It was time to get back on this amazing river and check out parts that I hadn't seen yet, but in race conditions. We had 42 starters, and I was pleased to encounter a number of them on inflatos, and still more of them who had never paddled this river before. There was even one girl, Stacey, who I take my hat off to, who had never SUPed before!!! It was a motley crew that lined up, the young, the not so young, some looking like whippets, others not so whippet like. The boards were quite a wide variety as well from inflatos to full high tech racing boards and everything in between.
The race started in a flurry of paddles and boards as each would be champion of 2014 made their way into the moving current. Jostling for position as they rounded the first bend, the racers started to find their feet and their balance. The mighty Bow barreled on. An early lead set by one of the locals on a fast looking board with a train of chasers extending back to and including the flying Aussie on his bright yellow Naish inflato. It wasn't long before the heat of the day started to show on some of the punters as they popped in for a swim and allowed the yellow inflato from down under to move up through the field. One by one picking off the highly fancied hard boards. The sections where the river ran fast but without too many bumps saw the hard boards really get away. Interesting enough, a little bit of flex in the inflato smoothed out some of the bumps in the rougher parts. This made for an interesting dynamic as our hero from downunder fought to stay with the field. Moving up into 10th position around half way the competitors seemed to have settled into their respective rhythms and worked through the rocks and bridge pylon obstacles. Another fall and some downright outstanding paddling would soon see our Aussie battler move up into 8th, then 7th position as he fought past the speedy Starboard. Was there enough time to catch the ailing Danny Ching 404... Little did our hero know, but this was last year's winner, although just off a bender from a wedding the night before, he was holding strong. Two bridges to go and the Starby was coming back. It's a gnarly rush under the 2nd last bridge that sees our hero testing the waters as it were. Back on the board like a pro, Inflato holding fast as they went down to the last bridge.... What was the race directors instructions....hmmm, something about "Stay to the right of the river and you'll be safe, except for on the last bridge. It's pretty nasty on the right, go the middle" ok, in the middle... hmm, the middle... that would be that one to the left of our little Aussie doer. The 404 found the middle, but the starby went with our hero down into the wave that beckoned between the shoreline and the right pylon. onto their knees the intrepid paddlers went to ride through the wave. Out the other side they came. Ready to jump to his feet and sprint off into the distance our hero saw something shiny in the water and went to check. This gave starby the opportunity to make a break for it. The 404 now well in advance our hero made chase on his trusty yellow steed. It was close, but in the end a board length in it, and a very satisfactory 8th place. Only 2 mins behind the winner and flying the flag high for the inflatos in the field. A huge amount of fun. Thanks to Warren and the gang at Red Nik Surf Co. for an awesome event.
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| Ethan! I found a moose buddy!! |
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