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races:sausage_pull_2016

Mercer Island Sausage Pull 2016

race results

Mercer wind
Reivers Dustin

10/07/16 #20045

I'm seeing gusty from SSW at Mercer race tomorrow. Hope you scamps that stay in the bay have as much fun as I do.

If it's rough they might save a lot of money on sausages.

rd

duncanhowat
10/07/16 #20046

RD, this could be right up your— ,heavy rain in am, kinda beam sea to around the Island, who knows what on the back side, then some nice confused water across the top to one side of the bridge or the other, be thinking of you about 11:00 at avenue bread. If you see any cheap lakeside houses for sale in this area let me know.

Kevin Olney
10/08/16 #20057

Fun race for sure! A couple less beers last night and I might have been a little faster but probably same finish order
1. Storb's 4x rowing shell
2. Greg Barton
3. Peter and Juraj double surfski
4. Me
Also: Rievers Dustin 3rd ski
Tony Brown 5th ski

Brandon Nelson

10/08/16 #20058

Congratulations Mercer Racers!!!!! Way to get out there and represent!!!!!

Mercer Report Re: Mercer wind
Reivers Dustin

10/08/16 #20060

Drive down was better than expected. 520 bridge and Viaduct are closed for work this weekend. About 90 minutes down. Parking was closed out. I parked about 3 blocks up in the residential streets and hauled my boat down. I groused about it, but it wasn't that much trouble really. The main reason is that there were at least five dragon boats in the race. Also an OC-6 (Sand Pt). Lots of paddlers to park. That was a first for me, never been in the water with dragon boats. The rain held off for most of the race, so pre-race and organizing went smooth.

Wind was SSE fairly stiff, maybe 15?. Race start was a little late, but so was I. There's only a one-hole toilet and I had to make a large deposit before going out. Start was normal. OC boats and dragon boats didn't push well against the headwind. Only a few rowers, Barton, Olney and couple other paddlers to watch going ahead. That's a long pull to get around the South of the island into good air. I diced with Tony most of the way. Nasty rebound on SE of the island. I managed to sneak by Tony and another guy in a surfski in there. Finally caught up with two big dudes in a rower because of that mess. I could then see it shaping up along the East side out from shore a bit. Started seeing 8's on my GPS in there. The channel chokes a little under the 90 bridge on that side and I was flying. Tony and the other paddler were not off my radar yet though. The water flattened across North island, but the wind push was strong. I held mid 7's in there and noticed Tony and the other guy being gapped. As I got around where you head toward the bridge gap the wind was nasty. I headed hard to shore and stayed on track. I guess the other surfski paddler had a smallish rudder and got blown into the teeth of the wind. That took him out of the running. He had to fight hard to get back toward the west part of the bridge. As I was approaching the bridge I kept seeing what the water must be like on the windward side of that sheer concrete face of the bridge. So I stayed North side. It was in this area that Jeff & Teresa K. caught up. Made me feel boss to dice with them for a while. They had trouble with the wind, even though the water was flat in there. Once they figured it out, they gapped me serious. But when they got to the opening and headed south to the finish, they got hammered. So did I. Nasty rebound junk and real heavy air blasting through that opening. I headed into it because sometimes you can catch those rebound waves. I caught some, but man - the pucker suction was on high. Just when I was getting it dialed, the Sherriff boat came by and gave me more big junk. It seems at least one dragon boat had dumped and there just wasn't enough safety boat to get everybody out of the water right away.

I liked it. I'll do it again. That stuff tends to focus a fella's thinking.

rd

races/sausage_pull_2016.txt · Last modified: 2022/12/05 17:45 (external edit)