Surfski Knowledge Base

2023 Lake Whatcom Classic
Marc Blake May 8 #33745

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who raced, cheered, and supported the Sound Rowers and Paddlers' 2023 Lake Whatcom Classic on Saturday!

Special shout out to all those first timers in the race. We hope you had a great time and look forward to seeing you at future events.

The weather didn't cooperate with my prediction of no rain but all-in-all, not bad. We had 79 human powered crafts, 100+ racers between both courses.

Special thanks to Whatcom Search and Rescue for their on-water support, Brandon Nelson Partners for the buoys, Paul Clement (Elastic Laser) for the awards, our excellent timing crew, Brooke and Tierra, and our volunteers at the food table.

Extra special thanks to Michael Lampi for the race photos. 2023 Lake Whatcom Classic Photos

Lots of race stories out there, I'm sure. Denise kicked things off with her race report here: https://groups.io/g/Whatcompaddlers/message/33736

Any other stories? We would love for you to share your race reports with us.

We are already scheming for next year. Some ideas on the table: Full length of the lake and back with a relay option. A novice course for beginners and/or youngsters.

Results Highlights:

Top 3 Overall

Long Course:
1 - Evan Jacobs /Tyler Peterson (2x-Flatwater racing double)
2 - Kevin Olney/Egor Klevak (HPK-2 - Surfski Double)
3 - Steve Esselaar/Steve Juranovics (HPK-2 - Surfski Double)

Short Course:
1 - Sean Lee / Ryan Lee (K2 - Sprint Kayak)
2 - Peter Hirtle (2x-Flatwater racing double)
3 - Erik Wermus (HPK - Surfski Single)

Top Long Course solo (Bathymetric maps) winners:
First Solo Female - Long Course - Denise Weeks
First Solo Male - Long Course - Ian Sawyer