May 29 Big Chop race

The sun made an appearance for the start of tonight’s Big Chop race but it certainly was cooler than we’ve been treated to over the past couple weeks. This was race #3 of the Thursday evening summer paddling series. Tonight’s course was a little longer, about 9 km. The race start was more subdued than usual…one of the OC-1 racers created a bit of stir by demonstrating the huli just as we launched off the line…I think it was Calvin. As we left the channel a group of 4 of us formed a lead pack: Shane (V10), myself (Evo), Jonathan (V10L) and John (Millenium). We were all paddling along fine enjoying some brief conversation when a series of waves come from behind and to the right…Shane made the most of the situation managing to milk some extra speed from the waves…Jonathan scrambled over the set and focussed on making up the gap…myself and John floundered away pushing our skis uphill on the waves…not the recommend technique for maximizing the oceans bumps. As the waves died down we made our way to round the sand barge then headed over towards the Vancouver Yacht Club. Part way over John and I caught up to Jonathan then we tried to close the gap on Shane. After rounding the flag we headed back toward ‘dog walker’s beach’, at least that seems to be the name used for it. We were now heading into the wind…Jonathan and I attempted to take turns setting the pace while the other drafted to see if we could catch Shane. Near the end of the leg we figured to not have made up any ground (water?) so we abandoned our shared work approach. After rounding the orange float we headed back out to the sand barge, now with the light wind at our backs. I set the pace on this leg, with Jonathan sitting on my stern…John had fallen back slightly during the previous leg but he soon joined us again. After rounding the sand barge it was a straight run back to the finish line. Shane had checked out and wasn’t showing any sign of weakness so our race was for 2nd place. Jonathan set the pace while I sat on his left slip and John on his right. As we approached the finish Jonathan accelerated about 200m from the line…I stayed on his wash for about 100m then moved out wide and started to creep along side Jonathan. John was not able to react so well to the acceleration but stayed close by in case we faltered. At the line it was as close to a photo finish as you can get in a surfski race…we still do not know which of us took 2nd…although I suspect Jonathan might have taken it by inches…but we’ll have to wait for the Big Chop results to publish to know for sure. (Big Chop results have been posted…Jeff just edged out Jonathan at the line.) Either way it was a great race…pack racing is quite fun…in my opinion…is fun to use strategy and tactics as well as strength and stamina to challenge your competitors. Mind you, it might also be fun to be as strong and fast as Shane to be able to paddle away from the field to win races.

Tonight there were 3 women surfski racers, Carolyn (S1X) was 1st followed by Mel (S1X) then Leo (Evo).

Sean Gibson was the big winner of tonight’s Accent wing paddle draw prize, while Darrell walked away with a Stohlquist PFD.

Mel reminded everyone of the upcoming Round Bowen Challenge on June 8 with its 3 race options, the full Round Bowen Challenge (32 km), the short course Finisterre Dash (8 km) and the Outrigger Canoe Relay (14 & 18 km)…highlighting that the after party BBQ is not to be missed…and there is a chance you could be the one to walk away with a new Think Evo surfski that will be drawn for at the event.

May 27 Deep Cove TNR

Wow…what a great evening for a surfski race!!! Is so nice to finally be able to shed the cold weather paddling clothes…shorts and short sleeves were all that was needed. With the June 8th Round Bowen Challenge race fast approaching the TNR course distance was bumped up to about 10 km tonight, with a shorter 4-5 km course option. Despite Bob’s warnings in last week’s TNR write up on the Deep Cove Outdoors website, tonight’s racers were not required to practise our re-entry techniques as part of the course…although I believe Dan’s first race using the V10 Sport resulted in his taking a swim as the video boat wash caught him in an awkward position…thanks go out to the sea kayaker who helped Dan get back onto his ski.

