We had a good turn out for this opening race, the first in the points series this season. And being the first race, they went easy on the paddlers by giving them a 3 mile short course and a 5 mile long course.
The challenge in this race wasn’t so much the typical flat hot weather with adverse current, but figuring out where your turning point was going. With both courses starting at the same time, they tried to group the starting line between short and long course sides. The short course turn was a double hull canoe being pushed around by the current and drunkenly picking headings. To make things worse the long course motor boat kept crossing behind the double hull out in the distance.
This dance of turning points made for a lot of paddlers cutting back and forth across each others paths. Well, it was a bit fun to watch if you weren’t in the front pack.
Long Course Results
The upside is the amount of gold hording in Keaukaha went up significantly. Check out all the gold:
- Nik and Whitney – Mix OC2
- Grant – OC1 M50s
- Kawai – OC1 W40s
- Brandi – OC1 Wopen
- Lexi – OC1 WNovice
Congratulations to all the paddlers who raced: Nik & Whitney, Grant, Eric, Jeff, Gary, Brandi, Lexi and Crystal!
Since none of our KCC paddlers did the short course, you can read about their times in the results.
Just Getting Started!
Don’t feel like you can’t jump into some of the races, that was just the very first one with MANY more coming this season in January. Next weekend we have the Beanie Memorial and we’ve updated the calendar of events for this season’s races which you can sync up with your personal calendar.