MTS 2008 – Paddling Leg

I left my house at 5:30am, so I could be at the border by 6am. A quick stop for a coffee and a couple of power bars, and I was on my way. It did not take long to get to the border, so I decided to go into Canada Customs to get my ski registered, to prevent the hassle coming back.

After getting my stamp of approval, I got into the line going into the states. Since it was a single lane, I was getting a little concerned, but after about 5 minutes, a second lane opened and I just breezed through. I turned into the parking area in Redmond exactly two hours later.

I checked out the boat area, and was surprised at how many boats were already there. So I placed my ski with the others in the staging area, and headed off to find some shade, and to hydrate up. With the heat already increasing at 8am , drinking lots before, during and after the race is important. I managed to down about 2 liters of water before the race, because during the race I don't drink enough.

I have everything set-up by 9am, and was chopping at the bit to get going, but I had to wait another 2-1/2 hrs. before I would be on the water. I have to say waiting is the hardest part of the race. As it was getting closer to 11am , Will, Joanne, John, and Daria showed up with my numbers and to tell me Wayne was on his way.

It wasn't long before my team was signaling that Wayne was coming up the chute for the tag. We tagged off, and it was a quick run through the crowd to my ski. I grabbed my ski ran over to the path to the launch, and came to a quick stop. There was at least 6 boats in front of me waiting to get on to the water. This was painful, it I even considered to cut through the bush and launch there, but thought better of it, and waited with everyone else.

After about 4 to 5 minutes I was on the water. Pushed my start button on my GPS, and was paddling hard to catch the boats in front of me. Right off the bat I was up to 11.8 kph, and catching the boats in front a little too quick. It was the area where you had to be in the middle of the river or you run aground. So I had to cut it close to the boats and kind of push my way through.

Before I got to the first bridge about 500 meters down river, I had passed about 6 boats. From here it was just picking one boat off after another. There was so many boats in front of me, I just used them as goals all the way to the finish line. Once I got past one group I would aim for the next one in front of me. This was a lot of fun, and managed to chat with everyone along the way.

The one major problem I had, was the weeds. I had to jump off the ski, and get to the rudder to clear them. Five times I had to do this. Once I pulled a clump the size of a volleyball off my rudder. Next year I think I will hook up one of those electric knives to my rudder.
I was passed by only two other paddlers. The first was when I was down to 8.4 kph from the weeds. But after stopping and clearing the weeds, I came pass him and never looked back. The next gut to pass me was on an Epic V10L and was motoring quite well. This was right before entering Lake Washington. The lake was fairly bouncy, much like English Bay with all the boat chop. I was trying to catch some rides on the waves but it was not working. Cruised into the finish, ran up and touched off with Will, and the next leg of the race was off.

Then I staggered to the grass for a little rest. see below.