The raced started with more than the usual excitement…most of the racers seemed to be crowded close to the start/finish dock…perhaps they had been pushed that way by the wind coming from our right. Shortly after the start there was apparently a big pile up of 10 or so boats…I didn’t get the full story of what caused the congestion…heard a few “not me’s”…probably just too many boats squeezed into one area. I followed the example of John/Ben on their Mark 2 double surfski, they lined up to the far right…looked like the fellas wanted clean water to try to take off from the field…also looked like they might benefit from the wind and incoming tidal current as we left the cove…seemed a logical strategy. Paul (V10) and I (Evo) were positioned about mid-way along the start line. I put in a hard effort on the start, quickly finding myself in clean water and could hear some negotiations behind me…Paul and someone else were arranging themselves on my wash. Off to my left Chris (Evo) had gotten off to a flying start, he was leading a big long pack of skis, with Gareth (V10) sitting on his right slip. As we approached the northern white buoy our 3 groups merged, John/Ben took the lead, with myself on their left slip and Gareth on my left slip with Paul sitting on behind the double ski. I couldn’t see but I expect there was a long line of skis just behind our lead pack. After rounding the white buoy we headed north to the Lone Rock lighthouse. On route John/Ben set the pace, they seemed content to keep our little group together…we still had a long way to go. Part way along I offered Gareth’s services to pull the pack along if John/Ben wanted a rest…I could imagine this was bringing a wry smile to Ben’s face…I think Gareth thought I was nuts…over post race beves he indicated that he was worried my comments were going to piss off John/Ben enough to make them go even faster, not something he wanted at the time…Ben knew I was just playing head games with them. Our little group rounded the lighthouse together making the turn without incident then headed for Twin Islands. Part way along the way I tried to engage the fellas in a little conversation, it was John’s 43rd birthday so we had a little chat about that…not a bad way to spend your b-day. Part way along it seems we lost Paul, there were a few waves coming at us from our right side…Paul is still getting used to his new Super Elite V10 and trying to regain his fitness after spending 3 weeks on vacation…although I suspect Paul never really gets too far out of shape. During the crossing the incoming tide was pushing us to the left, we had to make corrections to ensure we stayed to the right of South Twin Island…oh, and to inform John the we had to go to the right of the island. After rounding the south end of Twin we headed north to pass between the 2 islands. Considering how many times John, Ben and I have paddled these waters it is kinda odd that we missed the best route. As we rounded the rock marking the ‘channel’ we had chosen to take, the double swung wide to give the solo skis room as we dove to the inside of the tight turn…and there it was…a sandy beach right in the middle of our ‘channel’.  Oh well, it was low tide after all. Gareth and I hit the beach together and quickly carried our boats across the 3 meter beach. We had some fun as we tried to relaunch…I thought I could pull a fast one on Gareth by grabbing his arm ready give myself big push ahead…he was on to my plan and quickly countered by laying his paddle across my lap…ok, I’ll play nice. Then when I tried to paddle away my boat wouldn’t move…my rudder was buried in the sand…quickly got out and move forward…ok, back on the water with Gareth and I having opened a gap on the double as they had to wait for us to clear the beach before they could launch. As I turned to see the double I noticed that we had missed an opening between the islands that we could have paddled through…oh well, the portage was pretty fun.

Now back on the water we headed north to round North Twin Island then proceeded to complete the figure-8 of the islands by once again passing between them. Gareth and I discussed taking the water channel but decided that the portage would probably be faster due to the extra distance we would have to paddle to get to the channel…so we did the portage. This time our portage went smoother…except for nailing my rudder on a rock…and I soon found out that the rudder shaft had bent…I could still steer but the rudder was sticking in the middle position. Gareth and I had about a 50 meter gap on the double and I was pretty sure they would catch us before the finish…I considered asking Gareth to bend back my rudder which would’ve let the double catch us quicker but decided I could put up with it. Gareth and I tried to work together to keep the pace high but I was having trouble controlling my boat, especially while riding his slip…I had to stay out a little wider to avoid swinging my bow into Gareth’s blade. Sure enough John/Ben were moving up on us, trying to sneak by off to our left. We were not about to let them slip past us so we covered their line, John tried to outmanuever us by switching over to our right which we covered again then as he went back to the left he apparently almost lost Ben who wasn’t expecting the sharp left turn. As the double came past Gareth moved onto its right slip while I stayed on Gareth’s right slip. About half way back to the cove I dropped in behind the double, there was more room back there to swing the boat left/right as I dealt with the sticky rudder. At the finish John/Ben kept just a high enough pace to keep Gareth from being able to sprint past, they finished pretty much side by side with the double crossing the line first.

Paul and Reid came in next, with Reid having skipped the portages since he had borrowed Daryl’s carbon Legend and didn’t want to scratch it. Reid seemed pretty happy with the ski, especially at how quickly he was able to accelerate off the starting line. Next to finish was Brian and Sasha paddling Deep Cove Outdoor’s rental double Mako XT. Just behind was a hard fought paddle between 4 paddlers with Bob bringing his V10 across the line ahead of Daryl (Fit) then Rod (Legend) and Chris (Evo). Katja (Legend) was the first solo woman surfskier across the line.

At the post race prize draw Bob suggested that everyone should be prepared to do a self rescue at next week’s race. Daryl also reminded us all about the upcoming June 8 Round Bowen Challenge, and that there is a new short course option added for this year’s event…an about 8 km race called Finisterre Dash…and that all event participants are elligible for the draw for the Think Evo surfski that will be given away at the Round Bowen Challenge event…along with tons of other cool draw prizes. The post race party for this race is as big an attraction as is the race…there will be a couple kegs of beer and the salmon bbq will be as excellent as ever. This year’s race has even attracted fast surfski racers from Wisconsin (a little known hot-bed for surfski paddling) and Southern California.

