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.

Gibson race
Reivers Dustin
07/17/08 #4668

There's a race report on Gibson over on the SurfskiBC weblog:
http://surfskibc.wordpress.com/

Also, they have a page for used gear:
http://surfskibc.wordpress.com/surfskis-for-sale/

The interesting comment about Gibson is that attendance was not high.This race and Bowen have perhaps the best shot at being 'world class' compared to any other Northwest area venues. I guess the San Juan Challenge might be a contender if that ever revives. My point is that there needs to be a critical mass of participation. It isn't about ten or twenty folks being very excited, it's about dozens of folks showing up.

Support your local races.

RD