Dion’s Olympic Dream…racing the World Cup events ***video***

Tim Hornsby, Pat Dolan, Dion Maxwell, Morgan House, Ryan Dolan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello everyone, 

First things first, I’m sorry it has taken me so long to get this out. Internet access has been almost non existent at the places we have been to so far; but these places have been amazing.

We started our trip in the Czech Republic in a small town, if you want to call it that, called Racieca. I prefer to call it “the race course with a bowling alley”, enough said. The weather and the water in Racieca was as good as I could have asked for in my first World Cup. As we got down to business of racing, it was a real shock to see all the countries represented, knowing that these are the best guys and the world and that I was going to get to line up against them.

After the first weekend of racing I had made the semi-finals in the K2 1000m and the K2 500m with different partners. And, now that I think about it, a semi at the world level isn’t bad at all.

As it came to the Monday morning following the first World Cup, all the other teams had gone home or to their own little training spot in Europe. Lucky us, we got to stay in the village with no internet. Racieca does have a train though, which actually was very nice. It was only a 40 minute train ride to Prague which worked out to be about three dollars. Let me tell you all something, if you come to Europe you have to go to Prague; if I could, I would come all the way back just to go there for a week.

Now for the training. After the first World Cup we decided to stick with two crews instead of switching it up. The Dolan brothers on one crew, and Tim and I the other. Tim and I started out really sketchy together, but we started to hit our stride after a few workouts. We were both starting to feel like we could throw down a solid race at the next World Cup.

When we got to the second World Cup in Poznan, Poland, things didn’t work out as we had hoped. We got a new boat which should have helped us, the one we had before was too small. We traded with a smaller crew who had a boat that was way too big for them. The larger boat definitely made a difference; we got off the line at the start with authority. I was impressed; I had been thinking that we were going to be in the back of the pack the whole time. After 300m into the race we started to fall apart and lose each other in our leg drive. This made the boat feel like a tug boat, pretty much like throwing an anchor off the back of the boat! We still made the semi-finals but sadly, were not able to advance to any of the finals.

[Check out the video of Dion and mates at an Olympic training center in Walcz, Poland...work out was 6 times (20 sec on /10 sec off- 30 on / 15 off - 40 on)...that's Dion in the front seat of the green/white K2]

Cheers

Dion maxwell

Upcoming Race: June 7 at Bowen Island

On June 7, 2009 Bowen Island Sea Kayaking  will present the 10th edition of the Round Bowen Challenge kayak race.

Once again this year there are 3 great races to choose from:

1) 10th Annual Round Bowen Challenge 32 km circumnavigation of Bowen Island,

2) Finisterre Dash…an 8 km short course race taking paddlers to Finisterre Island at the northeastern corner of Bowen Island then returning to the start/finish at Snug Cove, and

3) Outrigger Canoe Round Bowen Relay…a 32 km race for OC-1 and OC-2 teams where crews exchange at Tunstall Bay on the west side of Bowen Island. Open Ocean Outriggers has once again come on board to support the OC relay.

Cash prizes for new time records in circumnavigating Bowen Island are back again for the 2009 race.

Three fantastic Bowen Island businesses have each generously sponsored $500 cash prizes : REDESIGN TECHNOLOGIES Inc.,  THE RUDDY POTATO healthy and organic food store, and BOWEN BUILDING CENTRE Ltd.

The cash prizes will be paid out to new time records set in the solo male, solo female and double kayak categories.

These are the times to beat:

solo male          2:31:07

solo female       2:48:44

double kayak   2:38:07

We will once again be treated to the scrumptious post race salmon BBQ.

To register go to www.roundbowenchallenge.com.

Think Kayak and Deep Cove Outdoors will be giving away a Think Powerwing paddle (retail $399).

 

Race Results: May 26 at Deep Cove

Excellent conditions for Tuesday’s Deep Cove race…the sun was shining brightly, the water was smooth and the paddlers were fast!

The evening’s race was the traditional longish race as part of the lead up to June 7th’s Round Bowen Challenge. The course had paddlers head left out of the Cove to round the lighthouse off Lone Rock Point…(Bob, any idea why they call that point Lone Rock?)…from here we headed across and farther up the channel to counterclockwise round Twin Islands then headed back down the channel to round an orange float at the south entrance to the Cove before the final dash to the start/finish line…total distance was 10.2 km.

