Surfski Knowledge Base

CanChamps Results
Reivers Dustin
07/19/15 #17725

Link:

http://www.webscorer.com/racedetails?raceid=47137&cid=281469

Congrats LB on 3rd in Golden Masters. Tough field when a Saffa shows up for Golden Masters (and took second after Canada's own Mike Fitz) Great to see a Canadian win home team first place.

I see Dean B was just 30 seconds behind LB. Would love to hear the race story.

Judging compared to last years times, a bit slower conditions this year. Last year Sean did 1:21:41, this year 1:23:22.

rd

lbussinger@…
07/19/15 #17727

Thanks Bob Putnam for putting on a great race. The wind gods blessed him with good winds. I broke the race into thirds. The first third was a hoot, it seemed like 15-20mph winds and I was catching everything coming and just really enjoying myself. I think it was Mike Fitzmarice that I was next to chatting with here. The second third was…..well, weird! The waves were bigger but obscure. It was really hard to see them. Milky color, smooth edges. It was hard for me to see them coming and from witch direction. I caught some great rides but wallowed behind many more. Mike probably clean up on me here. The third section smoothed out at the beginning, at the point, but then I failed to get far enough north and started taking the bigger waves on the beam, which ate up some more time. It didn't feel like my best performance, but then it looked like others were having problems too. But it shows that in the right conditions, this is a great venue and race and needs to be on everyone's calendar next year.
See everyone at the Gorge next week.
Larry B

Canadian Surf Ski Champs Race Report
John Rybczyk
07/19/15 #17726

Compared to last year, a smaller Bellingham contingent (Steve S, Larry B, Dean, Dennis, Mike G., Mark W., Vanessa, me and Ana Swetish in a double with Carter) lined up to compete against the word's best and surfiest. Usual suspects Nick C., and Greg Barton rounded out the Washington crew. As usual, the top contenders were merely rumors to those of us further back in the pack, but great fun was had by all.

The morning looked ominously like last year…hot and flat, and I was contemplating putting on the smalll rudder and regretting my decision to bring the fat boat. But by race time the winds had picked up and there were some white caps at mid-channel. The race to the hotspot (about 1 kilometer away in beam seas) was sporty and I just missed claiming the prize money by 12 minutes and 32 seconds. From there we had about 3 or 4 miles of small but very fun, ridable and linkable waves. Then they got big and lippable for another 3 or 4 miles, the only problem being that the sun, silty water and glassy waves combined to make them almost impossible to see. Your really had to feel your way into the surf. I'm sure I missed a few links only because I couldn't see them in front of me. Very exciting though and a few of them had me talking to Jesus.

Then things got…interesting. Right around the point, or perhaps a bit before it, waves were coming from a couple of directions, I think. Currents and winds were swishing around and it was hard to get a stroke in edgewise. Mark W. fell in “more times than he could count,” but remember that he was a gym teacher, so that's probably not a very high number. Once through that mess we had a about a mile of flat before the normal chaos and waves to the river mouth.

I'm as blind as a bat, so it was difficult for me to know who was around me and folks were scattered all over the place trying to find the best line, but Larry, me and Dean all arrived at the river mouth at about the same time along with 4 or 5 other boats and it was a flat, long, long, long upstream race to the finish. Larry, in his skinny boat and skinny body, just flew up that river and none of us had a chance at him. Scoggins and Ana/Carter were so far ahead of the rest of us that they had finished their post-race lasagna dinner before we had out boats out of the river. Mark W., staggered in after his umpteenth baptism and Mike G, made it in without need of rescue or compass. I heard that Vanessa enjoyed a cocktail cruise for the second part of her race, but I'll let her tell that story.

Sorry that I cannot report on how it went down for the top finishers, I did not have the Hubble telescope mounted to my surf ski.

Overall a great and fun race with plenty of waves this year. Bob Putnam and crew ran a tight ship, very organized and professional. I'm not a fan of races longer than 3 miles, but this one is turning into one of my favorites. It has a little bit of everything that makes surf skiing fun and the setting is beyond compare.

Respectfully submitted,

Johnr

Dennis Mowry
07/20/15 #17733

The first third was fun with some long steep waves, felt like the right choice going far left. The second third was a lot of work.

I think it was Yoda who says, “If you can't see the waves, feel them, if you can't feel them, sense them”. I think I had sensory overload on that second third of the race, tried going out further then eventually came in closer to the calmer water. Felt frustrated and tough to regain my rhythm and balance.

Finished the race burnt but glad I went.

DMow