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Canadian Champs 2015
CanChamps Results
Reivers Dustin
07/19/15 #17725
Link:
http://www.webscorer.com/racedetails?raceid=47137&cid=281469
Congrats LB on 3rd in Golden Masters. Tough field when a Saffa shows up for Golden Masters (and took second after Canada's own Mike Fitz) Great to see a Canadian win home team first place.
I see Dean B was just 30 seconds behind LB. Would love to hear the race story.
Judging compared to last years times, a bit slower conditions this year. Last year Sean did 1:21:41, this year 1:23:22.
rd
lbussinger@…
07/19/15 #17727
Thanks Bob Putnam for putting on a great race. The wind gods blessed him with good winds. I broke the race into thirds. The first third was a hoot, it seemed like 15-20mph winds and I was catching everything coming and just really enjoying myself. I think it was Mike Fitzmarice that I was next to chatting with here. The second third was…..well, weird! The waves were bigger but obscure. It was really hard to see them. Milky color, smooth edges. It was hard for me to see them coming and from witch direction. I caught some great rides but wallowed behind many more. Mike probably clean up on me here. The third section smoothed out at the beginning, at the point, but then I failed to get far enough north and started taking the bigger waves on the beam, which ate up some more time. It didn't feel like my best performance, but then it looked like others were having problems too. But it shows that in the right conditions, this is a great venue and race and needs to be on everyone's calendar next year.
See everyone at the Gorge next week.
Larry B
Canadian Surf Ski Champs Race Report
John Rybczyk
07/19/15 #17726
Compared to last year, a smaller Bellingham contingent (Steve S, Larry B, Dean, Dennis, Mike G., Mark W., Vanessa, me and Ana Swetish in a double with Carter) lined up to compete against the word's best and surfiest. Usual suspects Nick C., and Greg Barton rounded out the Washington crew. As usual, the top contenders were merely rumors to those of us further back in the pack, but great fun was had by all.
The morning looked ominously like last year…hot and flat, and I was contemplating putting on the smalll rudder and regretting my decision to bring the fat boat. But by race time the winds had picked up and there were some white caps at mid-channel. The race to the hotspot (about 1 kilometer away in beam seas) was sporty and I just missed claiming the prize money by 12 minutes and 32 seconds. From there we had about 3 or 4 miles of small but very fun, ridable and linkable waves. Then they got big and lippable for another 3 or 4 miles, the only problem being that the sun, silty water and glassy waves combined to make them almost impossible to see. Your really had to feel your way into the surf. I'm sure I missed a few links only because I couldn't see them in front of me. Very exciting though and a few of them had me talking to Jesus.
Then things got…interesting. Right around the point, or perhaps a bit before it, waves were coming from a couple of directions, I think. Currents and winds were swishing around and it was hard to get a stroke in edgewise. Mark W. fell in “more times than he could count,” but remember that he was a gym teacher, so that's probably not a very high number. Once through that mess we had a about a mile of flat before the normal chaos and waves to the river mouth.
I'm as blind as a bat, so it was difficult for me to know who was around me and folks were scattered all over the place trying to find the best line, but Larry, me and Dean all arrived at the river mouth at about the same time along with 4 or 5 other boats and it was a flat, long, long, long upstream race to the finish. Larry, in his skinny boat and skinny body, just flew up that river and none of us had a chance at him. Scoggins and Ana/Carter were so far ahead of the rest of us that they had finished their post-race lasagna dinner before we had out boats out of the river. Mark W., staggered in after his umpteenth baptism and Mike G, made it in without need of rescue or compass. I heard that Vanessa enjoyed a cocktail cruise for the second part of her race, but I'll let her tell that story.
Sorry that I cannot report on how it went down for the top finishers, I did not have the Hubble telescope mounted to my surf ski.
Overall a great and fun race with plenty of waves this year. Bob Putnam and crew ran a tight ship, very organized and professional. I'm not a fan of races longer than 3 miles, but this one is turning into one of my favorites. It has a little bit of everything that makes surf skiing fun and the setting is beyond compare.
Respectfully submitted,
Johnr
Dennis Mowry
07/20/15 #17733
The first third was fun with some long steep waves, felt like the right choice going far left. The second third was a lot of work.
I think it was Yoda who says, “If you can't see the waves, feel them, if you can't feel them, sense them”. I think I had sensory overload on that second third of the race, tried going out further then eventually came in closer to the calmer water. Felt frustrated and tough to regain my rhythm and balance.
Finished the race burnt but glad I went.
