Surfski Knowledge Base

LWC
Steve Scoggins
05/05/18 #22884

I think it fair to say Mr. Blake does a good job. Since nobody could've done a better job, he is now officially Race Director for life.

Let's get the tales of excitement, woe, carnage, etc, started so we can all stay in the moment.

Steve

Reivers Dustin
05/05/18 #22885

OK so there I was. Not too bad of a start and wind at my back. I had lined up way left and it worked great. As the racers all came together I was in a good pack. I know there's an ass-ton of feelings about drafting, but before the rules committee gets going, most races are line course runs. The optimum line is one boat wide. We don't do lanes. Pretty hard to avoid wakes. So I drafted Elenna Eckardt's bow wave and LB drafted stern. Like for most of the way down the lake. I finally pulled ahead for a while. Then I got tired and LB pulled. Problem is, paddling out is only half the race. Must paddle back to finish line. I could see Tony up ahead in the fast lane. And Dean did a break away and paddled for a long time in clear water. I lost track of those guys before we got to the island. The island is about where Thom and Chris in C-2 got tired of poking along with us surfskis. I grabbed a gu pack and when I looked up Thom & Chris, Beau, LB and Elenna were ramping it up into the headwind back north. Dang. Took me a long time to catch the gang. I kinda hurt myself doing it and somewhere in there the gang was exploding. The C-2 was pushed off line by a powerboat wake. But I was pretty much on my own by then. One thing was very good. By stuffing in the Gu pack I felt good for the whole race. Usually I bonk about 2 miles from the finish. Really fun race. I didn't slay any dragons, but weather was perfect, my wife approved of beans and rice post-race diet, Really Extraordinary Bling from Paul, Really great crowd. John M drove up from Eugene for this (and purchase of boat). I've done that I-5 run many times and it is a bugger. Which by the way, John got a 2nd place bling but left before he knew about it (for the nasty drive home). Is there any way someone can get his 2nd place award to Eugene? Or maybe hold it for when he shows up at The Gorge? rd

Ted Scherrer
05/05/18 #22886

The start was a little hectic but once we got underway it was enjoyable, nice and sunny and just breezy enough to keep things interesting. The Mex food was sure a welcome sight! Thanks for a good time!

Wilson Reavley
05/05/18 #22887

As I sit here nursing my wounds from todays’ race I decided I’d give this whole race recap a shot so here goes:

First and foremost, after roughly a year of serious paddling I managed to tie with Brandon Nelson!

Okay, okay I WAS in the same boat as Brandon so maybe not quite as impressive, but getting to race competitively with some of the fastest paddlers both locally and on the international scene – and within sight (for the most part) of the Barton/Olney rocketship – was a blast.

After 20 minutes of my getting used to the boat and getting a feel for our tempo Brandon and I headed to the start line where we positioned ourselves between the Ashby/Ryan double from Gig-Harbor on our left and a somewhat sleep deprived but still formidable Cryder on the right. As the horn went off we faced our first obstacle of the race – a boat filled with water. Whenever we weren’t moving our Elite S double filled with a significant amount of water so it was critical to get up to speed and drain the boat as quickly as possible. Because of the extra weight (and my inexperience in double Skis) Cryder outpaced us off the line, but we managed to build our speed up enough to surge past, and get in pursuit of the Gig harbor double with Cryder still hot on our heels.

This arrangement held true for the first quarter of the race – we slowly reeled in Ashby and Ryan while Brandon kept a watchful eye behind us. We managed to catch them about halfway or so to the island and rode their wash to recover as much as possible. As we neared the island Brandon was noticing that Cryder was gaining on us and that Ashby and Ryan’s speed had fallen from a strong 8.4mph to a more vulnerable 8 flat (I wasn’t watching my GPS for much of the race but I think those are the numbers Brandon mentioned) so we took the lead and pushed the pace while they held onto our wake. After they’d recovered a bit they generously offered to resume leading and led around the island.

We continued into the headwind with them leading, and it was at this point that my energy started crashing a bit. A lot of my training lately has been more for k1 sprint with the occasional sound rowers race and 10k thrown in so I didn’t totally have a gameplan for a mostly flat ~20k battle. After the race Brandon suggested that I experiment more with some sort of mid race refuel with a hydration pack or such, and I definitely plan on adding that to my race strategy. Whatever the cause, Ashby and Ryan started to pull away on the return journey, and a strong reason that they didn’t broaden the gap further was that the sight of one of their hats receding over Brandon’s shoulder was immensely annoying to my somewhat deranged race-mindset.

As we neared the final fifteen minutes I started tapping into a reserve of energy I had thought long gone just a few kilometers prior and that, along with Brandon’s advice to keep a long powerful stroke, allowed us to cross the finish line respectably close to Ashby and Ryan with enough time to clear the finish line and watch Cryder and Jamie finish alarmingly soon after us.

