PADDLING
Chalupsky churns to 11th win

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

In a victory for the ages, Oscar Chalupsky of South Africa won the surfski division of the Kona Brewing Co. Moloka'i World Championship yesterday.

Oscar Chalupsky finishes the 32-mile Kona Brewing Co. Moloka'i World Championship course in 3 hours, 28 minutes, 38 seconds. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

The race is considered the world championship of solo ocean paddling, and Chalupsky has now won it an unprecedented 11 times. Chalupsky, 42, won his first title in 1983 when he was 20.

"I can't say it was an easy win; probably one of the hardest," he said. "I did my homework and it paid off. It shows you age is not a factor."

Jasmin Cohen of Australia repeated as the women's surfski champion, finishing in 4:08:02.

Favorable winds and waves made for a relatively fast course, although no records were set.

Chalupsky's south course across the Kaiwi Channel proved to be one of the key factors in his victory.

"The guys seemed to go too far north and I thought they were doing something wrong," he said. "I just had my own line and couldn't see O'ahu so I was a bit worried. I thought 'sheez, I must be getting old and stupid.' "

But when the leaders merged off East O'ahu, Chalupsky had an insurmountable lead.

Australia's Nathan Baggaley was the only other competitor to challenge Chalupsky, finishing second in 3:30:52.

"I actually took a similar line to Oscar and it definitely paid off," said Baggaley, 29. "There were plenty of times when we were side-by-side, but he had a little more at the end there."

Chalupsky

Cohen

"It's a little disappointing to get beat, but second is still pretty good for my first go at this," he said.

Nine-time former champion Dean Gardiner of Australia was third in 3:31:45. Herman Chalupsky, Oscar's younger brother and last year's winner, was fourth in 3:33:25.

"I was trying to cover Herman more so than Oscar, that's why we were so far north," Gardiner said. "I guess I picked the wrong brother to cover this time."

Stuart Gaessner placed 11th overall and was the first Hawai'i finisher with a time of 3:45:51.

Cohen dominated the women's division, finishing more than 12 minutes ahead of the runner-up.

"The swells made it fun," said Cohen, 26. "You don't realize how big they are until you look behind and see it. But it's a great feeling when you get on a good one and make it work."

Australian teammate Kirsty Holmes placed second with a time of 4:20:17. Maggie Twigg-Smith was third and the first female from Hawai'i with a time of 4:27:16.

"After last year, my goal was to come back and prove a point," Cohen said. "I wanted to show I could do it again."

John Maclean of Australia completed the race in a two-person surfski with partner David Wells in 5:01:41. Maclean is a paraplegic who has also completed the Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Kona, and swam across the English Channel.

"You get to compete against the best athletes in the world and it's nice to be a part of that and hopefully to open the doors for other challenged athletes to come along and participate and enjoy the fun as well," he said.

Hawai'i's Kaihe Chong placed 32nd overall in 4:26:55. At 15, he is the youngest paddler to complete the Moloka'i race.

Final results

Men

Overall: 1, Oscar Chalupsky, 3:28:38. 2, Nathan Baggaley, 3:30:52. 3, Dean Gardiner, 3:31:45. 4, Herman Chalupsky, 3:33:25. 5, Martin Kenny, 3:33:41. 6, Dean Mercer, 3:34:25. 7, Daryl Bartho, 3:34:39. 8, Lewis Laughlin, 3:38:16. 9, David Kissane, 3:41:14. 10, Greg Barton, 3:45:51. 11, Stuart Gaessner, 3:47:12. 12, Mark Sandvold, 3:48:17. 13, Mark Daniels, 3:52:45. 14, Rod Taylor, 4:00:33. 15, Ken Collins, 4:01:52. 16, Paul Wilford, 4:01:59. 17, Taku Araki, 4:03:27. 18, Tepa Leopold, 4:05:15. 19, Dorian Wolter, 4:06:01. 20, Bill Barff, 4:07:18. 21, Patrick Hemmens, 4:08:25. 22, Jean-Luc Eychenne, 4:09:24. 23, John Hoogsteden, 4:13:57. 24, Guy Pere, 4:15:30. 25, Haydn Holmes, 4:15:54. 26, Brad Fernley, 4:19:29. 27, Rami Zur, 4:26:01. 28, Dave Jensen, 4:26:20. 29, Kaihe Chong, 4:26:55. 30, Shun Kobayashi, 4:27:57. 31, David Kiesling Jr., 4:34:11. 32, Butch Murray, 4:35:56. 33, Thomas Gallagher, 4:36:17. 34, Karl Treacher, 4:43:59. 35, Michael Murphy, 4:43:59. 36, Peter Maycock, 5:01:28. 37, McLean Wells, 5:01:41. 38, Craig Waltz, 5:03:45. 39, John Payne, 5:15:42. 40, Joe Glickman, 5:19:33. 41, James Vitale, 5:31:06. 42, Brian Graber, 5:32:25. 43, Mark Hickey, 5:43:11. 44, Troy Griffin, 5:48:19.

40-49: 1, Oscar Chalupsky, 3:28:38. 2, Dean Gardiner, 3:31:45. 3, Herman Chalupsky, 3:33:25.

50-59: 1, Rod Taylor, 4:00:33.

60-older: 1, Brian Graber, 5:32:25.

Women

Overall: 1, Jasmin Cohen, 4:08:02. 2, Kirsty Holmes, 4:20:17. 3, Maggie Twigg-Smith, 4:27:16. 4, Katherine Pocock, 4:40:43. 5, Laurie Denton, 5:34:44. 6, Rebecca Joyce, 6:32:20.

40-49: 1, Laurie Denton, 5:34:44.

Two-person surfski

Men: 1, John Maclean/David Wells, 5:01:41. Mixed: 1, Noah Hawk/Jodi Hawk, 4:19:59

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.