Surfski Knowledge Base

Brandon Nelson <brandon@…>
08/10/08 #4775

Heather, Hayden and I had a BLAST making the Round Shaw race into Hayden’s first camping adventure, and all-around awesome San Juan experience. We lined up for the Friday afternoon ferry in Anacortes the recommended 2 hours early, and spent the time taking turns on the stand-up paddleboard in the bay next to the ferry terminal. Another car in the line unloaded onto the lawn an entire bluegrass band and played an incredible free concert for us tourists. It was the best wait ever!

Hayden LOVED the camp-out, and is still going on about it this morning. On race day, he and I teamed up (with the help of a front-carrier) to time the racers ripping through 14 miles of flat water, while Nick Zeegers expertly stood in for his dad as official race manager.

As the last boat pulled in, we unloaded a box of ribbons to the 20 hardcore entries in this rootsiest of races. Then we spent the next few hours telling stories and sharing laughs with Jimmy and Nadja, before they loaded up and paddled off to camp on yet another San Juan island beach. Those two are charging life so, so sweetly!!!

We made one more stop before heading home: at the home of our extended family, the Ayers, on San Juan Island for a night of feasting and fine wine. We caught the late ferry and a nice nap before driving the 1 hour back home, fell promptly asleep dreaming of the incredible adventure, and woke up to the most pleasant of nature’s alarm clocks: A mid-August Pacific Northwest storm!!! Ahh, life is good!

Overall:
1) MX-2X Evan Jacobs and Susan Kinney, 1:42:50
2) MX-2X Rob O’Brian and Theresa Batty 1:44:24
3) M-2X Adrian and Rainer Storb, 1:45:36
4) M-1X Robert Meenk, 1:46:55
5) M-HPK Joost Zeegers, 1:48:30
6) HPK2-M Larry Goolsby / Rick Lingbloom, 1:54:40
7) M-HPK John Day, 1:55:40
8) OC-6 from Friday Harbor, 1:57:09
9) W-HPK Heather Nelson, 1:59:43
10) MX-2X Howard and Amanda Lee, 2:00:54
11) M-HPK Mike Gregory, 2:01:48
12) M-HPK Reivers Dustin, 2:03:57
13) M-RIII Bill Jaquette, 2:11:56
14) M-RIII Ben Stevens, 2:15:30
15) PB-1 Michael Lampi, 2:22:18
16) M-RIII Bill (Armstrong?), 2:22:55
17) SK2 Jimmy Zimmerman and Nadja Baker, 2:24:19
18) M-HPK Roger Lamb, 2:25:28
19) PB-1 Todd Loony, 2:48:17
20) W-RIII Martha Conn, 3:13:37

Oh Pa-Shaw……
Larry Goolsby
08/09/08 #4773

I was waiting for Reivers to step forward and post the whole story about the Shaw Island race today, but since he is licking his wounds (and undoubtably watching the Olympics), I'll piece a bit of a story together. Kind of a mediocre/lame showing from the B'ham group. There was Joost the director, Brandon the time keeper/baby keeper, Reivers, Mike G., Roger Lamb, Heather, Rick Lingbloom and yours truly. Rick and I racced the Mako XT tandem while the rest of this group was on surfskis. Zimmerman and Nadija were also there but were racing a sea kayak that was slightly smaller than the Queen Mary. I think that there was a total of about 23 boats with 6 skis, 1 6-man outrigger, 2 pedal boats, 3 tandem kayaks and the rest were single and tandem rowers. Entry fee was waived and it was dry for most of the race.

At the start, Joost ran out first and tried drafting a fast tandem rower while Rick and I chased after him. We were getting passed by a tandem rower that was slightly faster than us, so we jumped on their tail and gained some speed for about 4 miles. We stayed out in the channel with a current and a draft and were actually almost caught up to Joost. However, we were about 100 yards off his left when he made a sharp turn up the side of Shaw and we were suddenly over 100 yards behind him. We left our rowers to fend for themselves and took off fighting current and wind most of the rest of the way around the island. Meanwhile, Heather, Mike and Reivers were duking it out until Reivers hit a rock with his rudder and bent it bad enough to have to beach his boat and bend it straight enough to limp home. Joost was the first kayak in followed by Rick and I, and then John Day behind us. The OC-6 was next with Mike, Heather and Reivers in that order. Congrats to Heather for getting a sub 2-hour time. Roger was the final ski in and finished his paddle with a cooling-down swim.

