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'