Surfski Knowledge Base

Kevin Olney
04/03/17 #20973

Forty-some boats raced at Sand Point for the PNW-ORCA winter series finale. Whatcom Paddlers were represented by Peter M, Mike H, Brians S,B and F as well as Jason P and myself. I believe Dan H was on a safety boat.

The course was a triangle from Sand Point east to Juanita Bay, then north towards Kenmore and back. A south breeze around 10-12 mph kicked up some beam waves for the first leg and part of the second. We had about two miles of downwind on small bumps before the last 2.5 miles upwind to the finish. Nothing big but still a grind.

The big dogs (Greg Barton, John Mooney) took off like rockets followed by Len Morris in an OC-1 and Dean Jordan in a ski. After that the rest of the field appeared to all be together in one big pack. I was in the double ski with Amber and we hung off to the side as we were a little shaky in the waves still. By the first turn things started to separate as individual battles formed. We fell behind a group of OC-2s and a couple singles as we navigated through the chop. Once we turned northward we really settled down and cranked up the power.

By the northern mark we had moved almost up to Dean and the lead OC. We kept a steady pace right until we caught their wash then put in our best sprint to pull ahead. I was pleased with our race and, most importantly, Amber had fun too.

Ernie Wong and his crew put on a great event start to finish. There were awesome eats afterwards and a huge table of prizes for the series winners and I think everyone there took home something.

It should be noted that Peter Marcus had the most points accumulated for the series. That's dedication, or something.

https://www.webscorer.com/racedetails?raceid=96661

Kevin O