All in all it was a great learning experience, and though I would’ve liked a faster finish I’ve got to credit Brandon for hauling my exhausted carcass across the line as fast as he did. For now back to Greenlake, but I’ll be back for revenge come Ski to Sea.

Great Race everyone, the food, awards, and competition were all excellent!

-Wilson
hopefully this is alright for a first forray into race writing, if it's well received I plan on doing more in the future?

Nicholas Cryder

05/06/18 #22888

Great write up as always. John was third, not 2nd I believe (James K was 2nd).

Marc Blake
05/06/18 #22889

Nice race report Wilson! It was well received so keep them coming in the future.

Results or up on the webscorer website:
https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=135388

I'll break out the Male/Female categories and repost when I get a moment.

paul clement

05/06/18 #22890

Looking at the results and reflecting on the day I have a couple of observations:
First and most important, thanks to everyone for your patience at the end. Until you do it, it’s hard to understand what oddities in timing need to be cured. For any inaccuracies, I take responsibility.
Second, I’d like to thank Audrey and Jill for keeping everything straight and being enjoyable company.
Third, I had to hand enter Jamie Klein’s time due to a repeated number in the placard box. I apologize to Jamie for the time as he was very close to Nicholas even after checking the water temp just before the finish. It’s amazing to see people go to the absolute limit. Well played on Your part Jamie and good on ya for seeing the humor.
Fourth, You will see two C1 entries in the short course. Those should be K1. With that, kudos go out to the BCKST members (and other juniors from afar) who represented in any craft. How about Abby S leading Michael Medler to the line? Wow.
It’s hard to have to sit on the beach and watch but you all made it fun.
Now I can go back to my “secret taper plan”. Don’t tell Dean…
paul

Lake Whatcom Classic and ONLY 20 days to Ski to Sea and Tomorrows Intervals Practice…………
Pmarcus
05/06/18 #22891

Thanks Marc, Jill, Paul and Audrey and Jonas and Safety Boat Crew….

Races are funny, I love the write ups, we all go over and over and over the race in our minds on what we could have done different or not, your senses are so alive during the first half of the race until you realize that that out of breathe paddler is YOU. Its like you have this “stop time” GoPro in your brain taking super clear pictures of certain moments. Jockey for the start, pretending not to be obvious and checking where the other Oc's (in my case are) and wondering if their line up and who they might draft is better then yours ….then the race starts and your right in the mess of rowing shell oars on one side, inches away, and watching the “Jet Trails” of 12 to 14 BSCKT somethings kick your @#$#@ off the line. Then your peripheral takes over and you see all your competition bows surging back and fourth and your focused on trying to get any advantage of faster paddler wakes, listening to the gurgle of your scuppers and the feel of your boat to use any little advantage to try and pull ahead….then you clearly hear the coughing or breathing of others around you and somehow your ultra focused like a sixth sense to gauge their progress on you by the loudness of the voice, then your instantly snapped out of it as you realize that eight person creak is a rowing shell coming up from behind and next thing you know there are four sets of oars right next to you that your trying to stay out of the way and you hear there coach say “don't run over Peter, but at the same time your trying get some kind of wash ride off of them because then, your peripheral takes over again, and in your mind, the crowd watching lets out a collective groan because you see competitors were smarter then you and you see their bows again….. Then the turn comes up and your exhausted but play out a million different strategies on the turn, inside cut, outside cut, out accelerate paddlers coming coming off the turn thinking it will somehow, psychology, make the paddler behind you give up or that's what your hoping! Then all chaos happens and the boat your following makes a minor tactical error and suddenly your race just became his or her race because you have to turn on their terms and any advantage you built up or disadvantage that your trying to catch up in the first half, turns into trying not to damage the boat in front of you at the turn. Then its “Game On” all over again as everyone gets straighten out and you focus on any little head wind shift or wavelet to try and edge ahead or catch up…..A safety boat goes by and you you surge ahead only to see your fellow racers bow show up again and again and again. In my race, Alan and I were pretty determined to beat each other and hold off Dan M and Brian S, it was awesome, no one one to draft home with, old guy versus OLDER Guy (me) and pretty sure, that even if a faster boat came by at that last 3 miles neither one of us was going to draft…..we didnt budge, our bows were inches ahead of each other for that last 25 minute INTERVAL, then the final push came and, dang it , The Lipp Master, had just a tiny better angle on the finish cork line we had to go around his stern swung by inches in front of my bow as we cut towards the finish….I tried to use a last gasp and pulled wide to hopefully sling shot using his quarter wake and catch him at the finish but too little, too late, and too old!! He powered away…..now all I got is this race in my brain over and over and over!! I Love It!!

Ski to Sea 20 days away…you ready…Intervals tomorrow at PADDEN, see if we can scare some fisherpersons!! Be respectful of all there fishing lines from shore….Padden at 5:15

Cheers, Peter