The next Big Chop race is Thursday (May 29), see the link at the right of the page for details. Come on out for some good racing, post race food and beves and many, many cool draw prizes…you may even win a wing paddle…they give one away at each race!

Jericho Iron Classic small boats race

May 25 saw a nice turnout of surfskis along with the many single and double outrigger canoes at the Jericho Iron Classic small boats race. Full results of the race can be found at the CORA website, see link to the right of this page. The finishing order of the surfskiscan be found at the bottom of this post.

On arrival at Jericho Beach we discovered the water conditions for today’s race would be pretty much flat calm. Although we were soon to find some bumpy water out by the red buoy. At race time the tide was just starting to ebb so there was some discussion about any preferred routes to take advantage of the tide on the outbound leg and to minimize its effects on the return leg. The start line was Jericho pier with 56 boats lined up…well sort of lined up…an OC-1 paddler decided to test the water by huliing on the line…Rod was about 100m behind the line with his boat pointing over to Ambleside…Micky, Daryl and Chris had just launched…then the yellow flag was replace by green and the race was on!

Shortly after the start Shane tookup his customary position at the front, with Gareth on his left slip and Jeff on his right. Just behind and to the right was Jonas along with an OC-2. After about 5 minutes far to the right Mike and Paul crept their double surfski past this group to lead the race on their own. The tide must’ve been moving at 1-2 km/h as our pack’s speed was about 13.5 km/h for most of the outbound leg. About half way out to the red can Gareth moved past Shane, offering to do some work, allowing Shane to rest on the wash. Meanwhile I was thinking to myself, “no way am I going to the front, I’m doing all I can just to stay on the wash”. Gareth’s time on the front was short-lived, after what seemed only a few seconds Shane moved back into the lead…Gareth appeared happy to oblige and settled back onto his slip. Meanwhile Jonas was still paddling along side the OC-2 only about 5 meters behind and to the right of our group. Mike/Paul were checking out…no one was up for challenging them today. As we neared the red buoy off of Point Grey the water started to getting choppy…there wasn’t any real organization to the waves, they seemed to be coming from all directions. As the waves encroached I fell behind the group and I had a great view to watch Jonas bridge the gap over to Shane and Gareth…he made it look so easy to just skip his boat along the waves to join the others…there is alot to be said for staying relaxed when the conditions get bouncy.

 After the turn it was a straight run back to the finish at the pier. There were a few runs to be caught within the chaotic waves, but of course we were now headed into the outgoing tidal current. At this point I chose to try a different line than the leaders…I figured to not have much to lose in trying to get out of the current, perhaps it would provide an opportunity to make up some time on the leaders. So while the leaders stayed outside of the pilings I gambled that there would still be enough water over the sand flats to allow paddling out of the worst of the current. Things seemed to be going ok for a while then all of a sudden my speed dropped to 9.5 km/h…oh, oh…I expected to plunge my paddle into the sandy bottom at any moment so I immediately angle to the left, seeking out deeper water. As expected I lost quite alot of distance to the leaders with this move…oh well, now where are the guys chasing me? Reid was closest and had stayed in the deep water…so now may race was to stay ahead of Reid…which I was able to do despite his dogged chase. Meanwhile at the front Mike and Paul stayed well ahead to finish 1st, Jonas sped past Shane as they skirted the sand flats…Shane thinks he may have been positioned to far to the right, in some slower water…although he indicated that he was pretty much done by then anyways…about time he got tired, Shane was on the OC-6 crew that won a hard fought 16 km race on Saturday. Gareth dropped back to finish alongside the OC-2.

Was cool to see so many surfskis show up for this race, which is traditionally an outrigger canoe event. Is also worth noting the number of Legends now being raced by our group. There were 5 Legends in the race, one of which was unwrapped from plastic just before the start of today’s event, and a second had just been purchased on Saturday. This new surfski seems to be attracting alot of fans.

 

This is race #3 of the SurfskiBC Race Series, and the 1st of the short course events. The current standings have now been updated to include these results. Note: Shannon, Caroline and Leo raced the womens event so were each awarded a single point, see the rules of the series for clarification of the points system. Mike’s victory in double ski has vaulted him into 2nd place in total points just ahead of Don Kiesling, both of whom are still well behind Ian. Ben’s single point elevated him into sole possession of 4th place, breaking the deadlock with fellow double surfski specialists Larry, Shaun and John.

Race #4 of the series is the Round Bowen Challenge on June 8.

Race #5 of the series was scheduled for June 14 at Lake Kalamalka in Vernon. I’ve put out some email enquiries to the Vernon locals to see that there will be local surfskiers at this event. One of the goals of this series is to help promote growth of surfski racing throughout BC and the Pacific Northwest. Clearly it only makes sense for out of town surfski racers to travel to events that will be supported by the local surfski community. Events that are not well supported by the local surfski community will be removed from the series.  Apparently many of the Vernon surfski community are focussing their training and racing on K1 and marathon canoe to prepare for the Canadian National Marathon Championships taking place at Enderby in July…so the Lake Kalamalka race has been dropped from the 2008 SurfskiBC Race Series.

