Good things about today:
- It was sunny and warm (almost 80!)
- J greeted me at the finish line and we had a salmon BBQ picnic together lakeside
- I completed the course and did not injure myself
On the flipside, my race time was 1h 9m 8s (last place). Compare that to
- 2007 : 0h 53m 27s (4th place)
- 2008 : 0h 54m 29s (3rd place)
Why add 15 minutes? Am I that much worse? Actually no. Winds were 16 to 24mph, maybe more because a few trees came down. The 1st leg was upwind so no safety problem – just a very hard paddle but I was still with the surfskis! 2nd leg was downwind and very fast – one surfski had trouble passing me. 3rd leg – perpendicular to the wind at the downwind end of the lake as waves piled up on a delta. Big cross-surf. I had been through this before on this lake so I did not even challenge it. I went upwind to be safe. This added a very slow 1/3rd of a mile to my race. No one else did that. Some boats gave up on the 1st leg and quite a few had to be rescued in the surf. I did not quit and I did not need to be rescued. So I participated hard. Last place.
Update: I actually got 2nd place in my class, so in a way I improved. 100 out of 111 finishers. The coolest thing were the 2 dugout war canoes with their loud chants in their language.
This sport had changed a lot since I started 3 years ago. The sponsoring group is primarily a rowers club but they let paddlers race. When I started there were just rowers and kayakers and I was probably just below the median age of participants. Today there were over 100 boats but less than 10 kayaks – and my kayak was the newest – and I was 10-15 years older than the median age. The biggest class was surfskis, which is a Bellingham-only phenomena I think. The next is outrigger canoes (followed by SUPs but they can’t handle the wind so I am not interested even if it is terrific for your core and super cool). So I am even more convinced I am going to sell my kayaks and build a OC-1. If I was in an outrigger today I could have challenged on the 3rd leg – and if I had flipped I could have self-rescued. This race is the shortest race of the year on the smallest body of water, and yet I still could not handle the wind. I have had great times in that kayak but it has got to go if I am to continue paddling around here (of course then there is the whole sailboat issue).
The drive back was pleasant and meandering through deltas and farmland (in part to get out of the now 40+mph headwinds with a kayak on the roof: interstate speed of 70 into a 40 headwind, that is 110 – liftoff speed)
Sorry for the details but this blog is all about self-indulgent me.
Notes:
– this lake is less than 5 miles from J’s dorm
– had a great steak/potato bbq at home too
– knee seems to be at 98%. I mowed the yard when I got home and no pain! Soon I can kneel and start dealing with the crawlspace issues (blecch)
– again – would have had great video if I had remembered to put the SD card in. DS!
You didn’t come in last..those people who gave up or capsized were last. You are a wonderful participator bc you stuck with it and had enough skill to not tip over. Thanks for sharing.
Woohoo! You participated hard! That’s pretty great. Let us know about the OC vs. Kayak thingy.