I just wanted to convey how much fun Joe and I had participating in this race. Thanks to the Wavechaser crew for organizing the day, and to Sea Trek and Steve for providing the venue and the fleece. (Joe and I got real cold!) It was also a pleasure talking story with those we usually don’t get to chat with. So cheers to that really strong coffee and late registration!
Recap of the Sausalito race from Kenny Howell who finished first overall in the short course in a double ski with John Dye, and fifth overall in the long course, earning 3rd place in the Masters ski division:
Here is my brief race report from the Wavechaser Long Course last Saturday, 1/21/12.
You know you’re dedicated to the cause when you don’t back down from a day of racing like this. A rainbow-enhanced Short Course saw about a dozen SUPS line up in lashing rain squalls and bitterly cold wind, with a few surfskis and OCs ready to break trail. How the SUPers can make any headway in 25-30 knot winds is a great scientific mystery. The only plausible explanation is mind over matter. The feeling a SUP gets upon turning downwind must the same for a mad dog when he finally breaks loose from his leash to chase down a cat.
The more challenging the conditions get, the more fun we seem to have out there! Due to severe weather and potentially life-threatening hazardous seas outside the Golden Gate, an alternative Long Course was devised inside the Bay. All but a couple of the mentally ill competitors were relieved by the route change; however, this course was anything but straightforward, and proved as diverse as the ethnicity of San Francisco. It started with downwind, turning to side wind, through the tide rip at Yellow Bluff, turn around the chase boat inside Lime Point (between a cliff and a breaking wave!), up the counter-current back into Richardson Bay, then a upstream ferry-angle to Belvedere, throw in Victory At Sea conditions off Peninsula Point (2 bad-asses came off their skis there), capped by a brute-force, Crime-Against-Humanity siege against wind, current, and rafts of eel grass back to the finish at Schoonmaker Beach. Burned chili and Irish Coffee at the after-party has never tasted sweeter.
One of the most intriguing spectacles of the day was seeing the lead pack take a ill-advised detour onto a 2-mile treadmill from Yellow Bluff to Belvedere. What were they thinking? Follow Carter Johnson? Never! I was thankfully pulled along the shore out of the current by a strong and smart OC-2 team. We flew up the eddy at 7 mph. Via this route, we caught the lead pack at Belvedere! The waterproof ghetto-blaster on the canoe helped keep the stroke rates high. Nick & Joe – you rock the boat! (These guys paddled their OC2 from Crissy Field on the SF side of the Bay before the race start, then back after the race. Bet you a six-pack they slept good that night!)
Choosing the fastest route from Belvedere to the finish into a 25-knot breeze was a roll of the dice. Those that headed directly for the Sausalito shore, thus escaping the Wrath of God wind, seemed to do better than those (including yours truly) that dreamed of a more gradual angle to the finish via Cone Rock – a trusty navigational marker inside Richardson Bay. My average speed for the last 2 miles of the race ranged from banana slug to stop-motion animation.
Tactics, guile, and luck: That’s how I stole a 3rd-place finish in the Evergreen class. Congrats to all the finishers – you earned this one. Mike McNulty, I will drop you next time! And thanks to all those precious Wavechaser volunteers who gave us another great day at the races.
I just wanted to convey how much fun Joe and I had participating in this race. Thanks to the Wavechaser crew for organizing the day, and to Sea Trek and Steve for providing the venue and the fleece. (Joe and I got real cold!) It was also a pleasure talking story with those we usually don’t get to chat with. So cheers to that really strong coffee and late registration!
Aloha,
Nick
Recap of the Sausalito race from Kenny Howell who finished first overall in the short course in a double ski with John Dye, and fifth overall in the long course, earning 3rd place in the Masters ski division:
Here is my brief race report from the Wavechaser Long Course last Saturday, 1/21/12.
You know you’re dedicated to the cause when you don’t back down from a day of racing like this. A rainbow-enhanced Short Course saw about a dozen SUPS line up in lashing rain squalls and bitterly cold wind, with a few surfskis and OCs ready to break trail. How the SUPers can make any headway in 25-30 knot winds is a great scientific mystery. The only plausible explanation is mind over matter. The feeling a SUP gets upon turning downwind must the same for a mad dog when he finally breaks loose from his leash to chase down a cat.
The more challenging the conditions get, the more fun we seem to have out there! Due to severe weather and potentially life-threatening hazardous seas outside the Golden Gate, an alternative Long Course was devised inside the Bay. All but a couple of the mentally ill competitors were relieved by the route change; however, this course was anything but straightforward, and proved as diverse as the ethnicity of San Francisco. It started with downwind, turning to side wind, through the tide rip at Yellow Bluff, turn around the chase boat inside Lime Point (between a cliff and a breaking wave!), up the counter-current back into Richardson Bay, then a upstream ferry-angle to Belvedere, throw in Victory At Sea conditions off Peninsula Point (2 bad-asses came off their skis there), capped by a brute-force, Crime-Against-Humanity siege against wind, current, and rafts of eel grass back to the finish at Schoonmaker Beach. Burned chili and Irish Coffee at the after-party has never tasted sweeter.
One of the most intriguing spectacles of the day was seeing the lead pack take a ill-advised detour onto a 2-mile treadmill from Yellow Bluff to Belvedere. What were they thinking? Follow Carter Johnson? Never! I was thankfully pulled along the shore out of the current by a strong and smart OC-2 team. We flew up the eddy at 7 mph. Via this route, we caught the lead pack at Belvedere! The waterproof ghetto-blaster on the canoe helped keep the stroke rates high. Nick & Joe – you rock the boat! (These guys paddled their OC2 from Crissy Field on the SF side of the Bay before the race start, then back after the race. Bet you a six-pack they slept good that night!)
Choosing the fastest route from Belvedere to the finish into a 25-knot breeze was a roll of the dice. Those that headed directly for the Sausalito shore, thus escaping the Wrath of God wind, seemed to do better than those (including yours truly) that dreamed of a more gradual angle to the finish via Cone Rock – a trusty navigational marker inside Richardson Bay. My average speed for the last 2 miles of the race ranged from banana slug to stop-motion animation.
Tactics, guile, and luck: That’s how I stole a 3rd-place finish in the Evergreen class. Congrats to all the finishers – you earned this one. Mike McNulty, I will drop you next time! And thanks to all those precious Wavechaser volunteers who gave us another great day at the races.
Take another look at the results here for both races here:
http://wavechaser.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Sausalito-Sea-Trek-January-21-20122.pdf
Can’t wait for the Wavechaser Championship race on Feb. 19. Support your local paddle series. Go Wavechaser!
See you all there.
-Kenny Howell
Thanks all for the “experience” of a first sup race. Looking forward to the next challenge, can we book hail and lightning?
Cheers,
Jd