Surfski Knowledge Base

Paddle for Food Relay…I win!

John Rybczyk Oct 23 #30341

Many thanks to Kevin Olney and crew for putting on a great event today, described by many as the funnest paddling race in Bellingham. I had the great pleasure of having Sandy Gilliard and Toby Cooper paddle my Epic V8 Double in today's race. Both are members of the 1968 Olympic team held in Mexico City, so I feel like the winner today!

Reivers Dustin Oct 23 #30343

I heard that you got the boat autographed by both Olympian's. cool.

Eric Steig Oct 23 #30344
Very cool!

Eric

Double trouble today
Sandy Gilliard Oct 23 #30342

John… Thank You for letting us use your boat. Awesome partner. Had a good time ducking the gusts.
Cheers…V. “sandy” G.

Paddle 4 Food thanks and results
paul clement Oct 23 #30345

What a day! The weather blew but was never epic. Thank goodness.

Thanks to Kevin, Amber and Julie for a great day! Big thanks also to the soup makers; Kim, Brandon and John R for feeding us. Kudos also to John R for personing the soup kitchen and to all the folks who chipped in to help set up and tear down.

From past Olympians to current national champions to world champs… a great bunch of folks! Thanks Bellingham! The food bank won the day.
pc

Reivers Dustin Oct 23 #30346
Competition was great. Not like the typical beast mode throw down, but more like do your best version of a Monty Python race. The format kinda pulls the teeth out of our pecking order. I really thought our team could nail last place and my team and Kim R's team were in contention. But Kim's crew took us down.

Again this year watching the youths paddle with such bright joy no matter what the conditions puts a glow on me. I remember snow one year. Everyone was so beautiful. Newer paddlers throwing their hearts into it and the way the stages reset everyone so there's always excitement. Awesome the way people pull this together. Genius the way Peter set it up, fantastic race direction Kevin and crew. This thing thrived on your free-style approach.

I only did the clam chowder, but wow, that was so good. The weather tried to be a downer, but jeezley crow we made a laugh out of a really sloppy saturday.
Toby Cooper Oct 24 #30347

I totally enjoyed P4F with the unstoppable Bellingham Faithful! Great spirit, crazytown weather, yummy food, and John’s gentle-giant boat. But here is the thing. Reive does not quite have it right. Sure it is a points-don’t-matter fun race, but that only means that everyone puts their bows into the wind and paddles harder than ever. That’s just the way it is.

Paddle 4 Food format
Larry Bussinger Oct 24 #30350

Loved the race. The new rules were definitely confusing, but once we got going I found I liked the format. It got everyone restarted, so it seemed like more of a real race format. I also think it added to the safety, I vote for keeping the new format.
Larry B

Kudo's Kevin
beau whitehead Oct 24 #30351

New format? Didn't we do the same thing last time?

Pmarcus Oct 24 #30352

I think the new format is 4 years old
…..it works well and I think it originally came from Duncan and Kevin???

Larry Bussinger Oct 24 #30353

4 years?? I knew I missed a few, but 4 years? I feel like that Netflix movie where the plane takes off and lands 5 years into the future.

Larry Bussinger

Paddle 4 Food Wrap-up and Donation Totals
Kevin Olney Oct 25 #30371
Thanks to everyone who attended and supported Paddle 4 Food 2021!

It was a windy and wild affair, with a possible record number of swims (5), but we pulled it off with the grace and grit that makes Whatcom Paddlers famous.

There were a lot of moving parts and it could not have happened without the help of some awesome individuals:

Brian F - setup, tear down

Julie V - coffee, registration, cleanup

Amber Z - shirts, organization

Deb B - setup, cleanup

John R - kitchen patrol, chowder

Kim R - chicken soups

Brandon N - buoys, soup

Steve S - buoys, boats

Tom S- safety boat

Derek B, Neil B and Mike M - timing

Marc B - registration, timing, equipment

Paul C - permit, insurance, organization, more!

Peter Marcus - the father of P4F

And many thanks to all the other helping hands throughout the day. Thanks to the kayak polo crew for their support as well.

Aside from the exciting racing and fun social event the whole point of the day was to benefit the Food Bank. That goal was accomplished! Your combined generosity resulted in over 200 lbs of food and nearly $7000 donated to the Bellingham Food Bank!! On top of that we were able to get DeWaard & Bode Appliances to match over $4000, bringing the total to almost $11000!! That’s freakin’ amazing folks. A lot of people rely on the Food Bank for daily meals and to get through hard times. It is important work they do and I’m glad we can help sustain the cause.

Stay safe out there and I hope to see everyone on the water again soon!

Kevin O

Marc Blake Oct 25 #30372

Great work Kevin!!!

Great work everyone!!!!

Glad to be part of this community.

paul clement Oct 25 #30373

Yes!

Big thanks Kevin for keeping it alive and thanks to everyone who helped, paddled and gave. So good to have everyone together in one place again.
pc

Tom Halsted Oct 25 #30374

Well done, Kevin & Co. - That was a lot of wet, wild, fund-raising fun!
And great work leveraging the DeWaard and Bode matching funds option!

Az Oct 26 #30375
That was an awesome idea, Tom, so glad you thought of it!

Reivers Dustin Oct 26 #30378
I emailed my buddy Harry on the board at Food Bank. He says this is a major help at a perfect time. Paddlers rock.