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Race report......
San Francisco US National Champs Race Reports
Larry Goolsby
08/05/12 #13063
I got the last room at the Bates Motel in Redding. Norman is pacing outside my door so my report will be brief: It was calm conditions when we arrived at Rodeo Beach for the start. Pulled the S1-XL out of the quiver, laid it on the beach and went to sit in the car to stay warm. It was cold and foggy, and getting foggier by the minute. Reivers and I stepped out of the car briefly to see if the pre-race meeting was starting as planned and got a big surprise - the calm conditions had become nuclear. Pulled the R off the car and replaced the XL. No use ruining my day by paddling in a washing machine in something I wasn't familiar with . The surf start was exciting; several boats and paddlers were thrashed. One guy bent his rudder, ran up to the parking lot, and 'borrowed' the rudder off the XL.
Anyway, the surf start eliminated a few paddlers. The conditions off the beach were about as bad as the potato patch. Then the racers took off before the 'go' horn was sounded. They halted the race and made us crawl back to the start. All the while, several paddlers swam and a couple more became DNF's. The fog became so bad that we couldn't see the Golden Gate Bridge until we were inside Point Bonita, and we only could see a small part of it even when we passed under it. Conditions didn't improve much until we were close to the bridge and the good downwind conditions didn't appear until late in the race. Pretty daunting conditions by most standards. Reivers got first in Golden Masters with David second. Gabe was first American in. Congrats to them. I had 14 boats coming back with me so I left before the awards. Hats off to our shuttle bunnies, Hilde and Cathy. They stood in awe as we rolled around in the surf and never made a negative comment.
LG
Re: Race report……CHEERS!
dnjacobson79
08/05/12 #13067
Congrats to all US Champs racers. Gabe set the goal 3 years ago to be the top american finisher and fulfilled that ambition yesterday, kudos! Nice to see young Austin bring some young blood into the sport and glide across the finish line as 4th US paddler, and always great to have Greg and Don in the mix as other pnw powerhouses. Most importantly, highest regards to all racers who step up to the challenge of an unpredictable race course and to the wavechaser crew that makes this international event happen. No more east coast weddings on the the horizon, looking forward to seeing everyone back on the water in bham! Cheers,
DJ
Champs event
Reivers Dustin
08/05/12 #13071
Heavy duty. I took a whuppin getting past the surf line. Like many. Joe G had a great turn of phrase for it: “like I was going for extra points for the judges.” There were lots of boat parts and body parts lost in the surf. (Joe wrecked a paddle and couldn't compete.)
So if you managed to get both cheeks past the breaker line in the seat of your boat - you had some more fun keeping them there. The bowl-shaped beach was throwing boogie-board waves every direction. I was feet-out most of the pre-start. I saw people climbing back in their boats all over. I also saw the big dogs looking perfectly calm and stable. Unbelievable. The false start was disapointing. Cheapens the sport for me. After the real start I kept thinking it would get better soon. There was less really big chop, but I didn't stop shaking until I made the Point Bonita Buoy turn. This was definately the nastiest water I've ever raced in and maybe every paddled. I guess that was the intention. But it closed off the race for some pretty decent paddlers.
As I crawled up to the Pt Bonita buoy I could see Dave S powering along. He was reeling in two other guys, then they turned and went shallow. I knew he was looking for a particular current slot so I shadowed and it paid off. There was a race spectator boat nearby and somebody must have looked up our numbers. They were yelling “GO DAVE” and “Go Reivers”. pretty cool.
Every so often I would catch Dave on a good wave, but he would muscle by me and put 20 to 50 yards gap. This was pretty much the story for an hour and a half. He would close the door on me and I would climb back by working a good wave. As LG said, at the end the waves got really good and I got past Dave. It was contrasting styles and absolute maximum effort. The two of us hammered past a couple of stout young blokes who must have been wondering wtf. Epic, absolutely completely epic race.
