Hamo 2011: Day 4 - PD Chicks 43km Changes Race

A changes race brings with it the usual excitement of racing with the additional edge created by the anticipation of launching yourself from the water and into the canoe.

As I float in the ocean, I'm always glad to have a buddy by my side. 100m away from the canoe, the mantra going through my mind is usually, "explosive lat pull-down, kick hard, tricep dip, twist and in". 50m out, I'm still repeating "explosive lat pull-down, kick hard, tricep dip, twist and in". 10m out..."explosive lat pull-down, kick hard, tricep dip, twist and in". As the canoe hits my finger tips, "sheesh when did we swap the canoe for a viking ship...explosive lat pull-down, kick hard, tricep dip, twist and in". And as I grip the sides of the canoe near the seat, "explosive lat pull-down, no bugger that, leg up, heave, head in, arm in, yep rest of body in. Hoorah!"

Here are some pics from the Chicks changes race on day 4 at Hamo as we battled it out with the Brisbane girls for 2nd place.

Hamo 2011: Day 4 - PD Men 43km Changes Race

Some pics of the PD Men out on the high seas at Hamo during the 43km changes race







And a couple from Amanda:

Hamo 2011: Day 4 - Mandy's story of the changes race

The last time I did this race the conditions were so crazy we did the alternate course, but this time we're doing the proper course.

On Catseye Beach we do a last minute check of the canoe, we're pretty happy but Al Bradley comes over and says 'it's going to be rough girls, I'll fix a few thing for you', and out comes the gaffa tape and he seals everything shut. We can now head out for the start.

For the 42km it is one start, all the crews fight for the perfect position, canoes wedge into any gap they see forcing others out of the way. Annett lines us up next to a fast men's crews and the steerer gives us a filthy look - bad luck, we stand our ground.

Before the yellow flag is even raised we're doing a solid level 2 to keep with the pack - Yellow Flag, we're now picking up the pace - Red Flag, we're now motoring along trying to stick with the top men, it's race pace and the race hasn't even started! I guess they have to make the race official so Green Flag! We get a good start, the top men's crew look like they have a motor attached, they drop us pretty quickly but we stay in front of a lot of the crews.

Dent passage is crazy, a head wind with tide in the opposite direction is challenging for crews but a stack of fun, yee haa!!!

We make it out of the passage into far calmer waters and see a floatilla of support boats in the distance, which one is ours? We make out some orange and see the rest of the team, Annett confirms our change 1, 3, 4, 5, the support boat zooms ahead trying to find a spot amongst other support boats to drop off the girls. 'Paddlers in the water' calls Shell, power it up.

The energy builds, 5 unzip, 4 unzip, 3 unzip, 1 unzip, I can see the nervous energy on the faces in the water as we approach, 'READY, OUT!' For a brief moment it's Annett and I and then a mad scramble as arms, legs and bodies hurl into the canoe, yay, they all made it, 'Full crew', we're away.

Other highlights - or lucky escapes:

We're about to do a change in rough water, I'm in seat 1 and can see 3 girls in the water, the canoe is bouncing around in the swell, as the canoe bounces past, 2 bodies are safely on the left with hands running along the gunwale for guidance, our 3rd paddler Di is coming into 2, I stare wide eyed as I see her head in the water on the left, oh crap, she's now on the right with the nose of the canoe just ahead of her!! She calmly puts her hands on the nose and is somehow now on the left, at this point I don't think I'm even paddling believing I'm going to have to jump out and rescue Di. Meanwhile Di has made it to seat 2 and is about to jump in however Lisa is also wide eyed having witnessed this and wasn't sure if she should depart! I start paddling, Lisa jumps, Di hauls herself in saying 'oh my god, oh my god, oh my god'. Near miss and we're away.

Hamo 2011: Pics from days 1-3

Time for some pics!
From Ian and Shell


Day 1: OC1 & OC2 races




Day 2: PD Men in the 16km




Days 1-3: PD Chicks in the 16km and Sprints





Day 3: Amy our King of the Mountain champ




All days: PD Antics!

Hamo 2011: Day 3 - 1,000m Sprints and some time out

Today was another chance for our Sprint sqaud to get out on the water. This time to tackle the 1,000m sprints with not one, but THREE turns to negotiate.

PD's were quick out of the blocks and flew down to the first turn. The swung around the flag and pushed their way into the wind and current back up the course. Another turn down and they were half way. I could see Kerry urging the crew forward, and everyone responding with a bit more each stroke. One more turn to go! I could see Amanda in seat 1 launch herself out to the left as she helped Janine draw the nose of the Dungara around to face the final leg. Seat 5 was reaching so far out to draw the back to the right that they disappeared from view. At last, the Home stretch! YAY! A really great race from everyone! And a great achievement to be out there with some top Australian crews.