Race #5 of the series will now be June 15 in Victoria. Check out the Event Details section for this event…this course can provide some bouncy water conditions as well as some nasty currents to challenge the paddlers…this is definitely one of the more interesting courses we get to race on.

Place	Paddler	Points
1	Mike Fitzmaurice (dble Mako XT)	25
1	Paul Sabiston (dble Mako XT)	25
2	Jonas Hudson (S1X special)	21
3	Shane Martin (V10)	18
4	Gareth Tudor Jones (V10)	15
5	Jeff Raymond (Evo)	13
6	Reid Carter (S1X)	11
7	Bob Putnam (V10)	10
8	Dave Boone (Millenium)	9
9	Daryl Remmler (Legend)	8
10	Chris Dobrovolny (Evo)	7
11	Rod Hope (Legend)	6
12	Darryl Spencer (S1X)	5
13	Don Craig (S1R)	4
14	Sean Gibson (V10 sport)	3
15	Matt Kelly (Evo)	2
16	Pete Alfred (Mako XT)	1
17	Katja Rademacher (Legend)	1
18	Ben Fast (Icon)	1
19	Mike Taylor (Evo)	1
20	CorkyArmstrong (Legend)	1
21	Mickey MacDonald (Legend)	1
22	Bill Horsman (Evo)	1
1	Shannon Bell (?)	1
2	Caroline Daubney (S1X)	1
3	Leo Chao (Evo)	1

 

Sunday May 25 Surfski race at Jericho Beach

The next local racing opportunity is this Sunday at Jericho Beach. The course usually starts at the Jericho pier taking racers west to the red bell can off Point Grey then back to the pier…the race organizers will make the final decision on the course on race day. Apparently last year’s race featured some fantastic waves to ride on the return leg, hopefully the weather gods will treat us well again this year.

Rumour has it that many of the islanders will be making the trip over for this race, could be a good group of racers on hand making for some exciting action.

This is race #3 of the SurfskiBC Race Series and 1st of the short course events.

2008 OC1/2/Surfski Challenge – Sunday, May 25
Registration: Sunday, May 25, at the Jericho Sailing Centre
Fee: $10.00 per paddler
Schedule:
9:00 Registration
10:00 Women/Novice and Junior
11:30 Men/Mixed
Awards post races

Race Course: To be confirmed (based on weather conditions), but distance will be 10 to 12k.

May 15 Big Chop Race

Thursday evening was race #2 of the 2008 Big Chop Summer Paddle Series and the sun finally came out to make for warm paddling conditions for the racers. Anyone who has spent time in the English Bay area of Vancouver knows that 2 things usually happen when the sun comes out: all of the sudden there are tons of people outside being active in various ways and the wind blows on the bay. This includes attracting lots of boats: sailboats, powerboats and dinner cruise ships, and many of these boats traverse through False Creek on their way to/from the open water of English Bay. What does this mean for Big Chop racers? Well the waves created by wind and boats put the ‘chop’ in Big Chop.

The moderately strong wind that apparently blew on English Bay over the afternoon had subsided somewhat by race time, but there were still waves rolling into the bay and the many powerboats were stirring up the water making for rather bouncy paddling conditions. The race started at its usual location off the docks at the Vanier Park boat launch. Just after the start the racers had to split around a rather huge dinner cruise ship that was making its way into False Creek…the party goers got a great view of the start and did well to cheer us on as we accelerated past their ship. Off the line we headed toward 2nd beach off Stanley Park to round a big orange course marker. Shane started on the far right of the course while I started on the far left…Shane lead to the first turn. Part way along this leg a big set of power boat wash came along to give us a big push, although not everyone appreciated the added wave action. By the time Jonathan and Graham made it to the first turn their marathon canoe was so laden with water than the self-bailer wouldn’t drain, at least not as fast as the water was coming in. They wisely opted to abandon their race before heading out into the more open water of the bay. The guys may want to take up outrigger canoe and surfski for these rougher water race nights.

A short distance back from Shane (V10), Jeff (Evo) rounded the turn 2nd and another small distance back was John (Millenium) and Bob (V10). In fact this order remained constant through to the finish of the race, with the battle between John and Bob being settled in the last couple hundred meters of the race. After the first turn we headed upwind making our way to the sandbarge can, after round this marker we headed downwind to the red buoy channel marker. The waves weren’t really moving fast enough to be a big help to the surfskis, but I took the opportunity to practise some wave riding tips that were passed on to me earlier in the day. The idea is to get on the the wave and to keep the boat just on the wave crest, not to allow the boat to accelerate down the wave. Apparently this technique affords one longer rides and reduces wallowing after plowing into the backside of the wave in front of the ski. John and Bob managed to reduce the gap during this leg but after the turn I started to work harder again as we made our way across the channel to the green buoy channel marker. From here we headed back upwind to once again round the sandbarge can then run directly back to the start/finish line. On the final downwind leg I did less practise of this wave riding technique, opting rather to take opportunities to use some of the bigger waves to help accelerate the ski past some of the slower moving waves. Under these small wave conditions this method is faster but is definitely more tiring.

