AGE: 30

 

HOMETOWN:  Honolulu, Hawaii 

 

DAY TIME JOB:  Attorney

 

FAVORITE FOOD:  Pizza! and Hula Pie with lots of fudge!

 

DREAM VACATION:  Spain, Italy, and Portugal with my husband and some close friends. Basically, really good food, wine, and company, but still some water activities like paddling, surfing, and maybe hiking etc.

 

FAVORITE PADDLING RUN:  Big Makapu'u run!  Or really anything that's big and downwind; I love feeling just on the edge of being out of control.

 

DREAM PADDLING RUN/ADVENTURE:  I would love to paddle OC-1 in Europe --- and compete in the San Sebastian race. I think it would be incredible to do something that’s comfortable like paddle OC-1, in a completely foreign environment. Also, I’ve always wanted to do the Liberty Challenge in New York or another fun 6-man race with the Kai Wa’a family (team riders and spouses) as a mixed team (Dolans, Bartletts etc.!!).

 

FAVORITE THING TO DO ON AN OC-1 (i.e. downwind run, surf, fish, etc.):  Downwind ALL DAY.  The bigger the better.

 

IF YOUR NOT PADDLING YOUR:  Wait…. what? There’s something else to life besides paddling? Haha! After paddling, probably working. Then eating, then surfing, then probably watching ballet videos on YouTube.

 

IF YOU COULD TAKE ANYONE TO DINNER (dead or alive) WHO WOULD IT BE:  Oh man, that’s a really hard question. Can I take three people to dinner? First would be my Grandmother (My Mom’s Mom), so that I could spend a little more time with her and have a chance to say goodbye. Also, I would love to sit down with Jesus and C.S. Lewis.

 

MUSIC OR NO MUSIC WHILE PADDLING:  NO MUSIC! I’ve tried it, but I think I’m actually too crazy in the head to paddle with music. My first Kaiwi Channel solo I tried to paddle with music, but I didn’t realize that I hadn’t updated my I-pod shuffle. After repeatedly hearing Michael Buble’s Christmas album come on and Andrea Bocelli singing opera, I decided that paddling to music was not for me. Also, I think a lot gets worked out in your head and your heart when you are out there in the ocean with just your thoughts.

 

IF MUSIC, WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO YOU ENJOY ON THE OCEAN:  Everything that flows with the ocean.

 

BEST PIECE OF LIFE ADVICE YOU HAVE EVER RECEIVED:  

“People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

 

I was told this quote by a former soccer coach and it has always resonated with me. I’m a Type A personality for sure, and especially in competitive settings it’s hard for me to focus on anything other than winning. This quote has served as a reminder to me multiple times that caring about others is really the only way to win friends. And winning friends is more important than winning medals.

 

Second, that same soccer coach had our girls’ team practice with an older boys’ team from our soccer club when I was in high school. This boys’ team was the first team ever from Hawaii to win the Far West Regionals and Nationals. They were really good. One practice my coach kept saying, “worst person on the field stays, Amy, that’s you!” Over and over. I was humiliated in front of guys that were a couple of years older than me and very good soccer players.

 

I left the field after practice that night and drove home in tears. My coach called me and asked me why I was upset and I was like, “ummmm… this can’t be a mystery.” Then he told me one of the most important things I have ever heard: “You should be worried the moment I go silent on you, because when I have stopped correcting you, I have stopped believing that you can do better.” There is absolutely truth in that. Although I don’t love hearing criticism, I try to approach it from the perspective that if someone is correcting me, it’s because they believe I can do better, and that if they did not think I could improve, they would not say anything. When you really think about it, the latter is far worse.

 

FAVORITE OC-1 RACE:  State’s or Oahu’s--- I like the Makapu’u to Waikiki runs. I would say the solo, but that would be a lie.

 

WHO IS YOUR HERO IN LIFE:  My parents, because they have never stopped loving and caring for their children. And my brothers, because I have watched them stare tough times in the face and continue marching forward.

 

IF YOU COULD INSTILL ONE THING IN THE NEXT GENERATION OF PADDLING WHAT WOULD IT BE:  Learn how to v-1. It is a really tough craft, and I think if you can learn how to v-1 then you learn what a canoe likes to do naturally; so when you get into a six-man or a canoe with a rudder, you will be less apt to over paddle or over steer it.