Afternoon Downwind Delight

I'm still pumped from yesterday's downwind session on the Barbary Ghost.  Captain Drew took us out for his first Downwind SUP Safari of the season, and true to his reputation, he hunted down and delivered some bumps for us.

photo by Drew Testwuide

Six of us were along for the ride, starting with a warmup run heading northeast to Red Rock Island. Mixed conditions made it difficult to find glides until the end, but it gave everyone a chance to get their legs under them, get wet and warm up their smiling muscles.

Run two was completely different as wind speed doubled, wave size tripled and glide time significantly increased.  We were limited by our own energy, not lack of waves.  He dropped us in the lee of Angel Island for a good run towards Richmond.  Everyone did fantastic, catching bumps, handling the strong wind and looking out for each other.

I'm again impressed with my new ride, the Cali 14 from Focus SUP Hawaii.  For a pointy all conditions race board, it handles damn fine in mid-sized downwind conditions.  It catches them easy, has great planing speed and the nose releases predictably when stuffed underwater.  No surprises from this board and the secondary stability is impressive.  Loving it!

photo by Drew Testwuide

photo by Christine Schneider

If you're in the bay area, check out the Barbary Ghost and get on one of the next downwind safari's.  You definitely need the skills to enjoy the thrills.  It's a challenging environment so proper paddling skills are mandatory and quality equipment is crucial.

Thank you Drew, Nico, Marion, Craig, Christine, Gretchen and Janet for a fun afternoon!

California 100

I didn't race in the California 100 this year.  Not for lack of desire, but rather because I took on the role of Race Director for Rivers for Change, the hosting non-profit group founded by Danielle Katz and John Dye.  Although I didn't paddle the 100 mile stretch with 100+ others, I certainly had a weary weekend of my own with late nights, early mornings, highs, lows and everything in between.  I met a bunch of new paddlers, strengthened some friendships and got reminded how cool the paddling community can be.  

For those not familiar with the California 100, the concept is simple.  Test your skill, stamina, physical and mental limits on the Sacramento River for one-hundred river miles of paddling in one continuous race.  It takes 10-20 hours and you stop at 3 checkpoints along the way.  As simple as the Cal 100 is, it's far from easy.  

To start, racers are dealing with class II whitewater along the course.  The sections are short and staggered, but skill plays into these sections immensely.  If you have it, you'll succeed.  If you don't, you'll either get lucky or you'll get worked.  But, no worries, because it's all downhill and eventually you'll float into calmer water.  Get through the rapids and tackle the straights.  Water reading is still essential since staying in the fast water flow is critical for a good time.  Feed and hydrate yourself or else.  Condition yourself ahead of time - aka, train for this race.  Carry the required equipment.  Be prepared to take care of yourself on the river - broken fin, holed board, separated from your board, lost? 

It's an epic undertaking and over 130 people accepted the challenge.  That's a 30% growth from 2013 and the SUP category was up over 200% this year.

Check out some of the pics and set your sights for this challenge next year!

safety briefing.  Photo by Lisa Thomas.

I didn't get to race with the BPC, but cheering them on was good enough.

I think Janet smiled the entire way.  Photo by Lisa Thomas.

With Danielle Katz.  Photo by Lisa Thomas.

So proud of this one.  Fellow Focus SUP Hawaii ambassador Adrianna Baca completing the 33-mile leg of the race.
Photo by Lisa Thomas.

Sean Morley won the kayak class and was going strong.  Photo by Lisa Thomas.

Tom Biglione - the only solo canoeist in the race.  Photo by Lisa Thomas.

Brian Thomas - only prone paddleboarder brave enough.  Photo by Lisa Thomas.

one IN, one OUT

One in, one out.  Google that and you'll get a few versions of its meaning.  It's an unofficial rule that some people follow, like minimalists and dispensaries.  In an attempt to downsize and reduce the amount of gear and clutter I call my own, I've applied it to my paddle craft.  If I get rid of a board, I have my own permission to get a new one, so that's what I did.

This morning I took her out for the first ride and let her make some of those extremely important first impressions on me.  I'm very happy.  This new Cali 14 by Focus SUP Hawaii is exactly what I've been looking for.  14 feet long, 27 inches wide, 5 inches thick, 265 liters.  Carbon layup, 24 pounds.  Sweet deck setup, simple lines, excellent volume distribution with a low-volume nose and the perfect tail.  

I'll be posting more as I get a chance to give it a thorough review, but for now, know that it's light, fast, stable & predictable and I'm digging it.

