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Ski to Sea 2018
kayak chair
Reivers Dustin
05/28/18 #23064
Before I tell my version of the race. And immediately get outed as a huge fibber.
Straight up cred to Peter M. for excellent management skills. When the wind showed up mid morning and I saw Peter standing at the rocks looking at the rebound, then looking back at hundreds of Tupperware boats I knew long course was in jeopardy. Rumor has it that on-water response folks were getting nervous as well. But Peter made a good call when it was not easy. Thing is, when it's open to the public and you get people drawing straws for which leg to do the night before the race … well, it's not about the big guns. It would sour everything if someone got hurt. Also, he had good peeps to work with, but just as important he worked them well. There were some kinks, but this kind of deal has a butt-load of moving parts. That's why not many places can pull together anything like this.
Also, shout out to LG for stepping into a choke point at the check in. I hated it and sucked at it when I tried. Similar thing there, LG called in resources when he had to and gave them clear assignments. He gave a couple of busy days for this work and probably none of the racers would even notice unless it went sideways. Then he would have tons of blame. I think I saw Mary taking care of early release admin. Anyone reply to this msg to shout out some of the other heroes and sheroes.
I know you guys know this stuff and share the love for the volunteers. Hope I'm not getting off too easy with this momentary praise. I'll try to remember the debt in between races.
rd
Larry Bussinger
05/28/18 #23071
Peter, having done this many, many times, and as a participant, you get my kudos. Great job Peter and all who pitched in. LarrY B
Larry B
Pmarcus
05/28/18 #23073
Thanks Reivers……Had Great help!! Larry G, Gail H, Sandy G, Mike G, Jim T,……and others!! ThxP
Brandon Nelson
05/28/18 #23078
Absolutely!!! Awesome job Peter, Mike G, Larry G, Sandy, Jim, and your army of other volunteers. You did an amazing job and it was hugely appreciated!!!
Brandon Nelson
The old guard
Steve Scoggins
05/28/18 #23065
Let's have a big shout out to the barnacles. The Whitlock, Rievers, Mowry, Bussinger, Howat/McBeath
Bumstead, etc…….These guys all made solid top finishes yesterday. In most cases they beat people half their age, or even 1/4 of their age. You guys are the example to the world on staying fit for life.
PS good job and thank you Peter…..you did great as Kayak leg chairman. Went smooth.
I love this community.
Steve
Brandon Nelson
05/28/18 #23066
Agreed 100000000%!!!!!!!
joanandthom
05/28/18 #23067
I know Whatcom Paddlers is focused on Surfski paddling. But I think everybody should take a quick look at the canoe results. Eric G and Mike H 1st overall, Brian and Mike L. 3rd Take look at how many of the top finishers are our paddling buddys
Thom
joanandthom
05/28/18 #23068
I forgot to mention Char and Kim and Veronica Great cane Paddling
Steve Scoggins
05/28/18 #23069
Now Thom……this thread is a shout out to the old people, canoe included, thus Howat/McBeath as mentioned.
Steve
Nicholas Cryder
05/28/18 #23072
What a rad day on so many levels… the kind of competitive, turn by turn lead trade by lead trading fisticuff that makes this race so special for everyone. Barton once again reminded us that he is from another planet. And that he's been racing and winning on this planet since kayaks were invented. Is that what brought him here?!?
Wanted to point out that Sally paddled a Top 6 time with A BROKEN FINGER!
My story: We were out for a quick paddle the day before the race, and the wind was maybe a little stiffer then race day (15 to 20). We saw a young paddler get into a sea kayak that was WAY to big for her, with a paddle that was flimsy and pretty much worthless. She struggled. She sprinted. She could… not… clear the marina. A boat wake nearly sent her in, I watched her cat-in-the-bath-tub save with a growing knot in my stomach thinking about her x200 on race day. Her BF was standing next to us on the dock, and said flatly: “She wanted to come practice kayaking before the race. We're counting on her.” Not my brand of whiskey right there… but HUGE respect to Peter and all the others who give so much to make the race happen.