Off the line a pack of 4 single skis formed, led by south of Seattle resident Eric Moll (V10L), fresh off his Top Gun Award winning race at Sunday’s Ski to Sea race at Bellingham. Rounding out the leading pack was Gareth (Uno), Wes (Uno) and Jim (Legend). Katja and I were in tandem ski (Mako XT) taking a more onshore line to the lighthouse. About midway to the lighthouse Jim fell off the leaders’ pace…I think he ended up turning at the lighthouse to do the short course. There is a rather large rock near the lighthouse which with the evening’s tide was covered by water…but only just enough to not have it show. We took a wide line while the singles approached tight to the pilar…the guys got a slight scare at the sight of the rock but managed to have found a deep slot near the pilar to get through rudders intact. On the crossing Wes moved up to take the lead with the others riding slip…Katja and I took a line to the right of the single skis…they were ahead of us by about 30 meters allowing us to easily keep an eye on them. As we neared the south end of Twin the guys looked to have been aiming for the gap between the 2 islands but at the last minute adjusted their course…perhaps they noticed us off to their right. Along the back side of the islands we closed the gap on the lead pack, joining the group just after rounding the top end. This didn’t last long…as we completed the loop of Twin Islands Wes took advantage of some bouncy water created by motorboat waves to put in an acceleration…this seemed to have caught Eric and Gareth off guard and Wes was now on his own in the lead. We had no response to the acceleration Eric and Gareth put in to try to catch Wes. Wes continued to stretch out his lead and stayed away to the finish. Eric and Gareth settled in to sharing the work, each taking turns setting the pace while the other rode wash. The only interesting part from here on in was watching the guys try to figure out if we had to round the orange marker before heading to the finish. Gareth and Eric looked to be prepared to head directly to the line but noticed the tandem ski was staying out in the channel taking a line directly to the orange float. At the line Gareth just barely edged out Eric in the sprint for 2nd while the tandem took 4th.

In behind…veteran TNRacer Bob managed to cleanly slice off his rudder on the rock at the Lone Rock Point lighthouse, prematurly ending his race. A whole flock of sheep in skis (and a K1) skipped the final orange marker…a few honourable racers did the full course despite the ‘follow the leader’ tactics being played out ahead of them…well done Nic (Uno), Daryl (Legend), Micky (Legend) and Ben/Eric (S2X)…and perhaps others.

NEXT RACES:

May 21     Big Chop

June 2     TNR Pre-Round Bowen Taper Race

June 7     Round Bowen Challenge (32 km)

June 9     TNR Super Hero Night

June 14   Island Iron Small Boats race (13 km)

Upcoming Races: Comox TNR’s

Well folks, the Comox Valley has gone too long without a regular kayak race. During extensive strategic planning sessions (i.e., Don Irvine and I over beers) we have decided to put together an unsanctioned Tuesday Night Paddle Race. No safety boats, no sponsors, just a regular group of paddlers getting together every Tuesday. Bring out your surfski, outrigger, kayak, whatever your want.

When: Every Tuesday beginning June 2, 2009 till September

What time: Race begins 6pm sharp ***meet by 5:45 watches to be synchronized precisely at 5:50***

Where: Middle Parking lot, Goose Spit, Comox

Entry Fee: $4 – includes a post race beer at to be determined Comox Pub

Race Format: The race will be optimized to include at least one leg of the race to have a downwind run when possible. The course will be set on the evening of the race based on weather and sea conditions. The will run on the outside of the spit.

Racer keeps track of his or her time. In the following weeks, the starting order will be determined by the previous weeks results. Your seeding following weeks will be based on your travel time as opposed to your race time. The intended result is having participants finish at approximately the same time.

Any self propelled boat that floats is welcome, however it is primarily a small boat ocean race. It is each paddlers responsibility to choose an appropriate boat for the conditions, as well as to assess his/her own abilities according to the particular conditions.

Racers should all be able to self rescue. If you happen upon another racer that has capsized, or is otherwise struggling with the conditions, you are obligated to offer assistance. If you choose to accept assistance ( accepting assistance is strongly advised) the cost to the assisted paddler is a beer, payable at the pub that night.

All racers are strongly advised, at a minimum, to abide by the coast guards minimum standards, i.e., life jackets, etc. Just because it is a ‘race’, participants are advised to use their best judgment with regard to ocean travel via a small vessel in potentially rough conditions.

