Surfski Knowledge Base

Steve Scoggins
06/15/14 #15812

There were questions arising regarding Whatcom paddler attendance. It was a lonely experience, eating alone yet again…last year, because I was new…this year because nobody wanted to be associated with the lone US paddler. Perhaps next year we can have a better presence. Y'all missed a good one.

Steve

Reivers Dustin
06/15/14 #15814

Alas, I woulda shoulda coulda. We're off to the dry side instead.

Bowen is one of the giant epics in the race pantheon. How do you do a pantheon? one leg at a time. Except this one.

A lot of us got our chops on that race because it has true open water at least for part of it. One of the paddlers that has gone to other sports used to talk about waves so big, you could get surf-rides down the back side. He just smiled when you would ask about what happened as the face of the wave came at you. (Randy Olsen.) Another story is me having a nose-to-nose race with Deanne H. up there when she and Patrick made the trip for Bowen. (She ate me alive over the last half - just another male ego kicked in the dust.)

rd

Michael Gregory
06/15/14 #15815

Dude, u rock for getting up for Bowen this year. Please, tell us more . . .

Steve Scoggins

06/15/14 #15816

The real story was the sad looks on our Canadian friends when they found out it was me as the ambassador. More than once I heard “where is Kirk?”, or “is Dean coming?”

As far as the race from my perspective, which witnessed multiple capsizes around me, I would say the south side could be considered “rough” by some standards. Very good remount skills were observed. A lot of beam chop/swell, big hydroplane wake kinda stuff with rebound. The long flat push on the other side was against the tide flow, followed by an stiff upwind paddle for the last 4 miles or so. Aside from a little bit of rideable waves and choppy wakes, I would say the whole race presented a challenge in some way.

It would be more interesting to hear what Bob Putnam thought, since he has seen more of these than I have. For all I know, it may have just been another day at RBC….Bob?

Steve

Bob Putnam

06/16/14 #15817

Bellingham's presence was sadly noticed. . On the positive side the usual suspects who bump me down in the ranks were not present so I had a good placing.

But you guys missed out, with a unique downwind conditions on all sides of the island, it was amazing. There was this pod of dolphins escorting the most of the paddlers too. The beer was cold, the women were hot, Salmon was Sockeye!

Possibly Martin's last year as Race Director, but he alluded to the fact that like all good boxers he may make a comeback!

As Steve mentioned there were lots of capsizes due to some SE waves that were on the beam at the start and became a following sea as we rounded the island, with some good DW as we approached Cape Roger Curtis. My max speed was 15 km/hr.

I was able to take advantage of other peoples mis-fortunes while they were performing water ballet I kept paddling. Not mentioning any names WB. The lead group was Wes Hammer, Shane Martin, Bob Woodman from Vernon and Jan Malherbe. Wes took the top spot announcing that he is serious about being the fastest Canuck at the Canadian Surfski Champs which you should all sign up to BTW.

There were more paddle boarders than Bellinghamsters this year and many did the trip solo, which is an impressive feat. Lots of people took advantage of the relay component too.

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