So great to see everyone bring it once again.
Nicholas Cryder
Steve Scoggins
05/28/18 #23074
This shout out thread is reserved for
Paddlers over the age of 60. That's said with a smile. A winky tongue out emoji.
Steve
Kimberly Reeves
05/28/18 #23077
Over 60 men but post-menopausal women…. c’mon guys, is 50+ women need a nod every so often ;)
Dale McKinnon
05/28/18 #23079
Thank you, Kim…
Rick Lingbloom
05/28/18 #23086
My race wasn’t bad! After a hard fought battle across the bay, I managed to ring the bell 1 second ahead of Scoggins! OK, well yeah, he did start seven and a half minutes after me … but still …
Dang this county has some fast single & double bladed paddlers! So fun to play with you all!
Rick
Reivers Dustin
05/29/18 #23090
Just to milk the glory a little bit longer, a buddy took video of me, Beau, Deano and … who is that last one, Mark? and OK, as LB can testify, I sometimes get “navigationally challenged”. That might explain the nine seconds between me and Dean.
allipp@…
05/29/18 #23091
And the guy kept having to tell his kid not to throw rocks at you Reivers. Hmmmm.
David Scherrer
05/29/18 #23095
The Dudes…..What more can I say
Kimberly Reeves
05/29/18 #23096
❤️❤️❤️
Michael Lee
05/29/18 #23097
Legendary!
Michael J. Lee
Larry Bussinger
05/29/18 #23098
I like to invision a spectator at that finish looking at those two in 14th place and thinking “What the f*”, and trying to process it. Imagine what would have happened if Bob hadn’t been sick and Duncan had a shoulder! Amazing job!
Larry B
Kimberly Reeves
05/29/18 #23099
I was at the start when Bob got the hand off and some young canoeist started making fun of his run/walk! Well, y’all know I grew fang teeth, defending him and Duncan to the hilt and told that young buck, that Brother Bob and Uncle Dunc were gonna crush him on the river… a few others joined my crusade and that was that! Mic drop! Nicholas Cryder 05/29/18 #23100 Respect!
Larry Bussinger
05/30/18 #23101
You should have given the kid some slack Kim. Hell, even Duncan was making fun of Bob's walk/run. 
Larry B
The old guard
Michael Lee
05/30/18 #23103
It’s different when your buddy gives you grief about your gait. Besides, how you move on land has nothing to do with how you paddle a boat. Have you seen Alan Lipp try to run?
Larry Bussinger 05/30/18 #23112
Mike, I was trying to be funny, but you remind me that what one prints is missing the nuances of tone. However maybe in my case, it wasn’t funny. Besides , have you ever seen me run? Bob and Alan both look good. I run like a Buffalo. Nor do I know what to do with a single blade.
Michael Lee
05/30/18 #23116
Indeed, it was funny. I always get crushed in the run from the road to the river. Hammer ate me for lunch this year. Regarding Alan, I just like to give him a hard time. Michael J. Lee
Nicholas Cryder
05/30/18 #23117 I had the pleasure of watching Kevin run up the beach on Sunday. It was like a scene from saving Private Olney. One leg did not get the memo… but all heart baby!!! He left nothing on the water!!! Amazing canoeists make Whatcom paddlers proud!
Steve Scoggins
05/28/18 #23070 Let's have a big shout out to our incredible canoe community.
Some seriously hard hitting folks out there. David/Susan come to mind. New blood like Carter/Rob. The immortal Thom. Let's hear your canoe race details. Steve
Larry Bussinger
05/28/18 #23075
There were nine people, including all the retirees, finishing within 1 minute. Incredible! But look at the performance of our high school kids. Wow! And the girls, young and a little older, good job.
The only disappointing thing all day was that Reivers got me by 19 secs. Larry B
Dean Bumstead
05/28/18 #23076
That's because Reivers had somebody chasing him - but I never caught him. Good race Reivers.
