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usssc race report
kathleen petereit
09/20/08 #5038
The day started out cloudy and it was flat in the bay. I talked to Craig Tanner who said that the forecast was for wind / waves building up. I chose to use Judes Huki Special with the Gullwing vs the S1R. It was an excellent choice. Even the top guys had difficulty this year and this is the biggest water I have ever paddled in. It made last year seem tame in comparison ! Mike G and I were together and he was doing well but then he turned at the first bouy instead of the second. I yelled at him but he didn't hear me. Apparently several others made the same mistake. 4 guys were rescued.
There were not as many paddlers this year so I didn't have the usual group to paddle with out there. A few guys were behind me. I felt very alone out there. I was really happy that I had the Gullwing. I can truly say this wing can handle any conditions, it had the ultimate test today. I wasn't sure what it was capable of and was a little nervous going into the big knarly stuff. The swell was huge with windwaves coming at us two directions. I had to stop looking up at it because it was scary. Nathan said the same thing. We both focused on our bows.
The wings performance was better than I thought it would be. Chop did not catch under the wings and it went through quite smoothly. I was going down a monster wave sideways and thought…oh _ _ _ _ !
Figured for sure it would go over but it didn't. After that I stopped paddling for a minute just to collect my thoughts and thank god. I bobbed with my feet inside the ski and was able to totally relax and let the waves roll under me. What a nice feeling. Larry could eat lunch out there with that on.
Now that I had a good feel for the wing the rest of the way in was stress free. A few guys wished they would have had one on. Mike Fitz dumped at the GG bridge on the way out and was in the water for about 10 min and got cold but managed to keep going and had a good finish placing third in senior masters. Nathan also did well.
I am glad it's finished. Mikey and I will do the doubles race tommorow with the wing on. A Hungarian guy and his partner will race Larry and Shauns double with the wing.
Hope you others had a good race at Length of tje Lake today !
Kathleen
Re: US Champs results
Reivers Dustin
09/21/08 #5040
Notable in long course: S Africa packed the top ten. Dawid was edged
by Hank. Our guy from Hawaii, Zolt was 4th. Patrick Hemmens was 5th &
1st Master. Our guy from Wisconsin, Erik B. was 6th and 3rd Master.
Our guy from BC, Mike Fitz was 3rd Senior Master (34th overall). One
of Erik's buddies from Duluth, John Abrahams, was 27th. And let's see,
who am I missing? Oh yeah, Kathleen was 3rd woman across. There were
4 DNF and one was Deanne H. (This is the Deanne that bested me at
Bowen Isl. this year.) And Mike you too. We have MG in at 42nd with
rumor of incomplete course. The race had a field of 52 entrants.
Notable in short course: Almost everyone from California did the short
race with one S.Africa and one Austrialia. Jude was 7th, Duncan was
15th, and Kim McKenzie from BC was 30th in a field of 34.
RD
San Francisco
Michael Gregory
09/22/08 #5048
-Was it Armageddon or out there or business as usual? Depends on who ya ask. Locals called it moderate conditions. Some said swells were 3-4' others said 6-8. BTW all the swells were on our beam! Down in the trough it seemed we were paddling through valleys with sloping walls of water on all around. Up on the wave peaks it was nearly dizzying to look down into the next trough. What made things really interesting was the “slop”. That's the steep dysrhythmic waves that were all over the place making it tough to keep any even paddling cadence. Sound chaotic? Yep, that's right and that's what makes this race different! Hank Macgregor said “I don't like all that messing about I just like to get out there and go”.
-Ok, now what's up with the “incomplete course” business stuff, right? I turned at the red can about a thousand -or so- yards N. of the Pt Bonita bouy 'cause I thought it WAS the turn around. My recollection is that I was not the only one to make that error. Regrettable, no doubt. It was so rowdy out there that someone might yell from 10 ft away and I'd not hear it. Talked with course official after my mistake was brought forward. Response was - “yeah, that was not the only error made out there”.
-For me, despite my course modification, the race felt like triumph. In six years and six tries I've gone from swimming most of the course to staying in the boat, paddling, and even catching a few big phat fast runs. So, like they say “it's all good”. A goal for me is to go back again and keep trying to get this race right.
Regards, Mike.
