Day 2 of the West Kootenays SUP Race

After a fun night at the Lions Head Pub we had some breakfast and started scoping out the course for the SUP Cross.  Endless Adventures team paddler Mike Grant came up with the course which included 4 buoys, 2 of which were 360 degree turns.  Upon looking at the course a few paddlers were noticeably quiet wondering how they were possibly going to navigate these 4 turns in and out of the eddies.

Photo Credit: Chris Ryman - Endless Adventures

To alleviate the tension the entire group floated the course for a practice run before the first heats.   This was a lot of fun and gave many people their first taste of the river.  With some short and sweet instruction from Chris at Endless Adventure we were off navigating the race course.  Most paddlers found their way to the buoys and most also found their way into the water at least once.  That being said it was all smiles at the bottom of the course and everyone was excited for the first heats of the race.

A smaller turnout on Sunday meant we had enough people for 2 men's qualifying heats and 1 women's final. The first heat was very fun to watch with hometown favourite Mike Grant leading the way through most of the race followed by Norm Hann and Kalavida's Kevin O'Brien.  You never know what will happen in these races and hometown paddler Mike Grant went down on the final buoy and couldn't recover in time.  Norm Hann passed him for the win and Kevin O'brien capitalized and made his way into the final.

Photo Credit: Chris Ryman - Endless Adventures

I was in the second heat along with Junior Champ Eli Fishbuch, Mark of Nikki Rekman Sales, local Chris Ryman and the man known only as Laser.  Chris and I took the whole shot and made it to the first buoy around the same time.  It was the second buoy when things changed.  Chris went for a swim and Eli passed him going into the third buoy.  I was holding a slim lead over Eli who was ready to pounce if I went down.  We both knew the top two made the final and so we just had to finish the race clean to advance to the finals.  I made it through the final and most challenging buoy followed by Eli who blasted through the eddy like a champ.  The finals were set:  Myself, Norm Hann, Kevin O'brien and Eli Fishbuch.

Photo Credit: Chris Ryman - Endless Adventures

The Women's Championship heat featured the pro Lina Augaitis, Jennifer 'J-Law' Lawson, Christina 'CSA' St.Amour and 2 local ladies (Sarah and Julie maybe?).  No surprise to see Lina take the wholeshot paddling hard to the first buoy.  She held her lead but close behind was J-Law.  Jen and Lina both took my river clinic on the Friday and so they had a good idea of where the fast water was and where they needed to be in the river.  Jen took the higher line to the second buoy and caught Lina at the second buoy.  They turned flawlessly around the buoy and headed to the third where Lina pulled ahead.  Jen knew she had one chance to catch Lina and that was to take an aggressive line at the fourth and final buoy in hopes that she could blast through the eddy with speed to catch Lina.  Her gamble didn't pay off as she lost balance and went down crossing the eddy line, but she gets big props for pushing hard for the aggressive line.  Lina took the win while Jen ended up in second after a controversial DQ due to knee paddling.  All smiles after the women's race and it was awesome to see how much the confidence grew in these paddlers after pushing hard through a tough course.

Time for the Men's Final:

Norm on a Badfish MCIT, Eli on a Badfish MCIT, Kevin O'brien on a Surftech B1 Bomber and myself on my 2014 Starboard Astro Stream.  Norm took the whole shot to the first buoy, followed closely by me and Eli with Kevin not far behind him.  Norm held the lead into the second buoy and managed pull of a really nice tight turn.  Trying to match Norm's turn I stepped to the tail and tried to crank the turn but I went down at the buoy.  Cursing my lack of balance, I looked up and saw that Norm and Eli had collided and were hung up together in front of the buoy. That was my chance to get back into the race.

Photo Credit: Chris Ryman - Endless Adventures

Norm and I reached the third buoy around the same time, in spite of his best efforts to block me from reaching the eddy.  Norm is known around the country for his less than respectable tactics on the racing circuit....OK just kidding he's usually too far ahead of everyone to execute any dirty tactics.

Photo Credit: Chris Ryman - Endless Adventures

We paddled towards the final buoy which was going to decide the race. I took a slightly higher line to the buoy which meant I was going to have a bit rougher water but a better chance of staying high in the eddy for the turn.  My tactic worked and I managed to squeeze around the buoy ahead of Norm.  I pushed back into the current and put in some hard strokes to cross the finish line in first.

Huge props to the other paddlers in this race, especially Eli for paddling super strong and more importantly for getting in Norm's way giving me a chance at the win.

