A bay of bridges and an in-land sea, great hosts and radical races....This USA Surfski 09

Some rad photies in the image gallery....

SAN FRANCISCO - THE US SURFSKI CHAMPS
A big bay with big bridges. That's San Francisco, city of hills, hippies and flipping good coffee. In its centre is a vibrant City with a strong financial engine. To the South we have the mighty Stanford University and Silicone Valley both proponents of cutting edge thought and application. To the East lies Berkeley, a fast moving town and intelectual instituition which likes to say what it thinks and think what it wants. Protesting and The Free Speech Movement aside, it currently is at the forefront of research into sustainability. The North of the Bay lies Marin County further north Sonoma, both areas of immense natural beauty. With such a milieu of nature, thought, industry don't you find it ironic that the Bay is regularly covered in fog?

While it seems that San Franciscans are unsure as to which belief system they shouldn't believe one thing is very certain: 20knots of wind every day from 12pm. And we all know what that means for surfski. Downwind baby!

The US Surfski Champs, now in it's benchmark 7th year took a decisive move in it's course layout and created a spectacular race! The long course Singles race, only one event in a fabulous weekend filled with demo's, clinics, short course, doubles and relays, used just about everything San Francisco Bay has to offer a paddler. Fort Baker, the Golden Gate, Point Diablo, Point Bonita, the Potatoe Patch, a awesome view past Alcatraz and runs "el magnifico"! Round it off with a stellar field of competitors and you have yourself a world class event worthy of a status similar to any other world class sporting discipline.

In the single ski race I came 2nd to Jeremy Cotter who won his first race in the World Series. Well done Jezza! Third was Dean Gardiner and 4th Caine Eckstein. Local youngster Sean "The Prawn" Rice had a fantastic race to come in 6th. I won the HotSpot which is no mean feat against Hot Spot specialist Jeremy Cotter. The next day I teamed up with Barry Lewin to beat the Aussies in the doubles race. That's always fun...not easy but great when you get it right.

It was great having such a good field, especially all the Aussie sprint team that joined in the fun after doing the World Sprint champs in Nova Scotia the week prior. The week prior and aft surrounding the race was filled with fun filled tours, eat outs, paddling adventures (incl. surfskiing Mavericks with Robin Graham, Kenny Howell, John Dixon, Sean Rice and Barry Lewin) and the usual banter (Team THINK at the forefront). So, I'd like to state for the record that the 2009 US Surfski Champs was a great success and that you should all think of doing it next year.

CHICAGO SHORELINE MARATHON:
Chicago was good to me again this year. I went to compete in the Chicago Shoreline Marathon for the second time and successfully defended the title I won there last year.

In the shortest and simplest way: Chicago is fantastic! It is a great place to visit and the race a great excuse to go there. The concept of racing the shoreline is brilliant. This race really has an iconic appeal to it as it works its way along the shoreline of the majestic Chicago skyline. It's a long one, a marathon in its own right, but it seems to fly by as you work your way from one beach stop to the next. All too soon the race is over.
Added to the sightliness of the city is the people of the city, particularly the paddlers, not to mention the paddlers from surrounding areas. What friendliness and enthusiasm! The way in which this group interacts it makes you feel like you're at home; it also makes it hard to leave. They all possess a hospitality which makes you feel welcome; and this value seems inherent in the city of Chicago too. I must also bring to the fore the enduring efforts of Tim and Kristin Flentye. They are a beautiful fantastic couple who are pulling out all the stops in putting this race together. A huge thanks to them.

Back to the race....
Usually the wind will be at your back, but this year some really strong Northerly winds forced the race organisers to make a course change. 42kms into a 15-20knot headwind is a difficult task for even the best paddler, so sending the entire field off into those kind of conditions would've made it near impossible for most. Very commendable though was the new course as it still encompased the spirit of the race which is the City's shore.

We raced out and back; towards the City and then back again; downwind and then headwind. Yes, coming home into the wind seems different, but funnily enough, with the added element of beach stops and the many breakwalls along the shore it makes the paddle back as enjoyable as it is hard. However, the run down with the wind was world class with some fantastic bumps pushing us along. I really really had a lot of fun.

There was a bit of racing to do though. Amongst the field were South Africans "new kid" Sean Rice and "old hand" Barry Lewin, as well as Aussie Adam Mckane The usual headwind then downwind combo would've made race strategy pretty predictable; stay together until the turn and then bang it home. But now, with good runs going down and then having to work back into the wind you have to think a bit more and be well aware of your capabilites. I thought of it as a 30km solo effort and gambled that I would have enough gas in the tank to work into the wind by myself. I had a great race. Seond across the line was Sean Rice and third was Barry Lewin.

So I guess I'll be back next year! The USA trip is really a lot of fun with some great paddling to be done; it makes it hard to stay away