Surfski Knowledge Base

David Scherrer
04/11/19 #24655

About 9 miles north/north west from the Lummi start is public access off of Gulf rd. A way to a large beach wth no development and plenty of parking. Used by many locals. No facilities, but might be a good place to take out…
Relatively easy to get to…Get on Haxton and turn left on Slater. Go the Lake Terrel rd turn right go north to the Mountain view rd. connect to rainbow rd. Rainbow turns into Henry and henry connects to Gulf ( turn left) which takes you down to the open shoreline. I suggest you google map it…. Take a look and see what you think https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lummi+Island/@48.8549719,-122.7353184,4314m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x5485997cfe988633:0x787bf01c50e73d5d!8m2!3d48.6829804!4d-122.649891

David Scherrer

04/13/19 #24668

THIS WAS A GREAT RACE. I can only imagine that when word gets out how cool the downwind course was, that next year we will see many additional paddlers.
Autumn Rose did a good job organizing the event. And as an additional unique treat we were served some delicious alder cooked salmon afterwards.
And it was blowing! With Gorge like waves following us all the way from Gooseberry to Cherry Point! –Dave Williams would have loved it….
D
Nicholas Cryder
04/13/19 #24669

Awesome to hear. Hope to make it out next year, life permitting.

Sounds like someone FINALLY PULLED OFF A PROPER LOCAL DOWNWIND RACE!

Race report …
Reivers Dustin
04/13/19 #24670

They all said it would be good. I guess I should have listened. I had phat boat and skinny boat with me just in case. So of course I pulled the wrong boat out of the quiver. What could possibly go wrong? …whelp… it was a phat boat day.

Short course: from Lummi Stommish grounds up to Sand Point.
Long course: from same start up to Gulf Rd Beach. My GPS said about 10miles long course.
Conditions: wind coming up Hale's Passage, slight ebb (flow going north with the wind) raining pre-race, but eased up later. Really rough from Sand Point up to long course finish. Best downwind situation I've seen for any Puget Sound area race.
Race site: Acres of parking, several outbuildings for windbreak or for inside rigging in the dry. Great big wide gravel beach for launch of all boats. Big indoor area for sign-up, pre-race, post-race, lots of port-o-potties, kitchen area for food after.

Most of the work was by Dave Williams family. Brother, Sisters, etc. $15 per adult fee. This is the second of hopefully an annual event.

Start line was a struggle. Mass start for all racers. With stiff Southerly there was a ragged start and I was back quite a bit. The committee boat took a straight line ahead of the leaders up to short course finish. I knew this was trouble at Sand Point. That is shallow quite a ways out and the waves/wind would make for chunky munky. I went outside and picked up some really nice rollers out there. I saw 10's on my GPS and usually I have to write those kind of numbers on there by hand. My GPS now shows Ave Speed: 8.2mph. I'm too lazy to go that fast under my own power. I got swamped a few times and almost broached so it was a wet ride for me. I heard from Heather that her and Brandon got swamp time in their double. There was an OC-6 (unlimited) that smoked the course. We had a visiting dignitary from the Gorge. Larry Goodson showed up with his super performance Huki S1-X and smoked down all the other surfski paddlers. He told me about dicing with the OC-6. There were sections that favored the two craft differently so they had a little war going on. As they got the rollers, Larry did well. When they got into the mess near Sand Point, the OC-6 was favored. Lots of yelling and screaming back and forth. Traci C. and a friend showed up from Seattle and got more than they expected. Hehe: can you say “Training Day”? whoohaaaw! Both ladies were probably hampered by not knowing the area at all. The landmarks are sketchy and it doesn't help your focus if you're getting slapped silly by breaking waves and rebound. David and LB pounded on each other which worked out great for me. I slid past them on the outside line without any of their 'special love'. Paul C was on-form today.

Last but good: groovy salmon or clam chowder available for a great price. ($10 for salmon, $5 for chowder).
Last but better: very informal setting, great people, and good bling for awards.
Last but Best: I got a ribbon and an envelop with cash for 3rd place. I don't recall any other local race where there were cash prizes for podium finishers. My wife is thinking I'm really studly right now.

Hope this event gets some recognition. Since Goodson got a cash prize: party at his house.

Reivers Dustin
04/13/19 #24671

I forgot about Kevin the maniac. fastest surfski in the race. But he won't be mad at me. He'll just make me carry my own boat back to the start next time. oops, sorry Kev. Thx for the trailer & van back from finish.
Kevin Olney

04/13/19 #24672

It’s a bit of ‘lightning in a bottle’ to pull off the epic downwind race. You set a date, get your organization in place and then, if you are super lucky, you might get good wind (but not too much) at exactly the right time. And hopefully nobody dies.

I’m thankful for Autumn Rose and crew for pulling it off. I had an absolute blast! Great competitive field and awesome conditions.

Also, there’s items were orphaned in my van:
Pair of red straps
Colorful towel
Red Vaikobi PFD

allipp@…
04/13/19 #24673

Fast times. I didn't have my GPS, but based on a 10 mile course, which Google distance calculator confirmed, Kevin averaged 6:24, Heather and Brandon 6:30, and Joel and I 6:33 per mile. That's cooking!

David Scherrer

04/13/19 #24674

Good looking deck……..

Michael Lee
04/13/19 #24675

Well, 2 of the 3 items are mine - the towel and the vest. Let me know if I can swing by and grab them tomorrow.