, a former professional Ocean Ironman from Australia, who'd taken a more southerly route. Oscar Chalupsky (3:58:10) fought off cramps and the fast-finishing Tahitian star Lewis Laughlin to finish third, his "worst" result in 12 tries.
I finished 23rd overall. I rolled out of my ski onto the dock and hobbled up to the Chalupsky brothers, with beers in hand. Herman was graciously accepting congratulations. As I was about to offer mine, he beat me to the punch. "As the first Jewish finisher from Brooklyn," he said, "you've won a dozen bagels." In Chalupsky parlance, that meant "well done!"
Though Herman had moved out from under his brother's considerable shadow long ago, in Hawaii he'd always had something yet to prove. The fact that he'd never beaten his brother at the World Surf Ski Championship had eclipsed his many prestigious wins. Herman wasn't going to say how satisfying this win was compared to others in his career, but I'd hung around them both long enough to know that their deep bond was often tested by a lifelong, seldom-discussed rivalry, on and off the water. On this day, anyway, the balance had tipped in Herman's favor.
Joe Glickman is the author of two new books: To the Top: Reaching for America's 50 State Summits (NorthWord Press) and The Kayak Companion (Storey Books).
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