Tonight’s race saw over 60 paddlers take to the water for both the Big and Little Chop courses including 13 surfskiers, and if we keep getting these wavy conditions look for this number to continue to increase. The post race festivities featured smokies and ‘beves’ along with tons of draw prizes. Three of the bigger prizes were Riders Eyewear sunglasses, a Stohlquist PFD and an Accent wing kayak paddle.

Full race results can be found here.

May 13 Deep Cove TNR

It was another fine ‘March’ evening with cloudy skies and cool temperatures as the diehard paddlesports racers showed up in impressive numbers despite the rain that had been falling all day. Apparently spring will arrive on Thursday.

After some pre-race course scouting…meaning Bob managed to get onto the water with time to do a real warm up for the race…the course was altered from its original plan. There was a threat of wind kicking up some challenging conditions so rather than have us head over to Jug then to Raccoon, the course was changed such that we first headed north to Lone Rock lighthouse, then over to Raccoon. This allowed the short course paddlers to not have to negotiate a channel crossing in the potentially challenging conditions…and provided a good opt out option for the sprint K1 racers to stay relatively close to shore…good thinking Bob…safety starts with planning to minimize potential risks.

 Tonight’s start seemed a little more subdued than usual, perhaps due to the slightly longer course ahead of us. After Jim’s initial surge off the line in his Thunder K1, Paul took the lead in his new Super Elite V10 with Mike (Mako 6) locked on his left slip. Behind these leaders was a quite a pack, that included Chris (Evo), Jeff (Robberg Express), Daryl (Legend), Jonathan (V10L), John/Lina (Mark 2), Bob (V10 Super Elite) and Sean/Gary (Mako XT). On approach to the turn around Lone Rock lighthouse Mike was now setting the pace with Paul riding his right slip and only a couple of the lead pack had dropped back. The pace settled somewhat on the crossing to Raccoon, perhaps due to the slight side chop/wind coming down the arm. The closer we got to the island the bigger the waves got, but they were still quite small…unless you were paddling a K1…Jim did well staying up with the leaders on the crossing. On approach of Raccoon we could hear the video boat pulling along side with Daryl and Chris in tow on its wash. Nothing like working hard at the front of the pack then looking over to see Daryl sitting on a big wave not even paddling…he sure is good at that…must be the boat. I guess Daryl and Chris were feeling guilty as they proceeded to drop back well off the pace on the stretch back to the cove. After rounding Raccoon, Mike and Paul took slightly different lines with Jeff following Mike and Jim following Paul…Jonathan and John/Lina were still in the mix but couldn’t say which route they took. Mike seemed to be on a mission tonight, keeping the pace high and started opening a gap on Paul and Jim. I was working hard trying to stay with him as he put his head down and hammered toward the cove. About half way back Mike had opened a 1-2 boat length gap that was starting to grow. John/Lina kept their Mark 2 just off to my left and they would periodically come into my field of vision. Lina enjoyed a winter of training with Ben and John on their regular weekly evening paddling in the dark training sessions at the cove and is making great improvements in her paddling…especially when she teams with John in the double ski. As I dropped back farther from Mike, Jim caught up so I moved onto his slip…and slowly but surely Jim started to reel in Mike…clearly Jim was enjoying the now flatterwater on approach to the cove. With about 100m to go Jim managed to catch Mike, unfortunately I lost Jim’s wash about 50 meters before this. Mike must’ve felt like superman tonight, managing to hold off Jim by a couple inches in the sprint to the line. Well done Mike, leading the race pretty much wire to wire!

After the race Jim commented that this had been the hardest he had worked in the finish of a race like that. John/Lina came home in 4th followed by Paul then Jonathan. In the women’s race Kiran took first in a SuperLancer K1 followed by Katja (Evo) and Jodi (V10L).

Rumour has it that Bob will have the results posted this afternoon…with the launch of their revamped website.

Deep Cove Outdoors is having a demo day on Saturday May 17 from 10 – noon with a variety of Epic and Think surfskis available to test paddle…although I don’t recall seeing his Super Elite V10 included in the list.