I will be sending out weekly notices about the upcoming race. If you would like to be included or know of anyone that would like to be included, email me and I’ll put you on the list.

 Chris Nagle, B. Comm, MBA

Consultant

Investors Group Financial Services Inc

#22 – 1599 Cliffe Avenue, Courtenay, BC  V9N 2K6

Ph:  (250) 338-7811 ext 258

Fax: (250) 338-2113

Chris.Nagle@investorsgroup.com

Race Results: May 24 at Jericho

May 24 treated racers with beautiful sunny skies making Jericho Beach the place to be for Sunday’s Jericho Small Boats Classic. CORA seems to be experiencing renewed interest in their small boats races this season with 77 boats taking to the water for the 10 km challenge, 24 of which were surfskis. The course took paddlers from the Jericho pier west to round the red can off Point Grey then back to the start/finish. The tide was way out so no issue with the decision on which side of the dolphins to pass, they were nearly high and dry. I think the official course had racers stay to the offshore side of the dolphins anyways. Shortly after the start Graham took to the front with the tandem ski of Jodi/Katja close behind.  Graham slowly pulled clear leaving the tandem ski to lead a long line of single skis during the upwind leg. As we approached the last dolphin Mike was moving up on the right with Ty and Daryl in tow. Apparently Mike was a bit behind on the start, along with Reid/James and Nic/Seb. The section between the last dolphin and the red buoy is often quite chaotic with waves moving in multiple directions…today’s waves were somewhat organized and heading directly east. At the turn Graham had a comfortable lead, Mike was next about 20 seconds clear then came Jodi/Katja with others in tow. Immediately after the turn I managed to catch a few waves and soon had pulled up nearly even to Mike. Unfortunately the bigger waves disappeared and Mike managed to pull away from me again and stayed away to the finish. After doing all the work pulling the single skis on the upwind leg the gals managed to hold on to 5th place on their tandem ski, just behind Daryl. Chris got caught looking behind at the racers chasing him to the line and ended up falling in allowing Ty and Pete to pass. All in all it was a pretty good race…check out the SurfskiBC Race Series Standings updated with these results…there is a new points leader!

NEXT RACES:

May 26     TNR Twin Island Race

May 28     Big Chop

June 2     TNR Pre-Round Bowen Taper Race

June 7     Round Bowen Challenge

Place	Paddler (Club)	Category	Time
1	Graham Smith (FCRCC)	Men Surfski	51:08
2	Mike Fitzmaurice	Men Surfski	52:58
3	Jeff Raymond (BCKC)	Men Surfski	53:17
4	Daryl Remmler	Men Surfski	54:12
5	Katja Rademacher (BCKC) / Jodi Boates	Tandem Surfski	54:17
6	Ty Gee	Men Surfski	54:32
7	Pete Alfred (JOCC)	Men Surfski	54:41
8	Chris Dobrovolny (BCKC)	Men Surfski	54:43
9	Terry Lewis (JOCC)	Men Surfski	55:00
10	Matt Kelly	Men Surfski	56:03
11	Reid Carter / James Shellard	Tandem Surfski	56:03
12	Warren Bruce	Men Surfski	56:15
13	Rod Hope	Men Surfski	56:42
14	Curtis Brock / Gary Cassulis (BCKC)	Tandem Surfski	56:47
15	Gary Parsons (JOCC)	Men Surfski	57:06
16	Jonathon Sy – FCRCC	Men Surfski	57:07
17	Mike Parks (JOCC)	Men Surfski	58:50
18	Darryl Spencer	Men Surfski	1:00:24
19	Nicholas and Sebastian Foellmer (BCKC)	Tandem Surfski	1:00:34
20	David Russ	Men Surfski	1:02:25
21	Caroline Daubney	Women Surfski	1:03:01
22	Jen Stannick	Women Surfski	1:05:39
23	Kurt Foellmer (BCKC)	Men Surfski	1:09:34
24	Reg Kau (VOS)	Men Surfski	1:19:00

Race Results: May 19 at Deep Cove

 

We left home in South Vancouver under sunny skies with a warm breeze…looked like we were in for great paddling weather. Crossing the bridge to the north shore the skies became dark…the mountains were shrouded by a misty haze. Wow, it’s raining over here…well, it couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of folks. Tonight’s race was the TNR Criterium…we knew this in advance thanks to Bob providing SurfskiBC the list of TNraces posted on the 2009 Events page, which is divided into Weekend Races and Weekday Races. The course had us traverse the south side of the Cove to make a left turn around a big orange marker then proceed north to another orange marker near the fuel station then head back into the Cove to round the Yacht Club, travel under the walkways taking us back to the start line…we did this 3 times for a total of 6.2 km.