SUP Cross racing is so much fun and I expect we are going to see plenty more of it in BC.  The river side of SUP will continue to grow and I encourage everyone to get out and get some experience in the river.  To do this you need a good teacher/guide and the correct equipment.  We were lucky to be supported by Nikki Rekman Sales this weekend who provided Kokatat PFD's with quick release belts.  These belts are mandatory if you are going to choose to wear a leash in the river. I will have a post coming down the pipe soon talking about how to get into the river safely which will break down the gear and locations that will help you stay safe.

Make sure the West Kootenay SUP race is on your calendar next season because it is too much fun to miss.  I am also very confident that this race will at least double in participants next year so make sure you are one of them!

Next post coming soon:  'River SUP: How to Get Started'

Most fun I’ve had at a race in…ever? Part 1.

What a weekend. I usually leave a weekend of racing feeling physically exhausted but this time along with that feeling I am also super excited for more river racing.

With the recent success and exposure to the river side of stand up paddling due to events like the Payette River Games and the Go Pro Mountain Games; it was perfect timing for the first ever SUP cross race in Canada.

I made my way up to the Kootenays and upon arrival I was greeted by a quick shuttle run up the upper Slocan River to scope out the site of my River Clinics that were to be held a few hours later.  It is an excellent section of river to get your first bit of exposure to river paddling.  Deep slow flow, few hazards, no holes and plenty of good clear eddies. If you are looking to get yourself into river paddling these are some key features to look for on your first go.  The second thing to look for is to get yourself some good local knowledge by hiring an instructor or guide to make sure you put yourself in the right place.  The river presents hazards that may not be as obvious as hazards on the lake or ocean and it doesn’t take much to get yourself into trouble on the river.

The river clinics went very well that afternoon with all students gaining some great new skills and confidence as we moved out way down the river.  A 30 degree day and some warm water meant that I did not need my Kokatat Icon Drysuit which was a nice change from the cold rivers I have been paddling more recently.  Thanks to Nikki Rekman Sales for helping with shuttles and providing all the safety gear and paddles we needed for our run down the river.

Photo Credit: Chris Ryman - Endless Adventures

We arrived the next morning at the put in on the Columbia River for the 16km down river race.  The waters at the put in were very slow moving and calm which made for a great launch site and spot for the kids race. Following a quick ‘Spin to Win’ contest, in which contestants had to see how many times they could spin a 6’11” Badfish River surfer in 1 minute, we gathered for the safety meeting before the start of the race.

The course was well laid out to allow us to avoid the biggest hazards on the river which were generally found around the big pilings underneath the bridges crossing the river.  After the safety talk you could feel the nervous excitement in the group as many of the paddlers had no experience ever paddling down a river, especially one moving as quick as what were about to paddle.

Photo Credit: Chris Ryman - Endless Adventures

 The race started and as usual I tried to get out to a quick start.  I was second to the buoy behind Matt Abbott followed closely by Norm Hann, Lina Augaitis and a pack of paddlers.  As soon as we made the first turn we could feel the current giving us a nice push down stream.  It didn’t feel much different until you looked beside you at the shoreline and realized just how fast things were flying by.  My GPS was out of batteries but information from other paddlers told me that we were averaging a pace of about 16km per hour which is exceptionally fast.

Photo Credit: Chris Ryman - Endless Adventures

We made our way under the first bridge with a few boils and some funny confused water but nothing too challenging.  It was the next bridge that created the most challenge.  Downstream of the bridges we had some big back eddies and in between these eddies were big bubbling boils and some scary looking whirlpools that you could look right down into.  The plan was to avoid as much of this as possible, aim for the downstream V and power your way through the chop.  I managed to escape the tougher sections with only one fall off my board.  Matt wasn’t so lucky and found himself in the water a couple more times which allowed me to pass him in the rougher water. As far as I know the only paddler to stay dry through the whole paddle was the veteran Norm Hann. 

Photo Credit: Chris Ryman - Endless Adventures

Norm and I paddled together for the last half of the race exchanging the lead back and forth as we paddle through some more confused water and into some pretty strong headwinds on the river. We continued paddling and I spotted the white sandy beach with a picnic table on it which I was told was Goose Poop Island which meant the finish line was getting closer.  I tried picking up the pace but Norm stayed right there with me. We continued around one more corner and I thought I saw the white finish line buoy so I made a break for it and picked up the pace for the final stretch.  Turns out what I saw was a big white barrel in the water, not the finish line but thankfully the finish was just around the corner and I had enough left in the tank to hold off Norm for the win.

We waited as the other paddlers crossed the finish line and then loaded the shuttle for the ride back to the Lions Head Pub where we had dinner, prizes and live music for our evening entertainment. We had a great party night at the pub full of excitement about the upcoming race the next day. Paddlers all had a bit more confidence in the river after today’s paddle and we were all ready to take part in Canada’s first SUP Cross race.

Part 2: Coming tomorrow.