Surfski Knowledge Base

kathleen petereit
07/13/08 #4635

There were waves !!!!! Larry and I had a good race on saturday, staying
upright was the goal. We were a good team and paddled well together,
except when his hand slid off the paddle 5 times, always just as we
were digging hard to catch waves. He's a good doubles partner and we
get along well on the water. It was great fun passing OC 6 after OC 6.
He can fill in the details.

Sunday was sweet in the bigger better waves, we paddled solo. This was
my kind of race. The Huki Special felt great now that I have mastered
it and I think I must have had one of those Shaun perma grins when we
hit the waves, it was exciting and fun. What a great weekend of racing
for those of you who missed it !

Kathleen

Gibson' trip report…….
Larry Goolsby
07/13/08 #4636

Two of us from Bellingham ventured north this weekend for the Howe
Sound Outrigger race where they politely let surfskiers show up and
race against the literally hundreds of outrigger paddlers that swam
the town of Gibsons this time of year. If you missed it (which you
did) then this might have been one of your last chances to do this
great race. There will not be a race at Gibsons in 2009 and it may
not happen in 2010 unless someone takes it under their wing to manage
this massive event. Apart from that, here is how the weekend fared…
I headed north by myself with my Huki Special and the clubs Mako XT.
Left my place at 0530 on Saturday caught the ferry at 7:30 and was
driving through town looking for my doubles partner Kathleen by 0830.
Kathleen and I needed to redeem ourselves after our poor performance
at Bowen (swam for shore and watched the CG rescue or S2-X). This
time the S2-X stayed home and we were going to do the Iron Man 17
mile race in the Fenn XT tandem instead. Race started at 1:40 in the
afternoon so there was plenty of time to get ready. The afternoon
start is done so the winds have time to build and it was probably
also to utilize the incoming tide. It was hot at the town of Gibsons,
probably close to 80 F so we had to stay hydrated and take along lots
of fluids for the estimated 2.5 hour paddle. Before the race started,
Kathleen and I drove up to a bluff overlooking the western half of
the course and the water was capping big time.
Once we got into the boat and paddled towards the start, we had to
paddle up to a parked powerboat and have them check us out. The guy
in the boat reminded us that we were to start at 1:40 and would we
kindly stay out of the way of the six man outriggers that would be
starting 5 minutes prior to our start. I just said 'uh hmm' when I
meant to say 'tell them to stay out of our way'. I was starting to
feel like an ugly stepchild because I was in a boat that didn't sport
an Ama. In the Iron Man race there were 20 - 6 man outriggers, two
tandem surfskis (both Mako XTs), and 5 single surfskis. John George
was the only single paddler that I recognized and he was looking
stealth with his new trim body and dental braces. In the other tandem
was Jeff and Katja and they were going to be impossible to beat
considering their history with tandem racing. The race started about
5 minutes early with the 20 outriggers heading for the first turn
which was a green monument. Jesse Allen ( the other Bellingham
paddler) was paddling in one of the top outriggers and passed on the
wrong side of this marker and was later given a 5 minute penalty. The
skis then lined up and away we went. Shortly after passing the green
monument (which was there to mark rocks at low tide), the water got
pretty wild with incoming waves, boat wakes and echoes coming from
both sides of the channel. The first 2 miles of the race was probably
the most difficult and I doubt that I could have kept the S2-X
upright even with Shaun on board. However, the Mako XT was sailing
through this slop without us having to pull any braces. The XT is
probably the best rough water tandem ever made and we were glad to be
paddling this one today. After the first mile, Jeff and Katja started
to gain on us and a single surfskis was riding our tail. He was doing
a tremendous job of staying with us despite how mixed up the
conditions were. We didn't learn till later that this was Bob Woodman
(awesome paddler) from Vernon B.C. and he was an endurance racer that
had not paddled his Huki much this year. By the first turn (5 miles?)
the other tandem had about a 3-4 minute lead and they weren't slowing
down. Once we made this turn, the wind and waves were at our tail and
we could start catching rides. By this time, we had also already
passed 4 of the outriggers and had 2 more within reach. Jeff and
Katja were going real wide of Bowen Island (catching better rides?)
while we stayed parallel to the shore hoping that we were taking a
shorter route to the next turn, which was Hutt Island. Before
reaching Hutt, the other tandem was no longer in sight and I figured
that they had to be at least 15 minutes in the lead. We were hot,
tired and not gaining on anymore outriggers when a single surfski
(Woodman) came into view along the shore and he was passing us. We
kicked it in gear and came up on his tail while he came up on an
outrigger. We rode on this conga line (2 outriggers, a ski and the
tandem) all the way around Hutt Island and enjoyed our first real
break. After rounding the island, we got hit with the head wind and
it was like nature had given us a reason to live again. Both Kathleen
and I are strong upwinders and we took off quickly passing the single
ski and both outriggers. We pushed on feeling real good as we caught
up and passed two more just about 5 miles from the finish. After the
last turn with just 2 miles to go, we had one more outrigger in our
site and we pushed hard to pick off that one too. However, they saw
us coming and pushed even harder so we were unable to overtake them
before they crossed the line. Our time was 2 hr 17 min and the other
tandem finished only 6 minutes ahead of us with a time of 2 hr 11
min. Bob Woodman came in next (he later told us he swam after we left
him) and John George was the second single in, with a guy named Chris
being third. A very challenging course with high temps, upwind legs
and downwind runs complicated with lots of boat wakes and echoes.
Later at the awards, the first and second place teams were given a
black shopping bag (gear bag?) with a bottle of wine while third
place got a bracelet with a canoe paddler as a pendant. We were able
to look at our split times and counted that we passed 12 of the 20
outriggers. Both Kathleen and I were totally satisfied with our
performance and felt that we had shaken off the demons that plagued
us at Bowen.
After the race, 4 ski paddlers from Vancouver Island (Jonas, Don
Craig, JF, and Jonas's girlfriend) joined up with us to camp up at
Kathleen's Uncle's house. They were there for the next day's race
that was going to take place at 0845 and the course had not been
decided upon yet. We had to get up early (most of us partied till
late) in order to make it to the 8 am meeting where they announced
the new course. We had thought that we would be doing the
traditional course that took you from the harbor, out to Little
Popham Island and back again. However, they designed a new route
which would take better advantage of the incoming waves. This time we
would head out and stay to the far right for about 1+ miles and then
take a hard left at a buoy and cut across the old route while we
headed towards Preston Island. We would then round Preston and head
back towards the finish. Total distance was 11 k or about the same
distance as the old route. Now I hate racing early in the morning. I
had been up late and woken early on the previous two days and had
consumed lots of alcohol the night before. I am not a morning person
and tossing a new course on my lap wasn't my idea of a good time.
Lots of boats lined up for this race with several skis, one double
ski (Putnam and son), and a flurry of both single and double
outriggers. These were also some of the fastest outriggers from the
west coast and Canada. The race started and Jeff Raymond shot out
ahead in his Think Evo while Jonas and I got boxed in behind several
outriggers. At one point, the nose of my Huki was sandwiched between
someone's Ama and another guy's hull. Jonas was the first to break
free and I followed his tail. By now I was starting to notice that my
entire rib cage ached from the day before and my butt was still sore
from our previous race. My heart was not in this race and I wasn't
able to even catch up to Don Craig in order to ride his wash. Finally
by the first turn, I was on his tail and I was starting to feel more
like a paddler and passed him just at the start of the downwind run.
There were these small swells that were moving quickly that if you
sprinted, you could catch one and get a fast ride until one of the
echoes or a boat wake interrupted your ride. The further we went, the
bigger the swells got. At one point I was chasing down swells that
were 4-5 feet in height and moving fast. Twice on this leg I almost
hulied while doing a fast speed and not having the testosterone
necessary to hang on. Jonas, JF, Shane, Jeff R. and the tandem were
well out in front of me but I was gaining on a handful of single and
tandem outriggers. One guy I passed had got his rudder hooked on a
fishing line of a boat that was trolling across the course while
another outrigger hit a rock (Preston Island) and tore a hole through
his hull. On the last leg to the finish, I caught a tandem outrigger
and battled with them all the way to the finish. Once across the line
I found out that the race was finished by Jonas, Shane, and JF (in
that order) while Shane was the only of the 3 that had paddled the
previous day. I think I won first in Masters while Don Craig was
second. Kathleen was first in womens while Katja was second. However,
I didn't want to wait around for the awards because the timing of the
awards and the ferry departures was not working out for me. Not a bad
weekend, one first place and one second with a bottle of wine as my
proof that I was there.
All in all this was a great weekend without too many issues. It's a
shame that after 10 years, the organizers are getting tired and
nobody has stepped forward to take the reigns. I met a lot of great
paddlers and had an awesome time while flushing some demons from my
inner being.
See you at the Howe Sound Downwind Challenge!
Larry Goolsby

