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