Wes Hammer was back home in Maple Ridge for a few weeks before heading back to Halifax then to Montreal to prepare for the Pan Am Games at which he’ll be racing on Canada’s National Team. Shortly after the first turn Wes had taken over the lead from the fast starting K1 of Sebastian and Doug in high kneel C1. Wes, paddling an Uno, was joined by myself in the Bumble Beevo…I was working hard to stay on Wes’ right slip…he was paddling quite relaxed. Just behind was a second group made up of Seb, Ken and Daryl. At the end of the first lap Wes asked if I’d mind that we picked up the pace a bit…I said, “sure, you’ll drop me but do what you must”…Wes is a really nice guy…he indicated that he didn’t plan to drop me until the 3rd lap. So he picked up the pace a bit…we were holding steady at 13 km/h…well, he was steady…I was fighting to hold it together. So what to do…”Hey Wes, what do you think of the Uno?”…pant, pant, pant, while Wes tells me how much he likes the ski and that he thinks he likes it even more than the Legend he has been paddling in Halifax. The pace slows slightly…”Oh yeah, do you get much downwind paddling in Halifax?”…pant, pant, pant, while Wes tells me of the cool downwinders they do along the coast, getting picked up at the end…no upwind paddling involved…pretty cool. OK, made it to the 2nd turn…seemed to be a slight headwind so I figured I’ll drop in behind Wes…very quickly behind became 1 boatlength…2 boatlengths…then oceanliner length…darn…that didn’t work. Or did it…I think my body tricked my mind into thinking that slipping in behind Wes would be easier…in fact I think it had planned all along to drop off the pace, was just looking for an excuse to slow down. Lap 3 consisted of watching Wes become a smaller and smaller speck in the distance while catching up to some of the other paddlers finishing their 2nd lap…all had big smiles as they worked hard while enjoying their race while we traded friendly words of encouragement. Third place went to Sebastian who had a fantastic race in his Lightning K1 to hold off Ken (V10) and Daryl (Legend). I think 6th place went to John and Eric in the Mark 2…another excellent performance.

Check out the Deep Cove Outdoors website for race results and photos, link to the right of this page.

Here is a cool photo taken by Vivienne Nishikiori.

Looking for the Pot of Gold

 

 

Video of the race can be found here.

NEXT RACES:

May 24     Jericho Small Boats Classic (10 km)

May 26     TNR Twin Island Race

June 7     Round Bowen Challenge

Race Results: May 16 San Juan Orca Challenge

On Saturday May 16 sea kayaks, surfskis and an OC-1 lined up to take on the 25 mile San Juan Orca Challenge. Nadja and Jim did a fantastic job of reviving this lost gem on the local paddlesports racing scene. Check out Nadja’s and Jim’s blog to follow their journey’s of exploration, often taking them on long paddles within the scenic San Juan Islands. All proceeds from the race went to support the Orca Network, which is a group devoted to the survival of the endangered southern resident Orca whale population that frequents the San Juan Islands.

Conditions for the race were flat seas, warm temperatures and mild currents. There is a good report of the race on the Nelson’s blog, link to the right of the page.

Quite a few racers saw wildlife during the race…no reports of whale sightings but dolphins, seals and a sea lion were spotted on the course.

The awards for the top 3 in each category were awesome framed photos of Orca taken by Jim…these are really unique prizes…one that I know Katja and I will cherish…it has already taken up a prominent position on display in our home.

The following are the results for the long course which measured 38.4 km by my GPS.

