Surfski Knowledge Base

Kevin Olney
03/30/19 #24582

It was calm and sunny at Sand Point for the finale of the winter race series. Bellingham/North Sound was represented by Marcus and Hammer (OC-2), Lance and Sarah (OC-2), Jason and Drea Park (OC-2), Dan and Estelle (OC-2), Dan Mosley (OC-1), Brian Flannelley (OC-1) and myself (HPK).

Greg Barton was the fastest boat and I managed to grind my way past Don K and John Mooney for second place. Peter and Mike H faced intense competition from the Canadian crew of team Cascadia and battled all the way to the finish. There was tons of amazing food afterwards and more prizes than racers. Ernie Wong and the Sandpoint crew are always top-notch when hosting a race!

Results: https://www.webscorer.com/racedetails?raceid=174420&did=192007

On the topic of rudders, I did go with the 4” rudder and I feel like I did have an extra .10 mph of top end speed when I needed it. On the other hand there was a section along the 520 bridge where a bunch of boat wakes were colliding and I felt a bit sloppy in my stroke. Not really unstable but a bit out of rhythm as the boat rolled around more than I’m used to.

I switched to the same rudder before S2S last year and remember feeling the same thing. After only a couple paddles I got used to it. In small to medium conditions I think the advantages outweigh the consequences. If you don’t want to fuss with anything the stock Fenn rudder seems to work pretty well in all conditions.

There are a couple races coming up on the calendar. The David Williams Memorial Race and Sound Rowers Lake Sammamish are both on April 13. The Dan Harris Challenge is on April 28 and the Lake Whatcom Classic on May 4.

Happy Paddling,
KO

Nicholas Cryder
03/31/19 #24583

Within 1:18 of Barton? I'd say you had a damn fine race KO! Nice work buddy.

Kevin Olney

03/31/19 #24584

That’s not quite the whole story… Greg slowed down a couple times to let us catch up just to keep things interesting. I did survive a shark attack though: