Surfski Knowledge Base

John Rybczyk
05/13/17 #21295

8:00 pm, Deep Cove. Nick and I are the last Americans standing as the after party still rages. Race report to follow, but I think Putnam is about to tap the keg of tequila, so I gotta find my pint glass right now.

John Rybczyk

Michael Gregory

05/13/17 #21296

Fun times today at Deep Cove. Stellar field, modest conditions, and super good.
Who would have thought what a party animal John R really is;)

Andy Bunn <andy_bunn@…>
05/13/17 #21297

John R answers only to the name “Rummy” after a certain hour.

Sent from /dev/pocketComputer

David Scherrer

05/13/17 #21298

Don't worry, I remember the Gorge…….

Larry Goolsby
05/13/17 #21299

Today's Tour de Indian Arm reminded me of Little Big Horn; 8 lonely Americans surrounded by hundreds of local natives. The low number of U.S. Paddlers does not give me much hope of winning this challenge, but then, we all had a great time. Hats off to Putnam for changing the race to a long distance scenic tour. The views were awesome, the conditions mild (some wind and rain), and everything was professionally done. You louts that stayed home missed out on a good race and a great after race dinner (East Indian cuisine). The ability to do the 32K as a relay was primo; those of us that started at the halfway point had nothing but rabbits in front of us. Not just any rabbits, but rabbits that were tired after having paddled 10 miles in winter conditions. Yes, it was cold up there. After the first mile, I was pissed at myself for not bringing my pogies and a down coat. I swear there were icicles hanging from the trees. I didn't see the final results, but Redmond was first, Crider second, not sure who was third, and Putnam placed fourth. An amazing thing to watch were the SUP's; several did the entire 32K and some were prone. And fast too, The troop carrier that delivered the relay partners to the halfway point left Deep Cove 20 minutes after the SUP's started and we arrived at our destination just 10 minutes before the first SUP passed by.
Bob and his crew did an outstanding job of making this race worth the money.
LG

John Rybczyk
05/13/17 #21300

Well, what Larry said: It was a valiant try, but the eight of us surf skiers from the USA who made it across the border were not able to hold off the Canadians, losing the two-stage international challenge by a combined score of 214 to 218. Many thanks to the Deep Cove crew for an excellent race and after party and to all our Canadian brothers and sisters for this, our 10th annual Think International Challenge. Paddlers without Borders.

paul clement

05/14/17 #21301

Dang, that's close.
I have to say that the scenery was amazing. It really is quite the race; Bowen-like in the sense of accomplishment.

My day was interesting. I had the family packed and in the van when I walked past my water heater and noticed it had chosen that morning to die a wet, messy death. This cost us an hour of diagnosing, disassembly and draining. We left it and headed for the border. Fortunately, it was clear sailing and we made it in time to race though I missed pre-race meeting, registration, shirt, boat number and anything else the timely folks received including a proper warmup.

I let a big group with Bob and Shane get a little gap on me in the first five miles (did I mention lame warmup?) hoping the last five would work in my favor given my preparation. This left me alone the whole race (except a few miles with Daryl R on my tail) which was fine as I could do my own thing. That strategy worked okay as I had an excellent second half and began to pick off a few stragglers from that group but I was unable to finish the job. One or two more and we would have won the cross border challenge. I was the last person to finish 20+ miles under three hours.

We loaded the van post race and had to skip the party so I could get home, buy a new water heater, remove the old one and install the new. All told it was almost exactly twelve hours from discovery of dead heater to installation of new and a well earned shower. All with an international trip and three hours of racing thrown in for good fun. It sounds like the party was excellent. Bummed I missed it.
pc

Dale McKinnon
05/14/17 #21302

This has got to be in the “Highlights of Whatcompaddler Yahoo Hits.”

David Scherrer
05/14/17 #21305

Is John still up there?