1	Jeff & Katja	3:13:40	DK
2	Brandon Nelson	3:24:40	HPK
3	Mike Gregory	3:40:40	HPK
4	Traci Cole	3:40:43	HPK
5	Tracy Landboe	3:43:04	HPK
6	Brian & Trista	3:45:58	DK
7	Warren Bruce	3:47:18	HPK
8	Steve Bennett	3:47:47	FSK
9	Sherri Cassuto	3:48:55	FSK
10	David Halpern	3:50:53	OC1
11	Glenn Biernacki	4:03:30	FSK
12	Chuck Curry	4:04:53	FSK
13	Drew Dixon	4:12:51	SK
14	Debbie & Dean	4:16:05	DK
15	Fred Clark	4:25:16	FSK
16	Mike Dee	4:26:50	FSK
17	Jesse Varsi	4:30:23	FSK
18	Wade Johnson	4:31:51	FSK
19	John Robinett	4:40:29	HPK
20	Murray Lancaster	4:40:35	SK
21	Gerardo Anduluz	4:53:57	SK
22	Paul Shelton	4:57:12	SK
23	Frank Wilson	4:59:07	SK
24	Ed Hand	5:03:17	SK
25	Jonathan Berry	5:07:59	SK
26	Mark Greengo	5:14:45	SK
27	Allison Graham	5:46:13	SK
28	Marianne Banks	5:46:14	SK
29	Dean Goodell	7:06:27	SK
30	Ron Frederick	7:06:54	SK

Race Results: May 12 at Deep Cove

Coolish temperature but no rain…good to go for another Tuesday Night Race at Deep Cove. Tonight’s course had paddlers head past Jug Island to round the marker at the entrance to Bedwell Bay before heading back to the Cove, a distance of 5.8 km. Off the line Jean took the Uno to an early lead and was quickly joined by Gareth, also paddling an Uno. The second group consisted of Mike (Elite) with myself (Evo) firmly planted on his left slip. The third group consisted of a larger pack of surfskis, led by Jodi/Katja (tandem Mako XT) with Bob (V10) and Chris (Evo) riding wash. Also in this mix were John, Ken, Terry, Ty, and I think a few others. As we drove over the bridge to the north shore there was a strong incoming tide, but during the crossing from the Cove to Jug there didn’t seem to be much of a current…we didn’t seem to be pushed to the left. Seems most of the excitement in tonight’s race took place in the 3rd group. At one point Ken’s paddle got stuck in the gap between Terry’s rudder and hull…dragging Terry to a standstill. There was talk of Terry perhaps having taken a swim at some point too, but this is not confirmed, may have just been a really close call. On the return John managed to escape the bunch and was on his own in 5th place. In behind things were apparently being shaken up by the safety/video boat’s wash. Seems the wash had managed to sweep up a few innocent bystanding surfskiers and was carrying them up through the field. “Honestly…I was just paddling along minding my own business when this wave came along and lifted up my ski…I was at the mercy of the wave as it carried me along.” Or fill in the blank with any of the many versions of this same story. A few people are bothered by this type of thing…mostly the ones who’ve put in the work to get to the positions they are in…most racers just tolerate it as a ”fun for some and annoying quirk” of the TNRs. We are not allowed to complain about things like this or risk being labelled an overly competitive type A…these are only fun races.

Anyways, this was all happening well behind the leaders…Jean managed to conserve enough energy on today’s short race to unleash his awesome sprint leaving Gareth panting in his wake. After pulling me around the entire course Mike managed to hold on to his 3rd place in a close dash to the line. John held on for 5th despite the efforts of some guy in a black ski with really high hand position.

NEXT RACES

May 14 at Vancouver     Big Chop

May 16 at Anacortes      San Juan Orca Challenge (40 km)

May 19 at Deep Cove      TNR Criterium

May 24 at Vancouver     Jericho Small Boats Classic (10 km)

Race Results: May 9 at Fort Langley and May 10 at Deep Cove

Saturday May 9 saw racers take on the Fort Langley Canoe Club’s Spring Classic on the Fraser River at Fort Langley. The 20 km race is a popular challenge for the local flatwater paddling scene. Recently surfskis have been waking up to this race as it offers excellent pack racing against some very talented (and young) flatwater sprint kayakers. This year’s race saw 2 surfskis take part, myself on the Bumble Beevo and John on his Millenium. This was my first time using a surfski in this race having raced K1 in past editions. And I had a great time at this race…it was really hard…but it was some very cool racing!