 

May 10 Paddlers’ Classic Report

Fort Langley Canoe Club’s Paddlers’ Classic took place under cloudy skies on Saturday May 10 at Bedford Channel of the Fraser River. Fort Langley Camping kindly provided the use of their recently renovated day use area for staging the race. This race is rather unique on the race calendar in that it tends to bring together the marathon canoe and flatwater sprint racing communities. In recent years surfskis have begun to take interest in this race, particularly by those surfski racers looking to work on their flatwater speed and for those who would rather be in a surfski for the sometimes wavy conditions of the Fraser River depending on the current and the number of power boats moving through the channel.

Marathon canoers are known for liking the challenge of courses that include: shallow water sections, upstream and downstream currents to navigate, tight turns, narrow waterways and portages. As such the race organizers strived to provide a course that is sufficiently interesting to the marathon canoers andalso to provide a second course thought to be more suitable for the flatwater and surfski paddlers. Interestingly it turned out that all of the flatwater and surfski paddlers also opted for the more challenging marathon course. Before the start much of the discussion surrounded the ability of the kayaks and surfskis to navigate the very tight turn in the creek, apparently the creek was only 20 feet wide…making for an interesting situation for a 21 foot long surfski!

The start was fast as usual, with the young sprinters launching to the front as though they were doing a 1000m sprint race…easy guys, there are still 20 km to go. Usually I get sucked into going out too hard but my game plan for this race was to try to start off slower then pick up the pace near the end or at least hold a higher pace throughout the race rather than go too hard at the beginning then just trying to hold on till the finish. The start was downstream and after 1km there was a turn after whichthe racers travelled back up the river. There was a moderate/strong current since the tide was expected to drop about 10 feet over the day. After the turn there was a pack of 3 leaders Keith, Ken and Josh followed about 100m back by the group of Elliot, Jordan, Brian and Adam. About 25 meters behind them was Jeff and Jim and we hugged the south shore staying out of the worst of the current. Oddly enough the FLCCpaddlers were leading the second pack nearly in the middle of the river, thus having to work against the oncoming current. As such without any extra effort Jim and I were able to bridge the gap on this group and then we moved onto their wash, allowing us to work even less. As we approached the upstream turn I accelerated to try to spread the group out a bit before the turn…these young guys have so much better boat control (balance) than do I so I wanted to shake things up a bit to give myself more room going into the corner…and to hopefully lose less than the usual amount of distance to them on the corner. This seemed to have worked as after the turn I was sitting on Elliot’s right slip with Jordan on his left, Jim was behind Elliot along with Brian and Adam. Our group stayed together on the now downstream leg heading into the portage. Elliot had been doing all of the work up front which was quite impressive but I wondered if this would come back to hurt him later in the race. As we passed under the bridge I picked up the pace as we headed into the portage…again to spread things out a bit as we headed in to shore. Interestingly again Elliot didn’t give an inch when I accelerated, he seemed determined to stay on the front of our group. Pre-race scouting indicated that there was a very narrow high step leading up from the sandy beach to the grassy knoll so I bullied my way to the front to give myself a clear run at the path then stayed at the front on the about 100m portage through the trees to return back down to the river with Elliot and Jordan right with me. Elliot and Jordan took the more direct path downstream while I moved farther out into the channel hoping to take advantage of faster current. After several minutes our paths seemed to converge and we raced together to the next turn. At the turn the guys opened a slight gap on me…I really do suck at the turns, at least compared to these guys…but on this occasion I wanted this to happen. As the guys completed the turn they started to head upstream moving toward the right side of the river…until they noticed that I’d made my way directly over to the left side. I’d learned this lesson a couple years ago in this race when I’d done they same as them and then had to watch some marathon canoes pass me by as they crept up the north side of the channel…it seems the north side has less current and is a slightly shorter route. Fortunately the guys noticed what was happening and reacted quickly but I took the opportunity to accelerate the pace to see how they were feeling. Jordan managed to catch my wash but it seemed Elliot was back a bit. I gave myself about 20 seconds to recover then sprinted ahead again, Jordan dropped back slightly but did well to fight back onto my wash. Shortly after he had settled back onto my wash I hit the gas again, this time holding the pace a little longer…this time the gap was too big for Jordan to overcome…thankfully, because I don’t think I had another acceleration in me. I now settled into a comfortable pace while staying as close as possible to shore without scraping bottom and watching out for deadheads and low hanging branches. Interestingly while all this was going on the 3 leaders were travelling up the south shore of the river…and by the time we passed the bridge I was even with them. I continued to hug the shore until a large dock forced me out into the channel…this is where I cross over to the south shore…and after doing so found myself at the front of the race. After a few minutes Keith and Ken caught up and moved onto my wash, dropping Josh in the process. As we passed the top end of the island I stabbed my right blade into the river bottom giving myself a bit of a scare and perhaps it unnerved Keith a bit as shortly thereafter he accelerated to the lead with Ken and I on his left and right slips, respectively. Keith took a more offshore route which was fine with me since he was doing the pace setting. After a minute or so Keith’s pace dropped…perhaps he had just accelerated to stretch some tiring muscles…so I picked up the pace again and made a B-line for the shore again with the others in tow. We were now above Bedford Channel, in the main channel of the Fraser River. There was a noticeably stronger current as evidenced by the more turbulent swirls in the eddies along the shore making for less comfortable paddling conditions as the bow would be moved without warning by the swirling boils. This was new water for all of us and we were not sure where was the turn into the creek. It wasn’t long until we spotted Jim and his son in a safety boat tied up to the piling that marked the creek mouth. We rounded the piling then entered the narrow creek, immediately the water cleared and it was a real peaceful setting with long grass lining the creek. About 200m up the creek we spotted Grant overseeing the racers as we made the tight turn. The 3 of us took it easy around the corner giving each other lots of room as we needed to come to a complete stop then use forward and backward sweep strokes to redirect our boats. Fortunately we negotiated the turn without incident and made our way out of the creek, passing Josh just as he entered the creek. We now re-entered the main channel of the Fraser River and sought out the fastest currents, we were running downstream at around 15 km/h, at one point Keith pointed out we were paddling along at 3:47 1000m pace. Our downstream run was fairly uneventful, I stayed at the front with Ken and Keith smartly enjoying the free ride down the river. Knowing how fast are Ken and Keith at sprinting I figured to not have a chance against these guys in a race to the finish so I decided to enjoy towing them along in front of ‘our adouring fans’ (otherwise known as officials, coaches and parents) at the start/finish line then leave it up to them to battle for 1st and 2nd. I was please with my race and was content to take 3rd place. The final 2 km of the race took us 1 km downstream of the finish line then back for an upstream finish. As we approached the final turn Keith and Ken moved ahead of me as I settled back to watch the show. The finish wasn’t overly exciting…Ken stayed on Keith’s wash then Ken made a strong move after Keith’s initial acceleration to open up a gap…at one point Keith actually stopped paddling, looked like his back was giving him problems, needing to stretch it.  Josh came in 4th, with John doing well at representing the surfskiers by finishing 5th on his Millenium after passing Jim and Elliot in the final 2 kms.