Fun on the Russian

photo by John Burgess, Press  Democrat

East Bay sup / CCK sup / BPC / TBD sup did awesome at the Russian River Race this weekend in Healdsburg.  Organizers put on the Drought Edition this year due to low water on the river.  The 15-mile course was cancelled, but the 5-mile was still on with almost 200 paddlers.  Leading up to May 3rd, water levels slowly rose and presented a very runnable river leaving just a few areas of shallow water to portage or scrape over.

Last year I paddled the 15-mile course on a standup board and finished third.  But, my board did not fair well, coming home with a damaged fin and two holes.  No problem, all was repaired.  This year, however, knowing water levels could be even lower, I opted to race in a solo canoe.  Turns out I was the only person to enter solo canoe so I was added to the Men's Single Kayak division.  I felt slightly disadvantaged, but didn't care too much as this race is more about the fun than the competition.  Of course, I can get a little competitive on the water, so I went hard anyways.  

I got a good start and hit the narrow river in fourth.  I quickly moved into third and drafted one and two for a couple minutes.  These guys were going hard, but weren't fast enough, so I moved over and went for the pass on both of them.  As I passed right, three others moved up the left, also passing.  As we all moved back in line, I ended up back in fourth position, but with three fast paddlers in front of me.  They all slowly dropped me, but I caught ground in a few areas where I made better reads on the channels and found more fast water.  Nearing the end, I reeled third in to just a few boat lengths.  I could see the finish and increased my pace to put the pressure onto him.  Well, it worked because he crossed a slight eddyline and began to turn, against his will.  That was my chance and as he started to spin he noticed me about to overtake him and panicked.  That little panic was enough of a chance for me to pass him in the last 200 feet.  

So, 55 minutes 06 seconds later, I crossed the finish line third in a field of 23 kayakers with the 6th fastest time overall.  You know what they say about canoeists?  Half the paddle, twice the paddler!

In the end, our crew walked away excited with armloads of swag.  Nice job crew!

Women's SUP

• 1st - Laury Croter, 1:05:30
• 2nd - Lucija Hadziselimovic, 1:12:52

Men's SUP

• 1st - John Walsh, 52:50
• 3rd - Mitch Silverstein, 58:14

Men's Single Kayak

• 3rd - Matt Palmariello, 55:06

Laury (1st - women's sup) & Mitch (3rd - men's sup)

Celebratory high five as Lucija crosses the finish line.  John (1st - men's sup), Lucija (2nd - women's sup)

Alameda Full Moon Night Circumnavigation

The 8pm start time turned out to be more like an 8:50pm start time, which threw our paddle off a bit.  We fought a little more current than we should have, and picked up the flood a bit too late, but no worries, it was an awesome paddle anyhow.  How can you not have a good time paddling with friends on a warm night with light wind and a full moon?  Night paddling is always fun and last night was no exception.

Start time:  8:50pm
Finish time:  1:50am
Launch:  Grand Street Boat Ramp, Alameda
Route:  counterclockwise loop of Alameda

Around 2pm I saw a FB post from Yuri saying she's in San Fran for a 24-hour layover on her way from NZ to Baja.  A quick chat later and the plan was set to meet her at West Oakland BART so she could join us.  She was traveling with full kayak kit, so it couldn't be easier.  So, 6 of us set out on our way up the estuary towards the bay.  L&M paddled a fair distance and said their goodbye's, opting to not do the entire loop with us.  From there the four of us chatted & paddled the next four hours until we returned to our start, playing in some bumps and current along the way.  Bitching & moaning, laughing & joking.  Nice paddling last night and good training for the girls as the get ready for Maui and the California 100.

MM made an appearance

looking back at the estuary, about to make the turn downcurrent

1:50am finish.

Sea Otter Classic, April 5th - 14th

Sea Otter Classic!  One of the best events of the year loaded with long days, exciting competition and an incredible team of people.  Camp fire sessions, radio chatter, stupid question of the day.  Gator done!

If you've never attended, check it out next year.  For a long weekend in Monterey, 60,000+ people celebrate cycling at Laguna Seca Raceway with a jam-packed schedule of road racing, dual-slalom, downhill, cross-country, coastal tours, dirt jumping, cyclocross and dozens of other bike events.  Surround that with an enormous expo of over 400 different exhibitors with all the newest products.  Top that off with family friendly activities, movie premiers, good food and plenty of beer to wash it down.  I'm not religious, but I'd call that bike heaven.  Not a bad place to live for 10 days each spring.

