Surfski Knowledge Base

Pmarcus
Jul 29 #27255

Hey Everyone,

Thanks to Derek B we were able to have Lutherwood relatively “all to ourselves.” That was awesome! If the weather stays nice, although the course was a little shorter then usual and “some buoys that the temporary race director thought was a buoy but really wasnt a turn buoy” messed a few up paddlers up but I think we should continue to be out there until the crowds mellow out at at Bloedel???

About 35 boats showed up and we quickly decided on two loops of the inner basin hugging the buoys next to the shore to stay out of the way of the recreation crowd.

Jonas E and Nicholas C and Josh D and Nic K (in a double) and Kevin O and Ian all took off the line with a DJ start :) and right behind them was Paul C followed by Marc W and Howard W in skis followed by Dan Mo and some guy with a cool hat in OC's with Derek B, with his own cheering squad on shore and Elena E right behind….

Couldnt hear or see much behind me but I guess Mike L had to hold Ryan L (his son) back from trying jump out of his OC 2 to tackle Kim R and Julie V on the water, sounded nasty, but no blood shed, so all good to go…. Yes…just kidding but there was a good race of three OC 2's….maybe someone can give a short report from a different view point of the race?

Great turnout and sort of a relief to just have paddlers there and no one else. especially afterwards, able to just hang and social distance….weather permitting (Hot and Sunny kind of day), see you there hopefully again. We are taking small donations for Lutherwood (you can get it to me on race day) for letting us use the facility and please, just stay by the trailer launch side as the Cabins are rented out for customers by the beach side.

All in all, a littler short but fun, and have to fine tune the course, but good times!!! Oh yeah, everyone PR tonight……

Thanks to Derek B and all for showing up!!

Cheers, P

Kimberly Reeves
Jul 30 #27268

OC-2 race recap and the introduction of the Sirens as a woman’s answer to the Barnacles!

We were off the line hard and headed to the first buoy… Medler had us boxed to the left and the Lee’s were on his port side. We hit a load of hay stacks, got reoriented and made the turn.

On the way to the slow wake buoy, I could hear Lee 2 encouraging the younger, stronger Lee, to hammer harder and take us. Not to be out done, I steered the overlap inside line for the buoy turn, but unbeknownst to me, kayak sprint doesn’t yield to the inside overlap, and the younger, faster Lee began to squeeze us out on the turn and took advantage of my maternal instinct and love of the Gemini not to spear a kid with carbon fiber.

There may have been apologies, but the older, more sage Lee spurred on his steersman and we were neck and neck to the dock and completion of the first turn.

Second lap introduced a third oc-2, Orange Tempest with Shek and his partner. I may have blamed him for lipstick on my stern before Denise W confessed to a close draft.

In the second lap I was stoked to close out Medler on a draft, but my greediness to get ahead of the Lee contingent, worked against me as we had to brake hard not to slam into ELana on a turn! Sorry ELana!

Seeing our lead diminish, Lee x2 and Shek + partner all lined up to our port and we were in a dead heat for the final half of the last lap.
As I continued to cry foul about the seat 1 Lee not granting us overlap, I had to continue to steer inside the buoys, losing time and re-evaluating my strategy and “do no harm attitude”. More than a few times I could hear Julie grumble in seat 2 about me yielding and don’t people know the rules (I may be embellishing a bit due to hypoxic memory)

On the final stretch, Lee x2 and Shek et al, pulled away and beat us to the line. There were empty apologies, but the sting of getting crushed by The Ryan was a hard pill to swallow :)

After race recap! The women decided that we needed a category for the more “mature” women on the water! Barnacle seemed well suited for the boys, but not us, therefore, we decided…okay maybe I stated that here forward, our 60+ women shall be known as the Sirens!

Lots of summer fun last night…

David Scherrer

Jul 30 #27269

The “Sirens” I like that. But will we have to put wax in our ears, like the poor crew of the Homeric galley??
D

Reivers Dustin
Jul 30 #27270

Some barnacles already have plenty of wax in their ears. But you right Davie: Awesome new category.

What a great venue. Hope we don't muck it up somehow. Kinda cool to have all that big cheering crowd on the west shoreline. I think they could see all the fiberglass rash going on. One other thing about it. I'm not always capable of the full 30 minute VO2max. This course gives a safe way to bail after one lap. Or better yet, just sprint for first turn, then peel off and pace the thundering herd on the inside line.

Best race report in a long time. Reading this made me think of the old days. When I had less wax in my ears.

rd

Eli Holmes
Jul 31 #27280

Great race report! Had to laugh about the crying foul over not giving the inside overlap. In sprint kayak, we drill the kids on punishing the errors of your competitors at the turn. Driving your competitor into the buoy if they make the error of being on the inside as you approach the buoy is a key skill. Better yet, ride their outside wake coming into the turn, sprint just before the turn to take the lead, and then once they are behind you on the inside (ha!), take the close line and drive them into the buoy! Turns are so exciting in sprint kayak!

Dennis Mowry
Jul 31 #27281

They aren't use to those strategies since they are in Outriggers. Maybe Ryan should switch to surfski?
:D'

Eli Holmes
Aug 2 #27298

That's good point and I'm actually not sure if that is allowed in surf ski either. It makes me think that for our (SCKC) distance races, we should post the sprint rules so everyone is aware of them. It's not so easy to find out what the outrigger rules are actually. I remember trying to figure out what they rules are, not finding them, and then asking outrigger folks and that kind of going south. Me: 'What are the rules about the buoy turn?' Them: '???' Me: 'Who has the right to the inside line?' Them: '???' Me: 'If someone is in the lead on the outside, can they take the inside line and force the person behind on the inside to drop back or miss the buoy?' Them: 'What kind of horrible, unsporting person are you??! That's cheating. How could you even consider that?'

Jonas Ecker
Aug 2 #27299

I always go with the trusty bow and cockpit or body rule; had long as the bow of the inside boat is ahead of the body or cockpit of the outside boat they have right of way.
Does this mean I sometimes sprint right before a buoy to gain said right of way on the outside? Yes. But hey, at least as was it was described to me; it’s legal!

But unless you’re really going for blood it’s much better to just have fun and let people know what you’re doing as well as not push them off buoys…
But I do know that Ryan Lee is one blood thirsty kid 😉

allipp@…

Aug 2 #27302

From the PNWORCA website regarding OC6 racing:

Overlap: An overlap is defined as a condition existing when no open water can be seen between the stern of one va’a and the bow of another when viewed at right angles to their course. An overlap must occur at least 2 va’a lengths prior to reaching a buoy for the overlap to be considered established for purposes of rounding the mark.

Rounding Marks:

Correct mark rounding must be set before the start of the race.

If an overlap occurs when two va’a are approaching a marker to be rounded, the outer va’a shall give way to allow the va’a closest to the mark to round the mark. The leading va’a is under no obligation to give way before an overlap is established. In case of doubt, it will be presumed that the overlap was not established in proper time.

Passing around the mark is allowed, providing the passing va’a, in attempting to pass another va’a, does not impede that va’a progress or create a safety hazard to the other va’a.