Me with the mens winner, Eric Borgness of Wisconsin. He has been a friend of ours for a long time and was the one who talked us into racing in Canada. I'm sure he said its not really that cold there?
First time on his new Mako Elite..way to go! This was a fun weekend away from the kids and absolutely the coldest race I have ever paddled. 31.2 KM with every condition. Some side bump/slop, downwind section, totally flat and big headwind. I was not ready for this, and obviously a good thing I did not go to Molokai either. Died at 15km and managed to battle on in the flat and limped home in the headwind to win, just barely. Heather Nelson, who holds the race course record was a close second..with a 3 month old waiting on shore to great her. Jeez..good job Heather..and I trained for this.
Pat also had his troubles..Lead through the early part of the race(downwind) and then kicked the bucket at 10km in. He managed 6th place. We enjoyed the race atmoshere and thanks to the Bowen Island crowd for a really fun event. Also thanks to Alan Carlson and Mike Fitzmaurice for the use of their Mako 6s and, Jeff Raymond for the transport of the skis. Also a well done to Think Kayaks to have such a presence in the race for such a new company. The Legend and the Evo are hot and people are starting to know it!

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1. Deanne, I assume that is a pre-race photo...seems most of our faces had much less color, unless you call numb pastie white a color...and I don't recall the smiles being quite as big after the race...at least not until the salmon BBQ started and the beer started flowing.
   Was great to have you and Patrick take part in the Round Bowen Challenge...you probably won't believe but last year's race was so hot paddlers were running into dehydration and low electrolyte level issues...but then the conditions were mostly flat all the way around.
   Stay well and happy paddling in sunny CA.
   Posted by Jeff   on  06/09   at  03:34 PM
2. I would never put up a photo of me after this race. I looked as you described..pasty white, that frozen food look, with freezer burn. Wish we could have stayed for more beer..rushing off to the airport was not as much fun.
   Thanks again, and how about one of our races for you? Malibu to Marina...guaranteed to be above 60 degrees.
   See you at surfski champs in Sept?
   De
   Posted by DeAnne   on  06/10   at  08:55 AM
3. Just a sec, gotta do the conversion...60 degrees in CA is...holy crap!...that is 15.5 deg C...you sure it is safe to paddle when it is that warm?
   We are so very much looking forward to summer's arrival here in Vancouver...where's this global warming we have been promised!
   Would be cool to come down to for a southern CA race. We did US Surfski Champs last year...although the weather was more Vancouver-like than I'd expected...but a fantastic event a great venue for surfski paddling. Unfortunately the 2008 US Surfski Champs race weekend has been moved this year to coincide with a fun race up in this neck of the woods...well actually up in BC's Okanagan...a 100 km race from Vernon to Penticton...did it as a relay last year and had a blast...I'm hoping things will work out better scheduling wise next year.
   Check out http://surfskibc.wordpress.com/ for a story on the Round Bowen Challenge and other information on the surfski racing scene in the great white north.
   Posted by Jeff   on  06/11   at  01:27 PM

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