The winds and water were very calm, the skies very grey; however, a good temperature for racing. The course was something like, go around Grey Rocks then around Boulder then back to Grey Rocks then over to Hamber and back to the 5 Kt buoy where surf skis had to do a wet exit/entry, then back to the dock.
Surf skis made up most of the starting line. I lined up my EVO on the right side with the following cast on either side: Ben and Eric Fast in a double ski, Chris D, Sean G., Brigit and Brian Wong in their wooden double, Lina, & Rene Chong (no John George he still has a bad shoulder).
As the go ahead signal was given, everyone was off. Even though i was totally focusing on paddling as hard/fast as i could, i couldn’t help but catch snippets of other paddlers and just how fast their arms were moving. One person’s arms, whom i didn’t take the time to recognize, was moving so fast that i quickly looked to see if their form was sloppy and much to my surprise, it wasn’t. Needless to say this person quickly was 3 boat lengths ahead of me as well as at least 10 other boats. It made me think of just how many really REALLY good paddlers are out there.
OK back to my race. After a bit of jockeying i was headed towards the turn heading south. Just before the turn, I had Sean G (V10 sport) about 5 boat lengths away from me and I was tailing Mike Billy. Just like most of the previous races, this is where my pace seems to taper off or my stroke is less efficient but Sean began putting distance between us. As i rounded the turn, i managed to stick to Mike’s tail and Mike following right behind Caroline. Ben/Eric were also just ahead. We kept this ranking up until closing in on Grey rocks and then Jodi B.(V10) came zooming by all three of us with Ben/Eric also opening up a sizable lead. I was really trying to stick with Mike & Caroline but was falling off his tail. Both of these paddlers have improved alot over the season. I dont know where Caroline was finishing in the beginning of the season, but I know i barely beat Mike a few times and now he has a definite edge on me!.
Each time i caught up it didnt take long for me to fall back a boat length. Caroline was hanging tough and i believe these two took turns leading, but either way i was struggling hanging with them. As I approached Hamber, Mike was about 10-15 boat lengths ahead of me and it looked like Caroline had opened a lead on Mike. Heading back to the cove, i think Caroline had a decent size lead on Mike and Mike was still about 10-15 boat lengths ahead of me. I tried to increase my stroke rate and it seemed like i was making some ground on Mike. As we went into the 5Kt buoy i saw Caroline re-mount and then spin over. Mike was already in the water and i decided to paddle a little bit away from the buoy just to give other folks some room. I had just recently tried out the ’side saddle’ approach and found it to be 100% hands-down better than the ‘cowboy’ style (at least for me), so i tipped over and got back in super fast. As i took a second to catch my breath i noticed Mike and Caroline were still having problems getting back in. Seeing the safety boat there I knew they were not too far from help if they needed it so i began to paddle back. I actually considered the race over because in my mind from a pure paddling contest, whoever made it to the 5Kt marker was the winner. Since nobody seemed to be near me, I took this time heading back to focus on my technique…sit up straight, extend the arm, etc, etc. So i’m paddling towards the finish at a decent pace still trying to analyze my stroke and i see out of the corner of my right side some yellow. I ignore it and then a few seconds later my eye catches it again. I turn to the right and here is someone in a Legend looking like they are heading for a gold medal. Obviously he didnt agree with my ‘first one to the 5Kt buoy wins’ theory. Luckily, I only had about 20 boat lengths to the finish, but needless to say, I had to crank it up real hard to stay ahead at the finish line.
The race video at the Raven was pretty good, lots of good shots of folks trying to re-mount their skis. Chris D told me he had to bail out of the race half way to the 5 Kt buoy at the beginning. Seems like he pulled a neck muscle (hopefully not too serious)…he tells me he was in the lead before it happened although there wasn’t any video to support his claims!