The rest of the day was spent checking out the island, taking a SUP for a test run and preparing for tomorrow. There was some time for reflection, so I asked Ian for his thoughts so far...


From Ian
It started back just after the novice course when I heard about and read about Hamo on the PD website. Well that was me! I was in and I had no idea what to expect as a novice. I just booked my ticket and bullied some others in to it.

So months went by, lots of training and being selected for the Mens changes team was a big but welcome surprise and after the Port Stephens race I was confident about the distance.

But I thought hey I can do a 16km as well and what a place to do it, so I was drafted in to our Mens B team along with Christophe for that which was made up of other paddlers from Lake Macquarie, Darwin and Sydney. We had a great race and while we were not in contention for line honours we certainly passed people and gained some valuable experience. And for me a great setting and achievement in my first 16km and in a respectable time – this is a great setting to soak all this up paddling with other clubs, the camaraderie of all the paddlers from around Australia as well as the International teams is what it is all about.

There has been a lot of fun as well as the paddling from our run around the Island in PJ’s and PD Hamo shirts, making new friends and cementing others.

Having early morning visitors to balconies and the colourful bludgers while trying to eat ice cream.

Relaxing on non paddling days and just taking in the stunning scenery, it is something I will definitely do again and I would recommend it to anyone, don’t think about it, just go hard….Now bring on the 42km changes tomorrow – GO PD’s!

Hamo 2011 - Day 2: 16km and 500m Sprints

A note from Shell

Today was our second day at Hamo, but the first day of racing for many of us with both the 16km Round Island race and 500m Sprints up for grabs.

Last night after rigging I bumped into Kerry, who was looking very focused. I was a little concerned. I thought that something might have been wrong - Kerry is always a bundle of energy, and typically joking around. She told me today was her day, and the source of her focus was having a great race with her crew and Dungara.

I thought it would be great to hear from her how it went!



16km Round Island Race from Kerry (and accomplices Kath, Di & Meising)

Being the special person I am… having the special conditions I have… a glass of red at the end of the day has replenished my iron levels and given me strength to tell my tales of the day.

The day began very early with the moon bright and the stars shining. As the sun rose over the race site, the sense of anticipation was visible in our faces, and in the quiet movement of the semi light as crews did final checks and preparations on their canoes.

Like all great races, before we knew it, we were on the water paddling for the start line. We were ready! As a crew and as individuals. Flags are up and we are off. Count to ten, hut, breath, count to ten. And then our real start began. We were T-boned with another crew going nowhere – got to love Hamo!! We pulled out of the mess, and then nudged another crew the entire way around the first corner. Then it was clear water, and all about the rhythm. The water was like a mill pond, so it was all about us, and the power we could put on the water.





Most exciting part of all was our Eddy! Oh yeah! It was big, but we were bigger!! Unlike the other two crews next to us that spun out of sight.



And then we were at the last headland, and sprinting to the finish. Giving it all we had left in the tank.



The crews, for 16km and Sprints, were phenomenal. Everyone took their roles seriously, and with the passion I know that PD’s bring to their races!!

16km around the island, done – Tick!

Awesome!



Afternote from Shell


The above crew came in 6th in the Open Women's 16km race in a time of 1:21:20. Our other PD chicks crew came 3rd in 1:14:40, less than 30sec behind 2nd. A great result bringing in a rare piece of bling! The PD Men also had a great race in the afternoon, nailing their race plan - results to come. Congrats everyone!

Hamo 2011: Day 1 - 8km, 16km and 250m sprints

Really great paddling moments always seem to start with a plane trip. There’s something about flying in over the stretch of water you’re about to cross that adds to the excitement (and perhaps nervousness) of what’s coming. I guess it’s like a movie trailer! Just enough to give you a taste of what’s to come. I think it’s also a bit of a reminder that you’ve stepped out of your (mostly) comfortable Sydney world, and into another place.

So it was with growing excitement that Mandy and I touched down in Hamilton Island. We flew in over the channel, where the OC1's were out racing, from the air looking like pencils scattered from a pencil box.

I thought the best stories of the day would come from those who were out there racing, so below are some thoughts from Nic and Gav, two of my roomies for the next 4 days.

Hopefully I'll be able to compile a few more stories to share with you over the rest of the event!