The race start was fast as usual, with  8 kayaks forming a lead pack. I was working too hard to stay on side wash so fell off the pace before the first turn 1 km downstream. After rounding the turn I moved to river right, hugging the shore to avoid the worst of the current…the sprint kayakers stayed in the current so by the time we made it back up to the start/finish area I was even with the lead pack. As the pack passed in front of the finishing officials dock one of the strongest paddlers fell in…apparently he had some help flipping his kayak. I couldn’t see what was going on because I was paddling shoreside of the dock. From here it was another 3 km of upstream paddling during which I stayed close to shore with my new shallow rudder performing most excellently. The kayakers moved a little closer to my line but for the most part stayed together in a pack. At the first upstream turn I moved onto side wash for the downstream leg, which was mostly uneventful. The FLCC gang of Elliot, Jordan and Josh kept the pace high on the dowstream leg…seems they were hoping to stress some of the trailing racers who had fallen behind slightly. Just downstream of the bridge the pace accelerated as we approached the portage. Jim took advantage of the portage to run his kayak to the front of the race, Jordan was with him and Elliot was giving chase just behind. Josh and I were together and quickly moved out into the fastest current to begin our chase. Soon Ken went by with I believe Josh (yes, another Josh) on his tail. Josh and I quickly jumped on Ken’s slip and we soon caught the leaders just before the 2nd downstream turn. After the turn I moved directly to river left and once again began upstream navigation. As I passed the leading kayaks they immediately moved over onto my wash…seems they were not going to let me slip away up the shoreline. I tried a few sneaky accelerations in areas where they were in stronger current but I was not able to slip the bunch. Although the accelerations were apparently causing problems for some of the racers trying to catch back on to the lead pack’s wash. The picture below shows the 5 leaders all lined up riding slip: Jeff, Josh, Brian, Jordan and Ken…note that Brian had managed to catch back up to the leaders after his early swim. Just upstream of the bridge there is a boathouse that forces the paddlers out from the shore so it is here that we crossed to river right. As we crossed the river the group reorganized itself, most moving over to ride slip on my left side. As we neared the far shore it seems there was only a single paddler remaining on my right…someone then sang out “Ken…is…screwed” as I moved my ski close in to the shore. It didn’t take long before felt a tap on my stern as Ken got rubbed off by a stump in the shallows. It was quite fun paddling in tight to the shore, ducking under overhanging trees and weaving through submersed obstacles…and hoping not to knock off my rudder. At one point I was asked if I even had a rudder on my ski…I said it was there when I started. At the far upstream end we briefly enter the main arm of the Fraser River before turning right into tiny West Creek. There is virtually no flow in the creek but it is quite narrow. The photo below shows the leading pack entering the creek. In fact after the about 200m paddle up the creek the turn requires some back paddling to get the boat turned around to head back downstream. Jordan managed to navigate the turn quickly and opened up a small gap as we entered the Fraser. Josh and I once again moved out to find faster current while Jordan took the more direct route. Soon Ken came by on a mission to catch Jordan. I was busting my ass to stay on Ken’s wash figuring this might be the critical move of the race. Shortly before Ken reached Jordan I had to back off…I was going to blow up trying to stay with Ken. Post race analysis of my GPS data indicated we hit 18.8 km/h at this point. A quick look back indicated that Josh and Brian had fallen behind so the winner was going to come from this front group. Fortunately a few minutes later I managed to fight my way up onto Jordan’s right slip who was similarly positioned on Ken’s wash. Ken continued to lead our pack down to the final turn 1 km downstream of the start/finish area. We took it easy around the turn, nobody wanted to fall in this late in the race. I figured my only chance against the sprint kayaks was to get out of the current, so I moved to river right once again hugging the shore. Early on I managed to pull ahead slightly but soon Ken was stay even while still paddling up the main current. This effort was too much for Jordan who was not longer able to stay with Ken. My shoreline advantage ran out when I had to move out into the current to go around a boathouse so Ken easily outdistanced me to the finish to take the win. Jordan came in 3rd followed by Brian then Josh. This really was an enjoyable race with many lead changes and the mix of upstream and downstream paddling making it so very interesting. I highly recommend this race to other surfskiers…but get yourself a shallow water rudder!

Lead pack enters West Creek

Racers riding slip on upstream leg.

Here are the surfski/kayak results of the 20 km race.