Re: Gibson' trip report…….
kathleen petereit
07/14/08 #4637

There were two other women in the sunday race. Jodi and Shannon from
Vancouver, who came in behind Katja.

Gibson's is a cool little coastal town where Larry noted stopping at
stop signs are optional and pedestrians wander through the streets
aimlessly. A very relaxed atmosphere.

Gramma's pub was rockin' and Johnny had his eye on some gramma with a
pink shawl and makeup from the 60's. My hukidog chihuahua ( Diesel ),
acting like a 17 yr old male human, was in dog heaven trying to mount
every female dog on the dock, he's getting “ snipped ” very soon !

Jonas, Don and JF showed up in their very sporting straw hats from
China town and fit right in with the locals. Jonas had the best one
that had aluminum foil on the outer layer to reflect sun. The
youngsters and Don were party poopers went to bed early. Us old folks
who raced 27 kms hit the pub and then got up and painfully raced
again the next morning.

Oh and the polynesian hula dancers at the awards were very
entertaining and the food was great !

Kathleen

Re: Gibson' trip report…….
rlingblo <rlingblo@…>
07/14/08 #4638

I'm sort of questioning all of these 1st place, 2nd place, big wave
stories, because when looking closely at the picure everything is
reversed :)
Rick

Re: Gibson' trip report…….
kathleen petereit
07/14/08 #4639

It was like the Bowen race…flat calm in the bay and chaos on the
outside.