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Origins of Wednesday Night Races
story for Ski to Sea
Reivers Dustin
03/30/14 #15521
I was trying to remember when we started Wed Niters. Can't remember breakfast these days. It was before most of us knew what a surfski was. I think Mickey brought in a “Chalupski”. I did Wed Niters for years in my red plastic touring kayak. Things heated up when Greg B moved to town. One time we all did the regular route, then Greg convinced us to do a 500 meter sprint. I was dead last by a lot. Even though LB fell in and climbed back on, he blasted by me. The big story was the start. I lined up at the opposite end from Greg and watched down the start line. He leapt ahead by a boat length within a couple of strokes. All the other guys' heads swiveled in amazement when he did that.
LB: what year did we start? I know that Mickey was doing it by himself for a while before we got in there.
I'm also interested in a rough timeline of who joined in.
rd
lbussinger@…
03/31/14 #15533
I bought my first Valhalla Victory in 1990 at the Bainbridge Island race. Because I had never paddled a surfski before, I borrowed Keith Keillers Valhalla, a big fat boat with unadjustable peddles. My knees were up around my chin. My legs started cramping after a 1/2 hour. I think I finished 5 hours later dead last. 1990 would have been the first year of using a kayak at the Ski to Sea race, but I did several races in the Mariner XL at Cross Sound, so it must have been around 1989.
Larry B