11th Paddler’s Classic (20 km with portage)
Lane	Name	Club	Age	Boat	Time	Place
2	Ken Muir	RCKC	Open	K1	1:37:53	1
13	Jeff Raymond	BCKC	Master	ski	1:37:56	2
8	Jordan Traas	FLCC	Juvi	K1	1:38:19	3
7	Brian Malfesi	RCKC	Juvi	K1	1:39:14	4
9	Josh Plankeel	FLCC	Juvi	K1	1:39:31	5
4	Josh Horacsek	RCKC	Open	K1	1:39:39	6
5	Elliot Hoyt	FLCC	Open	K1	1:40:25	7
1	Jim Nosella	BCKC	Open	K1	1:42:14	8
12	John George	BCKC	Master	ski	1:42:19	9
15	Kiran Basra	BCKC	Juvi	K1	1:49:15	13
19	Katja Rademacher	BCKC	Master	K1	1:50:19	14
18	Clara Van Meel	RCKC	Juvi	K1	1:52:13	15
16	Rebecca Alley	BCKC	Juvi	K1	1:55:05	17
10	Nicolas Todd	FLCC	Juvi	K1	2:24:12	18

 

Sunday May 10 was the 19 km Tour de Indian Arm at Deep Cove. The start of the race was exciting especially with so many double skis in the race. At least one single skier found out that double skis can be tough to mess with in tight pack racing conditions. Bob and Paul set a fast pace early in the race which quickly shed the front pack until only Jean, Jeff/Katja and Don were able to stay with them. To be honest, most of the race was rather…well…I hate to say it…boring; Bob and Paul set a good pace, Jean would take turns accelerating ahead to play in the waves, have a drink of water, then wait to find out which direction to go next. Katja and I stayed glued to Bob/Paul’s stern while Don stayed glued to ours. There was an exciting moment when we were doused by a large powerboat wash but otherwise things were fairly quiet up front. The biggest surprise came after rounding Jug Island when suddenly Jean slid back out of sight…actually, the surprise didn’t come until we finished and Jean was no where to be seen. Rather than coming flying by us at the finish, as we all expected, he hit the wall and just barely managed to drag his butt across the finish line.  Seems he didn’t fuel his body well enough prior to the race. At the finish, Bob/Paul held off our attempt to pass while Don was content to finish just behind the double skis.  The short coure results can be viewed at the Deep Cove Outdoors website.

Check out Michael’s photos from the event here.

Check out the updated SurfskiBC Race Series Standings…Don is still well in front but there is a very close race for second.

Here are the long course results.

1	Bob Putnam	Paul Sabiston	Mako XT	1:33:12
2	Jeff Raymond	Katja Rademacher	Mako XT	1:33:18
3	Don Kiesling		V10 L	1:33:23
4	Jean Rillard		Uno	1:35:00
5	Larry Goolsby	Shaun Sullivan	Mako XT	1:37:51
6	Mike Fitzmaurice		Elite	1:37:51
7	Ben Fast	John George	S2X	1:38:41
8	Dean Bumstead		Elite	1:38:54
9	Ron Williams		Elite	1:41:03
10	Neville Mayton	Jerome Truran	Millenium	1:41:04
11	Jeff Hegedus		V10	1:42:30
12	Nathan Middleton		S1X	1:42:35
13	Ken Stannick		V10	1:43:15
14	Terry Lewis		V10L	1:43:57
15	Daryl Remmler		Legend	1:44:24
16	Matt Nuttall		Speedster	1:44:32
17	Heather Nelson		Epic V10L	1:44:45
18	Reivers Dustin		S1X	1:46:17
19	Chris Dobrovolny		Evo	1:46:32
20	Ty Gee		Legend	1:46:43
21	Brian McCurdy	Sasha Brown	Mako XT	1:47:39
22	Rod Hope		Legend	1:48:10
23	Martin Rother		Legend	1:48:23
24	Dan Wakeland		SX1	1:49:05
25	Mike Gregory		V10L Elite	1:50:44
26	Roger Lamb		S1X	1:51:49
27	Kathleen Petereit		S1X special	1:52:36
28	Matt Kelly		Evo	1:52:44
29	Corky Armstrong		Legend	1:53:54
30	Brian Page	Trista Bilmer	Waterman	1:55:27
31	Micheal Lampi		peddal boat	1:55:27
32	William Bounds		V10	2:01:43
33	Mike Taylor		Evo	2:02:53
34	Gary Cassulis		Evo	2:03:01
35	Peter Gumplinger	Silke Gumplinger		2:03:53
36	Berndt Groll		NDK Explorer	2:07:43
37	John Joyce		Wave	2:08:38
38	Craig Siemens		Extreme	2:11:14
39	Jill Bower	Gaby Kirschnier	Passat	2:28:47
40	Margaret Langford	Morna Fraser	Nootka
	Greg Hope		Evo	dnf
	Jodi Boates		V10	dnf
	Colleen Little		V10L	dnf

Race Results: May 5 at Deep Cove

Whatever it is about Tuesday nights at Deep Cove I hope it continues. On the drive over to the North Shore the rain seemed to be falling harder…the pre-race milling centered around the covered area outside the washrooms…we prepared ourselves for a wet race. Tonight’s course was to be a counterclockwise loop around Hamber Island…with the promise of a high enough tide to allow the racers to pass through…followed by a counterclockwise loop around Grey Rocks, then on the to the start/finish in the cove, a distance of 4.7 km. Just as the 3 minutes to race call was announced the rain stopped and the sun made an appearance…cool! Some of us took the opportunity to remove our rain coats as we positioned ourselves on the starting line. 