Dean
lori & beau whitehead
05/28/18 #23080
Dean, great little duel at the end there my friend. I think the crowd liked the show we put on. I'd also like to point out a non-paddling achievement that happened yesterday… Beavers Tree Service's skier Brent Molsberry (Everett Firefighter) crashed on the downhill, went off the course and lost both skis. He still had the fastest overall time. Think on that for awhile.
Dean Bumstead
05/28/18 #23081 Loads of fun. Anything for the crowd. By the time I started hobbling up the hill, you had rung the bell. Good job hanging in there Beau. My few attempts at feeble surges didn’t amount to anything.
Adam Resnick
05/28/18 #23082
We came in 61st, five spots better than last year. Our road biker was a lot faster this year, so we started out leg with a faster pack of canoes. In previous years, we were passing 10-20 boats for every boat that passed us. This year, it was about 2:1. We tried hard to hang onto the boats that were passing us, but we missed having lots of slower boats to pick off and keep us motivated. We didn't have any head to head battles or sprints to the finish this year, but it was good fun all around. We're not year round paddlers, just Wednesday races before Ski to Sea , and some tripping on the Skagit and Nooksack during summer. We bought a “faster” boat, a 1985 Wenonah Jensen kevlar pro boat, but could not get it to go faster than our fast rec boat. So, we raced in the tried and true rec boat. Next year we're going to train harder in the new boat, try to get it dialed in, and hopefully finish a few spots faster. The weather for the race was great. Not too hot, and the wind was not bad at all. There was a lot of debris, way more than our practice runs as late as last Wednesday. We hit the submerged log that a lot of boats were hitting, I think. We lined up straight once we were at the point of no return, and we made it over clean with a hard bump and a bit of sliding. I heard that some fast canoers took a swim after hitting that log. It was on the left side of the river, under the canopy of trees, and was very difficult to spot far enough in advance. This is the first log we've hit in the Nooksack in 10 years of Ski to Sea racing and training. We really appreciated the lack of human log jams this year, because last year we got delayed in a long lineup at the start, and the year before that we were lined up in the portage for 5+ minutes. It was nice to know that our finishing time was all on us. The logistics at the start were a bit discombobulated, but the volunteers were doing their best. The announcer was calling the team numbers with road bikers 2 miles out. Canoeists would hear their number called, then head to the aisle to stage their boats, way too many boats, since it was a 10-15 minute delay between announcement and arrival of runner. (If you've not been to the canoe start, the road biker hands off to one canoeist out on the road, and then the canoeist runs the chip about 300 yards to the boat staging area.) So, you had teams whose runners were arriving with boats still far from the aisle, and boats in the aisle with 10+ minutes until their runner arrived. I staged our boat just outside the aisle, then dragged it five feet over when I saw my runner coming. Next year, if the set up is similar, maybe the announcer can say “Teams 123, 456 have bikers two miles out. Teams 789, 678 have just handed off and should bring their canoes to the aisle.” Something like that. Thanks again to the volunteers. It's a lot to manage. Congrats to everyone who raced. Thanks, Adam
Dennis Mowry
05/28/18 #23083
It was interesting that we 9 were so close, seconds yet seconds add up to a minute which is a long time. So close yet far away. The difference for me was the main group being in the top 10 team placement with everyone being on the water at the same time.