OC1 chicks 8km race, choosing your lines - from Nic

After a bit of a weird night’s sleep (involving crazy Cockatoos screaming and running over the roof at 2am), we got up early for the 7am OC1 short course race. With canoes rigged Lisa, Rachel and I went to the briefing. The race course was what we had been expecting – out to Fitzalan Island, around North Head, around Plum Pudding Island, around a buoy and then back around North Head to the finish.

We had 15 mins to get ready and start. For some reason I wasn’t very nervous, I was just tout there to have some fun and see what happened. But, I had already thought about what lines I was going to take for the race, so felt like I kind of knew what was going on.

The OC2’s were the first wave of canoes to start, it all happened quite quickly – we watched the different lines that were chosen and then saw all of the canoes get pushed very quickly away from the island we were heading to with the incoming tide, so I slightly adjusted my line to account for that. In fact, the whole race was based on looking at what was happening to the canoes up ahead and deciding what line to take based on what was happening to them – in some areas we hugged the coast, in others we took it wide and all were based on the strong flowing tide.

The water was beautiful and very blue, the scenery was lovely and the sun was out – fantastic paddling weather. With an awesome run into back in towards Cateye Beach and one of Billy’s ‘smart bombs’ at the finish line (sorry Lisa) the race was over in just over 47 mins and a surprising 3rd place for me in the Masters Women category! A very happy end to a great race. Lisa saw a turtle, we had a helicopter following us for a bit as well so hopefully some race pics to come.

I then happily watched Lisa, Gav and Rachel do the OC1 250m sprints, straight into a head wind… glad I decided to sit those ones out, they looked like they hurt a lot!


OC1 16km and 250m Sprints from Gav:

It was a perfect morning. I slept in and had a leisurely breakfast. Then I watched the girls race the 8km from the vantage point of the balcony which is not something you get to do everyday. A great view with the added interest of some great racing on show. As the day went on, I found that I was growing quite nervous, more nervous than I had expected to be. Then I tried not to be so nervous, which did not work which made me more nervous. So now I was nervous about being nervous. Nested nervousness. A Russian doll type situation. But I think this race really mattered to me and for the first time in years I had done some level of specific training and I wanted to prove to myself that I could still put a good OC1 race on the water.

The race itself was hard work where I started to get tired before I usually do. Maybe the sprints 1.5 hours before hand may have been a bad idea. But none the less, after the top guns had left us, I was duelling with 4 other guys, who I eventually managed to get the better of. One guy came right up on me with 4km to go and he stayed on my tail for some time. Not being able to keep track on him, I grinded and worked as hard as I could, at the same time being aware I was losing power and concentration fast.

I passed a ski paddler (not in the race) and asked him how far the guy behind me was and he replied (15 meters). My heart sank, I was hoping he would have faded so I could have an easy last 2kms but not to be. So I kept grinding and managed to keep him at bay until the finish line. Not sure where I came in the end, but definitely not in the league of the top guys. Perhaps some more consistent OC1 and OC6 training will help bridge the gap a bit. But over all I was happy with my race as I could not have worked harder and I managed to beat some good paddlers.

June 1: New Starts

June 1, and a new start to a month and a season! I’m equipped with the latest TimeOut and Delicious magazines and am ready to launch ahead.

There's something very refreshing and optimistic about new starts. I think that's why I like breakfasts so much. During conversation with my good friend, Julia, we realised that breakfasts are so great because they're a new start to the day, nothing has marred events so far, most (morning) people haven't had a chance to fall into an argument or have an unhappy encounter. The whole day of potential lies ahead - and what better way to begin this, than with some poached eggs with avocado on toast!

Nic enjoys breaky after another great paddling session

Similarly, on the first day of winter, it opens up a range of opportunities to embrace our chilliest time of the year. Curling up in a doona for a deep night's sleep (and hopefully a bit of a sleep-in) rather than wrestling with the sheets whilst tossing and turning on a still & scorching summer's night. Retreating inside to drink hot chocolate and watch DVDs on the couch, and not feeling so bad about not going for that run you'd been planning. Although it's not the end to all activity: squash becomes a more attractive option than tennis, Bikram yoga is relatively appealing. Hot roasts, hearty soups, baking brownies. A fresh selection of outfit options for work with soft jumpers, cosy scarfs and my favourite trench coat. The start of winter does bring some joy (although I still hate the cold!)

I guess the key is how to create new starts when we need them, without the need of a time milestone such as a new morning or a new month (or travelling thousands of kms)

But back to the offerings of TimeOut. Looks like they’re testing out Sydney’s best places for burgers. I’m up for checking their results!

Ice encrusted ferns on the roadside in NZ (2004)