The water never did get big except for one rogue wave that caused Rick to wet his pants, but the XT and it's crew survived. Lots of current and it was difficult to predict where to find eddys and good current. Got home and found a Washburn Current Atlas on Amazon for $11.95. Gotta start looking at charts a lot more for these races. Rick and I got lost no less than 6 times and we were simply paddling around an island.

Try to make it next year….
LG

The rest of the story…
Reivers Dustin
08/09/08 #4774

Shaw was fun. I've been rained on at Shaw race several times now that I think of it. But I don't think I've ever seen such a huge flood current before. I missed the arguements about which direction to go: for today's race we were all asked to go clock-wise. As a result, for the first 1/3 of the race we rode the current up that long west side at good speed. I generally think of Shaw as a triangle and the west side has been the most damaging to my ego when fighting a wind and current. The other sides have more options.

Anyway, today was a hoot. LG & Rick teamed up in a double and I kinda thought they would take a while to dial in to each other. I figured I could hitch a ride early in the race for an advantage. Not happening. They blasted off hard and didn't fade during the time I could see them. I was also looking at the OC-6 for help, but they too were just a little more than I could afford.

So Heather, Mike and I worked our magic between the back eddies and the secret slots of current. There were a few who tucked in too close to the shore on the west side and missed out on the heavy current running in the main channel. But then on the top of the triangle, there were gains along the shore. Also, if you were lucky, there were some boat wakes to milk. I was hoping to chase down John Day, but needed him to make a mistake with the currents. That didn't happen either.

The east side was not so good for me. I was working the back eddies close to shore and found a rock that ate my rudder. It was like being the kid in church that tries to hold back that fart, but well, everyone within a mile heard it loud and clear. The boat wouldn't steer until I got to shore and bent the rudder back to shape. Whatever steel that is, it sure can bend a lot. I was thinking it might break, but it held ok. The boat didn't leak and I had enough helm to stay out of trouble.

Of course Heather and Mike asked if I was ok. I flagged them off: yeah, I'm ok. The only consolation is that the Storb family, (Rainer & Adrian) have still left more fiberglass and resin on the rocks around Shaw than anyone else. You can ask them, or Joost about that story. And you can ask me about my boo-boo. Because I'm told that this is the path to healing.

RD

Round Shaw & a few other islands…
Nadja <expatgal@…>
08/11/08 #4783

…back in the mid-1980's, this used to be one of my favorite Sound Rowers races to go to….I started kayak racing when I was 13 years old, but my dad (Shane) wouldn't ever let me do the Shaw race because of the strong currents- so my brother & I used to bring our bikes and would ride around, cheering on the racers for those few hours…but it was the whole, camping in the San Juan islands experience, especially with the other paddlers & their families, which made this a great time…

so, in a bit of nostalgia last week, Jim & I only 2 days home from being 'out in the bush' for a week, had barely washed all of our polypro, but decided 'what the heck!' and loaded up the boat on Friday for another big outing… Due to the stronger winds we woke up to, we changed our course plan, and launched from the Guemes Ferry terminal…paddled across the 3 major shipping lanes of Guemes, Bellingham & Rosario Channels, catching some nice 2+ footers to surf on and went through Peavine Pass on over to arrive 16 miles later at the campground on Shaw just after dark…we followed the sounds of a crying baby thinking we'd find Heather & Brandon, however it was a different family with young child that we were stalking in the dark and we were wet & cold, so back to the boat to hurry & set up camp we went…

The race was fun…we got the 110 pound triple sea kayak up to a top speed of8.5mph, and even beat one surfski in the last few miles, as we kicked into sprint surges….

Afterwards, we paddled over to San Juan island and cooked up some gourmet pizza & smores as we warmed our aching joints around a raging campfire….

Yesterday we waited until nearly slack before heading out San Juan channel to round Lopez island to the southwest…we were listening to the whale watching boats on the VHF, hoping J, K or L pod Orcas might come by us, but they changed directions, so seal pups & porpoises were are entertainment & companions out on this rugged coastline….

All in all, we put in just over 60 miles this weekend, and a bit over 100 miles of paddling in the past week…so now it's time to rest our upper bodies for a few days & go for some long runs!….

Thanks to everyone who showed up to the race!