I've been working on the team for 6 years with dozens of other 'work all day work all night' core crew with experience to spare.  It's one of these events where the people make it exceptional.  Not to downplay the cycling, because it's highly energetic and inspiring, but the people are just plain fun and transform work into play.  Positive vibes are abundant.  Good times.

my ride for the week

WRX test drive

Dual Slalom start

Flyover on the cyclocross course

the office

Cyclocross - the craziest spectator event at Sea Otter

Santa Cruz Paddlefest

The Santa Cruz Paddlefest weekend came and went in a flash.  I've attended this event as a spectator for the last 6 or 7 years, since before I even lived in California.  This was the first year I've ever competed in the event and the first time I've ever surfed in a competition.  It was super fun!

I entered the Cowell's Classic friendly surf contest on a standup paddleboard and we surfed the 'B' site at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz.  Normally the contest takes place at Cowell's proper, but with the conditions handed to us, everything moved west and we ended up surfing Indicator's, just inside the lane.  

The highlight for me was definitely my final heat on Sunday when myself and two others had the entire break to ourselves for 20 minutes, a huge benefit to entering the contest.  The real kicker was that the other two surfers I faced off against in my heat were about 1/3 my age.  It was inspiring to surf with them, watching them take off on good sized waves without fear or hesitation.  They were both surfing really well and more importantly, they were having fun.  It really didn't feel like a contest, just another fun session in the waves.  In the end, I won my Sunday heat by one point and finished 9th of 32 overall.  I'm pretty psyched with that finish and look forward to getting back on the waves in Santa Cruz soon..

It was a great treat to watch the pros compete in the finals - both the SUPs and the surf kayakers.  They were going big and the waves were impressive.  I'll probably never ride at a level near theirs, but watching them makes me want to get better and makes me feel good about improving my skills every time I hit the water.

BPC represented over the weekend too.  MM raced and won on Saturday and we all finished the weekend with a surf session, tequila & tacos.   I got to connect with some friends I don't see too often and meet some new folks.   It's pretty cool to see the small worlds of standup paddlers & kayakers mixing for the weekend.  Nice event and a great weekend.

working on indoor surfing skills

Port of Oakland Tour

After a long week in Southern California and a full day of travel on Saturday, I woke on Sunday with the intentions of a rest day.  But, the sun was shining warm & bright and I figured some paddling was in order.  A quick text conversation led to a 11:45 meet in Oakland for a paddle out to Yerba Buena Island.

We were both late and by the time we actually launched it was after 12:30.  As the tide started to flood and the wind gained strength we paddled out the Oakland estuary.  The ride out was exciting with plenty of boat wake and traffic to contend with.  We reached the mouth and stopped on the beach at the point of Alameda for a snack and a rest.  As we re-assessed our plan I picked up a handful of shiny beach glass.

Continuing to Yerba Buena meant a straight slog against a 2kt current and 10kt wind and would take at least an hour without breaks.  Instead, we ferried the channel towards middle harbor, found shelter from the wind against the jetty and made good forward progress towards the outer harbor.  The last push was a straight shot upwind from buoy 3 to the Bay Bridge.  Half way there we decided not to push it, opting to turn and burn downwind, riding bumps back into the estuary.  Another rest at the Chappell R. Hayes Memorial Observation Tower for pb&j and hardboiled eggs and then back to the start.  Good day.

heading out the estuary

North point of Alameda, looking towards Yerba Buena & the Bay Bridge

Back through the Port

 

ACA SUP Instructor Certification Workshop - Newport Beach, CA

On Wednesday we began a 3-day SUP Instructor Workshop in Newport Beach with 9 Instructor Candidates with a wide range of skill and educational background.  Candidates came from all over California for three intensive days of paddling, teaching & learning.

These courses are designed for experienced standup paddlers with solid Level two skills.  Over the course of the workshop we attempt to progress each candidates skills by breaking strokes & maneuvers down into pieces and reinforcing paddling concepts.  

We work on:

• Forward strokes (standard, canted, cross)
• reverse strokes (standard, reverse J)
• draw strokes (standard, sculling, sideslip, cross-nose)
• turning strokes (sweeps, rudders, pivots)
• braces (low, high, sculling, heelside)
• footwork
• rescues & towing methods
• group management & leadership
• trip planning & navigation

We also cover a ton of theory related to paddling concepts, teaching & learning theory, learning styles, delivery methods, teaching models and much, much more.  

This course was funded by a US Coast Guard grant with the intentions of better educating key personnel managing & delivering on-water standup paddling programs.  Candidates included waterfront directors, college sport providers, municipal recreation managers, adaptive program facilitators and non-profit organizers.