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Ski to Sea Kayak Leg
Re: kayak leg & terrorist paddler
Larry Bussinger
05/21/17 #21352
A couple of notes on the S2S course:
1) Going to the right of the green day marker on the way out was added for three reasons, to avoid the power boaters who use the green and red channel markers to guide them into the harbor. We had conflicts in the past. To get people guided towards the outfall buoy which you can’t see. And to support the rescue crews; since most rescues take place near the chaos of the harbor entrance this keeps the racers in a tighter group.
2) The course has hasn’t actually changed much over the years. The “little” difference is generally due to the amount of anchor rode that the buoy’s have, or that the currents drag the anchor a ways before it digs in. Late year was an exception, we moved the GP buoy (Cornwall Park area) some to help with the boat anchorage. We lost an anchor due to fouling in the debris on the bottom. We also moved the last buoy in order to help the finish line get boat numbers, consequently, we had to move the south Boulevard Park buoy to maintain visual contact between it and the last buoy.
3) The short course (which we haven’t used for a while) was changed several years ago to go in a straight line from the Green marker buoy to the buoy off of Marine Park. Although this does bring you farther from shore, it was done to avoid the rebound off the old Georgia Pacific aeriation pond, to provide a much better angle into the waves from the prevailing south wind, and to give the rescue boats a more concise course to monitor.
4) Lastly, the course is going around the BUOYS. NOT the official boats or balloons. The balloons are just visual aids for finding the buoys. We took the balloon off the GP Outfall buoy and put it on the boat because it was dangerous to attach the balloons when the seas were rough and the outfall buoy and boat were bouncing around.
Yasir Youbetcha, your local Federales.
