Kaimana Klassic 22 - the prologue
So this will be the second major event of the bucket list. Last year I hit Poultry Days for the first time and had a blast. This year's bucket entry is the Kaimana Klassic taking place on Oahu next weekend.
I have to admit I never thought I would have the opportunity to attend this tournament. It was one of those wishful 'gee, that'd be nice' tournaments but it was too far, and life was too complicated. However, through the cluster#(*&$@#(* that is Facebook, the Kid (John Hammond) pinged me on Facebook and mentioned something about Kaimana in February and would I be interested. I casually checked Delta frequent flyer flights to Oahu and when I found one for 40,000 miles, I quickly responded IN! I'm flying out first thing tomorrow morning, spending way too much time in the air, arriving Oahu 7PM, grabbing a flight at 8:30PM to Kauai (fingers crossed with all these flights and luggage pickup), have a hotel room that I got with a Priceline bid for the first time, not saving a tremendous amount of money. 3 days on Kauai then back to Oahu on Friday afternoon, pick up a car and some people at the airport and then go to the campsite.
This should be a very interesting tournament on a personal level. Our team is going to be a mix of current superstars, people along for the ride, and then a group to be determined later (including myself). I hope to lean more towards the former than the latter, at least in terms of my play if not the actual label. I should probably hope for a lot of wind and zone offense in that case... :)
Interestingly enough, it will be the xxxth (number well over 150, close to 200, I have Jim researching it right now) tournament that I play on the same team with Jim Parinella. We came to this in separate ways, but saddling it up together again. Sort of scary actually. Hell, we are even on the same Goaltimate team in this winter's goalty league although Jim is going to miss the season ending tournament because of Hawaii while I will be returning in time.
I'm fortunate in that I've been to Hawaii a few times. I'm very excited to go to Kauai though, since the last time I was there I was 16 and it was with the family, so the memories are a little sketchy although I do remember camping at a beach on the Na Pali Coast which was a lot of fun. No camping this time, I'm saving it for the tournament. I have my airbed, tent (and rental car as a last resort if things fall apart). I guess I should try to see if the airbed fits into the tent before I leave. If anyone that has been wants to comment with suggestions for the tournament, please do so. Otherwise I don't expect that I will be blogging from the tourney since internet access ain't gonna be handy.
I have to admit I never thought I would have the opportunity to attend this tournament. It was one of those wishful 'gee, that'd be nice' tournaments but it was too far, and life was too complicated. However, through the cluster#(*&$@#(* that is Facebook, the Kid (John Hammond) pinged me on Facebook and mentioned something about Kaimana in February and would I be interested. I casually checked Delta frequent flyer flights to Oahu and when I found one for 40,000 miles, I quickly responded IN! I'm flying out first thing tomorrow morning, spending way too much time in the air, arriving Oahu 7PM, grabbing a flight at 8:30PM to Kauai (fingers crossed with all these flights and luggage pickup), have a hotel room that I got with a Priceline bid for the first time, not saving a tremendous amount of money. 3 days on Kauai then back to Oahu on Friday afternoon, pick up a car and some people at the airport and then go to the campsite.
This should be a very interesting tournament on a personal level. Our team is going to be a mix of current superstars, people along for the ride, and then a group to be determined later (including myself). I hope to lean more towards the former than the latter, at least in terms of my play if not the actual label. I should probably hope for a lot of wind and zone offense in that case... :)
Interestingly enough, it will be the xxxth (number well over 150, close to 200, I have Jim researching it right now) tournament that I play on the same team with Jim Parinella. We came to this in separate ways, but saddling it up together again. Sort of scary actually. Hell, we are even on the same Goaltimate team in this winter's goalty league although Jim is going to miss the season ending tournament because of Hawaii while I will be returning in time.
I'm fortunate in that I've been to Hawaii a few times. I'm very excited to go to Kauai though, since the last time I was there I was 16 and it was with the family, so the memories are a little sketchy although I do remember camping at a beach on the Na Pali Coast which was a lot of fun. No camping this time, I'm saving it for the tournament. I have my airbed, tent (and rental car as a last resort if things fall apart). I guess I should try to see if the airbed fits into the tent before I leave. If anyone that has been wants to comment with suggestions for the tournament, please do so. Otherwise I don't expect that I will be blogging from the tourney since internet access ain't gonna be handy.
posted by Alex de Frondeville at 2:27 PM
2 Comments:
Camping/ beach is about an 8 minute walk from the fields/ tent/ party. If you have a car, you might be driving between the two, but there is a gate that closes around 8pm at the campsite. Because the beach where we camp is public, make sure you don't leave any valuables in your tent.
see you there.
Mark S.
Kaimana Kommittee member
I don't have an exact number, but my best guess is about 195. I started recording tournaments in 1992, and I've played 207 since then. 37 of those, Alex was definitely not on my team; he also missed a few of the others due to injury or pussiness or travel (his spring trip in 1993, for instance). We were also teammates for 1989-1991, in which I probably went to another 30-35 tournaments, most of them with him.
Relatedly, I have over 100 scars on my arms and legs from having to dive for passes from Alex.
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