Surfski Knowledge Base

lori & beau whitehead
09/22/09 #7102

A lot of folks have been asking how my race went in San Diego last weekend. So bare with me if you don't care (-:

After winning the 4 Seattle races I qualified for the San Diego championship race. I decided 6 days before to go. The race was 4 miles long and was contested by folks from Santa Barbara, Seattle, Canada, North Carolina and Lake Tahoe. You had to ride a board no longer than 12'6“ so I had to take my crappy old surfing stand up paddle board. Oops. I was surrounded by carbon fiber race boards at the starting line. This was going to be rough. I knew in the first mile that first place was gone as 2-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer Rich Schroeder steadily pulled away from me. My race would be for 2nd. And 2nd is what I got, losing first by 2 minutes and beating out 3rd by 50 seconds. It was a blast & I can't wait to go back next year with a faster board. First place was a 14' race board & a trip to Maui for a race next year. I got a carbon paddle…

The next day was even more fun as I got to surf the famous Cardiff Reef break in waves 3 foot overhead. Got on the airplane still wet & sandy. Perfect.

Check out www.paddlesurfnorthwest.blogspot.com for pictures.