Surfski Knowledge Base

Wildside Relay race report
Reivers Dustin
08/10/14 #16080

For a couple of weeks the gorge has been nuclear. Then John R. showed up, got a taste by doing the run from Bob's Beach to Home Valley. Rumor is that late night preparations included a prayer for calmer winds during race day. It was dead on race day morning. Maybe there was like the breath of kittens out there. Crazy. It's just rumor, but John was the guy who pulled off the James Bond kiteboard rescue a few years ago. I know that I'm not messing with a guy with this kind of pull.

Another story is Brandon getting hit on the forehead during one of the exchanges. There's three beach exchanges with running up, ringing a bell, then tag-out. Bound to be some mis-haps. Brandon and Heather edged out the only other husband-wife team I knew about: Dave Jensen and wife (no couch slouches in this mix). Brandon looked bloodied and his movie star career is in the toilet. I thought he said, “it's just a head wound.” Or maybe that was Heather.

Our own DJ was first leg top dawg. This was a tough get because it was a slog. Also because the cost of a bad line was huge. With no big surf to equalize flat water speed against surf riding skill, the best line was everything. At the end of leg two, Austin had paid for being in front by getting caught by the next two teams. He played surfing in the middle against current and regretted it. The big dogs closed in and at the end of the race Carter J. and partner edged out the other three teams. I think these dawgs were all within a minute of each other.

Somewhat later in the race, John and I had the same problems. I made some mistakes and so did probably most other paddlers. John must have had a pretty hot second leg because we were close on to Duncan's and David S. teams. But somehow that was our peak of the day. Beating those two is pretty high on my list of favorite things to do. Maybe next year.

Big shout out to JD and race volunteers. (Major dudes: Eric G., Howat clan, hosts of helpers.) The event overall has leveled up big time. Monster feed for both night before and at end of race. Smooth runnings with pretty short wait for last finisher. It's a challenge as a relay but as was explained to me, this is the safest, most practical way to make a race event in these waters. I get it, and would not suggest this race for newer paddlers. For reference, Soundrowers.org has a solid history of fairly challenging races. Doing those well structured soundrower races is a great way to build your chops before doing a gorge relay or U.S. surfski champs type race.

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