Here I was driving to Deep Cove on my way to the first Tuesday night race of the season. I started to think boy does time fly fast. I could remember the last race of the 2007 season, and dreading it, because of the long winter to come.
Parking was a little crazy. The cove was really busy with the filming of something. I managed to squeeze into a spot in the parking lot. As I was registering and getting the ski off of the car, people started to show up. It was really good to see all the racers getting ready to hit the water.
Bob was beaming with his new V10 Super Elite. I picked it up, and I could not believe how much it weighed. It weighed absolutely nothing, and the hull was rock solid. A very nice boat in deed. Jeff brought his new Robberg Express, which is a nice boat in its own right. It has lots of rocker, which according to Jeff is easier to catch runs. (I can't wait to try it. hint hint Jeff)
Daryl of Think Kayaks brought a new Think Legend, for someone to use. Yet another nice boat. (and me with an empty wallet,lol) The seat and foot area looked a lot deeper than my Evo. Another ski I can't wait to paddle.
After checking out the new boats, it was off to the water to warm up. The weather was cloudy and cold, but it was not raining which was great, because I am tired of the rain. As I was warming up, I knew I was tired from my run after work. So my strategy was to just hang in there as much as I could. I had Ben to my left, and Rod on my right at the start line. Once the pre-race description of tonights course, the starter said every ready, three, two ,go as I was trying to start my GPS. Oh well, not a good start. I put so power on to kind of catch up to the two speedier guys next to me. Managed to catch up, but with the rest of the field merging in from the right, I kind of got bumped back.
A nice long line formed quickly, so I thought this would be a good training session on side wash riding. So I start to slowly move up the line riding one wash to the next. As we went around the corner, my stitch came back from my run earlier. Ugh. Not good timing. So now I was in some pain, but kept paddling hoping it would go away. No such luck, it stayed with me for the rest of the race. I dropped back, and could see Ben, Rod and Daryl motoring away in front of me. I managed to keep the same distance between us, and that is where it stayed for the remainder of the race.
As we were coming closer to Grey rocks the double outrigger started to pass me on the left. I mentioned to them that if they had a rudder, that they should not cut the corner, or they were going to lose it. They thanked me and motored on. As they passed I jumped on to their nice wake. I parked my boat right in the cradle of the wakes coming off the back of the boat, and the ama. For the time I was there, it was a great ride, but my stomach had different ideas about me staying there. So off the back I went, and I watched them move ahead. By this time we were heading towards the last turn around the 5km can at the entrance to the cove, and there as some nice boat wash coming from the right. I thought how nice of these boats to help me out. Thanks guys.
So I started to surf from one wave to the next, slowly reeling in the OC2. I could see that Rebecca was a just a head of the OC2, but in my condition there was no way I was going to catch her. The OC2 was still within reach though, so I put my head down and started to grind. If I could sneak up on them, I knew I had a good chance to beat them, but if they saw me, I was toast. I powered up the left side of them and had some good momentum as I came along side of them. They said something to each other,but because I was zoning out the pain, I did not hear what they said. But I am pretty sure that it was that they were not going down without a fight, and their stroke rate went way up. At this point it was do or die, so I cranked up the rate as well. As far as I could tell, I managed to beat them, but only by no more than 12 to 18 inches. I won't know for sure until Bob posts the race results on the deep cove web site.
After a cool down paddle, it was off to the car to change and pack up my ski. Then it was time for the draw prizes. As per usual, Bob and sponsors can up with some great prizes for the paddlers.
As I was driving home, I realized that Burnaby Canoe and Kayak club was well represented at tonight's race with eleven paddlers showing up for the race. Myself, Jeff, John, Ben, Gary, Chris, Dan, Jim, Rebecca, Kiran, and Katja (who was not paddling due to illness)
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