Ski to Sea 2010

Which boat are you gonna use?

I honestly haven't decided yet.  I feel like I should use the Tsunami if it's windy as I sit lower in the water and the deck has less clutter to catch wind with.  Then again, I think the Tarpon could handle wind chop better.

 

Also, I appreciate the offers Jason, but I can't justify the gas and rental costs for a 5 mile kayak race.  The team is in the open class and we're not out to win the race.  Just have a good time and support a good cause.  Fuel alone would be over $100 just to get there and back. 

Saturday I had to fix the Tarpon.  The crappy gasket (strip of neoprene) had fallen out and I couldn't find it, they don't even glue the gasket in.  I replaced it with some weather stripping from Lowes.  

Started the race with a strong headwind and constant rain in the face.  Was really glad I replaced the gasket as I had waves coming into the cockpit the entire way out.  When I got to the turn around bouy the wind and rain died, denying me it's assistance on the way back in.  It picked up again when I headed down the coast to the finish line.  Awful conditions really.

The Tarpon 160 isn't very ideal for racing.  About halfway I realized I was paddling the equivelent of Jabba's Sail Barge in a race against others with touring kayaks.  But I was still passing people - which made me really happy.  

Final result was 54th out of ~150 teams in the recreational division.  208 out of 464 total racers  (24 didn't finish or show)

My time for the 5.2 mile race was 01:12:03  (which includes running from the start and getting that heavy beast in the water and running up to the finish line)

Full results can be seen here: Ski to Sea

If I do the race again, I'll hopefully have access to a nice composite kayak and really smoke it.

gawds, young'un, i think i'd have been one of the DNF's.!!! hey, 3rd of the pack first time finish in the rec boat division isn't all that bad. just disect it for lessons learned for next year.


how'd ya do on the fund raising?

Ok, seems I had a typo.  It was 204 out of 464 overall, NOT 204 out of 264.   

To clarify:  The "recreational" division wasn't indicative of the boat style, merely the team category.  Some asshat in my division that was waiting next to me had borrowed a boat from his GF's father.  It was some $8000 composite boat with a carbon fiber paddle that I swear weight 1/2 an ounce. 

There were also a TON of surf skis... which weren't supposed to be legal in the race. 

I'm not sure on how the fund raising went - team captain never got any solid communication from Peak 7, so he passed on donation information to us all on an individual basis. 

Me, making a wake lol.

Me, making a wake lol.

I don't see any rods/reels. What kind of kayak fishing is this anyway? 

Good Job.  Looks like a fun way to raise money.

Would have been funny to sneak up and clip a sea anchor onto that $8000 kayak. 
Watch him paddle with little movement.