User Tools
Sidebar
Table of Contents
Mike Gregory at US Surfski Nationals 2003 or 2004 (or one of the earlier years)
(from interview with Mike in Jan 2024)
San Francisco US National Champs Race Reports
Mike's talking about San Francisco Bay Paddling:
One of the early races down there. We went out under the bridge, you know, the point, I think it was 2004 - it might have been 03.
Well my first race down there we went under the bridge and out. It kind of evolved over the years.
I think going out under their bridge. Yeah. That tide can run like white water under the bridge.
Yeah. So I finished the race and I’m standing there messing with my gear and there’s a guy walks up and standing there. So I looked up and it was Dawid Mocke - and then he goes “How'd you do?” I said “hey man, I finished…. Yeah, I did all right”. And, he says “ you know, if you can finish here, you can finish in any race on the planet.” Oh yeah. It gets wicked, wicked down there.
I’ve seen it down there when it gets more wicked inside the bay than it is outside.
Mike's wild practice run:
Okay. So the following stories are the truth, nothing but the truth. Okay. It was 03 or 04(2004). And, The bunch of us met the day before the race on the bay there, right? And it was blowing and gusting pretty good, right?
And um, Greg Barton. Brand new 18 pound V10, right. All carbon - He puts it down and it just rolled right down the beach. Yeah, So I said hmmm, so okay.
And I'm paddling, you can protect yourself about halfway out, two points, the needles.right. And you know I couldn't see anybody else. Very interesting and I couldn’t take my mind off of what was going on right there? Right. Sure. And, you know, I just don't have to go to the buoy. There's no compelling reasons. Right. Okay. So I turned around, I came back and I saw a bit of land. Rocky. Straight up and down kind of, right?
And, I got within about 30 feet of Point Diablo and the waves started popping without rhythm. Total total totally chaotic. and the current was running out hard and the wind was blowing in hard, right? So I found out why Point Diablo is called Point Diablo.
Paddler from Another Planet
Um, I got blown off the boat. I grabbed the boat, right? Got back on again took about three strokes and got blown off the boat again and it kept going? So, there goes my boat like a rolling cigar. I’m wearing neoprene all over and a PFD. So I’m okay and I swam for the nearest piece of land and I got there and I realized it was straight up and down. Can't go there. I think I saw a little of beach back there. So, swimming along that wall you get thrown around like a ragdoll. And I didn't have my PFD snug so it got my chin pretty hard. So I got to the beach and I thought, Oh god, there's a beach and I approached it and it's a picket fence of rocks between me and the beach.
Okay, so I'm on my back. Pushing like this with my feet in front of me - this is like, yeah, this is just like white water. So there I am kind of ooooooh and this BIG wave picks me up right over the rocks and lands me on the beach in a standing position. I couldn’t talk. There was a hiker on one of the driftwood logs. And he says - “Where the hell did you come from”? I couldn't tell him. I tried. I couldn't tell him. So, he grabbed me and put me on the sand saying the sand’s warm, you know, you need to warm up. And I got so i could sit up and here comes a motor boat and it was the Coast Guard - they had a megaphone and said - “We're looking for Mike, are you Mike?”
So, I shook my head. Yeah. And I got to where I could talk and a couple minutes later here comes a helicopter. Guy puts out flares and the copter lands, all right. One of the guys jumps out, he's the medic, right, jumps out and he runs over to me he's asked me a question to see if I know where I am. Okay. Okay, “well we're gonna take you to San Francisco General Hospital to the emergency department, they'll take real good care of you……ummm, I said - that's okay, that’s alright (I don’t need to go to the hospital). The hiker says “It took me 3 hours to hike into here and I have hiking boots, how the hell are you going to get out of here? I look at the medic and ask “You guys gotta go that way anyway don't you. Can you give me a lift? And the medic looks at me, he goes. Really? He goes to the helicopter and comes back. The pilots says okay. So they threw me a space blanket and put me in the back of the helicopter. Came up over the Golden Gate and then back down in Fort Baker, right?
And there's a whole bunch of guys lined up there, looking, you know, to see what kind of shape Gregory is in, right? So, i was walking away and the medic comes over and says “Take this” and he throws me a roll of film (photographic film) - I got it developed and see a whole bunch of pictures and I realized there's a panoramic view of the bay at the golden gate from north to south. I sent copies of it to Greg Barton and Joost because they had been out in the bay looking for me.
So the next morning I got my boat back, I didn't get my paddle back but I had an extra paddle.
(The Coast Guard had picked up his boat) I was lucky - yeah, there were a couple of times things could have gone differently that previous day.
Um, So the next day is going to be the race, you know and DeAnne Hemmens is figuring out who’s doing what and says “Mike Gregory, where are you?” So I go over there and she asks, “Well. How are you?” then she says, “What are you going to do today?”
And I said “short course.” I did the short course and came in third. (What were the conditions like that day?) Wicked on the outside, not so bad on the inside. A bunch of people retired down there (dropped out) on the long course race.
So from then on whenever I went down to San Francisco for races I'd be walking along and I know this sounds kind of funny, but guys are going, whispering “That’s him, he did…..”