DMow
Cold Kokanee anyone?
vanessa haycock
07/20/15 #17729
The 2015 Canadian Surfski Champs started off surprisingly well for me.
I'd chosen to ride my new “Yellow Bird” Huki S1x special that I've had for about two weeks. After struggling for almost a couple of years in the Elite Spark Ive been feeling stable and solid in the Huki out on the bay in some mixed conditions so I figured it was a good choice. I had a nice big hairy 10inch surf rudder on the back to hold me in good hands
The forecast was mild/moderate winds possibly up to 15 knots with all our fingers crossed. I made it out to the first buoy with a good bunch of surfers and we were all tooth and nail and biting at the bit. Exciting stuff.
My first 1/3 was amazing. I was flying! Sailing ahead of my clan I felt like I was on the back of a wild dragon catching every conceivable wave. Spray in my face, waves on my rear, a heavenly light streaming from the heavens down on me and only me and my boat. Inching my way left to stay in the middle line I was on top of my game. Leaving all humanity behind me “the” curse came to my mind: “I could make podium”
Then, out of the blue I was caught in a series of large strong dynamic swells and found myself over too far to the right in the mess that shall now be named “Devils Eyeball” . A thick mess of “rolving” large swells, white caps breaking on my waist, mirror murky glassyness with no definition and coming from behind, no that was the side and no,wait, now its coming from the left. At least 5-6 footers probably more as I would be on the top of a wave looking down at the trough (or my coffin) as my Little yellow bird hurtled into the depths of darkness. Yet another beast growled to my left or right with claws out and gnashing teeth. I felt like I was about to be eaten alive by a devil with a hangover.
More objectively I think i was going backwards but slopping all over the place in the pretty awful back eddy/rough. Forward momentum not happening. It was all I could do to keep my legs over the side, aggressively brace constantly and watch the rescue boats take other people off.
Eventually, an empty rescue boat came my way. It must have seen my white paddle waving. We figured out how to get me and the Bird safely tied in and then low and behold the heavens spoke “Cold Kokanee?”
I thus enjoyed a very entertaining ride around the beautiful Howe Sound with a couple of great guys who took great care of me. It was a gift to observe the other paddlers, kite surfers and noticing the line I had taken was probably not in the text book. As Bob pointed out … its only a race.
A very big thank you to the whole crew and volunteers. There's probably some fairly good beer pics out there somewhere…
Vanessa Haycock
Cold Duck Anyone?
Reivers Dustin
07/20/15 #17730
Absolutely wonderful write up Vanessa. For most of my paddling days I was a mid-pack rat. My races were just like yours with brief moments of awesome power, then … oh well. I'll never forget (because LB won't let me) a San Juan Challenge where I had to paddle up to some people and ask them, “What Island is this?”.
Most of us aren't dicing for a podium finish, but love the sport anyway. These stories from you and John have captured the whole point for me.
Thanks for posting that.
rd
Michael Gregory
07/20/15 #17731
Ms Haycock, you are spot on about the first third of the Canadian race, good fun! Then things got a bit strange. For a while there was no way to see the waves, all we could see was murky green color laid out before us. I heard several other paddlers remark that it was unnerving for them as well. After that Howe Sound showed us all that the the bloody Canadians were right, hate to say that. It was a challenging course - windy, decent waves, and fairly technical right in to the river at the end. There is no dishonor to being undone by such conditions.
Awesome field and the organization of the race was excellent. All the Yanks need to come back next year.
Mr Putnam attended to all the details, with the exception of the damn foamy beer. the whole town must have heard all the belching paddlersEmoji 
MARC ROBERTA WHITLOCK
07/21/15 #17737
Although I don't make public my success or failure as a matter of principle, they do seem to come to light. My race was similar: fun in the first and final thirds but a disaster in the middle. I console myself as I did for this year's S2S, I paddled as well as anyone. They just forgot the swimming legs I performed. The conditions overmatched my ability in the Spark despite my comfort growing in it. In fact I stayed padded up till the 3rd swim (persistence or poor judgement). I'm glad I finished but wished I was in my Fish
Canadian Surfski Champs - Official Race Video!
Amy Harris <communications@…>
07/27/15 #17745
Hello all Whatcom Paddlers!
We know that a whole bunch of you made it up to race this year - we would love to have even more of you next year and hope that the video from this year encourages you to do so.
Thank you also so much for all the messages of support and the fantastic race reports that came through too - all being used for feedback and making next year's race even better!
Enjoy :)
Amy
