Work In Progress : Seeking New Challenges, Coaches Range Far Afield to Fill Free Time

Saturday, 10:40 a.m., halfway to Catalina Island

The saltwater and the sun pound away at her. If she isn’t soaked by the Pacific Ocean, she is soaked by perspiration. And yet, she continues, reaching the paddle in front of her and pulling it back with every ounce of her strength for the next hour, when she will dive from the canoe and swim to an escort boat for a 10-minute rest.

This is no Sunday paddle across the harbor, but across the sea’s choppy attitude. Five hours, 28 miles and about 3,500 calories after the starter’s gun, the Catalina Challenge Crossing--the U.S. championship of nine-man paddling--will be history and Kari Boothroyd’s 40-foot sliver of a boat will be a winner.

This is the way Boothroyd spends her time away from the Aliso Niguel girls’ volleyball and softball teams.

She isn’t alone. Other coaches, too, have pastimes that are more second careers than hobbies. Boothroyd was looking for a new challenge outside coaching. Another coach found a venture she could share with her husband, a third found a way to match a love for music and a need to perform.

Boothroyd’s passion involves races ranging from half-mile sprints on a lake to 42-mile struggles through the ocean--all at 62 to 67 strokes per minute.

The canoes seat six, and the Dana Outrigger Canoe Club is very competitive--just as competitive as Boothroyd, who values her seat in the boat the way her volleyball team would value a victory over Newport Harbor.

“I needed a new challenge in my life,” said Boothroyd, a Spanish teacher at Sunny Hills before Aliso Niguel opened. “I got a new job that was wonderful and went through the masters degree program; I had accomplished all the professional goals. I needed to do something that wasn’t work-related, a total challenge. I didn’t know what it was. I was scared.”

A lot has changed since February, when she and friend Lisa Sherman took that huge step of trying something new.

Said Sherman: “She didn’t want to walk down to the dock the first day.”

Said Boothroyd: “Now, it’s my life.”

Three to four times a week, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Dana Point Harbor youth docks, eight months of the year, Boothroyd makes that walk.

Sherman came up with the idea of the outrigger canoes. It has been a blessing in more ways than Boothroyd ever expected.

“To do something new at 27 is something I didn’t think I could do because it was out of my comfort zone,” she said.

“The challenge was to try something brand new, different from anything I’ve done in my life. I lacked confidence in myself in that respect--this was bridging that gap of the unknown. Can I be successful? Can I be good? I’m more able to take risks now.

“I didn’t know this would turn into my passion eight months of the year. I can’t even imagine what I would do if I didn’t do outrigger. It’s exactly what I needed and more than I could’ve asked for. It is my spare time.”

Thursday, 1:54 p.m., Pomona Fairplex

As the bell sounds signaling the start of the third race, Jami Shannon steps forward, hands on her hips, standing on tiptoes, neck craning forward.

It is one of those rare moments away from the ballpark that her hands aren’t filled with her 2-year-old, Austin.

She tries to see over the crowd. Her eyes are on the No. 1 horse, Brotherly, which gets out of the gate quickly but, about 30 yards in, runs like he’s on a slippery-slide.

A 7-5 favorite in the Express Stakes, Brotherly finishes fourth in the 350-yard quarterhorse race. Shannon, who coaches softball at Los Alamitos and owns one-third of Brotherly with her husband, never changes the expression on her face. She has seen so many runners thrown out at the plate, too many botched bunt attempts over the years, that she is desensitized to the excitement.

The winner, I.B. Quick, ran from the preferable fourth post position and set a track record--17.31 seconds.

Later in the day, Shannon finds out that Brotherly lost a shoe early in the race.

It is some consolation.

She bet light and lost only $120. Owner’s hunch.

Fairplex Park--but more often under the lights at Los Alamitos Race Course--is a long way from the Valley View Lanes and El Dorado Park softball fields where Shannon spent most of her spare time before she and her then-newlywed husband bought their first race horse five years ago with some disposable income.

“This was going to be our bowling league,” said Mark Shannon, a basketball official who tours three months of the year with comedy basketball troupes.

Baby Destiny not only paid bills but added money to the Shannons’ checking account. It was a well-spent $8,800 investment.

There have been a string of hits and misses since, but Brotherly was a grand slam despite his showing that hot day in Pomona. Brotherly last year grossed about $250,000; the Shannons took home less than 30% of the net winnings. Still, racing has been prosperous, very nearly becoming the family’s primary source of income.

In one 17-second race last year, Brotherly made more money than Jami has in 17 years of coaching high school softball.

The family’s current hot property is Blushing Sun, a 2-year-old filly claimed for $6,250 that earned $20,000 in two months. The Shannons already have turned down $50,000 for her.

“Everyone perceives horse racing as the sport of kings, people being rich and having lots of money to be involved, but it hasn’t changed the people we are--common, ordinary folks,” Jami Shannon said. “It’s been a social thing. We thought it would be fun to own a horse, and one horse led to a second horse which led to a third. Fortunately, they hit the board and paid for themselves. That’s allowed us to continue in the sport.

“We’re ordinary people, but when you win, it makes you feel like a million bucks.”

Thursday, 11:01 p.m., Linda’s Doll Hut

The place is small, smoky and crowded. Pete Bonny is backed into the wall behind his fortress, a Premier wood grain drum kit. His hands moves steadily. His head bounces in rhythm. Yeah, as the Go-Gos would say, he’s got the beat.

This is second nature to him as The Roundups perform “Cowboy Blues” by Gene Autry. After so many hours practicing, there are no nerves, no pressure.

The crowd is responsive. The Roundups, a five-piece western band, are a hit. And for Bonny, it’s just another night away from the office--his seventh- and eighth-grade classes at Clearwater Junior High in Paramount.

This is not like the time his band performed on the Gong Show in 1989 and won first place, and it’s not like sweating out the Marina girls’ basketball semifinal playoff game last year against Woodbridge. It is more reminiscent of his student days at Ocean View High, where he had a 3.6 grade-point average, but still managed to hit the clubs, dancing the night away until 1 or 2 in the morning--even on school nights--right after finishing his homework.

“In high school, I probably saw more bands than most people see in their whole life,” Bonny said. “After seeing so many bands, I wanted to be on the other side.”

That other side meant being on stage. His music career began in a garage covering ‘50s and ‘60s rock ‘n’ roll songs. The group, the Coupe de Villes, had a drum set but no drummer.

“They were my friends and said, ‘You wanna try it?’ I had never picked up sticks in my life,” Bonny said. “They were playing a Halloween party in a month. I got through that and I just kinda taught myself the rest of the way. I never took lessons, though I should have because I’d be a lot better technically.”

His mother played the organ and accordion. His father’s side had no musical talent.

“My [paternal] grandpa always wanted my dad or uncles to play an instrument, and they were never inclined that way--they were into sports and stuff,” Bonny said. “About a year before Grandpa passed away, Dad told him I played drums in a rock ‘n’ roll band and he said, ‘Finally, somebody in our family has some musical talent’ even though a lot of drummers aren’t considered musicians.”

Some of the players on his Marina girls’ basketball team--he has been the coach the last six years--are going to the punk concerts to see the bands he watched 12 years ago. But he’s no punker.

“When you’re playing in a band, it’s like being on a team,” he said. “All the time you put into the songs, everyone working on their part, and then seeing the performance. If the crowd is into it, it’s almost like basketball because they appreciate a good performance.

“But there are times when there is no crowd energy and the band has to create their own--you can’t let down the people who came to watch you play.”