Place	Racer(s)	Club	Boat	Category	Time
1	Ken Muir	RCKC	K1	Juvenile	1:38:48
2	Keith Kelleway	RCKC	K1	Juvenile	1:39:00
3	Jeff Raymond	BCKC	K1	Master	1:39:21
4	Joshua Horacsek	RCKC	K1	Juvenile	1:42:45
5	John George	BCKC	SS	Master	1:43:54
6	Jim Nosella	BCKC	K1	Open	1:44:18
7	Elliot Hoyt	FLCC	K1	Juvenile	1:44:46
8	Brian Malfasi	RCKC	K1	Midget	1:47:08
9	Adam Poole	RCKC	K1	Juvenile	1:47:09
10	Jordan Traas	FLCC	K1	Midget	1:48:10
11	Ron Williams/Ian McKenzie	VCKC	C2	Open	1:48:56
12	Peter Scherrer/ Jesse Allen		C2	Open	1:49:12
13	Kristin Bauder	BCKC	K1	Open	1:51:13
14	Kiran Basra	BCKC	K1	Juvenile	1:53:00
15	Clara Van Meel	RCKC	K1	Juvenile	1:53:54
16	Chris Dobrovolny	BCKC	SS	Master	1:56:09
17	Gord Wallace/Kris Terauds	VCKC	C2	Open	1:56:31
18	Barry Leslie/Helen Currey	VCKC	C2 Mixed	Open	1:58:06
19	Katja Rademacher	BCKC	K1	Master	1:59:33
20	Darryl Spencer/Karen Schmit		C2 Mixed	Open	2:00:31
21	Rayne Tarasuik	RCKC	K1	Juvenile	2:00:47
22	Sarah Poole	RCKC	K1	Open	2:00:49
23	David Scherrer/Susan Bennerstrom		C2 Mixed	Open	2:06:38
24	Chris Nicolson/Diana Thomson		C2 Mixed	Open	2:11:17

May 10 Fort Langley Paddlers’ Classic

Fort Langley Canoe Club race organizers have streamlined the May 10 events, the new race schedule is below. Also note that due to the splitting of the 18 km race into 2 courses I’ve decided to remove this event from the SurfskiBC Race Series. That said, this is a fun race and we get to race with some of BC’s fastest sprint kayak racers…and the doubles race in the afternoon should be fun…would be cool to see some skis in the mix. The race takes place in Bedford Channel of the Fraser River, with the staging area being the day use area of the Fort Langley Campground.

