It was the season opener for the Big Island, open water swim circuit and the first event of the island’s Triple Crown series-the Cinco De Mayo Splash! Most of our Mauna Lani Master’s swim group participated and Sue and Noe represented us very well. Noe was the first lady out of the water and Susan was close behind Noe and finished first in her age group. It was a perfect, windless morning with no swell present and pretty good water clarity for Anaehoomalu Bay in the Waikoloa Beach Resort. I’ve snorkeled at “A” Bay many times and know it’s pretty rocky close to shore so I was prepared for those conditions as well as exposed coral heads all over the swim course start. I was also mentally prepared for whatever creatures that might appear during the swim as I knew there had been several shark encounters by a kayaker and paddler in a OC-1 canoe as late as April 23 rd somewhere very close to our swim course. Check out these links for reference: April 23rd West Hawaii Today article: https://www.westhawaiitoday.c...

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It was a beautiful Saturday morning at Anaeho'omalu Bay within the Waikoloa Beach Resort as 300+ swimmers gathered for the annual Cinco De Mayo, 1-mile, ocean swim. I’ve never participated in this particular open water swim but have swam in the bay for Lavaman Triathlon several times in the past so I was familiar with the territory. The reef in “A” Bay comes all the to the shoreline so the race director gave direction for everyone to swim 150 yards or so to where several paddle boarders were gathered. I was prepared for a beach start and had already lined up on the inside of the mass of ready swimmers. I was caught off guard as the entire group jumped in the water on his direction in front of me and began swimming out to sea! By the time I made it to within 50 yards of the start line-they fired the gun and everyone took off in one huge white water “ball”. Oh well-my best laid plans to swim a fast first leg to the yellow buoy, 1/2 mile out, were now interrupted by 250, determined swimmers. Once I re-calculated m...

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