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The Doctor 2012
* following Seattle paddler Gabe Newton on Whatcom Paddlers discussion board *
Gabe and the doctor
hilburnjjcl
01/21/12 #11931
The temperature at the finish line was 93 degrees. Not sure I could even stay focused without hallucinating for that long of a period in that heat. Awesome job Gabe!
gabe newton
01/21/12 #11932
That was some race! Lesson one: The start will not be *where* it is supposed to be, or *when* it is supposed to be. Mob mentality takes over when you have that many hot rods rearing to go, so you better be on your toes and just paddle towards the mass of teaming skis in the water! I was paddling from the *planned* start location over to the mass of skis when it just started surging forward. Deano was on a speed boat and tried to hold them off, but he would have been trampled if he tried too hard! So I was about 100m back when the race began. For full Magnum PI effect, there was a one of those bubble cab helicopters following the leaders about 100 feet off the water.
Lesson two: When they say no wind, in this case they actually ment 10 knots of breeze on your beam. Yikes! So the sea was a turbulent mess, and with scores of powerboats following the race, there were wakes crashing into eachother and going every which way. It was up to you to make the most out of the mixed up water and surf the bits of swell actually moving in the right direction. Because of my bad start, I would pick a guy in front of me, and try to reel him in. The heat was oppressive, and by half way into the race I was feeling a burning sensation in the general vicinity of my cardiac muscle.
It was fun having to figure out how to disconnect the drink tube and leash coming into the beach and stumble up through the finish. Watermelon never tasted so good. 37th was not too bad, and Shaun Rice is a solid paddler in his own right! And I passed Sam Norton (3rd at 20 Beaches) one km before the finish. I'm sure he just blew up trying to keep up with the big boys.
Now on to Cape Town for some training!
fennmako
01/21/12 #11933
Fantastic job Gabe. Enjoy CT and say hi to Simonstown (where I grew up ) for me. I highly recommend the wine route. Oh, and watch out for the baboons…..
dnjacobson79
01/21/12 #11934
Good job Gabe, you'll be (more) unstoppable this year!
Cheers,
The Kauai Surfing Crew (hey LB, howz the weather?)
duncanhowat
01/22/12 #11935
DJ, surfs up. 24 deg snowing 2 in a hour 15 new forcast overnite. Getten any rides over there? Don't forget, there's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes and a bad attitude. Duncan