Off the line,  Jean, back in the Uno tonight, shot to the front with Bob/Paul staying close in a tandem Mako XT. After spending a very short time sitting on the double’s side wash I slid back to join Jon and Terry while Mike put the hammer down in his Elite to come from the far side of the starting line to catch up to the leading boats. Part way over to Hamber Mike became dettached from the leaders…apparently he looked down to see his heart rate monitor reading 173…to avoid the impending heart attack he backed off his pace…later wishing he didn’t have the monitor, thinking that without this information he may have pushed himself to stay longer with the leaders. The second pack consisted of Terry setting the pace, he was doing about 13 km/h on the stretch over to Hamber, with me on his left slip, Jonathon was behind me, Jodi/Katja in tandem Mako XT were behind Terry and Chris was behind the double….Ty was in the mix too, just not sure where exactly. As we rounded Hamber I started to take advantage of my secret weapon for today’s race…Darrell Pearse of Hansen Industries did some metal work modification to an old style Think Kayak 3″ shallow water rudder so that I could fit it in the new model Evo. I’m doing a flatwater marathon race on the Fraser River this weekend using the Bumble Beevo so will need to be able to travel upstream close to shore to avoid the worst of the current…tonight was the rudder’s test. With the tide dropping I hugged the shore around Hamber to both take the shortest route and to avoid the light current. This was still a bit of a gamble because there are many rocks here, but I was fortunate to not hit any although I did have to be careful not to stab my left paddle in too deep a few times. I’m not sure that much of any distance was made up on Mike, but Terry was still with me after re-entering the channel for the crossing to Grey Rocks. Apparently not everyone made it unscathed through the shallows. Jonathon hit his paddle on a rock and saved himself from taking a spill by dropping a leg in the water causing his V10’s stern to swing out right into the path of the closely following tandem ski…Jon managed to stay in his ski but the collision pretty much spun him around to face the wrong direction. After the bit of chaos Chris had lost his sweet ride behind the double with Ty now content with his newfound draft.

On the crossing to Grey Rocks Terry’s V10 picked up a huge wad of seaweed so he had to hit reverse to clear his rudder. While rounding Grey Rocks I figured I would push the limit on the potential advantages that could be gained by using the shallow rudder. So I cut inside of the last big rock around the island just barely skimming over a a very shallow section, I even put a foot down thinking for sure I would hit bottom…but the boat just slid on through and I was free to paddle again. From here I cut straight across to the mainland and took the route inside of the docks, there wasn’t really enough current to make this a big advantage but maybe the distance would be shorter…so figured it was worth a shot. After some anxious moments hoping the rudder would clear some of the shallow dock lines/chains and some well timed paddle strokes to avoid hitting the ramps I popped out at the entrance to the cove…still about the same distance back from Mike…oh well, it was fun racing under the piers. Chris elected to try the same shoreline route inside the docks, his rudder connected with the most shallow dock line but the rudder’s rake just popped his Evo’s stern up over the line without anything more than a bit of a scare.

At the finish Jean sprinted away from Bob/Paul…I don’t know if he drafted them the entire time but he sure made the acceleration away from them look easy…darn him! Then came Mike, myself and Terry. The gals Jodi/Katja outsprinted Ty for 6th then came Chris and I think Jon.

Check out the Deep Cove Outdoors link at the right of the page for full results.

Oh, and check out the updated 2009 SurfskiBC Race Series Standings…with the correction made to the assignment of the bonus points…women in mixed tandems are not eligible for bonus points.

NEXT RACES

May 9 at Fort Langley, 20 km flatwater marathon on the Fraser River

May 10 at Deep Cove, 20 km Tour de Indian Arm

May 12 at Deep Cove, TNR

May 16 at Anacortes, 40 km San Juan Orca Challenge