Just a quick update on last night’s race, but first note on next week’s race and party. Next week, 9/22 is the last race of the season. It is being classified as the official Doubles Race. Bob was hoping anyone owning or with access to a double ski come on out and take part of the race to see who is the fastest double! Given it is getting dark early, the course will be doing a few laps right in the cove; this should prove interesting at the turning marks where mostly likely a few doubles will have to ‘play nice’….we shall see. Immediately after the race will be the year end wrap-up party right next door at the yacht club. Advanced tickets are strongly advised, just call the DCCK store to reserve you tix.
OK, as for last nights race, i must say from where i was paddling, it wasnt too thrilling as there werent alot of boats around me. The overall turnout wasnt as big as usual, it might have been due to a shutdown of Hwy 1 (police action). Here’s who i saw that did show up: Ben Fast in his single, Lina and Andrew in their double ski, Chris D still breaking in his new UNO, Marshall H & Brody in a double XT, Warren in his super charged V10 ‘Sport’, Darrell Pearse, Mike Fitz & Reid in a double, Rod Hope, Greg Hope, Bernd (V10 Sport), the Folmer twins in a K2, Dion in an Uno or Legend (either one he is fast in so boat doesnt matter!), Paul Hansen in his hybrid kayak/ski, BoB Putnam and Ken S. in the new Elite and Sean and myself in a XT double.
The course was to go round Hamber, round Boulder, round Grey Rock, round the 5 kt can then home. The pace was fast as usual with Mike/Reid double, Dion, the K2 twins and Bob/Ken double in the lead; very close behind was Chris D then a few boat lengths back, Sean and I. As we crossed over to Hamber, the order stayed the same (i think); however, Sean and I took time to catch our breath from the fast start and those in front put some distance between us. As we hit Hamber, Chris had fallen off of the front pack and was paddling solo by himself, he was going at a very good pace because Sean and I were back to paddling hard and we were about 5 boat lengths behind him. We hoped he would start getting tired as the race went on. Knowing that we couldnt make it to the front pack, Sean and I were going to hang behind Chris (so he couldnt ride our wash!!) and then at the end make our move. Sean got a bit anxious and decided to make the move a bit early but didnt realize that Chris is very good at finding the extra energy to fight and stay with a boat…so as we passed him Chris did what it took to stay with us. Sean wasnt paying any attention to my suggestions of just going totally wide to lose Chris so he hung on to us until finally by the time we close to the 5 kt can Chris held up the white flag and said he had had enough and shifted things to overdrive allowing Sean and I to easily pull away. It’s always fun to have others around to play cat and mouse with…great fun Chris, way better then paddling alone. So we cruised in at 5th place, I believe the K2 team had an overwhelming lead for first, followed by Dion, Bob/Ken double then Mike/Reid double. The rest of the gang came along shortly, i think i saw Bernd and Ben Fast duking it out at the end of their race.
Lots of folks have been scrambling trying to find a double ski and partner for next week’s race…should be really interesting to see who finishes first!
GC
i briefly considered the ethics of it all (really, i did), and in the end decided that it was the funnest wave i’d seen in a while, so i carried on at 20km/h for a little while, before i had to cut into the channel behind forrest island. I diddled along behind the island, more than a little miffed at having to provide my own propulsion for a change; i think people caught up some. the channel between forrest island and sidney island was peculiar – current swirling and waves going different directions. once i cleared the spit, i was set upon by the coast guard, who had come to rescue me from the flat water. they seemed to be aware that they were sitting right in front of me and that i was playing in their wash, but they didn’t seem to clue in to do anything productive about it – like go away, or, better still, speed up. i had my radio with me, but it was on the back deck, and ethically, it’s probably better that i wasn’t calling in pace requests. i probably could’ve gone faster than they were dragging me, but that would have meant expending my own energy, and that didn’t seem like as good an idea. i was hoping ron was close enough to be amused by it all. but, they dragged me all the way to the finish line, that was very kind of them. but, to be honest, their wash was a little short and the waves were too close together –it wasn’t half as fun a wave as colin’s big cruiser-wave from the first half of the race. now, if i’d had that one to ride all the way back, i would’ve pulled out the radio and requested a nice steady 18km/h, i think.