Debbie is bringing home some heavy metal (3rd woman-short course). Also JD is pulling a medal home (3rd man-short course). Tremendous showing by several and guys who got creamed in the surf-zone should wear their shirt with pride. I know that the surf launch and the new course caused wavechasers some serious agony as a club. They still pulled together a showcase event for the United States. The volunteers (esp Helen) gave blood, sweat and tears so some of us could play superman.
photos to come.
And to my friend David: big trees get the lightning. We were like Captain Dan in the movie “Forest Gump” calling down the thunder in the middle of the storm. Great stuff, buddy.
rd
Hilde & Reivers' excellent adventure
Reivers Dustin
08/06/12 #13073
I just looked at our photo's.
All of you reading know the results and some of the stories. But when we who were there sit with you and talk about it, I hope you hear the bright, grand adventure that happened. I hope Joe Glickman writes something soon. We need a storyteller with real chops for this one.
I measure myself by the size of my adversaries. I know nothing else. I know right now that this was a great adventure.
The photographs are so much, we need another of Peter's epic gatherings to get it all on screen.
In Grants Pass Holiday Inn parking lot a guy walked up to Hilde and said, “You don't see a lot of surfski's here”. She told him our story.
awesome.
Re: Champs event
babyrebozo
08/06/12 #13074
Reivers and David…….great battle for the Big Kapuna! Reivers, way to hang in there and take home the prize…….sounds like a quite a race. I got a Golden Ale for the Golden Masters Champ.
My hat is off to all that braved the Bay!
Re: Hilde & Reivers' excellent adventure
gabe newton
08/06/12 #13078
Rambos video:
Report:
https://www.surfski.info/latest-news/story/1443/2012-us-surfski-champs-96-paddlers.html
Re: Hilde & Reivers' excellent adventure
Reivers Dustin
08/07/12 #13079
Oh yeah, big shout-out to David Kelly. He did a great job of MC of the awards ceremony at US Champs. Although it seemed to me that Helen had the stronger throwing arm. This guy has pretty good credentials. He was Brandon's paddle partner at the Yukon River Quest some years ago. Hilde and I had a great chat with David and when he found out that we were facing a four hour drive after the awards he bumped the Golden Master category awards ahead.
Big thanks Mr. Kelly. Our crazy drive across the mountains in the black of night was made a little better. (We drove to Elk, California.)
rd
Re: The Champs..what a race!
David Scherrer
08/07/12 #13080
NASA just proclaimed that for 2.6 bil. they “experienced 7 minutes of terror”.(landing a nuke powered rover on Mars). Considering the entry fee for the 2012 US Champs, we got a bargain.
Amazing experience, wish all my paddling friends could have been there, as I suspect Wave chaser will never attempt this agin! Nothing like having a number of boats knocked out before the race even started. Hope your trip was worth it Joe G. We were looking forward to your lecture the night of race registration, but line progressed at a slugs pace making it to your talk that evening was impossible. BTY his book on Freya is a great read.
I couldn't ask for better camaraderie and competition. During the roll call I had the feeling that we were in the company of the worlds finest surfskiers. It was as if, as I explained it to a visiting cousin, it was as if as a club bicyclist I found myself competing in the Tour de France. Yikes. And amazing enough, after all the struggles, efforts and scares of the first half hour of the race I find myself next to my ol padding buddy Revers, which sorta had an effect of stabilizing the world a little bit. Congratulations on your great performance a Wave Master without a doubt.
As an aside, one of my favorites films, “Vertigo” has just been voted the greatest film of all time by a pool of international film critics. Most of the film was shot in San Francisco. Even Fort Baker is in the movie (filmed in 1958). You will witness Kim Novak taking a plunge into the Bay off the breakwaters below the Golden Gate. Hitchcock knew how to scare. What a spot, what a place. What a race!
David
Re: Leftovers…..
MARC ROBERTA WHITLOCK
08/07/12 #13084
I'm hoping LG picked up my confidence along with my gear after being one of the casualties of the surf start and rough conditions in the first mile. It was, nonetheless, a great experience on the practice paddles to Pt. Bonita and across the Bay to Berkelely and at the Gorge earlier with Dean, Dave and others. What's the saying?…..wait till next year. Thank God for a failing memory as I get older.