Fort Langley Paddlers’ Classic

 10:00 AM        Race 1A: 10 KM

                         Race 1B:  6 KM 

10:10 AM         Race 2A:  18KM -West Creek, (includes a tight turn) and Portage

                         Race 2B:  18KM – all within Bedford Channel

 *Morning Races are C1, C2, K1, OC 6’s, surf skies and marathon canoes. Races are all mixed men and women. The beginning and the end of the two 18km races will overlap.

 LUNCH

 2:00 PM             Race 3A: 10KM (team boats)

2:05 PM             Race 3B: 6KM (team boats)

TBA                 Race   4: Fun 1000m Relay

 *Afternoon Races are mostly team boats. Races are all mixed men and women, but not necessarily in each boat.

May 6 Deep Cove TNR

Spring looks to have finally sprung as evidenced by all the shorts laden paddlers at last night’s Tuesday Night Race at Deep Cove. There were some seriously white legs on display last night…desperately in need of some sunshine. Another large crowd took to the water and once again a big group of surfskis made up the fleet  of racers.

Tonight’s course headed south out of the cove to round Grey Rocks, then to round Boulder Island then returning to the cove, rounding the white buoy marker at the cove’s entrance. After the usual TNR high adrenaline start a pack of 5 paddlers lead the way out the cove, headed by Jim (Thunder K1) and Gareth (Legend) followed by Jeff (Robberg Express), Mike (Mako 6) and Jonathan (V10L)…and I think Bob was not far behind paddling a Legend tonight. The group stayed together through to Grey Rocks…but on the crossing to Boulder Jeff started to fall off the pace, fortunately Mike and Jonathan were able to bridge up to Jim and Gareth…sorry about leaving the gap guys. On the run back to the cove the lead group was strung out so it appeared Jim and/or Gareth was keeping up a good pace on the front. About 10 seconds behind the lead pack was the team of Kiran and Kristin paddling a Thunder K2 followed by John and Lina in the Mark 2 double surfski. It was fun to sit beside the K2 to listen to the gals ‘negotiate’ keeping the boat upright, seems one of them thought the boat was going to flip at any minute while the other was confident they would be fine…in the end they were indeed fine.

At the finish Jim managed to hold off Gareth in the sprint to the line, followed I believe by Jonathan then Mike…is this correct guys? Next across the line was Kiran/Kristin, John/Lina, Jeff then Bob.

The women surfskiers were Katja (Evo), followed closely by Jodi (V10) then I believe Colleen (Evo?) and Jennifer (V10).

Excitement is starting to build for the Round Bowen Challenge…the latest news is that Eric Borgnes, who used to be a regular at winner of our local races and now resides in Wisconsin, is coming out for Round Bowen…and now it seems Patrick and DeAnne Hemmens, owners of Ocean Paddlesports (see link at right of page) in Southern California are going to join the Round Bowen fun.

And remember, all us Tuesday Night Racers have a better than average chance of winning a Think Evo surfski…but we have to participate in one of the 3 Round Bowen events to be eligible. See the past posting on this blog for details of the events.

Think International Surfski Challenge…and the winner is…

Team USA

The hand carved Think International Surfski Challenge trophy was accepted for Team USA by Reivers, Larry, Mike, Shaun, Dean and Larry.

Team Canada put in a strong showing on their home water against a depleted Team USA that was missing four paddlers on the day, including both women paddlers. Team USA’s shortcomings helped Canada make a big comeback with a 105 to 148 advantage on the day. Despite the handicap going into day 2 of the event, Team USA’s lead on day 1 was too big to overcome, taking victory in the 1st annual Think International Surfski Challenge by a 244 to 262 advantage.

Congratulations to Team USA, and to all of the US and Canadian surfski paddlers who took part in what we hope will be an annual highlight event on our community’s racing calendar. 

Lake Whatcom Classic		Tour de Indian Arm
1. Joost Z.	US1	Ian M.	Can1
2. Eric M.	US2	Don K.	US1
3. Shaun/Larry	US3	John/Ben	Can2
4. Don K.	US4	Shaun/Larry	US2
5. John/Ben	Can1	Dean B.	US3
6. Peter M.	US5	Dion M.	Can3
7. Ron W.	Can2	Jeff R.	Can4
8. Dean B.	US6	Mike F.	Can5
9. Brandon N.	US7	Erik W.	US4
10. Nathan M.	Can3	Bob P.	Can6
11. Jeff R.	Can4	Daryl R.	Can7
12. Bob P.	Can5	Chris D.	Can8
13. Larry B.	US8	Reid C.	Can9
14. Mike G.	US9	Larry B.	US5
15. Daryl R.	Can6	Mike G.	US6
16. Keith M.	Can7	Kathleen P.	Can10
17. Heather N.	US10	Reivers D.	US7
18. Katja R.	Can8	Katja R.	Can11
19. Anne B.	US11	No paddler	US8
20. Kathleen P.	Can9	No paddler	US9
21. Lina A.	Can10	No paddler	US10
22. No paddler	Can11	No paddler	US11