Surfski Knowledge Base

Larry Goolsby
07/28/12 #13041

A lot tamer today compared to yesterday - meaning that it was even harder to paddle upstream. A brief summary in the surfski division: Gabe Newton and Don Kiesling first, Carter Johnson and Big wave Dave Jensen second, DJ and Austin the boy wonder in third. Duncan and Kim got the Kahuna award (over 60 year old), Reivers and I in second, WITH SHAUN AND PETE WELLS IN THIRD - BUT THEN, WHO'S COUNTING!
LG

Reivers Dustin
07/29/12 #13043

Wildside was up to it's awesome reputation. Watching Gabe and Austin hammer the finish of leg two was just amazing. They were the first boats in and there's a long flat stretch before the hand-off point. It looked like Austin got too far into the weeds and Gabe was able to break away. For a long time they were paddle-to-paddle at max effort.

On my way back out of there I had to stop and back weeds off. But out in the river the waves were friendly and I made up some ground.

This year the current was a huge factor. And don't believe anyone, because more than one line worked. It's just that it was easy to make mistakes. Also, there was more slop and cross-chop than I've seen. So you could find yourself beyond your preferred pucker factor.

rd

Gorge, USSSC, and stuff……
Larry Goolsby
07/31/12 #13047

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Ashland, Or. on my way to the USSSC as I write this. JD did a great job of putting together the Wildside relay, and if you've never done this race, it should be on your bucket list. Did I get the finishing order of the Wildside correct? From Reivers post, it sounded like Austin came in right behind Gabe, giving him and DJ second place. My apologies if I messed up. I left the Gorge Sunday afternoon after doing loops up in swell city. This turned out to be an exercise in futility. At that time of day, on a Sunday afternoon, there are probably more windsurfers on the water than any other time of the week. In a place where you'd really like to keep your momentum moving forward, I was forced to alter my course or come to a complete stop as windsurfers fell right in front of me. Then I realized that I was on the side of the river and this was the turning point for all those windsurfers. I found that some of them can't turn, so they fall when they want to change directions. Kinda reminds me of Hegadus's early days of surfski paddling.

On the way south, I stopped in to visit Hunter in Eugene. She was doing great until I took her to see that animated movie “Brave”. This is a scary movie for a little girl. The mother is turned into a bear and the father is a legendary bear killer. Hunter ran out of the theater crying with only ten minutes left before the credits. I had to drag her back inside to show her that the ending was hopefully going to be a good one. Thank you Pixar for messing up her head. Later that day she told me that she really missed Reivers, Hilde, Shaun, and that cheater guy. There are several Whatcom Paddlers that fit that last title, but I narrowed it down to Eric Gerstl, DJ, David Scherrer, or Morris.

Looks like I may get the opportunity to paddle Huki's new S1-XL in Saturday's race. This is a model of the S1-X Special that is an inch wider than the Special. I should be bringing home at least two of the 4 new Huki's introduced in the last two months (the Special and the S1-XL). Jude has already introduced his all new tandem and will announce another new model later this week. The new Huki's coming home with me are demo boats and probably won't be for sale. If I have room on the rack, I'm going to try and talk him into sending more back with me.
I'll try to post some trip reports later this week.

Larry G.