Racing with the same people who challenge me from ahead or behind is a lot more motivating. Our team went from finishing 40th on the XC to 359th on the DH, the team made it back up 65th by my handoff. I went from being overly amped to taking 2 naps before the start. Although I was able to pass 16 boats it wasn't the same as dicing with these old guys. I wasn't able to muster the same motivation. I kept trying to think about everyone's times, visualize catching Marc, Dean or RD just ahead or behind me but didn't work. I feel like I came in last at the race. It's like watching a really bad moving I paid to go see and keep playing the same reel in my head. “It's ok I made up some time… But lost by seconds…… It was fun……. Reivers beat me…….I have to start a new training program. Train with intensity and constancy like DJ, Nicolas, Brandon &. Heather, Kevin, Josh, Dean & Marc. Train to go out and as hard alone as in a race. Work on constancy…… Starting tomorrow….. Start today….. Then again tomorrow”. It's great to be apart of such an inspirational community. Where I know I wouldn't be able to do our be as well by myself. I thank everyone for all their encouragement, fun times, memories. For all you contributions to make these races happen. Shout out to Gail for brightening up the early release table, which most of you might of missed. See you on the water,
Dennis
Braden Gustafson
05/28/18 #23085
Well, this was a fun year. We had an interesting start. I confused my biker for the biker of Unorthodocs. He threw me the chip, I caught it, and I took off running. It was a great exchange. but four steps along I got stopped by the real canoeist. Whoops! my bad! The start of the paddle also didn't go well. Almost two miles in we hit the log stretching across the left half of the river and went into the drink. A BIG THANK YOU to the rope thrower volunteers on the beach. We were headed for more debris so it could have been ugly. Falling in was really a predetermined event for us, as we have done it every even year since 2014. The rest of the race went really well. We had our best finish to date.
Brady
Neiner Neiner Weiner
Marc Blake
05/28/18 #23087
Speaking of that $&!?@& submerged log/tree, this is the gash it put in our canoe. We managed to stay upright, but the boat became uncontrollable as it filled with water sloshing back and forth. We threw our legs over the sides and hightailed it to shore. After turning the canoe over to drain the water, we saw the hole and for a moment thought our race was done. Chad, my bowman, quickly sprang into action. Having fixed his sailboats in a past life, he was determined to patch that sucker with whatever we had on hand. After quickly dismissing my feable offering of hammer gel as a patch aid, he started pulling off the duct tape holding the deck cover on. Following his lead I started pulling duct tape off as well. We placed the strips of tape sticky side up to dry in the sun. As we waited for the hull and tape to dry, we watched Kim (who I blame this whole thing on - not really) and Char pass by. I think we relayed our situation to them and maybe asked for duct tape. We did the same with the safety boat and the other canoeists who checked in as they paddled by. Chad continued to test the stickiness of the tape and dryness of the hull until there was a reasonable chance the tape would adhere. We caught a little break and were able to flip the Kevlar flap back over the hole from the inside and apply the duct tape on the outside. As we prepared to re-launch, I was pretty skeptical about that tape on the bottom surviving even a quarter mile yet alone the approximately 15 miles we still had to go. We had to open the self bailer a couple of times and finished with a boat load of water but the tape did in fact hold up. The rest of our Megababes team had strong showings with team captain Kevin Olney hobbling to the bell with a 4th best time on the kayak leg pacing the team to a 23rd overall finish. Nice work everyone! It was another great Ski to Sea weekend!!
Marc Blake
P.S. Why this was all Kim's fault 😉 and our near collision with David and Susan is a story for another time.
Kimberly Reeves
05/29/18 #23088
I guess if I have to be at fault for anything, it should be a canoe that was in the water light years ahead of us. That first corner was a doozy and no amount of beta was gonna change what it decided to throw at us this year. Braden and his partner went swimming in front of us…the Swift Water Crew was right there to help them… Nice job Search and Rescue! And then we see you all on the shore slightly downstream. Glad it was only the canoe and not something worse. The good news is that you can add an additional color to your canoe when you get it repaired :)
And you should tell your story to the duct tape company….maybe get some sponsorship 🤔
Adam Resnick
05/29/18 #23089
Hey Marc! Glad you guys were able to finish. Great job sticking with it. Thanks for sharing your story with all of the juicy details. My partner Duncan and I were wondering what happened to you and Chad since usually you blow past us during the race. Congrats on a race run and finished! -Adam additional ski to sea praise…
John Rybczyk
05/28/18 #23084
An additional shout out to the legions who competed yesterday on classic x-country skis with three pin bindings, Olin Mark IV downhill skis, down-tube shifter road bikes, aluminum Grumman canoes, 40 pound “mountain bikes” and 50 pound plastic kayaks. Having been there and done that on earlier iterations of our ski to sea team, I can say that it was harder then than it is now and the suffering lasted twice as long! There wouldn't be a race without them.
See you on the water,
johnr
